Are you guys looking into other careers if so why?

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ForsakenHellHound743@reddit

I drive locally now as a flatbedder. My trailer is 32' I'm pretty sure, I don't have to tarp, I go to new places all the time, management is chill, I plan my own routes (not stops) everyday, if I want to take a 30 or eat somewhere, they don't have to know, I get paid by the hour, I drive sketchy dirt roads (with snow now) and in tight city spaces, I load my truck how I want it, I drive a forklift (moffet), no one's breathing down my neck and as long I get the job done no questions are asked, I'm home every night, and there's probably other things I'm leaving out but this jobs perfect. Working a 70 hour week when it's busy, I can bring in 8 grand a month, more than I made OTR as a company driver driving 2000+ miles a week, I'm on a rotating 4 10 schedule now, plus I have a woman to come home to every night. Maybe you just need to find a different company.

There's more money out there I'm sure but I'm content, money isn't everything for me. Best of luck to you OP.

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Feeling-Cap-7210@reddit (OP)

Thanks for the encouragement. I just hear a lot of negative things about the industry nowadays. It has me second guessing my career sometimes.

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ForsakenHellHound743@reddit

I understand. I second guess mine because I want more money but I still can't bring myself to go to college haha.

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tamina_lupo@reddit

My trainer once said “I’m 62 years old and I’m at a point in my life where I wish trucking wasn’t the only thing I knew how to do”

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Feeling-Cap-7210@reddit (OP)

That’s what I’m scared of I feel like I need to learn another skill. It’s an itch I have I’m currently only 26.

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Ich_mag_Kartoffeln@reddit

The more skills you have, the better. I've been able to walk away from shitty jobs (some before I was even hired) because I can work in other fields.

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tamina_lupo@reddit

24 here, I give myself about 8-10 years until it’s time for something else. I just want to use this as a big stepping stone to set myself up when that time comes. I hope your cdl keeps a bunch of doors open for you if you decide to transition into something else my friend 🤙🏼

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Feeling-Cap-7210@reddit (OP)

Right on bro. Best of luck to you! Stay safe.

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throwra_sd2ba40858@reddit

That’s what I thiught too when I started. Still love it just like I did almost 7 years ago. Crazy to me how much other drivers complain about trucking but still choose to be apart of the industry. “If you don’t like it then leave!”

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Fit_Hospital2423@reddit

I’m curious. If you don’t mind saying, what part of the world do you truck in and what kind of trucking do you do?

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throwra_sd2ba40858@reddit

I’m in the US, I haul fuel.

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Fit_Hospital2423@reddit

I’ll bet you’re not in a metro area.

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throwra_sd2ba40858@reddit

I’ve only lived in metro areas

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Fit_Hospital2423@reddit

I was thinking…..so you don’t have worry about where you’re parking every night, or going into places you’ve never been and are not truck friendly, or planning your route in a part of the country you’ve never been in, or making your hours of service work out on a particularly long and tight load. You probably don’t fuel at truck stops or have to line up at a truck wash. You’re probably in the same area that you live in if your truck breaks down. Your truck weights are never a problem……Now I see why you don’t understand people that dislike trucking.

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Fit_Hospital2423@reddit

Well I’m impressed! You must be the right guy for the job! I’m sure you’re getting paid well too. You’re the exception and not the rule, that’s for sure.

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Feeling-Cap-7210@reddit (OP)

Eventually this is where I want to be as I was a 92F in the army NG

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vegasvinny@reddit

Already went back to Local 165 LasVegas Union Bartender. Make more . . Sleep in my bed every night. Got my CDL during pandemic. Hauled Fuel. Liked it. Would go back .

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Present-Ambition6309@reddit

It hurts. It sucks waking up n not knowing where tf you are. That’s supposed to happen in my 70’s definitely not now.

The days when I do the miles I love it, when the miles are doing me, I want out of the truck. Feels like I’m swimming against the current. Cant back worth a shit, shoes untie and ya take a crap in the fuel island n half in your drawers…. 😂 I’m playin, but whoever is doing that I hope you eat it one day soon, straight nasty.

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Feeling-Cap-7210@reddit (OP)

“When the miles doing me” 😂😂😂💯

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Present-Ambition6309@reddit

Tell me I’m right and I’ll have another heart attack. That’s a new thing for me. Being right. Almost had to call my ex and ask. Lmao

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Ok-Tea6843@reddit

I do Road construction during the summer and then laid off all winter..... Best job in the world although the hours and the horseshit trucks during the summer does wait on a guy but come on 6 months off

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StonedTrucker@reddit

Can you actually survive all winter off of that income? I feel like I'd be broke before the 3 month mark

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Ok-Tea6843@reddit

I guess it all depends how you live you know? Your bills and such.. myself I shoot for about 5 grand to save up during the summer and depending your wage and how many hours you get in you get close to 600 a week unemployment or more..

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Plaguey901@reddit

I'm currently doing online school for drafting. I love this job, but it's about time for me to head home to be with the hubby.

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Feeling-Cap-7210@reddit (OP)

Wish all the best to you and yours

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StonedTrucker@reddit

I'm always looking but it's not that easy. I make more than most of my peers with college degrees and I don't hate driving. I actually enjoy many aspects of the job. I'd love to switch careers and do something more interesting but I'm not going to cut my pay in half for it. At this point I'm probably too deep. I know trucking and I'm pretty good at it. I don't want to start at the bottom of another field again

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Feeling-Cap-7210@reddit (OP)

This.. that is what I’m scared of falling out of love and not wanting to start over!

