I was just wondering...

AMEN to that!

 

The pay is a relative thing, from what I'm reading here. If you want to be away from home for weeks at a time, live in a small area with no bathroom, where shopping for anything is out of the way unless you are at a very, very, very overpriced truck shop store and only have contact with (in large part) mouthy, mind-numb guys who's only conversation topic is trucking, well then who care's how little you might make some weeks?!! Why be negative about it when you have found your fortune in lifestyle considerations!

 

My hubby is usually not a way for weeks at a time, makes pretty good money, and talks to plenty of people that don't fit the above description.

 

I've always said I made good money. When I retired I went out at $1650 a week and home every night. But it took many years to get there and I had set goals to achieve a good path. Even to this day my record is spotless and I worked many jobs that my wife and I could barely live on. Then when my son came I knew it was either the top paying trucking job or the operating engineers. I had a few connections that got me into the gasoline business and the company is still taking care of us.

 

I think that was a very good example of a negative post, then a positive one. Thank you

 

Back when, it was only me and that's all. Money was never the issue as much; alls I needed was enough to keep a full belly, the occasional toy. When things or people got too much or too close I fired up that big diesel, looked out through the "magic windshield" and *poof*... problem gone. That was the life that made me happy. Alley cat or Last of the Cowboys, that was me.

Now that I have someone dear to me I sometimes wish I'd taken another path moneywise. Trucking today sure isn't what it once was, but I also look around and note that alot of better educated folks with the kind of job and money that once was a "dream job" are now out here looking to become what I am. Go figure.

 

Not to step in uninvited, but Allow Me is a pretty friendly guy...I'm sure the tone of his post was not as harsh as you might think.

Just my $.02

 

I think it has a lot of variables. Who you are driving for, what you are hauling, hometime etc...

Personally, I love driving OTR. But if I was driving for some company where I was gone 3 weeks at a time...no, I wouldn't like that too much. I get home most weekends. This week I'm home today and part of tomorrow.

I also haul bulk, pneumatic. I don't think I'd care to do a van or reefer.

IMO, the pay is pretty good. Of course, it could always be better but I'm not complaining.

Personally, I really enjoy being out on the road. I really like the company I work for as it's not a mega carrier and as long as you treat dispatch and the other office personal with respect, they give it back. They have, for the most part, been real good about getting me home when asked and if I don't care for a load they work with me to get me one I'll like. But I'm also not a jerk to them.

As with any job, there are good days and bad days. Some days are a grind and then other runs, like up to the mountains, are almost like a vacation. We live in a beautiful country.