18 wheeler/ OTR driver/ Info

[Auto360]

Greetings All,

So, I thought I might bring up a topic I'm familiar with. Over the road trucking and how you could be a part-time vandweller.

My past background. When I was 21 in 1995 I went to truck driving school in Drumright, Ok for $1500. Unfortunately it's that not cheap anymore.
Anyway, I signed onto US Xpress and drove for them for, get this, exactly 11 yrs to the day. It's virtually almost unheard of for a driver to stay at an OTR company that long. But I can explain why I did. I left in 06' to take a job overseas. I won't sit here and say my time at US Xpress was perfect, but after a while I figured out ways to make the company work in my favor and it really paid off, at least that was my experience. Trust me, you could find plenty of drivers that would disagree with me.  

As with many jobs, you gotta put your time in. If your a driver, you generally need two yrs experience to then be able to apply at many other companies. The reason for this is insurance. Policies for companies generally prohibit under experienced drivers to be hired although there are exceptions. Actually, there are exceptions to just about everything here related to trucking. Now, the reason some of these companies like Swift, Schneider, US Xpress, Werner, etc can hire new drivers is that they are self insured. They insure themselves. Don't ask me how exactly that works. 

Companies are ALWAYS hiring. They claim a driver shortage of XX%. Well, they claimed that 21 yrs ago when I began also...nothing has changed. Part of it is the turn over rate of drivers. If I'm not mistaken its over 100%.  Anyway, this of course is in your favor as you'll never go jobless as long as you maintain your CDL. I will maintain mine for as long as I can even though I'll be graduating Nursing school in a 9 months. But, I still love trucks! Anyway, lets say you start with Werner trucking. Your there a year, saved some money, and now you want to take time off. So, you quit under good circumstances, take how ever long you want to take off and then simply get hired back on. Now, when I was at US Xpress you could take a month off and simply come back with no rehire process. I'm not sure how other companies are. Might be even difficult to get that answer. Oh, this is VERY important to remember. Trucking company recruiters don't know anything! They are given a list of what to to tell you but they have no idea in reality. So, depending on how much time you can afford to take off, you can always go back. It's important to be a good driver though. I took many, many leave of absences at US Xpress and never had a problem going back. I think twice I left for six months at different times and several times I took a month off. 

Trucking is not easy though. And its not easy money that they lead you to believe. Being proactive, efficient, and safe goes a long way in making for a good career. In my time, the truck was my home. I took time off everywhere. In a way it's very similar to RV/Vandwelling. If your out of debt, then it would be a wonderful way to earn income and not have to spend much to live, that way, when you took extended time off you really could be free. 
Honestly, I'd never want to go back to driving full time...but, I sure would if it was like a month on, month off. But, for now I'll be doing travel nursing when I get a job.

Of course I could go on and on. But, if this is something that might interest you, feel free to PM me. I have a bunch if info that could really help. While I do have opinions, I pride myself in seeing the logical side of things. Many truckers talk in ways that signify "absolute". I'm generally more open minded and I can give reason's to any opinions that I have. And, they may or may not be relevant to you.

Matt

 

[BobBski]

22 years OTR, loved it. Every 2-3 weeks I'd let dispatch know where I'd like to take some time off. Most generally they were able to accommodate. I'd park at at a truck stop, rent a car and go have fun for 3 days. A load assignment was always waiting for me when I got back. Now as a van dweller, having a blast stopping at the places I had to pass by. It was a great life for me...also made a stand up van conversion seem HUGE !!!!

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

I got my CDL in 2010 when I was on unemployment.....the federal government was offering grants to retrain workers and I applied and got it. I went to Parker Driving School in Avon Ma. I think it was roughly $5500. I sometimes tow construction equipment with a dump truck for a friend of the family's company and it technically requires a Class A and that was my main motivation for wanting to get it. I do want to drive OTR one day though, just to experience that life for a bit.

It will always be an in demand job, if you stop and think about it.....every single item you own at one point or another was on a truck......most likely multiple trucks. We need a lot of trucks in this country to deliver all those goods. Def job security if you're looking for it.

 

[AngryVanMan]

I wouldn't expect to count on continued job security in the field based on the news about automation I've been reading, but what do you guys that have been in the industry think about it? No worries?

The most recent thing I read was regarding the new federal regs that came out on the 20th of this month: Self-driving trucks threaten one of America’s top blue-collar jobs

 

[Auto360]

Hey Bobbski, I saw that you retired from trucking after military from one of your post some where else. Very cool. Don't know who you drove for but sounded good. US Xpress worked for me once I matured and figured out how the system worked,then I took advantage of it. So many great experiences. I to would rent cars. Once I delivered in Miami, then rented a car and drove to the keys.

Automation in trucking? Lol...not in my lifetime. I wouldn't give it a second thought. There are so many reasons I'm not even going to touch on it.

 

[BobBski]

There's always been self driving trucks...the railroad hauls huge quantities of loaded trailers all around the nation. But, a driver has to pick each one up and deliver it to individual customers. Same would apply to driverless trucks once they get to the cites. Then there's also many customers that need just in time freight delivered and special/last minute orders. Some of these things would help to make more jobs localized and help with the longstanding/getting worse, driver shortage. Takes a certain personality, like any job, and not minding being away from home. I loved it and made great money. Thes driverless trucks have been talked about for years. Just a couple questions... Does your computer ever have a glitch? Would you ever fly in a pilotless airplane? Great ideas but the infrastructure required will take many many years and lots and lots of money. Not to mention the unions and special interest groups that wouldn't want driverless trucks out there. If you have a CDL and keep it and yourself clean.... you can lose a job on Friday and be driving for someone else on Monday.

 

[BobBski]

Hey Bobbski, I saw that you retired from trucking after military from one of your post some where else. Very cool. Don't know who you drove for but sounded good. US Xpress worked for me once I matured and figured out how the system worked,then I took advantage of it. So many great experiences.  I to would rent cars. Once I delivered in Miami, then rented a car and drove to the keys.

Yes, 20 years Army then 22 years driving truck.  Mostly J&R Schugel hauling temp controlled loads.  You hit it on the head..learn the system, accept the system, turn your CB off lol, and roll with having fun along the way.

 

[Auto360]

Hey BobBski....you going to rtr?

 

[BobBski]

Hey BobBski....you going to rtr?

As it stands right now, yes.  99.9% sure.  Looking forward to meeting everyone.

 

[AngryVanMan]

Does your computer ever have a glitch? Would you ever fly in a pilotless airplane?

I would be ok with riding in a pilotless/driverless whatever if they were safer than the human counterpart, doesn't need to be perfect, just substantially better. So far they are saying the regular robot cars are safer per mile vs. us meat popsicles, but we'll see how it plays out. Trucking is one of the best non-college jobs like you say, if they start making inroads with long haul with the "platooning" and so on, that'd be a lot of good paying jobs lost.

They say it will be one of the first fields to fall prey to automation, but almost no one is willing to say a time frame - but one guy in that article says they'll have platoons running on US roads within a year. They already ran them successfully in Sweden, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. I think until you hear it from a major OTR company it's still vaporware, like you say.