I never did hear anything more about blackie's beloved Barb.
His son let me know that blackie passed, and I inquired about Barb, as she, as well, had been ill for a long time, but I didn't hear back.
Posted on 05/31/2015 4:50:53 PM PDT by Vigilanteman
This is the situation. I am late 50s in the corporate world of supply chain management. I've done OK, though not spectacular and gone about as far as I can go. We are empty nesters now and my mother, for whom I was the primary care giver, passed away about six months ago.
The present corporate world is giving signals that my work, which they were formerly quite happy with, is all of a sudden, a topic of petty complaints. I believe it is time to look for a new career.
I see tons of ads for truck drivers promising a minimum of $60K annual income (about what I am making now) with benefits better than I am getting now. Some, such as the link, are even volunteering to train you for a CDL as long as you commit a minimum of one year to them after you graduate.
It sounds to good to be true, but since I work in logistics and deal with a lot of vendors who have trouble finding and scheduling trucks, even from locations within a 6-8 hour driving range, I think "could be."
One of the things I think I would enjoy about being on the road a lot would be being away from all of the PC, petty, unproductive office politics. I worked my way through college driving cabs and delivery vehicles, though none of the variety requiring a CDL. I can honestly say I enjoyed the work from meeting different people to the solitude of the road between fares or deliveries.
Hi Kathy
Do you ever hear from Backie’s *Barb*?
Been thinking about that wonderful couple lately.
Best
Carolyn
You will have to take a DOT physical every couple years. When you do, their newest bogeyman is sleep disorders.
I have a CDL that I use as a volunteer bus driver for a Christian Camp.
Their threshold for diagnosing a sleep disorder is so low, nearly everyone is at risk.
They ask a few stupid questions like “If you lie down in the evening to watch TV, do you fall asleep.” I thought, well, since I don’t watch TV until an hour or so before my normal bedtime, sometimes I nod off, so I answered “Sometimes.”
Or how about this doozy? “If you lie down in the afternoon, do you fall asleep?” Yea, that’s the point, all four times a year I get to take a nap.
The last question asked if I had ever fallen asleep while driving. Never even close.
Suddenly, I’m denied my CDL. I go to a real bonafide sleep specialist and take a sleep study. Turns out that I have what’s called Mild Sleep Apnea. So mild that my specialist said that if the government wasn’t involved, he wouldn’t see the need for any treatment.
Bye the way, he laughed out loud at the DOT diagnoses method.
If I choose to proceed, it’s another sleep study and a CPAP, which I don’t need, or, I can give up my license.
I wrote a letter to my useless rat congressman to advise him that DOT is endangering the trucking industry.
I got a letter back thanking me for sending him a letter. It might as well have read “Eat Your Ovaltine.”
Keep this in mind as you answer those questions.
If you really want to OTR, get the experience of driving any big rig for a while, to get familiar with the basics (the good, the bad, and the in between). I’m almost 61, and have pulled eleven different types of trailers, pulled both OTR and local, so maybe I can give a few tips.
The only way to really learn is experience. It helps to have good habits and instincts of awareness, not only of what is going on around you, but the ‘extending of your nerves’ into the machine. I’ve seen people that somwhow got through CDL class A training, that just have no ‘feel’, and are rough on equipment, even dangerous behind the wheel.
I witnessed that in the aviation world as well, painfully watching a medical doctor land his Piper at the local airport, as though he was landing on an aircraft carrier (he just never seemed to get the feel of flaring out; just kept slamming it on the runway).
Some people are just not wired for driving big rigs. But, if you feel that you are, then go for it. Here are some facts about OTR:
Dry vans pay the least, because it requires the least skill and physical labor.
Reefers are more versatile than the dry vans; able to do perishable and non-perishable loads. But, the perishable is more time critical, of course, meaning that traffic and weather delays can force you to push harder than you would prefer.
Feed/grain hopper work is good for avoiding the much (not all!) of the inner big city loadings and deliveries. (I’ve hauled nearly 30 different products in a feed hopper. Some products slide out good, some not so good.)
