Truck driver b.s.

Imma going to jump in here and bother you fine folks for a minute. I need to pick some brains.

Here's the short -short version. I'm tired of working in a stuffy lab and I need out... now. Right now. Being at a mid life point, I got bills and a mortgage, but still a good 20+ years away from the social security age. Rather than go back to working for the man, I'm kind of thinking that my next move should be more towards something entrepreneurial.

Here is my list of needs

• Universal opportunities that can be found in any location (current job is so damn specialized I've pretty much painted myself into a corner)
• Easy transition where I can pay the bills without being an apprentice for two years. I really don't want to dip into retirement, and my savings, while present, are still recovering from some unexpected things last year.
• Opportunity to be my own boss, after learning the ropes.

I'm looking at a few trades, a few businesses, but also truck driving. If you don't mind me asking, what in your experience is the expected income for a first year, say if I buckled down and took on an OTR at first? What made you choose trucking?

 

You should be a comedian.

 

The job can be good or really bad. Weather conditions,condition of your truck and hours of work to name a few. On good days it can be the best job in the world ,kind of. Drive a piece of shit truck in a snow storm and you'll hate life. To make lots of money you have to work your max hours all the time. Then there are all the potential fines you can get lol.

 

I may be biased but I’d recommend looking at hauling gravel locally I love it, I’m home every night, I’m payed hourly with overtime, and I don’t have to f*ck with tire chains. I’m payed pretty handsomely but I am young and always looking to squeeze another hour in and I haul equipment and some light equipment operation. But from what I’ve seen in my area most gravel hauling jobs are starting low 20’s. That’s the good, the bad is to get a CDL this day and age you’re going to need to go back to college or some special CDL school and pay upwards of 10k. Then you’ll need to find an outfit that will actually hire a “fresh” driver and then you have to hope that they are worth a darn and will teach you how to actually drive.

Driving truck is becoming a much harder job these days despite all the driver aids. You are going to work some long and I mean mentally long hours driving. DOT will harass you if your ducks aren’t in a row. If you think your daily commute to work is annoying now imagine dragging 50 something extra feet with, an acceleration that is measured in years, and more impatient people that will cut you off without even a single thought.

Can you come into the industry and become a O/O (owner operator) yes but you won’t know your head from your a$$ and you will spend a lot, a lot of money on stuff you don’t need or didn’t want to. Hell I had an air line come loose on me on the interstate and it locked up my front trailer axle and within 100 feet of skidding to a stop 3,600$ of brand new tires wrecked and the that was only for 4 there’s 14 others you’ll need to replace at some point.

Now not to dissuade you from becoming a trucker and it possibly being the best job you’ve ever had but it’s a hard job. For me after about 2 years hauling dirt I’m making 65ish a year. I originally started in a tow truck (whole other can of worms) and moved up to the heavy wrecker but moved to hauling dirt. I just kept my head down and sought out every opportunity I could I’m where I could learn and grow my skills.

Hope that answers your question and I’m sure everyone else in the thread has some variation on the same thing, it can suck but it pays the bills and as long as your employer isn’t like Greg’s you can enjoy driving truck.

 

Thanks for the context.

Are you O/O I take it?

 

No I work for an excavation company but having ran tow truck and being good friends with the bosses I know a fair amount about the industry… or at least enough to know being an employee is where I want to stay.

 

I gotcha. What are the pitfalls there, aside from rising fuel costs and maintenance/repair (which I understand are huge enough on their own)?

I think whichever career I choose next, its with the intent of going in as an employee but transitioning to my own business as quickly as reasonable.

 

Like hauling gravel? Or tow truck?

 

I meant owning, from your conversations and experience.

