Would it be worth it? Would anybody be interested in someone like me?

I never said I was leaving teaching, though it does cross my mind, most people assume teachers are all paid like those who teach in the suburbs of major cities which is simply not the case. I assure you most everyone on this site would not trade their paycheck for mine, small rural districts make it hard to stay in teaching, which is why I never have been able to take a summer off and drive a school bus route and work on the family farm (though the last is really more of a passion/family obligation than an income source).

 

I did not say you did. I am just saying, get the security of your pension.

 

That sounds like a good idea then. I will look into it over the next couple months.

 

You could try temp. agencies but, I would think they will be mostly a waste of time. Temp. agency for trucking have just become head hunters for businesses that need truck drivers but don't have the slightest clue how to hire one or manage one. This is especially true in rural areas.

When I was in school a few teachers drove construction jobs in the summer. Dump truck mostly. The school janitor even had an excavation business with several dump trucks. They were some sweet equipment.

The ag. mech teacher ran a wheat harvesting business in Montana. He used to brag how he make $100 an hour running his combine. He had his own combines and trucks. Unfortunately, the model for running such a business has changed; Most of the harvesting is done by corporate processors and they pay high school kids to run combines for $12 a hour.

A few years ago I was working for one of those corporate processors and a couple of the drivers were from the school system. One bus maintenance supervisor, one bus driver, but no teachers. That doesn't mean their couldn't be. They would have hired a teacher in a second.

I think there is room for a teacher out here driving in the summer. I just think you have to try other avenues then a temp. agency to get behind the wheel.

 

This is very true, most in the fields are not even steering wheel holders anymore as it is all GPS so why would larger farms bother with paying for someone with any talent to make a straight row. For what its worth we still farm without all that stuff, mostly because it doesnt pay for itself unless you are large.

I will take my time to figure out what to do, I did not even know there were temp agencies as I am just getting serious about it, although I have been looking into driving for a number of years now.

 

Some jobs might have you have to keep a log when you are working also, and this would include any hours you work on 2nd jobs during the week and days.

 

In what part of the country are you living? If you're in an agricultural area look for harvest work.

 

Harvest work is on our own farm, I live outside Bloomington Illinois a few miles.

 

During the summer I dont work any hourly jobs beyond doing Dr. Ed which I want to get away from. I make my own schedule on our small business and that I could hire out if I wanted and could find someone to cover it so I could be on the road.

 

Yes temp. agencies do exist. However, most of the time the work they offer is not often temporary in the sense you are looking for, seasonal. In most cases temp. agencies are just screening applicants for a permanent job offered by an employer that can't manage drivers or keep meat in the seat.

Let me explain a little further. Trucking has changed over the years. At one time desk jockeys (office management) had some clue as to what trucking entailed. Most were drivers either moving up in the ranks of a company or just moving off the road. Nowadays, you are likely to find most in the office never drove anything larger then a Honda Civic and really have no idea what the job entails at all. It sounds a simple enough problem to solve but it isn't. Who often gets put in the job of managing truckers and shipments is often someone to incompetent to function in any other aspect of the business so they put them in charge of shipping and the truck drivers. That should be simple enough? Right?

More often then not, these people burn through drivers like toilet paper, and since they often have connections to the business in other ways, they seldom get called out on their BS. This is where the temp. hiring agency comes in. After a driver flees a bad employment situation, the same fool that drove the driver out the door, has little or no skills in evaluating a new driver. The call the temp. agency and rely on their screening services to provide fresh meat for the seat.

The big problem with this situation is not only do you have two bosses, but neither one knows a thing about trucking.