Read The Big Rig: Trucking and the Decline of the American Dream

I’ve been at it for five years and I already got the entire racket figured out. I don’t need to read any book. The other stuff I’ll still learn out here but as far as the overall industry I start to get it now. The old rule of thumb for most OTR drivers was to try and make $1000 a week. It was worth it to live on a truck for a couple weeks at a time as long as you were taking home a minimum of $1000. Now you can make that in three days staying home and driving Uber or Lyft. There’s a plethora of other ways that require 1/10 of the demand of your life and time that you can make that same amount of money. And as a result the trucking industry overall is getting the bottom of the barrel and leftover scraps and it’s bringing the whole overall industry down. There’s very little pride left in trucking as well. And if that’s not enough, it’s the one profession where you can be held personally liable all the way up to and including taking of your assets that you drove and worked your whole life for like a slave for an accident that wasn’t even your fault. Yes it happens. And I can tell you stories of drivers that I’ve talked to that it has happened to. No other profession that requires professional licensing in the entire country exposes you to this potential liability. Truckers are it. And most just aren’t aware of this until they find themselves in the middle of that type of scenario. And I won’t even get started on the lies that recruiters and companies used to try and bring drivers in. The way the system is rigged to prevent you from gaining employment if you’re labeled a job hopper if you land at a few of these companies that lied to you and you choose to move on. The entire system is rigged against the one doing all the work, the driver. We all know it. Yep we stick it out, day in and day out. Hoping not to bang into something, not to have a late load, the weather will be on our side, that we get enough sleep, that there will be somewhere to park and eat, at the DOT, or state troopers won’t harass us, that we won’t be 20 pounds over on our rear axles and get a $500 ticket, that we won’t turn down the road where the no trucks sign is posted a quarter mile after you turn and you get another thousand dollar ticket, the list goes on and on and on and on. You could buy a Toyota Corolla, shred up your CDL, work when you want and be home every evening and make the same amount of money in three or four days doing rideshare. That’s the harsh reality of the trucking industry.

 

I've been trucking since 17 years of age.
I'm 66 and still enjoy the driving/traveling aspect.
Seen so much change in all aspects of the job/the world and public perception.

Yeah it's a different gig from when I started but bottom line is still operating a rig from point to point safely and efficiently for a paycheck.
Learned a lot but forgot some too, and the way I've chosen to live my life and to make my living leaves me no regrets.

The American dream is what you make it to be. It's not a job.

 

Yes it is. It is just a job.

A job might dictate a lifestyle, or a lifestyle might dictate the job.
But in the end, how we make a living is just a job.

I get SO tired of people saying that trucking is not a job.

We might have a certain lifestyle because we are a trucker, but everyone has a different certain lifestyle because of their job as well.

I have worked in security, restaurants, computer tech and trucker, aside from a few odd jobs here and there.
About a decade in each.
And with each of them, my lifestyle has been a bit different.

But they are all just jobs. Even being a truck driver.

 

When burnout sets in, it's time to consult the wisdom of the ancients for a different take on life:

 

The American Dream? I don't know what that is.

Also why do people spend so much time complaining about the industry instead of doing their part to make it better?

I feel like all the so-called "issues" can get addressed, and truckers will still find something to fuss about.

 

[QUOTE="Dennixx, post: 12405729, member : 39017”] I've chosen to live my life and to make my living leaves me no regrets.

The American dream is what you make it to be. It's not a job.[/QUOTE]
+1. Profession yes, job no.
If its just a job for you, then you should be planning for what you next job should be

 

[QUOTE="Dennixx, post: 12405729, member: 39017”]+1. Profession yes, job no.
If its just a job for you, then you should be planning for what you next job should be[/QUOTE]


Mine is retirement next year.

 

I think it would probably be an interesting read. As far as "it's just a job" or "it's a lifestyle".....for some it might be this and some it might be that. Who cares if someone thinks it has to "be" one or the other. I see people ragging (not signaling you out Lennythedriver) about how bad the industry is and how everyone can make more money doing something else etc....only want to make 150.000 per year blah blah but yet they are posting from the cab of their truck so something must be right about the job.