Question for PRO's....

Well, the first question I would have to ask is if the questionable judgements he made in the past are things likely to be reinforced by his spending time alone? Some people are very comfortable with their own company, and do not find any hardships at all in being separate from most of society for a while. Others are much more in need of continual company. There are jobs for both types of people, it's just a matter of finding out who you are and what is appropriate to your needs. I happen to be a person very comfortable with myself, and I can get along fine with minimal contact with others, but not all people are that way. If the decisions he has made in the past are likely to find negative reinforcement in solitude, then this may not be appropriate for him. In my experience, people who are kore introspective tend to do well while alone, people who rarely look at or question themselves do not prosper as much.

Trucking runs the gamut from jobs where you are home daily, to jobs where you may be away from home for a month or even longer. There is no "one size fits all" trucking job out there. He might find work in Fla that meets his needs and gets him home daily, and he might find that he hates that type of trucking.

The people that write on these types of boards display all kinds of tendencies, including negative feelings, but you have to interpret them in terms of our job. We can't go to the lunchroom at work and gripe with the guys because we tend to work on a solo basis. As a result, a good many people tend to ues boards like this as their social support network, and that means that all the things they say that would normally go in one ear and out the other to their friends stays enshrined in electrons. You have to learn how much of what you read to discount, and know something of the personalities of the posters to know how much to value or devalue what they have to say. And as i have often pointed out, the negative or oddball thinsg arre what we find worth talking about, and that skewers what you read on a forum or board. I tell about the deer I hit 2 months ago, but say nothing about the 2000 miles of driving that preceeded it on that trip because the deer was interesting.

Some people thrive as part of a team operation, some don;t. For the most part, a team doesn;t provide much in the way of companionship, simply because the economic goal and point of having a team operation is to keep the truck moving, which means that one member sleeps, one drives until time to swap out. There is limited time for companionship inn those types of operations. Traditionally, those work best in husband and wife operation, or some other way where there is a long term established connection between the two operators. Just pairing up randomly with a stranger doesn;t satisfy the requirements to alleviate loneleiness, since that is often triggered by separation from home or other familiar surroundings.

I hate to bring this up because of the potential insinuation in case it doesn't apply, but if his past decisions have included any form of drug or alcohol abuse, this is a highly regulated industry and there is little or no room for misbehavior in either of those areas. If he is susceptable to either of those vices, trucking is not a good career choice to be in.

Hope this info helps some. I am sure some others will chime in with other comments.

 

Though I don't consider myself a "pro" (less than a year OTR), I think I can give you a little insight into this career.

Driving OTR is what you make of it. I am not so much a "people person", but I do enjoy good company from time to time. I enjoy the time spent driving and have made some good friends out there. If a person wants to be the "loner" out there, he/she can. But there are also a lot of good people out there while waiting at a shipper/reciever or at the truck stops that enjoy good conversation too. Then, there are the rare times on the highway that you can run with someone and yak at them on the CB, when the idiots aren't talking over everyone.

I can't see team driving being much better. Mainly because while one driver is sleeping the other is driving and vise versa. Also, there is only so much you can talk about and after a few weeks of being around each other 24/7, I would think that, that might get a little old too.

 

This is a good question....

 

Mr and Mrs. Charles


The loneliness issue is solved with a cell phone or a laptop.
Some driver do develop a anti-social attitudes towards new drivers and non drivers. If your son gets into it with the right attitude drivers will be very accepting.
Just because he hauls within the state this does not mean he will be home every night.
As far as running a team operation that can be one of the hardest parts in my book. You are in trusting someone else with your life while you try an sleep. As far as safety I can't answer that. The loneliness issue is still there while one drives one sleeps. You also have to have the right person in the truck with you cause if you can't get along with that person life will be very difficult.

 

....Very well written "Burky!"

If you don't mind me asking....'What's your educational background?"

You sound like a writer....

 

From the team standpoint and have been team more than solo. It's great and hope I never have to go back to solo.

My first 5 years I was solo and didn't have time to be lonely basically cause I never let the wheels stop turning. As long as I was rolling I was busy and was enjoying what I was doing. There were times when I'd get parked for a couple of days but then I had cleaning things to get caught up on .... laundry, truck, grocery shopping....somethings don't stop cause you're on the road.

Team....I team with a lady, we are now both divorced and strange she doesn't sleep 10 hours a day (she's the vampire of the truck) but spends a couple hours amusing me. Maybe I'm just lucky or she is trying to annoy me to death and I'm just stupid. She finds something to humor me before she heads to bed. Reads me the comics out of the paper....I understand now why she has a degree in Advertising. Reads every sign we pass (okay that's annoying), sits over there with a camera taking pictures of who knows what (she never develops them) or just unwinds to be able to sleep. We have time we can park and enjoy the scenery, see the sites (talk about different outlook ).....it's a whole different life but you have to like who you have in the truck as a partner to understand.

You'll know witin the first 6 months or less if this is something he is going to be able to do. The road isn't for everyone but for some it's in our blood. We have some very good friends that we met out here on the road and try together as much as possible. A simple cup of coffee is worth more with a friend that most people understand.