What are the pros and cons of becoming an over the road truckdriver?

Question

My husband is attending truck driving school. I would like to know as much as possible about this career choice. Everything from what the projected income could be, to the best company to work for(we live in western nc), and also how much this will change our daily lives. Any truck driving life experience stories, good or bad would be appreciated. I'd love to hear from the spouse/significant other of truckdrivers too!Thanks.

Answer 1

Projected income for 1st yr. between 27k and 35k depending on his starting wage, with potential to earn 55k + after 3 yrs.

Pros- decent wages, health benefits, and he'll be earning money while sight seeing the many big and small historic land marks, cities, and beautiful breath taking mountains, canyons, and deserts... that the US has to offer.

Cons-being away from home for 2-3 weeks at a time, long stressful hours of driving, waiting, construction areas, crappy roads, DOT regulations, chicken coops, dealing with crappy equipment, constant changes in sleeping patterns, and crappy truck stops with crappy food and shower facilities, although he will eventually learn where the good ones are, and most dreadful of all, Old Man Winter will make his life most miserable at times unless he's fortunate enough to avoid the states where OMW reeks havoc.

As a ten year veteran of OTR trucking, I suggest that he seek employment with JB Hunt, Swift, Schneider, or CRST, of which offer the best wages and health benefits.

Answer 2

I can't relate any direct experiences. But I do listen to them on a CB which provides much more up-to-date traffic reports than anything on the radio.

From what I've heard, it is a close knit group. You are either a trucker or you ain't. The biggest danger out there seems to be us, in other words, the ordinary driver who blindly assumes a fully-loaded truck can stop as quick as a car.

The companies seem to vary all over the place. Some better than others, but mostly I hear the usual griping one would hear at any job about their companies (and how cheap they are).

Another stress point is schedules. A driver can only drive so many hours in a day and ANYTHING that slows him down will have a negative impact on his income. This means road construction, bad weather, long lines at the scales, etc.

Having said all that, I'd love to give it a shot sometime.

Answer 3

OTR trucking WILL change your lives! Are you going to be a "rider", in other words, do you two plan for you to go along on most or all trips? If not, be prepared to be very alone, usually for 1-3 months at a time! Some companies are better than others, and will work with him to get him home a little more often, some will not.

You can expect to make about $25-$35 thousand the first year or so, and as the driving experience gets better, more miles will be driven and a few raises will come along, bringing your gross up to about $35-$45 thousand per year gross usually after the first 2 years or so.

The best OTR company to work for? I'd have to say J.B. Hunt or Schneider.

Good luck, and be prepared for culture shock! The hours are long, and tempers can flare that first couple of years! But, it is well worth it in the long run, driving a truck DOES have it's rewards! :)

Also, here are two good forums to read a lot more good info!
http://www.classadrivers.com/phpBB2/
http://www.truckingboards.com/trucking/upload/index.php

And, here is my list I put together for NEW OTR Drivers, hope it helps! :)

http://www.tayon.com/newbielist.html

Answer 4

If you have children.. Are you prepared to become a single parent? If he gets out there, and you just cannot stand to be away from each other, will he be willing to give it up to take a job near home (even a local hauling job)? Do you want to travel with him? (better income this way..) Does he want to become a local haul driver or a long haul driver? Does he plan on teaming? Does he plan on leasing his truck, buying his truck, or being a company driver??? Mine has been gone a year... He was getting what he wanted to do. He has now been out there over a year.. If you have young kids... you can drive with them in the truck, and share the experience until they have to go to school. (You can also home school them if you choose to live out on the road.) (You may also totally love the fact that he is gone all the time, and be ok with it for years...)
As to companies to drive for...If he is going to be a company driver.. look for one that has the most benefits, and highest pay for company drivers.
If he plans on leasing.. Look for cheap leases.. Look for ones that will help pay for the fuel.. (most you are responsible for your own fuel..and when it got up to 3.00 a gallon... gets kinda expensive...) there are a few that help with fuel...
If he plans on buying his own truck.. Look for a company that works with o/o's... If you have any questions, feel free to email me, and I'll tell you what I know.. (I've been researching companies here recently, and would be easier to answer some of your questions if I knew a little more..)

Oh, if he goes to drive for a company that hauls to canada/mexico.. bear in mind if he plans to drive those countries.. after Jan 1, 2007 he'll need to have a passport.

If he is going long haul.. Look for a cell phone company that has no roaming, so that you can reach each other no matter where he is. If he likes to be on the internet. Look for a laptop... (the laptop can be convenient even just to keep records)

Who's going to be the bookkeeper if he goes and leases a truck, or becomes and o/o?

LOL... hope I didn't scare you off.. but, lots to think about.. and I mean it.. Contact me if you have any questions...

Answer 5

Well, the PROS have got it hands down.
You will meet a whole new crowd of people
in your new role as truck driver. Your
exposure to idiots will be rather limited,
timewise. And, the best part (saved until
last) is that you will become an expert in
the design of trailer doors, mechanical
engineering, tire inflation and knot tieing.

CONS:
You will develop hemmoriods.
Your wife will develop hemmoroids.
Your back seat driver now sits in front.
A peaceful day fishing at the creek
never, ever felt so good.

