really enjoying my new job

i left walton milk hauling and now drive for RS maher milk hauling out of bliss NY. the yard is 11 miles from my house and soon i will be issued a permanent truck i will be able to park at home and start my route from my house. the farms are mostly close to my house, one is very close.... like if i was loading milk there and blew the air horn my wife might be able to hear it LOL. so far i have been loading 2 and dropping in the yard and im working 10-12 hour days. it's $25 per hour and overtime after 40 hours, the health insurance is better, it's closer to home. my previous job paid overtime at 50 (agriculture exemption loophole, technically they dont have to pay overtime until 56 hours). i couldn't be much happier. trucks are freightliner day cab 13 speed manuals. they do have sleeper trucks as well, but the farm pickup drivers are in day cabs. i really like this job so far.

 

there's a niche that should fit anyone that actually wants to drive. this industry is NOT one size fits all, some people just shouldn't be OTR.... it doesn't mean they shouldn't be driving a tractor trailer. i have 2 kids, a wife of almost 20 years, 2 dogs that i love, and a house that im paying a mortgage on. when i first started this trucking journey back in 2016 with a new license and NO experience i worked for werner for a very short period of time (4 months), after i completed training i immediately quit, being away weeks at a time was just too much and it broke my heart.

i received some negative criticism, but i persisted and got a local job working for a AG services company driving a tender truck (a truck that tenders a field sprayer). it wasnt a terrible job but i got rained out, wet fields = no work, so i went on and did dump truck for the rest of that season. i enjoyed that work, but it was was seasonal and come november the work dried up. i got hired on by walton milk hauling with very little experience (about a year of mixed class A and class B). the owner personally trained me for 3 weeks and sent me on my own. im not here to trash his company. he did give me an excellent start and opportunity, and i did well there. the owner spent many months in the hospital and he is beyond being able to work as a driver with his own company, his health is poor and his girlfriend runs the company. he's been downsizing gradually and i felt it was time for a different opportunity i gave him 6-1/2 years of excellent and reliable service in exchange for his training and giving me the chance.

i suggest there should be an opportunity for anyone that wants it in this industry. trucking is a great industry and i love driving, i actually have some fun doing it. i enjoy grabbing gears, shifting and timing everything perfectly so by the time i reach that stop sign i just barely use the brakes to bring it to a stop (using the jake to do 90% of the work). i like the challenge of my new route, the route is fairly simple but some of the driveways are not very easy. one the biggest challenges a milk truck driver faces is not driving straight down the road, it's backing up. there should be some feeling of accomplishment of doing this job well.

this occupation can be a trial by fire, but it's rewarding if you give it honest effort. the last thing we want is illegal immigrants granted CDLs and taking this away from us because too many of us are lazy, unmotivated, or unwilling to do it. anyone gets sick of uncompensated time of the job, i strongly suggest finding a job with hourly pay and overtime. it's the best way to run. you get paid the same no matter what the day brings. i have spent time on the job and it not adding to my paycheck, im completely done doing that. my current situation pays me for ALL of my time 100% the same no matter what they have me doing.

 

the first couple of years driving i didnt make ALLOT, the first year was very rough. the last 3+ years have grossed 100K+ every year and i have been home daily. it's very possible.

 

ive been a farm pickup driver for over 6 years now, i enjoy it for the most part. bad weather can get interesting, the driveways that are already a challenge can become almost impossible if weather is at it's worst. one major perk about my new employer, they have a heavy wrecker for their own fleet, in house. it's a 1988 mack. they used to have a heavy wrecker division but got out of that part of the business due to insurance costs and difficulty staffing good tow truck operators. the truck sits on standby in the shop, it's a garage queen and it's actually in decent shape for it's age. if i get stuck, help is only a phone call away. 9 months out of the year farm pickup is a great job, if you like that type of work. i enjoy talking with the farmers, havent met a liberal democrat farmer yet...... and i live in NY, a state known as a toxic blue turd.

 

the trucks are also equipped with automatic tire chains. they deploy with the flip of a switch, i had never seen a system like that until i started working at maher.

 

if you've ever hauled milk on a rural road in the middle of winter, i think every milk hauler should buy them. it can get pretty nasty out on the back roads. i could easily see this system benefiting guys that run the mountain passes as well.