Is it really this bad?

well this ain't a blog, its a forum......

80 hours OR MORE of work a week is still around, we just cannot log all that time. many drivers are still paid low wages. in fact, probably about the same wages as back then. it IS a hard life, or life style. it IS long hours. it IS an inconvenient job many times, as sometimes you cannot make it home for appointments or other things needed.

many of us are some what stuck in the business till retirement. i for one, would prefer to stay here till i retire as i wish NOT to learn any new career. many have gotten out early when they realized the hardships.

you wannabe's or newbies can have the 'business".......just be prepared to not enjoy your time home, as it'll end in a few short hours. even some local drivers put in very long days. when they get home, they are lucky to get a meal, shower, sleep, only to do another LONG day all over again.

i do not see trucking as a job that will get any better soon, if at all, yet so many want to get into it........only to drop out in short time.

when i was in trucking school, over 20 some odd years ago, my instructor told us, "out of this class right here of 40 guys, by week's end, 5 will drop out........

before graduation, 5 more would have quit school. with-in the first year, 10 will quit the job. by the 5th year, 10 more would have quit the job. that leaves 10 guys out of a class of 40.....

with-in 10 years of graduation, 5 more would have quit the job.......

if only 2 reach retirement, that's a record"...........

i firmly believe his speech was true...........i am still in the business, i do not know of my graduating class.........but i'll tell you this........when i graduated......??

there was only 15 of us out of the original 40 left in the class.......!!

how's that for looking into trucking.......????

 

point taken for sure. but let me say a few things. i dont have a wife. maybe in the future i will. but financially, mentally etc that is not something i want to deal with. kids? i dont want them. i have my 2 dogs and thats good for me. i already own a house, my mortgage is 675 a month. what makes you think i'll be making 600 a week in 10 years? i've only been at this job for 5 months, even if i stayed with this one company for the next 5 years, i will be making more. this winter i'm upgrading from the class B to a class A, and i've already spoken to my boss about possibly getting a tractor trailer so i can make much more. is it gonna happen? who knows, the future is the future but one thing is for sure i've taken control of my life. you wanna sit around and think life is just bad bad bad then go right ahead. i've got the best friends anyone could ask for, i've got a family that has my back, two great dogs, my band is going to puetro rico this spring. I AM LIVING THE DREAM HAHA!

maybe its because i've lived threw such hardships and dealt with so much that job markets and crappy pay arent really that big of a concern for me at this point in my life. maybe you've never faced hard times, but financial hardships are nothing to me, i've lived on 300 bucks a week working a piece of crap job i hated. i strive for better, and will never stop. i'm going to have my own truck company in the next 10 years, 600 bucks a week isnt tons of money, but please, i'm begging you, tell me where a 22 year old can make more right now today in this economy? exactly.

 

If you have been driving for 32 years, I can't call you "junior ".

You are over qualified for that title!

 

Wow! only 90 to 130% driver turnover?? Things must really have improved! When I was driving back in 89-92, the industry turn over average was 300 to 400%. My last year as a safety supervisor for Werner was 1993 and they posted 276% driver turnover that year & were just tickled to death!

 

Just remember the old joke 'How do you know if a trucker is complaining?'

'His lips are moving!'

If there's anything some people on these boards love, it's listening to themselves whine about how bad they have it. You could give a guy a brand new Pete, pay him $5.00 per mile, give him 2 days out and 5 days at home (pto) and he still would find something to whine about.

 

Would not suprise me.

 

I started driving in 1975 and have seen good times and bad times.I made a lot better living in the 70's and early 80's than i am now.It seems the government and all these so called safety groups want to change the industry with all there bright ideas when they do not have a clue what we do and have no idea how these hairbrained ideas will effect the whole country.They are driving a lot of good drivers out of the industry,and the industry is having trouble finding new drivers.I was a trainer at my former company and I told over half of my students they better find another line of work because they could not do this.I think most of you know there are some drivers that do not belong out here.

 

You made more in the 70's & early 80's... before Reagan deregulated the industry. Yep. I agree. Washington is full of hair brains with ideas that have nothing to do with the real world. Used to be the companies were the ones being regulated. Now, thirty years later, the companies can pretty much do what they want & the drivers are over-regulated.

But of course we wouldn't want to go back to regulation of the freight industry. That would be socialism. Right?