Posted on 11/21/2017 9:23:12 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
>There have been a number of articles reporting that millennials are passing up high-paying jobs in trucking. As someone who comes from a long line of blue collar men — including truckers — I find it a bit odd that millennials aren’t eating up the chance for six-figure income.
It’s a low-status job to them. Millennials are all about liberal social status, not pay.
Truckers make six figures?? Really??
These are good jobs, absolutely. However, most people outside the trucking industry have the impression that very soon, most the trucks will be driverless. The long distance truck routes in particular. That assumption may or may not be correct.
Trucker Josh pulls down quite a bit but six figures must include a lot of overtime.
I have to admit, I have always thought that would be a cool job. I would never be interested in unloading for delivery, but driving from one place to another sounds great.
My sources tell me that drug tests screen out the vast majority of applicants for both local and long haul positions.
They can’t text and drive a truck.
Because it’s work.
"I just applied. When do I get my 6-figure income, 9-5, weekend off, local route, full healthcare, comprehensive training program, & 6 weeks of vaca? Oh and I need an autonomous truck so I can Snapchat all day. Pretty sure I will be running this entire outfit in 6 months. I assume you have free Starbucks for drivers, too. "
Because it’s work and you can’t slough off on the job much.
They all demonstrate for $15 an hour. Trucking normally pays better than that.
Lots of truckers (not all) make pretty good money, but they have to put in gobs of hours to do it.
- In order to become a trucker, your driving record has to be near-spotless. 1-2 parking/speeding tickets at the most. Absolutely no DUIs. They will go over your driving record with a fine-tooth comb and toothbrush, and any discrepancies on your application is an automatic turndown (so don't lie on your application). Millennials have piss-poor driving records.
- Driving a tractor-trailer is challenging. The mandatory chain laws in Colorado and California. The turns. Hours of service. City laws where trucks can't go or laws against Compression braking (that squealing noise trucks make when braking). I've seen former military people whine and get frustrated at learning how to drive a rig. You've got to have patience yet at the same time, you've got to be aggressive.
- The shippers and receivers. Drivers get jerked around when unloading or picking up. The shipper doesn't have the Bill of Lading filled out correctly, for example. Or the product isn't ready. Or the driver needs to make a delivery appointment and has to wait to unload, thereby missing his backhaul load from another shipper. Or the shipper closes right when the driver gets there.
- Hazmat, tanker-endorsed, TWIC cards required. A lot of my loads require these drivers. The trucking company doesn't pay for this, and the drivers sure as Hell aren't going to pay it out of their money. So capacity tightens up and these loads don't move.
- The fuel. The fuel absolutely kills the driver's paychecks.
- NYC Borough congestion charges, CA emissions charges, etc. More charges that drivers have to deal with.
But yeah, if you can deal with the above there is good money in the trucking industry.
I’d have to see the numbers to support the claim that truckers make 6 figures. That’s quite a bit distant from the stories I’ve heard.
Also want to add that this is what Mike Rowe has talked about. Today’s young adults are not learning hands-on skills to get a job to make good money. They’ve been told by their parents that they shouldn’t languish in a factory for decades and should go to college. But what are those colleges teaching them? Things like how to hate America or learning diversity or gender studies.
Yes, indeed. Everybody's truckin'!
And they believe that self diving trucks are imminent, because the press tells them so.
Yup. Millennials/Liberals (same thing) think that those who sweat and may get dirty on a job are gammas and therefore inferior.
To them, it is all about the intellectual sophistication they think they have
The average pay for a truck driver in the USA is about $40,000.
If you are unionized or work for a large corporation, your top pay will be around $80,000.
I will guess that all the driving jobs that pay $100,000+ are located in the Northeast USA or California, so your cost of living will probably eat up all of that extra money.
When I read an article like this, the first thing I think is that someone wants to hire foreign workers.
Can’t find good USA workers?
Increase the pay!
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