As a potential new O/O leaving a 9-5 in curious to know the pros and cons from those who have left the 9-5 to become a trucker and if you would ever go back to a 9-5 after having made the change?
Trucking vs 9-5 pros and cons
Discussion in 'Ask An Owner Operator' started by Deadendcruiser1, Mar 5, 2021.
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Pros-
No need to interact with people beyond a very basic level.
No boss breathing down my neck.
No need to fear saying hello to someone will get me slapped with a sexisim charge (yes this happens).
If you get to leave the main roads you see a lot of pretty country.
Little need to pay for rent if your smart.
You get to avoid the worst of the current politics and wrong think charges flying for things you said 50 years ago when the mindset or meaning was diffrent.
Extremely stable job market with little/no chance you cant find work.
Tons of freedom in comparison to some jobs
Dont need a multi million dollar degree to make good money.
Cons.
Healthy food is hard to find and expensive as all hell.
Health tends to take a huge hit.
Easy to get fat.
High stress
High risk
Easy to lose everything
Lack of family time
Hard to go back to normal jobs
Most people consider you as literally less then an animal and activily hate your guts.
Most people consider you as being stupid and/or dangerious to society as a whole.
Big brother always watching.
Lack of handy bathrooms leads to some aquard moments eventually.
Breakdowns where you get stuck in the cold.
Exposure to stupidly dangerious areas of citys with all THAT comes with
Lots of bordom
Life can pass you by
Easy to become bitter
Honestly I wouldn't go back to a 9-5 myself...
but i also dispise people in general and need a job with a little interaction with humans as posible for my own comfort. YMMV thoughNorthern Nomad, Dino soar, bzinger and 1 other person Thank this. -
However everyone’s situation is different. Let me ask you, how old are you? Do you have kids for whom you want to be a regular presence in their lives? Those types of questions are some of the most important in my mind when considering such a career shift into trucking. If that was the case then perhaps you might choose to go into LTL where you will have more home time and make sometimes more than what some owner operators make; plus have benefits.
If on the other hand you are single or retiring and you can afford to leave it all to go be on the road for 3-6 months at a time and your goal is to pile up cash then that may call for a different aproach. Then maybe you can become like some tanker drivers and go gross 300K. Very hard to do though.
Weighing the pros and cons, at least in my mind, depends highly on what you’re goals are. What are you trying to achieve? What are your goals? If you can share that then perhaps there are some old timers here who can shed some wisdom. I would certainly share my two cents.
BTW go watch “The Asian Mai Show” on YouTube. The guy interviews many different people in trucking. Could be very informative as far as choosing what trucking lane to get into.Dino soar, bzinger and Deadendcruiser1 Thank this. -
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