How to start working as work truck?

The guy with 2 one million mile tundras under his belt did it as a hotshot driver.

 

Look up “last mile delivery,” you might be able to basically help deliver Amazon packages for the next six weeks in a private vehicle for UPS, Amazon etc. I often see deliveries come in private vehicles this time of year, sometimes even appearing to trail behind a Sprinter or step van on the same route. Might be lucrative I have no idea, but a Tacoma would not be a terrible vehicle for it, whereas it would be a bad/expensive vehicle for some other types of car-for-hire work.

Don’t quit until you have a real job, that’s your easiest option. Do the truck stuff as a side hustle, apply for other jobs while you’re at work, and breathe easy because you’ve clearly decided to leave. Your employer is a bad employer if they want their ass kissed instead of their work done… don’t be a good employee for a bad employer, just do the minimum and ignore the haters while you make a smart exit, future you will be thankful.

 

That's just one single example vs the many many Hotshot drivers I load on a daily basis. Never seen the same one twice either.

Not saying a Tundra would be bad but it's far from a popular choice in that industry.

Edit: technically 2. Read that wrong

 

Working for someone else and with other people will always have its plus and minuses.
Working for yourself will too.
You gotta pick your poison.

I was I.T. for 30+ years. After a while the promise of a decent ( steady! ) paycheck with benefits was worth more
to me than doing something on my own, which yea I tried to do a few times. It takes a LOT of discipline to really
do well on your own.

Even with the prospect of $100 an hour back in the 90's I just couldn't get excited about going out and getting the work.

After 15 years with the same pretty large organization I got shoved out the door. I suspect insurance costs had a lot to do with it.
In order to get my severance check I had to train my 3 replacements LOL. They lasted about 6 months.

I think the only thing I'd change is saving more and dumping more into a ROTH 401K.

You'll find your way.... and you're probably young enough to fk-up royally and recover - so if you wanna roll those dice I say go for it.

 

personally, i think you're leaping before you're looking. every job sucks in some way. sometimes it's the work, sometimes it's the people.

if you've got anything more than 2 years experience in IT, you'll be making at least 4 times more than any hotshot driver, and likely with major benefits they don't get as well. hotshots also need to deal with lots of people, and not all of them will be happy to see them...

if you've ever wanted to be a cop, there's always bail bounty hunter, aka ' fugitive recovery agent' , or if you like making others miserable, serving legal papers to people as a process server...

there's also medical couriers
https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Jobs/Independent-Medical-Courier/--in-Illinois?layout=2pane_v2

but most of those are barely above minimum wage, and many are listed as contractors, meaning absolutely zero benefits at all.




conversely, personally speaking as someone that dropped a 14 year career to go into an entirely different field, it is possible, but absolutely requires some sort of personal learning/experience outside of that original career path.

i was an electrician for 14 years, and over that time, got to learn all of the other local companies, their crews, mannerisms, and the bosses as well. i was well certified, and had enough experience i could've shifted to another company relatively easy, but just had enough of the position i was in, being the buffer between the boss and customers, and needed something different, with less driving between locations and more consistent hours (i was working/getting paid for 8-9 hours, but with driving, was at 12-16 hours every day).

now i've made the change to vehicle upfitting, where i a raw cab/chassis truck from smaller ford f-250's to big triple-axle semi trucks, and turn them into dump trucks with snow plow and salting capabilities... but it's at a single facility, and i'm finally getting home at a consistent time, which is nicer than i've ever known.

i'm an extremely mechanical/DIY person, so i've got projects upon projects of all different varieties i'm always working on in my limited spare time. one of the bigger things i had started was teaching myselfwelding about 2 years before i made the decision to move on to something else. that ended up being a major part of my new job now, and i likely wouldn't have even had the opportunity without that 2 years of learning/practice that i did on my own time. but many of my other projects, working on/customizing my own vehicles, and already having a large/full toolbox also played a large part in being able to more easily transition to the new job--if my tools and experience were only built out around the idea of being an electrician, i definitely wouldn't have been able to do it.

