OT Trucker as 2nd career....

PeteTheRookie · Feb 23, 2011

My current biz/career as a PC software consultant has me totally burnt out. Been doing it since "87 and have really wanted out since "01.
The one thing I really enjoy is driving. And I mean long distance driving. When we relocated from NY to SC after 9/11 I used to drive back and forth every week to work. Trip was 757 miles from my house to my mother"s on Long Island. I used to do it straight with only one stop for gas and restroom, 10-11 hrs. Record was 10:15. Sometimes longer due to weather or traffic. Now that I live in ME I regularly drive 235 miles to Stamford CT, or 275 to NYC to work a couple of days.

Thing is you hear so many stories about how bad it is to be a trucker these days. How btw fuel, insurance, taxes you can not make a decent $.

So do I go and get my CDL thru a school or do I go reply to one of these large national trucking firms ads to train and drive for them?

Any input/feedback will be greatly appreciated.
Tks
Pete

jddriver · Feb 23, 2011

BE A COMPANY DRIVER FIRST>The caps are intended to get your attention> I have been doing this over 30years get with a company that will train you like ROEHL It aint all fun and games and the rules are changin

El Toro · Feb 23, 2011

A trucking company may like to have you since you know that area very well. Hal

caterpillar guy · Feb 23, 2011

I would run as fast as I could from the idea. The rules are changing to the point it is no fun anymore.
I have never driven the company truck per say. I have driven for owner operators, Been leased to different companies, and now am a motor carrier(own authority). Another words I find my own loads load them deliver them and have to collect my money. In 8 years I have done fairly well, not cutting a fat hog,but paying the bills.
If you would like to talk more get a hold of me here. [email protected]

kito169 · Feb 23, 2011

Check with a company that manufactures and hauls its own product. Some of those have a training program, some don't. With a company that manufactures and hauls their own product you will most likely make more money and have more home time. I know because I was an owner / operator for a few years and drove for a company that hauled its own product for 13 years. I did much better working for the company. As an owner operator I spent too much of my time at home making sure the truck was ready to go out again, instead of with my family.

ericlb · Feb 23, 2011

as others have said trucking is on the bottom of the list, i just sold my truck this weekend after 30 years in the business, there just isnt any money in it anymore, [ you may make some as a company driver] if you buy a truck it has to be no more than 2 or 3 years old, or shippers wont even mess with you, which means at about 3 years you could be bumping on engine overhaul time if its a long distance hauler, last year a rebuilt engine by a cat dealer with a warranty cost 19,000 dollars, so its a big expence, then thers mantenence a oil change will run around 300 bucks, tires and parts are a constant expence, then there is the insurance which is a huge cost, then theres fuel, right now diesel is 3.89 a gallon here and you'll be buying several hundred gallons every couple of days, then theres the permits and other fees, and then finaly theses the dot, most of who are not real well trained and will absolutly find something to write you tickets for every time they stop you, by the time you get all done and everything paid there will be very little money left for you, and your the one doing all the work, if your a company driver you will be gone 3 to 6 weeks at a time maybe even longer without home time, maybe fine for a single guy, but if your married, the mrs will get real tired of being lonely and having you gone and may wind up gone herself, then theres the east coast traffic and railroad bridges, its crowded in a car, its a nightmare in a 80 foot rig , not to mention having to dock in a dock designed for a model t ford at the turn of the last century, then theres the weather... when you go to deliver especially if your hauling food stuff for a grocery store chain you'll meet the worst people out there some wont even let you use their restroom, as they look down their mimimum wage noses at you like your an insect, still want to do it??

PeteTheRookie · Feb 23, 2011

jddriver,

Tks for the advice.
I was not going to go out and buy/lease a rig without trying to drive/work 1st for a firm.
Not interested in owning anything at this point.
Need to get experience first.

Quite possible that I will find driving stinks and wind up back in the computer biz.

My question was do I pay to go to a school and get a CDL myself and make more money and be less "owned" then if I go to a firm that trains me and I get my CDL with them and they "own" me via a contract?

The rules are changing for everything.

Used to be you could go to a client. They would tell you what they wanted to be able to do with their PC. You would come up with a solution, give them a estimate. You got enough OK, lets do it reply"s to make a good living.

Now due to Sarbane"s Oaxley, and now this latest government financial regulations crap you need to do all sorts of studies, paperwork, on other BS to even get to bid on a job.