End dump is most commonly a local work trailer, but the ‘frameless’ ones do long haul, and is comparable to the kind of work feed hoppers do. You have to know how to NOT upset one when it is raised all the way in bad conditions (but it happens to the best operators. I’ve pulled end dumps more than anything else, know most of the tricks, and thank God, I haven’t flopped one over...yet).
Tankers are more subject to load shift, and depending on product may require hazmat. But, if you want better pay than dry van, and a lot less physical work than flatbed or stepdeck (there are still hoses to wrestle), then you might like it.
Flatbed and stepdeck is better pay, but more labor intensive (chains, straps, tarps, bungees. all of which is a real pain in bad weather).
RGN (removeable gooseneck) is the most common trailer for oversize loads. The pay is better, and oversize forces you to run daylight hours, thereby guaranteeing a night’s rest.
One thing about long haul: once you are loaded, and have ‘all your ducks in a row’, then the drives can sometimes be scenic, almost a mini vacation. If time for a particular delivery is such that you have no need to push hard, sometimes a different route that is shorter in miles, but longer in time, gets one away from the crowds, and the ‘bumping elbows’ of the ‘big roads’ (just make sure that you are legal to be on the roads you take).
Now for local:
For dry van, it generally pays less and/or requires LOTS of city driving.
For flatbed or stepdeck, the repeated loading and unloading (chains, straps, tarps, etc.) during the day, is best for younger bodies, imo.
Construction hauling; usually end dumps, but also live bottoms, can be tonnage rate pay or hourly. Some construction jobs pay a respectable prevailing wage, by law. But, I’ve been on tonnage jobs that paid better than prevailing wage (but the quarry usually wasn’t busy those days, so loading was fast). Asphalt is usually hourly, and I don’t mind it (especially if the paver breaks down, one is still on the clock. They’ve got a lot of money sitting there cooling down, and they know it).
As far as logs; I’ve never used electronic, so I can’t help you there. If they ever outlaw looseleaf logs, I’m done OTR.
I’ve never owned a big rig in the 14 years I’ve held a class A license, so I can’t give a lot of advice on the subject. (I farmed before that, and had my own straight trucks, and fifth wheel livestock and flatbed trailers.)
You will find many trucking videos on youtube that can give instruction (some are even funny).
I saw something like this in an article the other day, and wondered what the heck was going on.
Not enough Mexicans?
Used to be that there were more companies and businesses that kept more stuff in stock, with their own warehouse connections as well. Nobody keeps much for inventory. The online connections between warehouses and retail outlets, give real time needs. So the trucks are short term warehouses.
At least that is part of the reason.
RIP, blackie....you are truly missed.
I never heard him mention anything besides the Navy and big rigs.
Trucks these days are equipped with all kinds of electronics that constantly transmit your location, speed, etc., back to "HQ" so the freedom of the open road appears to be a thing of the past. If you decide on a whim to pull into a rest stop, you will likely get a call from HQ asking you why you did that - unless you already worked it out with them ahead of time. Ditto if you are speeding, slowing down, changing lanes, etc. The company now sees it all and will likely want to know why.
I have another relative that works as an UPS driver and he reports the same thing. Drivers are so micromanaged that the mother ship knows exactly where they are at any given time and if they dally too much on a particular stop, they are getting a phone call. They are also forbidden to take left turns and must always work their way around their route by taking right turns.
Also, no room for error. Just one minor accident or mishap can leave a serious blemish on your record and just one or two more will run you out of the business for good.
Maybe it's different with smaller trucking companies or for local drivers.
On another note, a co-worker of mine who retired from an executive position a few years ago is now a limo driver and he absolutely loves it. This is a guy who was making over $200K a year and now he takes teens to proms, handles weddings, bachelor parties, etc. Says he makes about $50K a year but doesn't even need the money - he just does it for fun.
90% of his job is just sitting in his limo and reading books on his Kindle while waiting for his customers to come out of whatever function they are at.
This might be something to look into as opposed to the high-pressure job of driving the big rigs. Good luck.
I worked for someone who does hot shot loads in a Sprinter Van. Being in Tx, there are lots of loads of car parts (that come across at Laredo), and oilfield equipment, but there are other things...candy bar wrappers, trade show brochures, artwork.
