Any truck drivers around here?

[ienjoysnails]

Didn't go to college, no clue what i want to be when i grow up. I'm seeing truck drivers are getting harder to find and thought maybe i could find my niche. Looks like they make anywhere from 30k-100k a year which is plenty for me. Any truck drivers around here happy with their career choice? Anything i should know about truck driving besides the hookers, amphetamines, and long seat time? Should I go to a training school or do it on my own? What else???

I think i'd probably shoot for regional driving rather than over the road. In addition i'd buck up and get the hazmat certs and make myself a little more desirable.

Any info is greatly appreciated!

[O2VW1.8T]

My dad's been doing it for 15 years i believe and he wouldn't let me become one when i didn't know what to do either. Its long and hard, he does long haul and is gone for a month or more and home for a week. Sure it pays good but he just got a new truck and thats 130k and trailer was 50k. Forget that i would try and choose a different career.

[robr2]

Here's an article detailing the need for long haul truckers:

http://money.cnn.com/2012/07/24/news...jobs/index.htm

IMHO, a median pay of $39K isn't that great when you consider you have to pay for training yourself and then spend weeks on the road looking at the countryside through a windshield while giving up pretty much everything else in your life.

Note - I did see a long haul truck on the highway over the weekend that had a couple of nice bicycles mounted on a rack on the back of the cab. Looks like someone is at least trying to get some exercise in rather than eating greasy food at a truck stop or sitting in the cab waiting for the rest period to end.

[ienjoysnails]

Here's an article detailing the need for long haul truckers:

http://money.cnn.com/2012/07/24/news...jobs/index.htm

IMHO, a median pay of $39K isn't that great when you consider you have to pay for training yourself and then spend weeks on the road looking at the countryside through a windshield while giving up pretty much everything else in your life.

Note - I did see a long haul truck on the highway over the weekend that had a couple of nice bicycles mounted on a rack on the back of the cab. Looks like someone is at least trying to get some exercise in rather than eating greasy food at a truck stop or sitting in the cab waiting for the rest period to end.

I don't have much in my life to give up. Looks like training is $1800-6000 depending. It's a lot but then again many college grads have waay more debt in student loans but make similar pay. Idk. I'm definitely health conscious though so i'd bring along my bikes and running shoes and a easily assembled squat rack that doubles as a bench rack and lots of weights Thanks for the article!

[484]

My understanding is that you can't really start out regional. You'll probably have to do over-the-road for a few years first whether you want to or not.

My uncle did the training school, then started with CRST doing OTR, then worked for several local/regional runs where he was home weekly if not daily, this went on for about 10 years. Then he got laid off from 3 places in a row (one downsizing, two totally shutting down and liquidating), and now drives a bus full time transporting old people to and from their dialysis for $14 an hour. Likes it way better than he ever liked trucking despite the lack of money.

My brother-in-law drives tour buses, after spending a decade as a black car/limo driver. Slightly more money than above, he loves it. Both of them are huge 'people people', though, so having interesting passengers makes the job for them.

[wonderboy!]

They always need truckers in northern Canada oil sands and Alaska

[dunhamjr]

he just got a new truck and thats 130k and trailer was 50k.

so what your saying is that a new rig cost less then a college education?

[dunhamjr]

Here's an article detailing the need for long haul truckers:

http://money.cnn.com/2012/07/24/news...jobs/index.htm

IMHO, a median pay of $39K isn't that great when you consider you have to pay for training yourself and then spend weeks on the road looking at the countryside through a windshield while giving up pretty much everything else in your life.

Note - I did see a long haul truck on the highway over the weekend that had a couple of nice bicycles mounted on a rack on the back of the cab. Looks like someone is at least trying to get some exercise in rather than eating greasy food at a truck stop or sitting in the cab waiting for the rest period to end.

while $40k ain't great everywhere. its pretty decent some places.

and schooling with all the certs pre-hazmat is only about $4k.

way less then trade school and most all 2yr 'degrees'
and way WAY less then all 4yr bachelor programs.

[haunted reality]

Go here, it's the trucker's board, you can get lots of trucking advice there:
http://www.thetruckersreport.com/truckingindustryforum/

[leaftye]

They always need truckers in northern Canada oil sands and Alaska

I was going to mention this, along with needing a squeaky clean criminal record for Canada. No DUI's ever either.

[hughesderrick48]

Hello ienjoysnails. That's a great job. I recommend you to take training in school. Because after you finish that training, you will be more competitive when you are applying for the job that you want.

[WD-40]

Have you seen the documentary "Big Rig"?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Rig_(film)

[CruznMalibu]

http://www.thetrucker.com/

http://www.overdriveonline.com/

http://www.etrucker.com/

[Diesel_Mann]

Another option is checking with a grain elevator and hauling for them. I drove a truck belonging to a farmer leased to an elevator for six months. If you bust your äss you can make okay money (I would have pulled in about 50k a year.) If you go this route, look for a place big enough that you have more to haul than just grain, as during harvest season you can spend a lot of time sitting waiting to dump. For example, a normal day for me was dump corn at processing plant, go down road, pick up a load of coal, drive 50 miles to power plant, drive back to elevator, another load of corn, back to processor, if I was lucky a load of rock or fertilizer, haul back to elevator, so on so forth. Like I said, I did work very hard, and didn't see my wife but a few hours in the evening. If you're single, go for it. If nothing else, you'll see how bad it sucks and decide to get a real job!