You too can drive the big rigs

[johnday]

I'm about at the end of my rope with my present job. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif On 12/31/05, I turn 55, and can walkout. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Thats a little too young to fully retire in my book. Thought I would continue with my building business "upnorth", but that is something you need dependable help with, and the years of banging nails, and fingers, have kinda taken their toll. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif So, another thing I've been kicking around, is to be a full fledged, LEGAL driver. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
I've run straight trucks for years, dumps, flatbeds, tandems and singles, and boxes. Yes, sometimes illegal. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif I know some of the companies will sign you on and train you, and after a period of time, you can leave and find a different carrier. Anybody have any ideas out there? I'd probably be one the few NOT playing country on the 8 track though. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif And yes, I'm dumb, so it should be pretty easy for me to fit in. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[MikePA]

Send a PM to 5030. He's a truck driver (steel) in your area of the country.

 

[johnday]

Mike; Is 5030 still around? He seems to have disappeared since about last fall. Haven't gotten a PM or phone call since then. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[Noodlearm]

John, I constantly hear commercials for truck drivers wanted and truck driving schools on AM 1130 (sports talk) and on 97.1. I am pretty certain you should get these stations in Monroe.

 

[Junkman]

5030 doesn't frequenting the TBN site any longer. His last post was on 03/13/05. He used to be a frequent poster, but has left the site. Seems like we are loosing a lot of the old timers... /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[LarryRB]

Iwas an owner-operator a month short of 18 years and got out for physical reasons. Even if the physical downfall did not play any part, I would be out of driving anyway. Not the same. They're paying the same mileage as the union paid in 74,, That is today.. Most pay by mileage and they cannot produce the mileage their advertising brags about. Both truck stops in Sturbridge MA and the TSA in Willington CT (24 miles apart) are loaded with (Company trucks) trying to find a load for their drivers. In the meantime, the drivers sit there, eating up that weeks pay for meals and showers and they aren't turning any miles.,.. If you go into trucking today, I would strongly suggest local dump truck that plows in the winter or hauls snow in the winter

 

[Bird]

John, during the six years my wife and I were full time RVers, everywhere we went, I bought a local newspaper and scanned through the classified ads. I don't believe I've ever seen a newspaper than didn't have ads wanting truck drivers. One of my brothers was an owner/operator in Alaska during the construction of the Alaskan Pipeline. He did pretty well, but not well enough to stay with it after the pipeline was finished. Now that both brothers are back in Texas, the other brother decided about 4 years ago that he wanted to try truck driving. Like you said, some of the companies will hire you and pay for your training to get the necessary CDL. He said you have to work for most of them for two years, or you owe them for the training. However, he found a company that only required him to work for one year. So that's the one he went with. And for a year, he drove coast to coast. But after that year, he quit for the following reasons:
1) he was supposed to get back home every 30 days and have 6 days off. Sometimes it was 45 days before he got home for a few days off,
2) he was paid by the mile, but not the miles on the odometer. They used a computer program that would show, for instance, x number of miles from Dallas to Chicago, but then they told him what route he had to go, and he said it might be a couple of hundred miles more than he was getting paid for,
3) too much time sitting in the truck waiting. He said frequently when he arrived at his destination, they would tell him to just park on the lot, wait in the truck, and they'd call him when they were ready for him to back up to the dock to be unloaded. He said sometimes it was 8 to 12 hours before they were ready to unload him.

I think #3 was his primary gripe and the main reason he quit and went into another business. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[johnday]

Well guys; Not much encouragement for this one, is there? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Bird, sounds like you were referring to a company sounding something like P M? I've heard about them.

Don't quite like the sound of 45 days on the road, or sitting for 8-12 hours either. Sounds like driving local may be the way, even straight trucks.

I've seen the company trucks at the truck stops myself, here at the Detroiter, exit 32 on I-75, you see alot of them.

Then again, there are an awful lot of trucks on the road, somebody must be doing something right, the trick may be to find out what the long term drivers know, that I don't. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[LarryRB]

I've spent many the hour at that 76 TS. My suggestion to you is go have a coffee and sit in the drivers section for a couple of hours in the coming week. After you hear the whining and no pay, no miles, sitting at Ford all day for a 200 pound crate, on and on, you may rethink your options. A good contractor that hauls dirt/gravel/sand/ or? and does snow removal in the winter or like here, many owner-operators of tri axles, haul sand to the different highway departments

 

[johnday]

LarryRB; Been there, done that! Also listen to it on the ole crappy band radio. Seeing how you were one, your advice is well taken. Besides, you'd most likely to be home driving dumps. Do some of these guys train you like the OTR companies do? Got the experience with dumps, but I'm so bad, don't have the license. In Michigan you can go to 25999# before you need the full fledged CDL, for Class 8. Ofcourse, Class 8 is well above that weight. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif