Is this worth it?

[RayPat]

Seriously thinking about getting out of the trucking industry, or at least trying to find something local with hourly pay back home. I've only been in it for about 8 months but for what we do out here and the time away from home is it worth it? I don't think so. Especially now with all these damn rules and regs making you lose money or keep having to hustle more just to make the same money. It's bull****.

 

[Duck]

Seriously thinking about getting out of the trucking industry, or at least trying to find something local with hourly pay back home. I've only been in it for about 8 months but for what we do out here and the time away from home is it worth it? I don't think so. Especially now with all these damn rules and regs making you lose money or keep having to hustle more just to make the same money. It's bull****.

Next time you are on local streets with an empty trailer, try something..

Turn off the stereo, the CB, turn down the heater fan so it's not making much noise, and put the window down a few inches.

From a red light, ease off the clutch as smoothly as you can. Raise the RPMs a little, float-shift, doing it as smoothly as you can. Go through all the gears doing it as gracefully as you can. After each shift, when you come back on the power, just give it a tiny bit until the slack comes out of the drive train, then give it just a tad bit more throttle, only giving it a tiny bit more pedal than it takes to hold a steady speed. Listen to the engine & allow yourself to "tune in" to the machinery. Don't look at the tach, just do it all by ear. If you have time/room, make your stops and speed reductions with only engine braking, ... with the jake brake OFF, til you're almost stopped, then just give it a TINY bit of brake pressure, and ease off of the pedal right before you come to a complete stop so there's no "jerk" or unloading of braking weight from the steer axle.

Once you've "tuned into" a truck like that, that big giant, powerful machine becomes an extension of your body. It's not just a truck, it's a machine. Think of all the moving parts that come together to make this machine work. If you think about it, even a million mile, plain-jane, boring old ugly megafleet-owned Freightliner has a functional beauty in it once you gain the ability to see it.

Try that, then ask yourself again if you're ready to give that up & go back to punching a time clock.

 

[Gittyup-n-go]

Next time you are on local streets with an empty trailer, try something..

Turn off the stereo, the CB, turn down the heater fan so it's not making much noise, and put the window down a few inches.

From a red light, ease off the clutch as smoothly as you can. Raise the RPMs a little, float-shift, doing it as smoothly as you can. Go through all the gears doing it as gracefully as you can. After each shift, when you come back on the power, just give it a tiny bit until the slack comes out of the drive train, then give it just a tad bit more throttle, only giving it a tiny bit more pedal than it takes to hold a steady speed. Listen to the engine & allow yourself to "tune in" to the machinery. Don't look at the tach, just do it all by ear. If you have time/room, make your stops and speed reductions with only engine braking, ... with the jake brake OFF, til you're almost stopped, then just give it a TINY bit of brake pressure, and ease off of the pedal right before you come to a complete stop so there's no "jerk" or unloading of braking weight from the steer axle.

Once you've "tuned into" a truck like that, that big giant, powerful machine becomes an extension of your body. It's not just a truck, it's a machine. Think of all the moving parts that come together to make this machine work. If you think about it, even a million mile, plain-jane, boring old ugly megafleet-owned Freightliner has a functional beauty in it once you gain the ability to see it.

Try that, then ask yourself again if you're ready to give that up & go back to punching a time clock.

I could not have said it any better.

 

[Tim]

Seriously thinking about getting out of the trucking industry, or at least trying to find something local with hourly pay back home. I've only been in it for about 8 months but for what we do out here and the time away from home is it worth it? I don't think so. Especially now with all these damn rules and regs making you lose money or keep having to hustle more just to make the same money. It's bull****.

EIGHT ****ing months! Really? And your ready to hang it up? My advice is to go ahead and quit. To do a job right like drivin' truck you need to have a love and respect for it.
Any factory job you gets gonna have just as many rules that only apply to you, you cant do this, you cant do that, 10 break every 2 hours, 30 min lunch, smoke? sorry this is a NO SMOKING plant, want a day off, no problem only costs 1 point, oops.over slept this morning another point, gotta watch those points, 10 max you know. Do ya work well with others? No? Oh well sorry factory life.

Every time I see a new driver start crying about life on the road it reminds me of this song..

 

[RayPat]

Thanks duck I'll try that.. Coulda used this advice more when I was all NE region and w. all the traffic up there... Wasn't really talking about shifting a lot tho, but thanks. And whoever says go ahead and quit if you wanna work in a factory, I been there done that. Wasn't talkin about doin that again, was talking about getting Local gigs driving.

 

[Duck]

Thanks duck I'll try that.. Coulda used this advice more when I was all NE region and w. all the traffic up there... Wasn't really talking about shifting a lot tho, but thanks. And whoever says go ahead and quit if you wanna work in a factory, I been there done that. Wasn't talkin about doin that again, was talking about getting Local gigs driving.

Oh, ... you didn't mention that you were running in the northeast.

In that case, ....

 

[RayPat]

Haha it sucks man. Now I'm w this new company and I've been west, for me which is still east of the Mississippi but at least outta the city, CT, ME, all that crap. Love the open road but what kills me is sitting. I gotta learn to plan my clock better, working off recaps. That's why I feel like what's the point of being out here and hanging out in truck stops doing a restart when I can be home? It's gotta get better.

 

[Racer X 69]

The only favorable thing about running local is that you might be home every night. Other than that, it sucks.

Traffic. All day long traffic. Assholes in cars cutting you off, passing you on the right, cutting in on your right when you try to swing wide left to make a tight right turn. Assholes in cars flipping you off. Assholes in cars not giving an inch when you need the street to get set up to back into a tight dock.

Most local jobs only pay $12 to $14 an hour. Good over the road jobs for a company driver can pay as well as $70,000 annually.

Yeah, local is so great.

I truly hope you find what you need. Honest, I do.

Me?

I applied for a local job last year. They really wanted me, because I have a spotless driving record, have doubles/triples, tank, hazmat, TWIC, enhanced driver's license, and did well on the road test. But they didn't want me bad enough to at least match what I make on the road.

They start at $12 an hour, and it takes 12 years to get to the top of their scale, $17 an hour.

Oh, and their work is seasonal. I would look at a layoff every year around Christmas, for 2 to 3 months.

**** that ****.

I run the lower 48 and Canada. I get all the miles I want. I get home when I want. I get 2 weeks paid vacation a year. And the only time I have to put up with assholes in traffic is when I'm in the cities, which is not very often. Out of every seven days I will see city driving on two.

 

[Duck]

My company's recruiting slogan is "Finding a balance between having a life & making a living".

Note the first word is "finding", emphasis on the "ing", which means they're still working on it, and have not yet achieved that goal even though they have been allegedly working on it since 1958.

It works for me though, now that they've adapted to my level of laziness. I've been home since 1PM Wednesday and their website says "1-1/2 to 2 days home per week". 5 years ago, I'd have had a dozen or so missed calls on my phone and a bunch of threatening voice mails by now. But I haven't heard a peep from them since about 6 hours before I went home.

 

[DubbleD]

EIGHT ****ing months! Really? And your ready to hang it up? My advice is to go ahead and quit. To do a job right like drivin' truck you need to have a love and respect for it.
Any factory job you gets gonna have just as many rules that only apply to you, you cant do this, you cant do that, 10 break every 2 hours, 30 min lunch, smoke? sorry this is a NO SMOKING plant, want a day off, no problem only costs 1 point, oops.over slept this morning another point, gotta watch those points, 10 max you know. Do ya work well with others? No? Oh well sorry factory life.

Every time I see a new driver start crying about life on the road it reminds me of this song..

[video=youtube;FkuQouyp6JU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkuQouyp6JU[/video]

LMAO [MENTION=8936]Tim[/MENTION]....!!!

You should start a Mentoring School ! You are a Dean!!

 

[RayPat]

Racer, how long have you been driving? Cause that's great if you make good money, I mean that's why we're doing this right? I know that's why I am. But that's just the point, I'm not ..yet. If the money was really good different story. That's why I was saying is it worth it. Who do you work for, if you don't mind me asking? Maybe it's just the experience that's doing you well, that's what I'm workin on.
I mean I do a lot of sitting around, like now..again. It's like you hustle then you get stuck w crap appt times or whatever.
As for assholes cutting you off, cuttin around you when you're turning right, cutting in front of you on the highway only to step on their brake, believe me brother I deal with that bull**** all the time in and out of the city. Had some douchebag cut around me on my right side web I was making a tight right on some random middle-of-nowhere bumble **** road in PA. So I know how that is.

 

[RayPat]

Ha and Tim thanks, I needed that.

 

[Racer X 69]

Racer, how long have you been driving?

I've been driving since I was a pre-teen and got onto a tractor on some relative's farm once.

Oh, wait, you meant how long have I been driving trucks, right?

OK, here is the Reader's Digest Condensed version:

I drove my first big truck when I was in my early 20's and was fueling trucks at night at a public electric utility. I had been working as a civil engineer since finishing college, the economy had tanked (as it does every so often) and I found myself unemployed and wound up in the engineering department at the electric company, didn't like the work there and bid a job fueling trucks in the vehicle maintenance department.

So that led to my getting a class A endorsement (this was long before this CDL crap), an apprenticeship, and 30 years working as a heavy truck and equipment mechanic.

Along the way I had opportunities to drive over the road trucks, with my dad who was hauling cars for a while, a race hauler for a road racing buddy (amateur road racing), and a NASCAR Winston West series hauler for another friend in the early 1990's.

When I retired from the electric company I decided to give trucking a try, and wound up getting on at the company I have driven for 4 years this coming June. Or is it May? I can't remember, but anyway, here I am, a truck driver. I know I am 'cause I could spell it.

It.

Who do you work for, if you don't mind me asking?

I don't mind at all. I'll send you a PM.