Mgr"s no longer have any balls or authority to do anything.On top of that all the easy work is gone as PC software has come a long way and their are legions of young kids in the biz who work for next to nothing because they do not know better.

Pete

Anonymous-0 · Feb 23, 2011

LOVE driving Myself .the open road beckens FREEDOM ./ last week spoke with a 63 yr old driver contemplating retirement after getting caught by his tattletale for the 2nd time in 3 yrs for going 75mph..HE WAS FIRED ... they started slip seating / never same truck .. btw ,, your time and distance traveled indicates average speed of nearly 75 mph,,.lotsa rules out there that rules freedom is not free ...

PeteTheRookie · Feb 23, 2011

J,
yea, my sc to ny drives I did mostly at nite, start at 3pm so I could see kids when they got home from school. Lots of time spent tailing semi for radar and aero cover. Needed to keep the trip to 10-11 hrs. If it went to 12-13 got too tired.

The Camry I was driving got 35-36 MPG at that speed to as long as you kept the vacuum up.

Image with all the new driving rules 12 hr trips are illegal? For me personally 10 hrs was good. After that I would get tired.

I do a lot of eco-driving these days. Goal is to obtain highest MPG possible. On trip this summer I made it down from Maine to downtown NYC, commuted back forth to NJ 2 nites and before I left NYC to go home i was avg 39.3 MPG. Then the last leg home was against a strong head wind (NE storm) and mpg dropped below 35.

2000 Camry has a 650 mile range. 35+ mpg x 18.5 gallon tank.

Pete

Ultradog MN · Feb 23, 2011

I did it for a couple of years back in the early 80s. It was the worst job I ever had. Made good money but when you figure out how many hours you have in it...
Never home. Bad food.
Trucking was the ONLY job I was ever fired from.
And I was fired twice!
I still keep my class A license up. Dunno why.
I would never go back to trucking again.

Anonymous-0 · Feb 23, 2011

I quit driving in 1984. Deregulation was the last straw for me. When I started in 1971 I hauled livestock in the Midwest. Never knew what a logbook was and very rarely was stopped for anything. I never drove to the East Coast. Never heard a good story about EC driving. Graduated to flatbed and hated the down time waiting for loads. Went back to livestock for the last four years 80 - 84.

Called up the community college about OTR driving school a few years ago just to see what they'd say about my experience. "Everything's different now days" was the answer. They questioned my ability to drive. HA! But refused to let me demonstrate my driving ability.

That's when I told the youngster about what driving really is! No AC, no power steering, no cruise control, no air ride anything. No navigation contraptions, no cell phone.

Anonymous-0 · Feb 23, 2011

if you get tire after 12 hrs. in a car in one trip, your going to past out in a truck in 6 hrs after a 3 week trip.

tomNE · Feb 23, 2011

Its a tuff business that's getting tuffer everyday. i retired after 20yrs. As far as going back to it, even part time; no thanks.
Just remember in the trucking business, your guilty until proven innocent in every aspect!

PeteTheRookie · Feb 23, 2011

rustednuts,

my schedule back then was not just drive 12 hrs and sleep the next day!
It was more like this.
Monday leave 3pm, drive up to ny, arrive 2-3am.
get up at 7-8am, drive to work in NYC and work all day, repeat that for 3 days. Then after working at a desk all day on thursday nite leave NYC at 7-8pm and drive home to SC over nite.
Wife worked Friday thru Monday 10 hr days and I was left to take care of 3 kids under 12.
Repeated that every week for months on end.

To me driving more then 10 hrs at a time is not a great idea. What are the current regulations for drive times? How many hrs drive, how many hrs "rest" and how many hrs/miles a week are you allowed to drive legally, and in reality?
tks
Pete

Anonymous-0 · Feb 23, 2011

don't know nowdays haven't driven since 95 used to drive cement truck,dump, low boy, home every day, payed by the hr. no log book, drove till we was done, 10, 12' 14, hrs. whatever, tryed otr hated it. I DON"T MISS IT.

PeteTheRookie · Feb 23, 2011

Whenever you talk to anybody who has done anything too long, most say that come to hate whatever it is they do. For me it is too long at a desk hacking away at software or hardware issues.

So if the trucking biz has gotten so bad, who is driving the trucks?

I hear you about the guilty until proven innocent part. Too many jurisdictions in need of writing revenue tickets to make up for tax revenue shortfalls IMHO.

Oh well, probably stuck where I am!
Stinks because I really do love to drive.

