Is Truck Driving worth getting into now a days?

I have been writing my response to this for about 3 hours now. Each time I finish, something happens and it doesn't post or I re read it and think I am being just too hateful. So I try again for the last time.

The question you asks offends me on one hand and just shows me that you are young on the other. I will give you the benefit of the doubt and go with you did not want to insult everyone in the trucking industry.

I have done a lot of different things in my 57 years. Driving a truck is only one of them. It is not the option in my life that has made the most money. It is an option that has brought me some of the most satisfaction.

I was a banker for 19 years. My base salary was $70,000 per month. That was paid in cash. No taxes. I traveled all over the world and my bonus were large. I paid blackjack in Vegas and once lost $400,000 on one hand. Truck driving will not allow me to maintain that lifestyle but I have no desire to do so.

I made as little as $45,000 on year in trucking. That was 2008. My second year in trucking. I am now buying my first two trucks. Brand new 2015 Volvo 780s. New APUs and Dieselboss is going to add a couple of satellites so they can have Direct TV or Dish network and internet. I have a different approach to the company and I have enough in the bank that if I fail big deal.

I am now going to give you some advice that had it come from someone other then myself I would call wisdom. The secret to success is to find something you love and do it well. It is not about finding something that makes a lot of money. If you are the kind of trucker that has to be pushed out of bed and forced to drive over the road, you will fail in this industry. The ones who make it are those would have to be pulled out of the truck and told to get some home time.

I found out, by accident, that I love trucking. For some strange reason, I love backing into a hole and having both of my trailers corners hit dead center the first time backing. I love getting the product ontime to the receiver and I love when a shipper is relieved to see that my arrival has saved him.

I am looking forward to hiring some drivers who want to help me build a new company. I want to see them succeed. I want to watch their families grow and have a nice future. I do not care if I make money. Money will follow, it always does.

Do you love computers? If so go into that. If however, you are only going into computers because some guidance counselor told you that it is the wave of the future, you will fail. The only sure way to have something to eat in the future is to grow your own food. Everything else is based on doing something better then anyone else does.

Do what you love. Love what you do. And charge for it.

 

If you go to college make sure it's paid for. Don't pile up a bunch of student loan debt that you'll spend the rest of your adult life trying to pay down. The average debt is about 80k, CDL school runs a couple grand, so while you're out driving and making money and saving for retirement you're buddies are going to be working just trying to pay off debt. Add a family, mortgage, car payments and it's not to hard to see why bankruptcies are so high. And remember, you can't get rid of student loan debt through bankruptcy. If your schooling is paid for, then that's a different matter but most aren't.

 

"I was a banker for 19 years. My base salary was $70,000 per month."

Now that's a super banker! Ya sure it wasn't seven thousand?

 

Go to college and get a degree if you think that's what you want...But , make double , even triple sure there will be a market for your skill or educational level in 30 years....or do the same with trucking....there are lots and lots of trucking venues available today that will pay you well above average and won't keep you on the road for weeks at a time...some are actually home every night. Like any job worth anything you must prepare yourself for them....get all of the endorsements available , go out and see people , don't just do on-line apps hoping for a hit...

Figure out what niche you want to occupy and head into that direction....ask questions , but above all listen to the answers...I did food service delivery for over 3 decades , it's hard hand's on work , but the pay is well above average, as are the benefits , home every night too...pulling a tank is another great venue high pay too , so is LTL , and line-haul work.

But you can't beat an EDUCATION...ONCE YOU HAVE IT'S YOURS... Both my son's went to college , the baby an engineer ( civil) the oldest is a family medicine physician..their mother was an RN when I met her , and while they were still young she continued her nursing education at night...got her Masters and went on to become a CRNA. , now she is in the 6 figure income range....it took several years and lots of dedication on her part , BUT she's happy....that's all that really matters...like one other poster said, do something you love and you'll never "work" a day in your life....

 

Look take it from me, you have a lot of time to do something other than trucking then get into trucking. In today's world, you need more than just one thing to depend on and if this makes no sense, then ask those who are starting life all over again after working for 30 or 35 years in the same industry, even trucking.

I know this trucking thing sound's great, the BS of freedom, of not having a boss and all the other crap that doesn't exist. YOU are responsible for that truck you are driving, you are a target for enforcement because of your fellow truckers who are reckless or stupid or barely can drive, YOU get into one accident with the way our legal system works you can be screwed for the rest of your life - not to mention if you have medical issues from the accident which YOU will pay for eventually.

Having some skills other than trucking is always the best thing to do, this stuff isn't going anywhere and if you have your mind made up even after the warnings, you may be setting yourself up for failure.

 

from my perspective I will clear 60000 in my first year local well under 60 hours a week weekends off home every night. The real question is are you willing to not drink do drugs take care of yourself. Is it easy some ways yes some no.Sure get an edjumacation but im not one to sit in the cube farm. you would find me shooting some place up in about 20 years. Then again most degrees are NOT worth what your in debt for

 

Depends on who you get hired on with. In my personal experience: the smaller the company, the better the pay.

 

Then fly birdy fly.

 

Dang kids today.

 

Then again look at tracy morgan one accident and your going to prison.... Im still waiting for all the facts but thats the way it goes