Trucking, Not an Easy Job

Got the idea of becoming a truck driver? Have you thought this idea through? Have you gotten the facts?

To operate a big rig across the interstates, you have to be at least 21 yrs old, pass a physical exam every 2 yrs and submit to drug and alcohol testing randomly. Drivers of trucks weighing more than 26,000 pounds and those that haul hazardous materials must obtain a Commercial Drivers License.

In this case, a person would have to choose wisely, about which truck driving school to attend. Some companies offer to train a driver and put them to work, but this option contains a requirement of service to that company for a period of one year, depending on which company you choose.

Truck drivers can make from $ 35,000 to $ 50,000 a year. The wages vary do to the amount of time "on the road" a person spends. Though the more experienced a driver gets, the better the wages become.

Before you think everything in the industry is a garden of roses there are some down sides to the profession.

The pay rate is dependent on the company you choose to work for, either Household Movers Guide (zip code to zip code), Rand McNally (about 10% off true mileage), or PC Miler (about 5% off true mileage).

If you choose to drive for a large company, there maybe several days when you are not driving. Stuck in a location where there are not many loads to transport. Then there are the times when a vehicle requires maintainers. A driver makes their money by traveling the miles, not sitting at a terminal, truck stop, or on the side of the road.

Some companies offer "lay-over pay" (for being stuck in a location for more than 24 hrs). But these same trucking companies will send a driver, by way of satellite communications, load information just prior to midnight, so they won't have to pay "lay-over pay."

Usually, after the Christmas holiday to about the first part of March, most companies are doing inventory. Companies don't have to claim product that they have not received on their taxes. So many trucking company trailers, are used as temporary storage locations.

The life of a trucker is a lonely one. Sure there are friends that one can make "on the road" as a driver. But if you're married, the marriage can suffer from the distance between two people. The devoice rate for truckers is one of the highest in the nation. Family lives suffer, due to the fact that trucking companies don't care about their drivers personal lives, they care about their own bottom line. If you have doctors appointments, children's recitals, kids sporting eve ts, anniversaries, etc. don't plan on being there, if you're lucky you might get to attend a funeral.

Trucking companies say there is a driver shortage. The trucking driver shortage is real. But it is due to the abuses trucking companies have handed out to their drivers in the past, and still do. There are several abuses companies have done in the past. Making drivers run two log books, overnight loads of over 800 miles (loads that had to be from point A to point B overnight with solo drivers), making drivers perform local deliveries from a terminal when they have no hours on their log books available, making drivers run with overweight trailers, illegal routes with hazardous materials, etc.

The trucking companies will promise you the world if you'll work for them. But when it comes time to pay off on the promises, they'll leave you dangling in the wind.

Most trucking companies will offer a driver a new truck to use. But think about that for a second. If a new driver with a company is given a new truck, then what are the older drivers getting. The old run down trucks? I don't think so!

Some times a driver is used as a "lumper" (someone to unload the truck). Sure they'll pay you to unload the truck, but when they want you to pick up another load, they want you ready to do so. After unloading a truck, usually by hand, a person is tired and not ready to perform the tasks with as much vigor.

Trucking is not for the faint of heart, its not a regular 9 to 5 job (except for a driver dispatcher, driver manager, or whatever the company chooses to call them). The job entails driving for long distances, in all kinds of weather. Both night and day hours, and many extra hours. There is no overtime! There are no holidays (you might get lucky to be paid extra for some holidays). A driver can be "out on the road" for 3 to 8 weeks or more, at a time.

For those getting into the business as a truck driver, don't expect to be home after a few days. Drivers have to turn the miles, make enough money for the company, for them to go home. That means being out on the road, for weeks at a time.

This is also a way for companies to use drivers to their advantage. Trucking companies have a saying for a truck load that has to get moved, they use the phrase "hot-load." They like to get a driver excited about moving the load from point A to point B. In the trucking business, there is no such thing as a "hot-load." Dispatchers us this phrase to put a lit candle under a driver to get them to move the load. Only the driver finds out, when he or she delivers the load, that it was not as important as was first told to them.

Some companies have a policy of one day off for every week a driver is out "on the road." But they also will claim to their drivers, that a company truck can not sit for more than 5 days at a time. If a driver has been out for over 5 weeks, he or she loses the extra days off. Only to get the week off at the end of one year as a vacation.

For tax purposes it is important for truck drivers to keep every receipt they come across. Because a driver in on the road most of the time, they can right off many of the items they use on a daily basis. Meals, clothing, laundry, entertainment items, hats, company clothing, gloves, CB radios, brooms, tools, ropes, bungee cords, etc. Most of these items can be written off on their taxes.

Drivers are only aloud to work for 70 hours in 8 days. Trucking companies attempt to get as many hours out of a driver as they can.

Trucking is not an easy job, there are a lot of down sides to the job. These are just a few.