I may just sign up for the 10 week part time course and get my CDL on my own without signing up with a firm.

Or maybe I could retrain in computers and do the Cisco Certified WAN specialists route. They spend most of their time in fileserver/communications rooms configuring the internet!

Tks everyone for the input.
Best I get back to hacking at software for now.

Pete

730d se · Feb 23, 2011

I can relate to the "burn out" thing. I love driving, I put about 30,000 miles a year on cars for many years.
I bought a truck about 10 years ago and had a ball hauling tractors and stuff. I did it for 5 years until I came to my senses.

Let me be clear: it is not and never will be fun like it once was.
There are so many traps and tangles that the stress will wear you down faster than the long hours bouncing over the road, dodging idiots that appear to be blind.
If you have an accident, your life as you know know it will never be the same. If it is your fault, you will lose most of what you have. You are not smarter than the brigade of trial lawyers that are just waiting to find that one log book entry that you failed to enter or "falsified". Or that one little wire that has insulation worn off.
Traffic is a nightmare in most larger cites due to poor planning, poor road conditions, and bad drivers.
Find another way to earn a living.

rrlund · Feb 23, 2011

I went and got the book and studied it,then took the written tests. Drove my brothers truck for a while with a TIP (temporary instructional permit),then used it to take the road test.
The only thing I'd warn about is the idiot drivers in traffic. I was only hauling gravel,but when the rush hour traffic picked up,I'd park it. Couldn't take the stress.

Anonymous-0 · Feb 23, 2011

Got that right! had a fender bender one time,other guys fault, eye witness no problem right? 3 month later they said it was my fault this was with best company I ever drove for.

jay-eye-see · Feb 23, 2011

That last comment about the grocery store chain brought back bad memories of the former Eagle Foods out of Milan, IL. By far the most miserable bunch I ever delievered to.

Goose · Feb 23, 2011

I assume you envision yourself rolling serenely down an big, wide Interstate through georgous country.

I've never driven an 18 wheeler here in the states, but I drove a Marine Corps semi on Taiwan for a couple of weeks once. It was a freakin' nightmare. All two lane roads at the time. You'd just get rolling good and some old papa-san with an ox cart would pull out right in front of you, and if you splattered him it was your butt and he knew it. In fact, he was probably hoping you would splatter him so you could support him the rest of his days.

After experiencing that, I don't even want to think about driving an 18 wheeler in rush hour traffic anywhere here in the states.

ldj · Feb 23, 2011

Pete,
You working all day and THEN starting on a 10-11 hr trip is not safe. You have been up nearly 24 hr. In trucking you have an accident after being up that long, they will hang you. It is your responsibility to get proper rest. Working all day before your trip IS NOT proper rest.

showcrop · Feb 23, 2011

To answer your question about who is driving the trucks, I would say that there are two major categories. First, those who got in when things were a lot better and have strong RELATIONSHIPS that enable them to keep doing it until retirement, because they don't have a better alternative. Second, Those who have no other skills or experience to offer that is useful in this economy. I had a dump truck for two years after selling a business that I owned. I enjoyed it, but it did, as others have said take too much time. Then fuel went way up and construction evaporated, so I sold it and went back to what I had done before.

old · Feb 23, 2011

Getting into trucking on the ground floor like you want to do is very very hard and you can only get the poor jobs till you have a few years under your belt. Plus driving is hard on the body and extra hard on the back. Yep BTDT and have over 1.5 million miles under my belt. That said yes it can be very enjoyable but the make it now days you have to know how to do the book and how to keep no one book but 2 or 3 books since if you drive by what the law says you can not even come close to keeping up with the cost of living. Back when I was still on the road you could drive 510 miles or 10.5 hours and then you had to take 8 hours off. I still have my Class A CDL

PeteTheRookie · Feb 23, 2011

ldj,
yeah, no kidding it was not safe. at the time i did not have choice. we did what we did to survive post 9/11. We had to sell our house in ny and move to SC as my biz was non existent.

"The grass is always greener on the other side."

Time to play lotto.

Pete

Old Roy · Feb 23, 2011

Well in my driving experience It is easy to point out all the idiots that can drive better than a CDL licensed driver and most of them drive 3 mile to the store in an Escort, but if ya get in their way they will definitely tell you how bad you are doing. and not necessarily verbal.

(There would be less of these kind of people if the State required you drive one for a month before ya get a license.)

