New To Trucking How old is too old

R Perry

Active Member
Haven't posted on here for some time. I got in a few days ago and a acquaintance came by and asked me how old is too old to get back into trucking, I told him I got back in at 65 but previously had many years of OTR experience. Not sure what is experience really is. He is 72 years old, but seems solid as a rock. Problem is he let his CDL go so I figure he would be like starting over. What do you all think?
 
I started driving OTR in 1972 and got off the road around 1990. Took on another career and retired at 62. Within a couple of years I was bored to death, didn't need the money, but needed something to do.
I'm now a driver trainer running a dedicated between California and Boston sometimes DC and I'm loving it. Helping young hands learn is tremendously gratifyingly to me. I only do drop and hook loads anymore and I am too old to hump freight.
So yes, some of us do it because we love it, and I do. Being a OTR driver is a lifestyle not just a job to me.
 
Haven't posted on here for some time. I got in a few days ago and a acquaintance came by and asked me how old is too old to get back into trucking, I told him I got back in at 65 but previously had many years of OTR experience. Not sure what is experience really is. He is 72 years old, but seems solid as a rock. Problem is he let his CDL go so I figure he would be like starting over. What do you all think?
He's good to go if he can pass the DOT physical and drug test.
Trucking doesn't discriminate based on age.
 
I think it’s a shame someone that old has to go back on the road.

I’d find a Walter job
We got afew "geezers" at my company..

Gosh the one gotta be 75 maybe almost 80 ..

I asked him what are you still doing out here..

Told me he did go home about 3 years and got bored sitting around watching TV allday ...

They hired him back about 5 years ago and he runs it just like anybody else

Obviously he can still pass a DOT physical for a Medical Card otherwise he wouldn't be here
 
Thanks for your responses. I think he is in better health than I am. He's starting off by getting the DOT physical. We are spoiled with our equipment today, it is so nice compared to the junk I had to drive when I started in the 70s. Any advice who he might check with to get started? The new drivers I get all are coming out of truck schools, maybe that is his best bet.
 
We got afew "geezers" at my company..

Gosh the one gotta be 75 maybe almost 80 ..

I asked him what are you still doing out here..

Told me he did go home about 3 years and got bored sitting around watching TV allday ...

They hired him back about 5 years ago and he runs it just like anybody else

Obviously he can still pass a DOT physical for a Medical Card otherwise he wouldn't be here
Got a linehaul driver I work with who was a Vietnam vet
 
Nothing wrong with the age, just a matter of being a little more careful doing all the little things.

In my last stint with Left Coast (it's been a while), I ran back and forth from Texas to Georgia and back. I would typically take loads that went out the same time as an older guy. I think that was by design, as our safety guy liked us running together, but he never admitted it.

The old man was 85, and I swear he lived on peanut butter sandwiches on the road. Made me a few too!

We would go walking once we parked the trucks at the receiver at night waiting for them to get there the next morning. Also stopped regularly in Temple, GA and walked from the J over to Waffle House. I swear, you had to really step to keep up with him when he was walking. Seemed to be in awesome shape for an 85 year old, hell, I would have considered him to be in really good shape for a 50 year old.

After I left, the old man ended up falling out of the back of a trailer and broke his back. I heard about it a month or so after it happened, and they weren't sure if he would be able to walk again.

Getting around can be fine, just gotta be extra careful regarding what most of us would consider minor accidents.
 

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