THERE IS NO DRIVER SHORTAGE (?!)

After 30 plus years of driving I tell young people to go to tech school and be truck technician (mechanic) not a driver. The company I work for were giving Hire-On Sign on Bonuses for Truck & Trailer Techs a couple of months ago.

 

Easy there sparky. That's like saying "I went to college to study medicine" . What happened after that? Are you driving? I dunno, you never concluded the resume . Btw don't make assumptions. It shows your being a dk. I got trained by the company I still work for. So I got paid to get my CDL, and knew as long as I got it, I'd have a job

 

After i gradeated 6th grade, i decided to either be a double naught spy or a brain surgeon.

 

Yes, sadly "the trash" has come to dominate the field these days. Nearly 40 years ago, I was a college dropout; had trouble concentrating and completing tasks, and wanted to GO PLACES. Tried owning a taxi for a couple of years, but felt constrained by just going from ghetto A to ghetto B every day. As a kid, we'd lived in Colorado, and man, I wanted to experience the open road! So, I got my CDL and drove my ### off.

Eventually, I started looking at trucking in a more scientific way; developing worksheets to estimate axle loads using a calculator and simple algebra. I found that I'd make $.02/mile more for driving into Canada, so I started doing that. When they started running freight into Quebec and paid $.02 more on top, I took it. Using my high school French, I had little problem finding my way around, and even wrote a pamphlet for drivers entering Quebec that I heard my old company was still using as recently as 10 years ago. Finally, I realized I was wasting my talents on freight, and went back to school to get my engineering degree.

For somebody in the same situation as I was back then, I'd really suggest going to school to become an electrician. Trucking now is really the "last chance" job for people who just can't work with others.....