My plan vs realality

Anything is possible, but you need to do this a year or 2 to find out if you like it enough to put up with the bs that comes with trucking.

 

I do have to touch this one... I have a ton of respect for you guys and what you do. It takes a lot of balls, and our military is the reason our country isn't going through all the BS and invasions going on in the Middle East. You're 1/2 the reason that nobody wants to touch us (the other half is distance, we have virtually no strategic value to most of the world (except for Germany until we stole the tower during WWI in my hometown, who would have guessed that?), unless Canada or Mexico decides they want to build an empire). And not just the US, you fight for other countries too that need help.

But our freedoms, us not getting our heads cut off, not typing in German... honestly, that's all thanks to a bunch of guys wearing wigs. For some reason, everyone forgets that we were British property. We'd be just as free as we are now. Proof? England still exists, nice and safe. Why would here be any different? The revolution was pretty much against tax. And after we revolted, we kept most of the British laws, the only thing we really changed was the fact that everyone taxed was represented in government. Something that was just not practical when England ruled us, today, every state would be represented in Parliament. But our freedom has never once, in the entire history of our country, been threatened. We've been in quite a few wars with countries who wanted their land back, but that was just over territory that wasn't really ours to begin with, no threat to our freedom though.

And that's the other place where I have a lot of respect for our military... You guys have to put your opinions, emotions, and sometimes morals aside to do your job. That's gotta be really hard to stay committed to.

 

When it comes down to it...our nations founding fathers were just rich guys that didn't want to pay their taxes. They then enlisted idealists to do their dirty work.

That coming from someone whose family has been here since 1620 and has two Presidents in the family tree. Yes...seriously.

 

upfront cost? what I did (and many may disagree) is I financed my 1st truck 2007 Columbia, Detroit 10 speed low miles, paid cash for my first trailer (10k) spent a couple grand on plates, authority, highway use tax and supplies (load locks etc). There is a very informative post entitled "so you wanna be an owner operator" on here full of great info as far as getting started. Anyway, after truck was bought permited lettered etc I had enough cash to run for 45 days (that's about how long it takes from the time you book a load til you see a check unless you do qick pay or factoring which cost you money) instead of burning through that cash I held onto it and ran off of an Amex business card for the first month (with amex you don't pay interest if you pay it off every month) used my reserve to pay the first bill then by the time the 2nd bill rolled around I had checks coming in. Ran like that for about 6 months then one of my customers offered more loads so I bought another trailer (paid cash) another truck (bought at an auction and paid cash) hired a driver put him in the 1st truck and I went in the auction truck. My thoughts being that the auction truck would be the first to break down and if so I wanted to be the one it broke down on and be there to make any decisions about repairs plus didn't wanna screw over my driver. So far everything has worked. I was fortunate in the fact that a man I drove for connected me with a shipper who I hauled loads for when I drove for him. Also fortunate that every male in my family has driven a truck and my brother is a truck mechanic so I had a gold mine of experience and knowledge to draw from. Still waiting on the day that I feel I can relax and think "ok I've made it" don't think that day will ever come but loving the journey so far. Hope all that helps. Don't hesitate to pm me if you have questions I will answer as honestly as I can good bad and ugly.

 

"for those who have fought for it freedom holds a flavor the protected will never know"

 

I know a guy that got out with 20 yrs. service; refused to retire because a divorce judge ruled his wife would get half his retirement check, so he just got out. True story! He was E-6.

 

Well done RGRTim,well done !!

 

hmmmm stay in and have a gaurenteed paycheck with benefits and retirement or go into the trucking industry where only the mafia out does them in terms of lying cheating and stealing from theyre employees .
retirement : forget it and if ya get sick go home and die .
benefits and pay : as little as they can get away payin ya and as much as they can steal from ya .
stay in !

 

if this is really your experience with trucking, you are an idiot for doing it for 27 years.....seriously