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HopeItMakesYaThink@reddit

I’m moving into maintenance. Just cleaning a restaurant. My last company decided that the best way to let me go was to have me go to a border town in Texas and fire me there. I live in Jacksonville Florida. Then they told me they could give me a bus ticket leaving the next day or I could set up my own travel for $250. No chance to challenge the termination - I was fired before I even reached the termination room. Yes, they had a room specifically to terminate employees. Made it to mobile Alabama before the ticket was mysteriously cancelled, still had to go home the rest of the way on my dime - a dime I didn’t have.

Fuck trucking. At least for the near future. I put so much time and effort into being a good trucker. I sacrificed time with my family to move freight for companies that would never know I existed. My father died the week before. Never mattered. They switched dispatchers on me the week they let me go and the new guy had no idea what he was doing, but that was added to my termination. Company must have said something - I haven’t heard a single trucking offer in the last two months since I was fired. They were big and petty enough to do that.

So now I sweep and clean for half what I used to make. But I sleep at home and not in a truck. I don’t rely on truck stop food to survive. DOT doesn’t cause heart palpitations anymore. No anxiety over the scale coincided with toss. Inspection stations are a thing of the past. I only answer the manager on that shift, do my job, and go home.

Sure, I want to strangle the employees that intentionally make my job harder. Yes, there’s a whole damn Game of Thrones level of backstabbing and scandal at the restaurant. Of course they remind me why I left customer service in the first place. I’m doing this as rehab and therapy after the second and third degree burns my connection to trucking has taken so I can get back on the road again and make this money.

This is just my downtime. And like trucking itself, you gotta hustle during that downtime.

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ForgottonTNT@reddit

They don’t make jobs like they used to. There was a time when you could work at a company for years, climb the ladder, and build a solid career. By the time you retired, you’d have a house with a lakeside view, a boat, and a comfortable pension to enjoy the rest of your life.

Nowadays, it feels different. Wages often aren’t enough to even take a vacation now and then, and companies are laying off workers left and right. Job stability isn’t what it used to be, and you can’t always count on a company being around long-term.

So, the best thing you can do is focus on what makes you happy. Explore new industries, try different things, and step outside your comfort zone. The world is changing, and adapting might just open up opportunities you didn’t expect.

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SovereignOfSelf7@reddit

Facts

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BriskManeuver@reddit

Sometimes I wanna but then I look at my paychecks

If i weren't doing linehaul id probably find another career

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no_condoms_@reddit

I've been at it for 25 years, been looking since day 1, but where else can I go to make $100k/year?

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12InchPickle@reddit

I look for a new job as soon as I get hired at a job. Always find something better.

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J_cam202@reddit

The next best worst trucking job is right around the corner !!

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FlamingoAlert7032@reddit

Yeah, trucking companies don’t seem to like job hoppers but they also don’t seem to disclose a lot of the bullshit you’re about to jump into if you go to work for them. Take me for example. I have literally zero record across any and every criteria for a trucker or otherwise or civil or criminal or drug or anything but yet I have quite a few jobs over the past 4 years simply because I’m not gonna deal with the bullshit if they’re not gonna pay me, I’ll jump ship and go somewhere else.

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justforfunns@reddit

Wanted more money so I started Trucking

Now I want more time

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yieldbetter@reddit

Yes my reasons are no career progression/limited earning poor working conditions Horrible hours Bad for my health Looked down on by pretty much everyone

Only been at this 2 years and I honestly hate it with everything I will always be glad I have the license to fall back on but damn I can’t wait to get outta this truck for good

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halfcow@reddit

Eh, I had a previous career in IT. So, I loosely keep an eye on those jobs. But I prefer to have minimal contact with humans. So, I guess I'll keep on truckin'.

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Embarrassed_Rock817@reddit

Same here too!

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spec209@reddit

Same story here.

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Salt_Bus2528@reddit

At my new job the desk jockeys have discovered electronic timecards and how many hours it saves (them) to have the whole company punch in and out on their phone.

At my new company I am the only person not screaming and crying about how stupid it is to use an electronic time card.

At my new job, one guy in the field is clocking in and out for everyone but me because we're tired of the office people complaining that our timecards do not match.

It followed me home and I do not want to keep it.

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AstlerFox93@reddit

Not really. I wish I enjoyed something else where I’d have more free time and knows all day facing the sun but there’s something to truck driving

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Defiant_Pineapple202@reddit

its grunt work nd not good for the body, i wanna be able to use my mind, nd look forward to going to work

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Level_305@reddit

Electrician or HVAC, trucking sucks. I’m 23 right now so I have plenty of time

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RuneScape420Homie@reddit

No. I think after a year of trucking you’ll know if you want to do it long term or not. I’ve been at it for a few years now and I don’t want to do anything else

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Buggydriver_@reddit

I did and now I’m not trucking anymore and I’m regretting it cause now I won’t have any recent experience for a resume it’s gonna be hard for me to get something decent if I come back k

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HeywoodJaBlowMe123@reddit

I always found that unfortunate with the trucking industry. In a sense i can understand from insurance’s perspective, but at the same time If you can pass a road test with a company after X years of not driving… clearly the fucking guy/gal can drive a truck. Experience should be the only thing that matters, instead of the need for recent experience.

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