and honestly, the new job, i'm working with more co-workers than i've ever worked with before in my entire life(always worked for small companies with less than 10 people, this shop has 40), and there's far more coworker drama than i've ever dealt with before as well. but the part that i enjoy the most is that i'm now in a position to be able to ignore all of it, and focus solely on only my work. where as an electrician, i had climbed high enough on the totem pole i was the 2nd-to-last stop before the drama got to the boss, which meant i had to deal with a lot of it to keep it from going to the boss... having that insulation from the very top management, and being able to selectively isolate myself from the typical workplace drama has definitely helped my attitude over the day than before.

that said, from the time i finally had enough and started really looking for a new job, to the time i started the new job, it was almost 8 months. i don't even know how many applications i submitted anymore, and only really got 2 other phone interviews that didn't go anywhere...

the job market is tough, i would definitely not suggest stopping what you're doing until you can formulate a game plan for what you'd like to do, and have a start date for the new place-- lots can happen, and very few people jump between places very fast...

 

Just curious - why not chevys?

 

Not sure. Ford and Ram probably just have better options or weight ratings.

 

You'll need to have commercial insurance. Personal auto insurance does not cover anything that happens when hauling people or products in exchange for a fee. It's not worth trying to save a few bucks on the insurance and end up with nothing when something happens.

 

and the dog poop removal guys.

 

Op, it might sound good to you right now, but for most guys, it turns into the slow road to bankrupcy. If your serious, I would look into hotshot/freight forums. Also any fedex,Ups/Amazon warehouses near you that hire contractors. Good luck, just try to do some investigating before you make that leap. It will be tough making money in that arena with a Taco sized truck though.

 

Also an IT person here. There’s days I want to quit and have a herd of goats I rent out to clear brush. But then I remember at least I’m not a teacher anymore, truly the worst job I ever had.

 

My daughter for the last 2 years has been 'professing' at a SEC University. You should hear the stories of entitled kids
who demand extra time for assignments or quizzes or tests because they were too busy with the fraternity to get the
work done. Others blatantly cheating only to talk back to her and get in her face for calling them out. One even threatened
to take her to the deans office and 'have a talk'... yea right.

OP if young enough you might consider Air Traffic Controller. Clean work, good money, good benefits and retirement at an early age.!
My brother retired at 55 at 6 figures. You'll bounce around to different locations but the first several years will be low volume and
low stress airports.

 

I am looking this for short term, not forever. Just to use my truck before I find other job.

Ive been clashing with managers who worked as techs 12 years ago, was able to make some good changes. They think the testing process is still same as 12 years ago. Not understanding this is not a mcdonalds food chain making same burgers with different names.

Its like talking to a wall " I know , i worked before " yes you did man, 12 years ago when windows XP was still in use. They asked me not to resign but I made my decision, its just waste of time with people like this, and they are not going anywhere anytime soon.

 

I am 24, have 4 years of IT/Microsoft Azure products experience and pending IT degree. Its just i am kind of jack of all trades, Ive worked not IT fields too before, I had to move that's why I left it, otherwise my wallet was getting fat there too.

Different locations sounds good to me, the more i move around the better. As long as I can have income before I find something.

 

Tali-ban are looking for good men with a great truck....

Must be able to attach machine gun to box!

 

I taught middle school tech Ed. Middle school kids are difficult, not all. But man, that was a challenge

 

That’s a good point that I’ve never thought about before…I drive a lot and I almost never see a Chevy being used as a hotshot rig.

 

You could always just advertise junk hauling on craigslist. I have a few coworkers that have build a decent side hustle. Granted they have 2500 diesel trucks. But they have plenty of loads that a tacoma could have hauled. Just discuss with the customer before hand. Also be very careful in reading what the landfill takes or charges. There have been a few cases of confusion on what landfills charge or take (specifically treated wood and mulch) which required them to pay more or take the load elsewhere which ate away at the profit.

 

Junk removal is big business, but you'll need multiple trucks or a few trucks and multiple dumpsters that you can drop and leave for short time periods. Also, a place to store all the equipment.

Either that or a dump trailer and a helper or two, but dump trailers are too heavy for Tacoma's.

 

Your insurance will go up if you use the Tacoma for work too.