Answer 6

pros- good money if you work for the right company and get loads and good miles each week

flexible jobs from local to over the road

job market for drivers is one of a kind because drivers have the power to switch companies easily, there is always a need for good drivers

get to see the country and are paid to travel

you can ride with him occassionally and go on mini vacations

cons- varying levels of danger depending on the type of trailer and product he is hauling, putting your life in the hands of others every day on the road

depending on the company he might not get home very much

mistakes and safety violations will cost him his job- accidents, tickets, OOS violations will be on his record and can hurt his chances of getting hired- bad accidents, positive drug tests, or DUIs even in personal vehicles can ruin his career

research companies carefully, i would suggest starting with a larger company to get experience and initial training then moving on to a company that suits his needs better(maybe more home time, different type of freight, become an owner operator, etc)

check out this trucking forum, its very informative

http://www.classadrivers.com/- click on left side message boards

Answer 7

I drove team (OTR)with my wife for over 5 years.

Biggest cons are danger& hard work.

Biggest pro = Freedom to be your own boss (limited though).

It is possible to earn extra income off your internet while on the road. I can help if you have any interest here. Larry marathon777

Answer 8

Pros: decent money, steady work, not much chance of getting outsourced.

Cons: away from home a lot, long hours, can get boring.

Answer 9

Pro: It's definitely better to be over the road then under it (it would be hard to breathe).

Answer 10

A good friend of mine, my neighbor, drove cross country for two years and finally wanted to get out of it. There were a number of reasons.

One is that his superiors made overly-optimistic promises. They kept promising that he would get home for a full weekend, every other week. He actually got home one day every three weeks. I know how often I saw him, and he didn't show up as often as he said he was going to. They promised him a three day weekend and got him home long after dark Friday and wanted him on the road by dawn Sunday. That's not what I would call a three day weekend!

During the time he was married, while he was working, he was not at home and while he was at home, he had no money. I still think this was one of the major contributors of stress that led to the breakup of his marriage. He explained to me that eating prepared meals on the road constantly costs many times more than buying food and cooking it at home. You pay extra for the prep time and the service. Thus the pay scale was not as good as it seemed at first, because of the extra 'hidden' costs.

On the topic of domestic tranquility, it is well known that there are 'lot lizards' (prostitutes who hang out in parking lots where they KNOW they can get business from truckers.) Now, nobody goes out on the road planning to be unfaithful to their spouse. But it can be deliberately putting oneself in the way of temptation. In addition to that, even if one does not give in, who wants to hang out professionally with a bunch of guys who do...? Yes, the vast majority of truckers are honest and faithful to their spouses, do not drink or do illegal drugs. But, the few that do these things cause trouble for their fellow drivers far out of proportion to anything the other truckers could have got into without such 'help'.
Desperation sometimes leads them to rope other truckers into illegal or immoral schemes in order to cover their own butts.

There is boredom. My friend described the straw that broke the camel's back: another trip through Nebraska. 18 hours of nothing but wheatfields. Sensory deprivation has been condemned by the Geneva Convention; why make truckers submit to it...? They aren't getting paid enouh to put up with that. And don't snicker unless you have tried it.

This is serious. 'highway hypnosis' is a well-known phenomenon. A truck driver gets drowsy behind the wheel. He knows that if he can drop off his load early, he can get a bonus. So he keeps driving rather than getting the sleep he needs. All these factors contribute to erode a man's better judgement.

So he dozes off at the wheel. If he is lucky, and he is not on a major road full of traffic, and does not kill himself and someone else, he goes through a barbed wire fence somewhere in the middle of Nebraska and into some farmer's wheatfield. Going through the barbed wire does not cause enough noise to wake him up. Going through the wheat or corn does not wake him up. It is only after the truck gets boogged down in the crop that it finally stalls, and this wakes him up. He has no idea where he is. He has to turn his rig around in a big circle until he can see where his tracks led and how to get back onto the highway again. If he is lucky, nobody sees him coming or going.

A few days later, after the crops have grown back in on the wheel tracks leading to and from the highway, the farmer finds a big circle out in the fields, and he thinks it was caused by aliens. Maybe he finds the section of broken fence a week or two later and repairs it. He probably never figures it out.

How many truckers get shot and killed by irate farmers...? I don't know. You can hide a lot of secrets out in the cornfield. The truck might or might not be found. The cargo might be sold on the black market.

I'm not trying to exaggerate things. It's up to you whether to go over the road, but I wouldn't. The most successful truckers seem to be the ones that take their wives with them. I don't know whether this would work for you; you don't say whether you have kids, a house, pets, etc.

My neighbor tried to get a local job delivering shoes to shoe stores, or furniture to showrooms. The dream job he was hoping for was a two hundred mile run between cities doing bulk mail for the US postal service. But those jobs are in demand and go like hotcakes.

He finally got a job driving a school bus for a day care center and loves it. He gets home every day, and whenever I ask him how things are going, he tells me that the work is easy and the kids love him. He is a big familiar face in their lives (some of these kids have been shunted from one foster home to another all their lives, so he is an important point of stability for them.) He works full time for the day care center on a split shift (morning, then home for lunch, and afternoon), and gets insurance, etc.

Anothr possibility is airport shuttle services. Any major airport will have several such services working in the local region. They usually operate door to door, or point to point (hotel or parking lot to terminal). There's almost no overnight travel, and you get tips. Getting full time work in this area can be difficult, as most owners will spread the work thin and hire extra drives to avoid having to pay anybody full time benefits. Luxury limos may operate on a different basis.

School bus and livery licenses are not the same as over the road trucking licenses, but they are usually easier to get and the tests are less demanding. If he can get the class D or whatever it is called, he should have no trouble getting the passenger endorsement and the CORI background tests. I hope that he is not fully financially committed to the truck driving yet, in case you might wish to make a change. I hope all this information helps. Good luck!