What does R3V know aBOut TrUCKdrIvING?

[e30e]

I drive 12-15 hours to get my work site; it gets tiring and I'm not rowing gears or towing anything. I have my class a and it's obnoxious that California has there own cdl laws. They have weight stations everywhere and it hinders getting anything done or getting anywhere.

Truck driving sucks!

[xxx-Lost-Soul-xxx]

I drive 12-15 hours to get my work site; it gets tiring and I'm not rowing gears or towing anything. I have my class a and it's obnoxious that California has there own cdl laws. They have weight stations everywhere and it hinders getting anything done or getting anywhere.

Truck driving sucks!

I just sent in Another Application with UP today. Tucson service unit.
I doubt it will get anywhere.

:-|

[e30e]

I just sent in Another Application with UP today. Tucson service unit.
I doubt it will get anywhere.

:-|

Have you thought about trade schools? One of my professors was big into committees that were women in the work force, I know she was in charge of an organization that was about women in agriculture.

If the rail road doesn't work out for me,
I want to get into underwater welding.

[mrsleeve]

Unless you can get on with a local stable hauler that will put you at home most every night you will hate your life.

If you own your own truck and are getting your loads from broker you will be luck to cover your costs anymore. As nearly every one shipping goods is looking for the the cheapest haul. They dont care that fuel is 4 bucks a gallon and you have family too feed and will only be profiting 12 cents a mile on the load, the middle men suck up all the margin at the brokerage houses.

As mentioned its a hard lonely life, its not what it used to be to say the least. Lots of guys I grew up with fathers were drivers many Owner Operators as well, and all have either moved on to other careers, or sold the trucks and hired on with decent paying local haul outfits (very hard to come by in many cases).

The teamster has always been a job that carried a certain stigma with it, but you used to make a fair to a great living doing it, now thats not so much the case anymore, I am not saying you cant make a living at it, but putting 6 figures into your personal account is a very very very rare thing for the OTR driver anymore.

My advice if you go this route, is once you get your CDL you move North Dakota, or PA, WV, or TX, AR and try and hire on as a water or sand hauler for the oil/gas fields. You will make shit hourly for the 1st year or so, but you will be likely working a DOT maxed log book every week. In PA about a year ago they were giving hauler jobs anyone with a heart beat and CDL, even if you had just got out of school.

[Npulver]

Get your CDL and move out to North dakota temporarily, currently frack drivers are making 80k+ a year currently (hauling water or waste water)

[mrsleeve]

^

Or Oil to the rail head shipping terminals

[SmokeE30]

This is true the natural gas industry is exoding in Pennsylvania and paying very well. Truck driving is something they even hire local people for( most people in the industry are brought in from out of state which sucks) and yea they run trains of water trucks all day everyday at drill sites for fracking so it would pay the bills. But you would have to move and then try to get a job, and honestly where I was in the Williamsport area of central PA 90% of the locals hate you, not because of anything you did personally just because your part of such a assholeish industry ruining their state.

[CrusherCurtis]

http://www.eurotrucksimulator2.com/

This looks like tall fun. Do you have to shift?

[z31maniac]

Learn a trade or get an education.

That is, if you want make $50k+ a year much more easily.

Shit, if you know general handyman type stuff and can be reliable and do good work, you could make a killing. At least where I am, that type of thing is incredibly hard to find.

[xxx-Lost-Soul-xxx]

Learn a trade or get an education.

That is, if you want make $50k+ a year much more easily.

Shit, if you know general handyman type stuff and can be reliable and do good work, you could make a killing. At least where I am, that type of thing is incredibly hard to find.

You mean like Spend 25k get in debt to be a mechanic, and graduate then make $100k as a mechanic?

Been there done that. Every time i look at a Want add for a tech they want Master ASE with all current snap on diag crap ,and want to pay a whole $10 an hour. fuck that noise.

Flat rate can kiss my ass! Low pro tires too!

[5Toes]

I'm pretty much a professional trucker now, I have been playing Euro Truck simulator 2 for the past two weeks. This game is fucking awesome.

http://www.eurotrucksimulator2.com/

yes it is awesome!!

yes you shift

[ZekeTheSneak]

Just think, Gas station food. I am a longshoreman. I work with nasty truck drivers every day and they are absolutely disgusting people.

[z31maniac]

You mean like Spend 25k get in debt to be a mechanic, and graduate then make $100k as a mechanic?

Been there done that. Every time i look at a Want add for a tech they want Master ASE with all current snap on diag crap ,and want to pay a whole $10 an hour. fuck that noise.

Flat rate can kiss my ass! Low pro tires too!

Nope. Go learn a trade.

HVAC, Plumbing, Electrical. Or get a degree in a Math/Science field.

[kway]

Well from someone who's actually made a living at it...

Same as you, I had always been fascinated with big trucks since I was a kid. From the early to mid '00s I worked for Turner and initially got my CDL as another feather in my cap as a race mechanic. To have a crew member who can also drive the rig is a huge asset to any race team.

I wanted to drive full time for a little while to get my feet wet and get some real experience and miles under my belt without putting a million dollars worth of vehicles and equipment at risk. Not to mention take a break from the racing lifestyle which was burning me out by that point. I got a local job with a contractor for Gap/Old Navy, figured I'd do it for six months or so, then go back to racing.

Well, I ended up loving the hell out of it! Just being out on the road, on my own was fantastic. Other than deliveries which were kind of a pain in the ass, it didn't even feel like work. Those were only three days a week though, the other two days were usually line haul, point-to-point drop and hook stuff. Yeah, it had it's ups and downs like anything else. Yeah, the hours were odd and I worked long hours, but the days would just fly by.

I ended up staying there nearly three years, and probably would still be there now. Unfortunately, the Gap contract was coming up for renewal and I saw the writing on the wall that they weren't going to renew with my company, despite the management swearing up and down that everything was fine. I left and went back to spinning wrenches since I had a standing offer from the former Turner crew chief who had also gotten burned out and opened his own shop. Sure enough, a few months later I got word that they did lose the contract and I would have been out of a job.

Those three years were the break I needed; working on cars is fun again now, but I still miss trucking. If I wasn't married, I'd sell all my shit, sign on with one of the big companies and go out over the road in a second. Of course it's not for everyone, it takes a certain kind of person to really love it. But if you're that person, it can be a fun, satisfying way to earn a living.

There were drivers at my company who were there only because they had no other options, no education or marketable skill, so what else were they going to do? They were the ones who would bellyache when they'd get long runs, would complain all the time in general, and yeah I imagine it was a pretty shitty job for them. And it's not just for uneducated idiots like some here seem to be suggesting. Hell, we had one guy who was a former bank manager in his 50's, just got sick of dealing with the bullshit and had always wanted to try trucking, so he did. He was one of the "love it" guys.

I'd say do it now, while you're young, and YOU decide if you like it or not, never mind the naysayers. If you don't like it, whatever. At least you tried, just move on the next thing. Like you say though, it's a job you can take anywhere. At the very least, it's always good to have that option to fall back on.

[Stanley Rockafella]

I'd say do it now, while you're young, and YOU decide if you like it or not, never mind the naysayers. If you don't like it, whatever. At least you tried, just move on the next thing.

qft