Should I go back to trucking? Should I be worried about recession?

If you've been out of it for more than a few years, you're going to be surprised. I was down for 12yrs and man are things different out here, and not for the better. Courtesy has all but disappeared, rules and regs have become so complicated, you need a college degree to understand them. The trucks have been choked to death with emissions control. But you can still get some fresh air and meet some good people(outside of the city that is). I never could work indoors, so here I am chugging along and happy to be doing it. There's a ton of work and just about everyone is hiring, so if you have the skills you can pretty much write your own ticket. Good luck and welcome back.

 

If you aren’t happy doing what you are doing life isn’t worth living. From the moment you slide out from under the covers you are taking a chance.

I agree with Tombstone69. Over the past say 15 years there have been a lot of changes. None for the better in my opinion but I adapt as best as possible on go.

 

There have been many changes, but it's nothing that I'd tell you to stay away from, especially if you need to keep working, burnt out on the office, and you already know what's in store. New drivers get a rude awakening. Not everything has changed. I think the HOS will probably be your biggest obstacle, I don't know how these drivers put up with that baloney today, and with everything electronic, the info goes right to the Pentagon. That will take some getting used to, depending on how long you've been out, be prepared to be treated like a new driver but trucking is still trucking, I'd say go for it. Recession or not, people still gonna want their strawberries in Colorado in March,,,,,

 

Tombestone69 is right. There is a deep and permanent erasing of what you knew in your time (And in mine etc) out there.

The trucks do not just choke on the emissions they sometimes cremate themselves. The modern systems required by Law are creating heats approaching or exceeding what the old Pyrometers did at the Manifold. If you did not idle a engine properly you are going to find yourself with a sick truck begging for a cleaning. IF you could idle at all. I hope you like cameras in your face. Monitoring software that creates a potential firing if you stomp the air a bit too hard because some lout cut you off badly. (Buy yourself a quality cam, go pro etc. this will sort things out really fast when something does come up)

Freighting has gotten pretty bad. In terms of abuse at the dock and appointments. The ELD you will be under does not help.

In the past I ran with McKesson hauling very high value loads which pretty much is reloaded with cardboard bales right back to memphis drop hook, keep going until you are out of hours. This kind of medicines and other medical devices is a load that has the BS and problems to nil. Just one. That would be operating as a Prey. There are predators who will kill you for whats in that trailer.

I would do it again in a heart beat. I just have a number of medical stuff to work on this year which unfortunately is going to be really painful and expensive. But I think if done right I can have a future again. As I am now I don't have one essentially. Im too much of a dinosaur. But we will see. Even if I did not ever get back on the big road I would be content anyway because much of the things you will encounter out there from your own company to the laws and so on it's getting pretty bad. They have erased all traces of the old Captain of the Ship; which was one of the cherished freedoms in trucking.

 

There are some good jobs only because these places literally can't find drivers, and the ones they have quit, and go into dispatching. There's a local outfit here in Colorado, Beco, it's called, they have a mail run from Salida to Denver, ( about 2.5 hours away)granted, the PO is no day at the beach, but offered $30/hour, automatics and no more than 8 hour turn. They had several drivers quit, and the owner literally went door to door, asking my neighbor, who no longer has his CDL, if he wanted a job. That blew me away, seemingly ideal trucking job, and can't find anyone. It's bad, and I see CCC trucks pulling Walmart trailers. Things are going to get a lot worse before they get better, if ever.

 

That's the other side of the problem. There are drivers who have turned in CDL's for a variety of very good reasons on their own. I have. Oh they begged me not to. But I did it. I would have to do everything all over again to get it back. Which really does not scare me because if you did it before it's easier the next time around.

We must have a really large number of excdl holders who have decided that the industry is so bad they don't feel a part of it or appreciated enough to continue to endure the abuses as a driver. I already know that the minute some pipsqueak foamhead in the office tells me to do something that is not going to happen for any number of legal, lawful or other reasons there is already going to be a yelling, a scene and maybe a firing. As a professional I require the office to be as good. Meaning yes is yes and no means really no.

That's one of the reasons this industry has made it this far. Too many newbies are afraid to say no and protect their CDL's which is now being reflected in the recent postings of newbies too scared to do anything and asking about this or that. Would they get fired. Or something else. For doing things that is just part of trucking. If companies have eliminated newbies for what I consider to be no reasons at all, then absolutely they deserve to suffer to find good drivers and eventually implode and go out of business. No tears on my end.

Especially if Camel Inc Express offers me .35 a mile for my first hire. I would go home. It would be a insult on several levels.

 

Yes

 

Yeah, and newbies are wondering how to shift a truck, that's the absolute LEAST of a drivers concerns today.

 

I just bought a truck. What recession?

I’ve made worse mistakes in life. But you can’t let fear control your life. Otherwise, you might as well stay in the cubicle. And pray no one else in the office goes postal.