Ya don't want to end up in the wrong side of town certain times of the day when ya miss your turn off. (some places easily done and nowhere to turn)

Rush hour around cities are the worst lasting up to 3 hours.

When I was a Kid growing up in farm land all I wanted to do was drive a truck. Last 10 years of having to I wished I never saw the inside of one.

Burnt out to the point I wasn't safe to be on the road, but age defied me for other challenges.

I was lucky God helped me through it .

Took a trip last year on an Interstate trucks will blow ya off the road now, Can't really blame the driver he is just tired of watching his kids grow up on pictures on his visor.

Some companies that my nephew worked for at the time his Mother was on her death bed ( I helped him with this trip.)

We had a load to Chicago, got it delivered next load every one was sitting on because of the pay was 3 Hum Vees to NJ we sat for 2 days waiting fopr something closer home so he could reload at the main terminal in Pitts. other than that we would have been going up to Vermont.

He did get a split between Wheeling and Baltimore.

Missed the drop off time in wheeling for Fri evening would have been another 2 day layover sitting in their parking lot . but we live 2 hours away. He delivered it Monday but then he left late Sunday night .

Then ya got the creeper cops and the paper boys wanting to give those free inspections.

Only way to do it -- No kids-- Wife drive as a team with ya -- and go on a lifelong vacation.

There are some good points --- I just can't think of any off hand .

don t-9n180179 · Feb 23, 2011

I've been doing mainframe computers since Feb, 1977. I've been burned out since 2002 (new clueless boss), but have to work til 2016.

As my dad lovingly told me(humor to follow):
Your in a controlled environment, sitting on your a$$ pushing buttons all day. That aint work.
He was a meat cutter for 30+ years.

Thing is...he pushed me into puters cuz I was going to drive a truck for a living. I thank god each day I walk in the door at work that I listened to him. Clueless boss and all.

Just remember....the grass usually don't stay green once your on the other side of the fence.

Good luck to ya.....don t. .....

trucker 40 · Feb 23, 2011

You better stay where you are.Being a trucker is a hard job.I did it for 15 years.You are in all kinds of weather,you are always late,you have to work lots of hours.Hours that if you figured you got minimum wage for those hours,you would be rich.Driving a truck you don't get half of minimum wage if you figure all the hours.Then you have a lot of stress trying to get through the big cities,toll roads,flat tires,breakdowns.The easiest part about the job is driving.If you could just drive it wouldn't be bad.Its all of the other stuff that's no fun.
Plus if you do your paperwork right you better have a real good job,that gets good pay per mile,or you wont make any money going by the hours you can work legally.Its just a fact.
The best thing for you to do is find a trucker some where that will take you with him and show you how to drive.Then take a vacation from your job and spend a couple of weeks trying to drive a truck.Its nothing like driving a car or even a ton truck pulling a trailer is child's play compared to driving a fully loaded 18 wheeler up and down mountains and through cities.

Vito · Feb 23, 2011

If you can'y drive a car for more than 10 hours you better rethink your plan.Truck will beat the crap out of you and as a company driver,newbie,you will probably have to drive as a team.On the east coast that equates to little or no sleep on your off hours.They don't stay in hotels to often.Used to own 5 rigs and would never do it again.

Vito

Rick(MN) · Feb 23, 2011

Pete....I'm in my 35th year in this business and I've got to tell you, most all of what has been said is true. That said, there is one big fact that has been overlooked. IT IS WHAT YOU MAKE OF IT for the most part. If you make the best of each situation and look for better opportunities as you go along its really not all that bad. Truthfully, its not nearly as nad of a lifestyle as it was 20-30 years ago. Companies simply cant push you like they did years ago due to all the electronic tracking. Trucks are literally hundreds of times more comfortable than they were years ago. I have seldom been sorry I got into this business and actually dread the day I cant do it anymore. I've always made a good living and never had to look for a job, but I've always kept up on the regulations and kept myself fairly legal for the most part. It isnt easy by any means, but can be done.

36 Coupe · Feb 24, 2011

DONT DO IT

Owen Aaland · Feb 25, 2011

The basic hours rules for over the road drivers is 11 hours driving out of 14 hours on duty. That must be followed by 10 hours off duty with 8 of those hours in the sleeper. After 70 hours driving in either 7 or 8 days you must be off duty for 34 hours.

The biggest hurdle to getting on with an over the road company is most are not hiring any drivers that do not have at least 2 years recent over the road experience.

OT Trucker as 2nd career....

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