Re: Yeppers - perhaps I need a new career.

Posted by trucker40 on July 10, 2009 at 20:59:59 from (69.149.222.223):

In Reply to: Yeppers - perhaps I need a new career. posted by Gougar on July 10, 2009 at 06:54:45:

If you can get your CDL the best jobs are union jobs.You will need experience to get a union job,maybe 3 years.Or buy your own truck,but now is not a good time.I hauled a couple of loads this week and in the Kansas City area where I was it seems like there is a lot less trucks than 3 years ago when I drove.Plus I saw a couple of places with a bunch of dry boxes parked,weeds growing up so you know they havent moved in a while.I think there will always be driving jobs available,its just what do you want to put up with?My suggestion would be to look for a smaller company if you can find one that will take you and let you run the same route for a while.Thats what I did years ago.Just be careful,leave a lot of distance between you and everybody for a while,dont get in a big hurry,and you probably can do well.If you can get a run to the same place for a couple of months in a smaller city somewhere to get used to driving and backing up and such would be good.I went from Missouri to Wichita,Ks for 6 months,and Iowa,and Indiana,to places that werent too bad to back in at.
The main thing is try not to have a bunch of wrecks in your first year or 2.That will give you a bad reputation and keep you from getting a better job.
Now some people will say its not true,but I know that union pay is almost double what some over the road companies pay.Plus they have better benefits usually.It is kind of hard to get a union job,but with a good clean driving record you can.I made more take home pay after taxes when I worked for a union company,and had good medical,dental,and credit union,payroll savings,bought stock,than when I owned my own truck.
Thats the best you can probably get,but you can make lots of money if you own the truck pulling oversize,or pulling tankers,reefers,or something for a company that pays good.You need a good accountant so you can hang onto some,but the taxes are outrageous.Plus the price of repairs,everything is higher all the time,so now its a good idea to work for somebody rather than own your own.It costs a lot to travel over the road.Waiting to load and unload,if you arent getting paid to set there,can hurt you bad if you wait everywhere you go in a week.Plus its not an easy job.Driving the truck is the easiest part of the job.The waiting,the stress,the stuff you have to put up with,the cops,the DOT,the traffic,the people at docks,other truck drivers,its just not a job everybody can do.I would say dont go to a school if you can avoid it,because beginning pay is not that good,then you have to pay them back for the school.By the time you do that you might as well go try and get a job at McDonalds or somewhere that you can be home if your kids are small.Its hard on your wife too,but cell phones help on that now days.If you need to be involved in a decision or something you can set a time where you can pull in somewhere and talk to your wife,where in the old days you had to find a pay phone and it cost a fortune to talk 3 minutes.What I did to drive was went with one driver for a week,then another one,then back to the first one,then 2 weeks straight with an old driver,in an ice storm,and by then I was ready to drive on my own.You must have somebody teach you about mountains because they can and do kill people driving trucks.They arent what they were in the past with the better trucks,jake brakes,tires,suspension,and things of modern trucks now,but they can still kill you if you dont know what you are doing.That and driving along and hitting black ice,big snow drifts,or pushing into storms like a hurricane or tornado can kill you or hurt you and others.A dispacher probably has not heard the weather report and if you take that good paying load to Florida you better look at the weather channel first this time of year because you dont want to be there in a hurricane.I found that out with hurricane Andrew years back.You dont get a lot of sleep if you want to make money.You work hard dont let them lie to you either.Its not maybe a real bad job,but you need to know when to say no.At least until you know your limits and have enough experience to know when to quit.Every load is not any more important than your life.If you try and get one there ASAP and roll it over in the median because you go to sleep behind the wheel,well it will be a day or 2 before they get that load if ever.If you sleep 2 or 4 or 8 hours and keep the truck upright and deliver the load they will be happy to see you,whether or not they say so.I have had to deliver a load that somebody wrecked,or even had to go to a plant and get another load to cover the one that somebody ruined in a wreck to satisfy a customer more than once.If the first driver had slept when he got sleepy it wouldnt have happened.You can go a very long ways in a good day,sleep 8 hours and go again the next day you can go 1500 or more miles legally in that time period.If thats not good enough they need to put it on an airplane.Dont ever tell them that because next week they might just put it on an airplane,but no load is worth killing yourself or somebody else over.
You cant hardly eat a good meal at a truck stop without spending 10 dollars.There are lots of fast food places,but that stuff is hard on your heart if you eat it every day.Best is to try and get a job that gets you home every few days,maybe for a day.You can take some home cooked stuff,get a microwave and refrigerator,and if you can get home every 2 or 3 days you can stay healthier.Some times you can run so hard you dont have time to eat even that way,so then you just have to take time to relax and eat.Your dispacher is going to sleep at night and eat several meals a day so you should too,or look for another job.
I dont know there is a lot to driving a truck,I could write a bunch more about it.I think out of 20 people that actually get a CDL and drive for 2 years over the road,and go to driving school,its up to like 18 of them quit before 2 years is up.The reason is trucking companies have the opinion that drivers are a machine.They dont care if your kid is failing math and needs a little help from you,they want that load delivered.I wish I had a nickel for every time I heard on Thursday night after running all week,"do me a favor and run up to such and such 300 miles away and get that drop trailer and run it to such and such and deliver Monday Tuesday and Wednesday next week then I promise Ill run you by the house."You do all that and get home and arent there 2 hours and they are calling wanting you to go out again as soon as your log book will let you later on that night.Yeah then the same thing next week.Its a lot easier to take if you get union wages for your trouble than whatever they can get you to do it for.If you have to negotiate your pay go for all you can get.They operate by cutting each others throat anyway.They wont have much if any loyalty to you,so they deserve the same from you.Thats in most cases.There are good people that you might find everywhere you work.Its best to stick with them if you can,its just a little less stressful to work for some folks you actually like.

Replies:

• Re: Yeppers - perhaps I need a new career. cadet trooper 15:10:07 07/11/09 (0)

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