He goes to Canada with some small part needed in the oil fields, and in the US to a lot of the vehicle assembly plants.
He makes about $80K a year, and because of mileage,per diem, most of it cancels out for income tax. He is 68, BTW.
**the sights you would see in cars from the cab of the truck LOL the stories I could tell you.**
The cell phone usage in ‘four wheelers’ is just epidemic. I’m amazed that there aren’t more wrecks. As far as what I’ve seen,...well there’s things that I wish I hadn’t (don’t ask).
And applying makeup......Just a couple of months ago, I was waiting at a traffic light. The woman crossing from my right to left, AND turning to go the way I had just come from, was applying eye liner with the pencil thingy, looking in the vanity mirror, WHILE making the turn in traffic!
Don’t know where you’re located, but a lot of truck drivers are making big bucks driving for the oil company suppliers in Texas.
Even with the downturn, they looking for drivers who don’t have criminal records and can pass a drug test. They even have billboards looking for drivers.
Most drivers haul frack sand, crude, water, diesel, and other supplies, and are home every night.
I never did hear anything more about blackie's beloved Barb.
His son let me know that blackie passed, and I inquired about Barb, as she, as well, had been ill for a long time, but I didn't hear back.
I have never done real over the road trucking, but I do have a lot of experience. I also worked in transportation management for many years, but am no longer in that industry.
My best work was as a contract carrier for the Post Office. That option has likely diminished greatly as the USPS most certainly has been contracting in a different fashion due to EMail and on line transactions.
Supermarket companies are great places for drivers. The distribution centers are typically centrally located to the regions outlets and the nature of that business would require that perishables be not located too distant. Modern day ‘instant ordering’ means that warehouses must be able to replenish inventories in very short order. Therefore long haul trips are left to the OTR ‘gypsies’ or owner operators who are frequently away from home for extended periods.
Other industries are there, but personally, I would avoid the big carriers who pay per mile. That is always a gyp if you get caught in delays or situations which can slow you down.
Anyhow, I used to just love getting up in those rigs. You can see more than the 4 wheelers allow and outside of the cities, it is a beautiful country out there.
https://letstruck.com/
A good source
A lot of couples driving between major cities for FedEx go half way to the destination, then switch trucks with a couple going back the other way.
For example, a Chicago-based couple will head out about midnight with the second day air (most of which never flies, but rather goes by truck) going to New York. Another truck (one of many) leaves New York/Newark for Chicago. They meet at a truck stop in western PA on the PA turnpike, swap trucks, and are able to be home in Chicago by 9 that night.
Many are older, and glad to get out of the corporate BS.
Back in 2005 my wife and went on the road in a straight truck. After a few months I was the most dependable driver the company had. And I got good, long loads. I learned to back up the log books and was making in the $10,000 a month range. I paid for my fuel and personal expenses.
The company paid $1.10 a mile and the owner of the truck paid me $.72 cents. It was fun for a while. But it got old. Then they stopped giving me long runs out of fear of getting audited. I left the business.
And apparently straight truck expediting went away, too. Every now and then I see a Panther truck and a few FedEx trucks. Otherwise the industry is gone. And the reason is the distribution system has changed. They don’t have to have things expedited anymore. I guess more people are willing to wait.
As for the ads you’re seeing, remember anything that sounds to good to be true usually is. It’s not the job it used to be.
There is a risk of blood clots, too.
I left a truck stop once and realized I hadn’t gotten a fuel receipt. I turned around at the next exit and immediately got a phone call. That was in 2006 on a little walkie-talkie type device. I can only imagine how much they watch the drivers these days.
Everything is more competitive. Efficiency rules in our economy. Farming in the midwest is changing so ever fewer farmers are needed. Technology is great, as long as it doesn’t eliminate your job. (I gotta admit that I wouldn’t mind having a drone lawnmower)
I contiue to haul steel loads on flatbeds that require tarping the age old way. Meanwhile I’ve seen a ‘conestoga’ trailer loaded the same way, chained, and covered in half the time.
I getting old and hate tarping. I hate tarping so much, that if the guvmint knew how much I hate tarping, they’d have me arrested for a hate crime.
A remote control lawn mower was offered for sale back in the 70s. It didn’t sell.
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