Getting Paid to Drive

[nissangirl74]

According to this article, there are as many as 200,000 jobs available for long-haul truckers but companies are having a hard time filling the positions. Have you ever driven a truck? - or - Would you be willing to drive a truck for a living? What would be your determining factors for saying yes / no?

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/tons-of-t ... wants.html

Me personally, I don't think I would enjoy it. Even as much as I like to travel, when you're a trucker, it's not like you have time to stop and see stuff. You'd just get to drive by it....a lot. Also, I'm not crazy about driving an 80,000 pound vehicle in the snow / ice. I've seen too many videos of horrific car crashes involving big rigs to do that.

[krash]

ITs pretty decent money, but from what I hear, you can't really sit back and enjoy life. One of my dad's close friends drives a vehicle transport. He gets to drive all over the place and he's grown attached to his truck and the way it drives. But he spends many nights in it, and is away from his family a lot.

[nissangirl74]

I have an uncle that has driven a truck / been a truck-driving instructor for over 40 years. It's all he has ever done and it shows. He has stayed married to my aunt but they don't see each other much and he didn't see his kids much when they were growing up. I couldn't describe him to you if I tried. He always made decent money, enough to afford my aunt to be a stay at home mom, but there are many days when I KNOW she would have rather had him home and go to work herself to help make ends meet.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Yeah, no thanks.

Maybe if it was driving a corvette or something with a partner, but driving a big rig by yourself just kinda sucks. I can't imagine attempting to navigate that thing through New York.
Also, your diet must really suck when you're always on the road.

[ni_san]

As long as I get to compete in some arm wrestling tournaments with my long lost nonexistent son, then yes.

Oh and on a side note, some cab drivers in New York actually make upwards of 90k a year.

[VQpwrdSE-R]

Life expectancy is why I wouldn't do it. There are various statistics out there as being discussed in this articlehttp://www.truckinginfo.com/news/news-d ... s_id=72258 61 years of life when the median average lifespan for a male has been raised to 75.2 years based on a 2004 statistic. There are many theories on why, sendentary lifestyle, poor eating habits while on the road, poor sleep habits, stress from time constraints, deadlines, and idiot drivers. I have a feeling after the record highs of oil within the past 3-4 years a lot of private drivers couldn't afford to stay driving and got out of it. My grandfather did long distance, he had a heart attack while in the sleeper cab of his truck out of state. It's ashame he never saw retirement as he was 63 yrs old.

[alms24sebring]

Ive always wanted to be the driver for Google Maps to just drive down roads for the street view.

[VQpwrdSE-R]

Ive always wanted to be the driver for Google Maps to just drive down roads for the street view.

That's a sweet job. I saw one in my area last year. Driving a '09 impreza wagon.

[asoomal]

I recently followed one on the highway for 15 minutes lol.

[alms24sebring]

I still havent seen one. I mean all you have to do is drive while crankin the AC all day.

[Jesda]

I've driven a box truck and that made me pretty nervous. A full size semi-truck would be unnerving.

A lot of truck stops lack gyms and the food is pretty bland and high in calories. A truck stop that has a Subway is a godsend.

[nissangirl74]

I have a good friend who is married to a truck driver. He weighs over 300 pounds and is a diabetic. He also blames it on the usual suspects: diet, lack of sleep, and stress. He hates it but it's all he's ever done and he can't afford to take time off to go back to school and learn a new trade.

[Eikon]

Truck driving can be very lucrative. Since you basically live out of the truck most of the time, you can downsize to a very small economy apartment for the times you are home. So you can bank the money pretty well.

The best money and best lifestyle is made by couples who choose to drive tandem (as teams). They can easily make over $100k as a team. You'd have to have a strong relationship to spend every minute with another person for so long, but if you could do it, it's supposed to be great work. Teams are nice because they can basically drive straight through all the time. Once one hits the 10 hour limit, they can hand over the driving to the other and sleep or be a passenger. So the truck is constantly moving, so they are constantly making money. Plus they often get bonus pay for rush delivery situations available because they can be in constant motion.


Another thing most people don't consider is that with a few year's experience you can get into a trucking company that offers "dedicated routes". These are repeatable back and forth or three way routes. They can get you home every night or every few nights or every weekend, etc..

It's too bad more lazy American's would rather sit at home and collect unemployment than support themselves. Sure, trucking is hard on some people's family life and sure it can be hard on your health if you don't do it right. But it's a shame our country gives people the opportunity to turn down $40k a year jobs.

Oh.. and the article mentions that the roadblock to most people getting into the business is the upfront costs of getting the CDL (up to $6k). That's not exactly correct.. most big companies have hiring bonuses that either cover that cost, or they build it into your first year income.. so you basically sign a contract saying you get a free training course and license if you pass, and you don't have to pay for it as long as you work the full first year or two for that company.

[Bubba1]

According to this article, there are as many as 200,000 jobs available for long-haul truckers but companies are having a hard time filling the positions. Have you ever driven a truck? - or - Would you be willing to drive a truck for a living? What would be your determining factors for saying yes / no?

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/tons-of-t ... wants.html

Me personally, I don't think I would enjoy it. Even as much as I like to travel, when you're a trucker, it's not like you have time to stop and see stuff. You'd just get to drive by it....a lot. Also, I'm not crazy about driving an 80,000 pound vehicle in the snow / ice. I've seen too many videos of horrific car crashes involving big rigs to do that.

Bex, I was in this business for many many years. Not an easy job to be a long hauler driver. Finding long haul drvers has always been difficult, not just for the time away from home, and gov't imposed limitations for hours behind the wheel (reduces your income potential without cheating). A huge issue in recent years is finding drivers that can pass mandatory drug tests. Add that to the other factors, and it's not surprising trucking companies have trouble finding/ keeping drivers.

The more savvy companies, like UPS, use intermodal rail for much of their non-overnight long haul or overflow freight, and use more plentiful local drivers on both ends (who can go home everynight), which reduces the number long haulers they must keep on hand.

A lot of long haul truckers my old company utilized ended up hiring recently arrived immigrants (surprisingly many from eastern Europe). Made for interesting dispatching at times with the language differences.

[IBCoupe]

If I weren't married and about to be saddled with six-digit debt, I think the social isolation and long hours on the road would be quite enjoyable, actually.

[numbnuts240]

random grilled meat will be your downfall.

[Mr1der]

or the large number of murdered prostitutes in your wake.