Personality for trucking and getting lost?

Hello,

I know that I am the only one that can answer this question, but still looking for feedback from experienced professional drivers. Being in my mid 30's I consider myself a "career changer". I have spent 10 years as an insurance adjuster, with 1/2 my time spent in the office, the other 1/2 in the field looking at damaged cars, houses, etc. I am sick and tired of the work, the enormous stress ( such as nightmares at 2am did I forget to do this, or did I spend too much $$$ on a claim and will get fired). Money is good, say $50-$60k in return for 60 hours of work, plus nightmares and sleepless nights. So its time for a change.

I love driving, the wife and I take road trips all the time. To me, driving 10 hours is better than doing what I do as a claims adjuster, especially if your getting paid for it. My question is, do you think Trucking will be a huge "shock" for a guy with my background? I remember once when I was in my twenties, a local neighbor rented a Uhaul and asked me to deliver furniture to his kid 1500 miles away. He wanted to save money by not hiring a moving company. I did this for him, and I remember thinking man I am getting paid to just drive this junk out to his kid several states away ! I drove all through the night, slept in the Uhaul truck ( in the drivers seat !) for like 3 hours, delivered, and drove nonstop home. All told, I was gone 3 days and made $500 from this guy ! Easiest $500 I ever made.

Last question, how do you guys avoid getting lost. I mean Highways are simple, but when it comes time to deliver or pick up, how do u find your way? How do you know where to pull the truck, especially if its a busy customer, big terminal, etc. ? With a car, its so small you just turn around, but I would hate to back myself into a squeeze, and have to turn around in a big rig truck.

 

$500 in 3 days and no taxes...the Government takes enough as it is, less Govt involvement the better LOL

I didn't mean NO stress. Jobs that have no stress=low pay. I agree that driving must be stressful, and that is why drivers make a decent living. But As a claims adjuster, you deal with angry, upset people for 10 hours per day. Non stop people arguing because they say you are not paying them enough money to fix their car or repair their house. People making threats, telling you they will find you and beat you up if you don't give them a new fender for their car vs a used one that will look fine once it is painted ( on a 10 year old car to begin with !) I have had people call me at home after hours to argue with me or worse threaten me, so I had to have an unpublished number. Its a job where you are verbally abused by people for your entire day. Pay me double, and maybe I could do it for 30 years, but heck, pay me double and I will shovel #### for a living !

Driving I imagine has a lot of stress, especially if you dont know where the heck you are going ( see my 2nd question above) deadlines, angry shippers, and such. BUT, once you are on your way, headed out for a 600 or 1000 mile run, you can relax a little and collect your thoughts on th ehighways. I didn't mean no stress, just that you get time in between your stressful moments. To me, a nice change of pace I think, but not sure ??

 

Well, that's why I came here for advice. I figure people will tell it like it is, in the same way I would tell someone thinking about training to become an insurance adjuster.

For me, it has a lot to do with change. I guess I have handled the stress in the claims world for years, so I would hope I could also handle stress on the road, but one never knows I guess until they actually do it.

Your scenario above sounds very stressful, no doubt about that. As for me giving up a good job though, there is nothing good about be a claims adjuster in my opinion, except for the obvious, which is a good living and being home at night. Like I said, for me, its just about making a change. Maybe trucking is not the right change, I don't know yet, but that is why I am researching.

Its too bad that companies did not have aprogram to allow prospective newbies to ride along with someone for a week or so just to see if they like it. I know, I know, that's impossible, but I have to imagine a couple of weeks on the road, and I would know for sure if I was cut out for it.

Thanks again for your help though. Take care !