New Class A holder got a question for everyone.

What about a motorcycle? Me personally 2 hours is like the edge of acceptable, if it’s only once a week. There’s no way I’d put up with 2 hours daily. That’s like 15 bucks in gas each way, every time. If I had free truck parking available even 3/4 of the way home, then had to catch an Uber or whatever, I’d do that.

 

I wouldn't work for a company where I regularly had to drive 2 hours from home to the truck. It's too much time you are losing of home time. Every employee must evaluate their situation. I'd rather drive the 2 hours on both ends instead of starve, but I'd not choose a 2 hour 1-way commute if I had any choice. Yes bringing the truck home may save you from having a car, or an extra car, but it also can lead to parking tickets at home or your HOA or neighbors starting a battle. The main issue is the trucking company needs to do maintenance on the truck and it cannot do maintenance on the truck while it's parked at your home. Leaving the truck at the company yard/shop allows them to do the service while you are on home time instead of you sitting in a truck stop for half a day while the truck stop shop eventually gets to your truck. You won't make any money for that waiting and you may have no good place to wait while it is getting serviced. Sitting in the truck stop's Arby's restaurant for 4-6 hours is a lot worse than being at home doing whatever you want.

Get a cheap car or use Uber/Lyft until you have money to buy a car. A semi truck makes for a poor vehicle for grocery store, city errands, non-work related trips. I lived out of the truck for about a year 2,000 miles from home. If you are going to live far from the company terminal, stay on the road for as long as possible. I commuted 45 minutes 1-way for my tanker job. There were numerous times I decided to just sleep in the company yard in a bad neighborhood rather than waste 90 minutes just to sleep in my bed at home and return the next day. You have to do what works for you. But the trucking company is not your parent and they have no obligation to help you do anything but move freight and service the truck. You are responsible for your human needs outside of work.

 

If you had a job at a business on the other side of town would your boss for that job give you a vehicle to drive or allow you to live in the parking lot? Getting back and forth to your job is kind of a basic responsibility for being an adult or you adjust your adult life to fit a job and never complain to the boss about the adjustment.

 

I was joking about the Vespa, but do think a motorcycle is the answer. Even a 3-wheel trike motorcycle is a good choice.
Probably find some reasonable prices on used motorcycles.

 

I'd save my money from trucking and buy an old car from another employee. I don't understand how people expect to exist without transportation.

 

It's not everyday, it's on home-time, I'll be out 3 weeks.

Yeah, she clarified some things, she said it's only for when they need to work on the truck. They'll hook me up with a rental with company discount code so I could get a discount on the rental, I'll give it a shot. The reason why I don't have a car now is because I didn't want to have more bills on me, I had a 15 years plan/goal and I didn't need one then, now I see that it's a little too late to accomplish this goal, so I'm just moving with the flow right now.

Lol! Honestly, I'd buy a used car before buying a motorcycle, you just don't have the same protection you have from cars in them. Maybe that's a sign saying it's time for me to get a car.

 

R+L Carriers
1820 Parkway Blvd, West Sacramento, CA 95691

 

After your first 2 hours in a truck you will have a different attitude about the average ability of the people that drive cars around you. Now you get out of a truck and get on a motorcycle. I used a motorcycle only for over a year in FL. You can't buy groceries, you can't transport more than you can stuff in 1 or 2 backpacks. You cannot deal with cold precipitation, even if you dress like an eskimo and use electrically heated clothing. Imagine riding a bicycle on a hockey rink. In FL I only had to worry about rain. It only rained on 85-95% of the days but that meant carrying rain gear on EVERY trip which takes away some of the "cargo carrying capacity". Riding a motorcycle for 2 hours will feel like getting kicked in the pants by a mule, now start driving the truck for 10 plus hours.

The suggestion to buy a cheap car is the answer. A motorcycle is a cheap alternative to a 2 seat sportscar convertible. It's only reliable transportation if you have access to a car when needed. Nothing is more expensive than being too cheap. Use the money you would have spent on a motorcycle putting toward a cheap car.

People love to complicate their lives and then defend the complications as necessary.

 

Yeah, I think you're right.