Is it really that miserable?

I love trucking! It is the best job I have ever had. There is nothing I love more than driving all night long. I'm a night driver, didn't start out that way but that's all I like now. No traffic, fewer cops and lots of closed scales. Plus it just seems calm to me. I have sat radio on listening to coast to coast or some weird thing. Lots of time to think. Sometime see the occasional UFO or just stop on a really clear night and look at the stars for a little break. Don't really talk on the CB anymore since I have a slow truck now. I do miss running with the super truckers and having to use my bird dog.

The things I don't like are break downs, dealing with my dispatcher even though we get along just fine, log books, customers, those deliveries that seem impossible for a day cab to back into and being away from home for to long. However, all that stuff is part of the job. there is good and bad with any job. If you are new, you have to put in your due. Try to stay with your first job at least a year. 2 years is better. Even if you hate it. Try not to get angry with dispatch and if you have a problem calmly explain it to them. Good luck.

 

Helps to be a gearhead I'm sure. If you love anything with wheels and an engine, it might be your sort of thing. If you're the adventurous, "ramblin' man" type who loves to travel and be on the move, it might your sort of thing. One man's heaven can be another man's hell, trucking or otherwise.

 

I've been trucking for 34 years and love it. The negative? The bad attitude and lack of professionalism from a lot of today's drivers. The ever changing rules and asinine regulations coming out of the DOT and Congress.
You have to be very flexible in this business. No set schedule or hours, driving in all kinds of weather where most people would pull over and call it a day. Being away from home, family and friends for sometimes weeks at a time. Coming to the realization that there's more to driving these big rigs than just....driving.
If you last as long as I have in this business, you'll do and see things that 99% of the people in this country can only dream of. You get to meet people from all walks of life and cultures. Drive in places that most people only see on a post card. Meet celebrities, politicians, hobos and your everyday Joe. Everyday, even after 34 years of driving, is a learning experience for me. Once you think you know it all is the day you put you and others in danger.
No other job, that I can think of, offers you the freedom and responsibility that trucking does. As with any job, you have your good and bad days but I think the good out weighs the bad by a large margin. When I sit in that drivers seat, ready to make another run, I still get that feeling of excitement...another adventure, while my friends do that same routine driving from home to work and back, 5 and 6 days a week. Most of them envy what I do for a living, even those making 6 figure incomes.
I hope this put a positive spin on what you're asking for. It's what you make of it and all about attitude. Good luck.

 

dont listen to these drivers who r negative.. they r just mad at the world and other things. stay positive....trucking is a lifestyle for ppl who r single,no kids,not married,(if you and wife r teaming,thats a different story) and if u have a family n kids trucking isnt for you. i enjoy driving,but it has its days. im 26,single and 1 yr exp.

 

I have a family (wife, 2 kids)....been driving a long time and I'm still happy with it.

Driving did cost me my 1st wife, but that wasn't the jobs fault...she just wasn't tough enough to be a truckers wife.

I chose MUCH better the 2nd time

 

Yes sir, well said......

It's not just for the singles......my other half is very much turned on by and proud of what her man does.....and gives me one hell of an incentive to step up my game, run hard, and come home safe.

But she is a rare woman.....like those of us who make it in this job, enjoy it, and excel at it, it takes a special kind of woman to be a trucker's wife

And yeah, it took two tries to find her lol

 

I seems like a prerequisite to being a trucker. Divorce that is. I know my wife is not going to handle it well. My goal is to stick it out 2yrs otr then land that local gig. I stayed gone the first half of our marriage working on oil rigs and doing shutdowns. I was gone months at a time and she hung in there on my promise that I would never do it again. Now it seems I may have to renege and she's not happy about it. Will it cost me my marriage this time? I hope not, but I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place.

 

Yeah you make a good point. It's work. Hard work, grueling work. Maybe not manual labor, but it is grueling. Driving when you're on an erratic sleep schedule, a mega machine that you have to control or you can kill people, or yourself. Sleeping in strange places, not having access to a fridge or grocery store, not having running water constantly. Grueling work. It's not play. Some moments are great, some suck. It's a hard life, that's why. I think people think they can do anything till they do it. I thought I could. I couldn't. I like to exercise at least an hour a day, I sleep 8-10 hours, and I like to eat healthy foods constantly like fresh vegetables or at least frozen. You can die at this job. It's not for the feint of heart. It's hard. I almost fell asleep driving. I had to catch myself. I love to drive, but not constantly for 11 hours a day on no sleep. That's me though. My Instructor...he LOVED his job. Good god. He was a complete introvert ex marine tough as nails old guy. He got along. Still man.. it's up to you. There's a high turnover for a reason. It's a lot to take in. It depends what you want in this life.

 

I love to truck. It is very fun. Nothing else.

I also love trucking because someone once told me I aint gonna because Im deaf etc. I cannot stand to allow aint gonnas to be right so I go show them I can do it.

It is not easy to make a living on the road. It's a understatement to say this. But miserable? Well... that is related to morale. If you have a little time off out there on the big road, there are literally a thousand things to see, do and participate in that has nothing to do with trucking. Museums, fairs, exhibitions, dances, bars etc. All sorts of things to do and have fun and decompress so you are not miserable.

With that said, if you don't want to learn new things about trucking and refuse to try and roll with the difficulties etc it can become very difficult for you to be happy on the road. Hence the negatively. If you are stuck unloaded 48,000 pounds in a few hours knowing you have to be somewhere later that day you have to find a way to make it happen without #####ing and complaining.

If I wanted to be negative about trucking, I would be thrown out of these forums a long time ago. Especially when it's related to our history and how easily it is being lost.

So. Someone hands you a load to be in say Freehold NJ tomorrow. Hop in that truck and drive. You are going to make this a good trip and be happy in some way all the way there. You will refuse to be negative and unhappy with the trip, make the best of it.

 

Personally, to heck with the snivelling complainers. Trucking is work, pure n simple. If you can't think outside the box, manage your time, stay off drugs or alcohol or not hit stuff... it's probably not the job for you. Some people don't wanna hear that.

Job satisfaction is a choice. Yep. And today's gonna be another kick the tires and light the fires good day. The rubber side is gonna stay down and the yard sticks are gonna fly by.