 

It’s just so so so much more stressful, what happens when you have a breakdown as an employee you sit roadside while somebody somewhere else figures it out while you get payed to play on your phone. What happens when you own the truck, well you need to figure out if you can fix it yourself, if you need a mechanic to come fix it roadside, or if you need to get the rig towed to a shop. Then who do you call in each situation do you employ a mechanic yourself so it’s just the cost of parts or do you need to pay an outside mechanic to fix it. Oh now how do I pay for that… 3-4 days worth of work just to pay for the repair + the week of not making money. One small mechanical failure could flip a business if it doesn’t have the cash reserves to properly support itself.

What happens when work slows down. Employee might just have his hours cut and he looses a day of work. What happens when an O/O slows down? Well all your personal bills are still needed to be payed but now truck payments are still coming, insurance is due, maybe you can squeeze in some preventative maintenance but that’s going to cost money that you might need if you can’t find work by the next day or next week.

Not sure/doesn’t sound like you want to have employees but if you do now your not just responsible for your livelihood but theirs as well they depend on you to have work lined up every day. Employees will never treat equipment the same as a owner will that owner knows very very well the 100-250k price tag on that truck and trailer and thus the owner is going to make dam sure it’s maintained and treated right. But some employees just don’t care. Oh what do you mean slamming the door is going to wear out the lock, what do you mean slamming on the breaks wears the tires more, what do you mean I need to check all the fluids daily.

Think of everything that can go wrong, now triple that and that’s what will happen to you at some point. Hell we had hired a guy to be a floater (excavator operator, truck driver, utility guy, labourer) and he was doing great we all liked him and all of a sudden this Monday he’s been no call, no show… just out of the blue. The most off the wall things will happen to you and you just have to figure it out because there’s nobody above you to do it it’s all on you. We had an Amazon van run into one of our trucks a month or two ago. Ripped some trim off the van, dented their door but it folded our bumper around and sliced the tire. So after a week or so Amazon got us a check for a new bumper and new wheel and new tire. Just the most off the wall stuff happens and you get to figure out what to do about it.

and this is all not to say don’t work for yourself but it’s more intented to be a “this is the reality you won’t hear”. Both of my parents own their own businesses and I’ve worked mostly with small businesses where I ate dinner with the owners or watched their dogs on the weekend. So I would like to say I’ve got an insider view on how a company operates that not a lot of employees ever get to see. If you are up for the challenge then I say do it, learn, grow as a person but it will beat you into the ground and make you question your sanity when things are bad. But just like having a kid it’s the best thing ever… so I've heard I’m still a few years from having one.

 

I looked into getting a CDL in AZ a while back. I was surprised to see that 10k-15k was the going rate. I guess that's the norm?

@Rock Lobster

Junk removal businesses do quite well. Some companies get a truck or two and a dozen or more dumpsters. Drop them off and pick them up when they're full. Just need a place to store the equipment in between renting. Of course that Walmart trucking gig sounds like a lot less work.

 

Dang it's currently 5k here on Maui for an A and I thought that was steep. I paid $1200 in 2005.

 

Good morning driver's this is your cue @woodtickgreg be careful today and have a good day and a great weekend when you get to it.

 

Well said young man.

 

3 to 5 inches of snow today. Roads are already covered and slick. So much for spring, lol.

 

@Rock Lobster Jensonbt is giving you a lot of good info. Now I worked for a good sized company and it was a good job. Spent 18 years with them until I hurt my back and have been out for 18 months now. But the pay was in the 90k a year for me when I left.
Knowing what I do know I would never be a O/O $4k truck payment, 3k insurance payment. Not to mention fuel, bonding, maintenance, health insurance all monthly.
I remember when I was starting out and O/O would say I made $150k last year. Does that mean that's what the truck earned or is that what you netted after all was paid.
Truck driving is not for everyone it is a hard job, you may be required to drive Monday all day and sleep all night, then sit all day and drive all night Tuesday and sleep all day Wednesday and wait till Thursday to get a day drive and flip flop day and night. So you never get rest.
Also you need to be prepared to work 70 hours a week and only get 34 hours off every week.
These are reality.

 

Not FRIYAY?

 

No yay today, Snow day and I work tomorrow too.

 

Rain down here today and tomorrow.