Do Truck Drivers Enjoy Their Jobs?

In a series called Ask A Driver, I recently received this question:

Hi,

Do truck drivers like their jobs? My son will soon be finishing his truck training and will enter the job market so I have been cruising the web looking at different truck sites, (yours, thus far, is the most interesting). I find lots of information on how bad truck driving is, (e.g. health issues, dangerous, bad companies, loads of complaints, and more). What I cannot find are stories or comments from drivers who actually like what they do. So, I ask again, do truck drivers, overall, like their jobs? Any links or resources that talk about a positive view of truck driving would sure be appreciated.

Thanks,

Everette

Answer:

Hi Everette

I'll answer your question, and at the end I'll give you a list of good articles and such to look at.

To get right to the core of your question, whether or not someone enjoys trucking, in my opinion, depends on a few key things.

1) Your personality must suit the lifestyle.

The lifestyle of an over-the-road or regional truck driver is very, very unique. And that's exactly what it is - a lifestyle. It really isn't just a job - it's how you live. You spend an enormous amount of time alone. You almost never know where you will be, nor where you will be heading to, more than 48 hours in advance. Often times much less than that. Many times you will deliver a load and won't know where you will be going next until the information actually comes across your screen. Could be Los Angeles, could be Miami, could be just a short distance from wherever you are at the moment. You just have to roll with it.

There is nobody by your side to help you make decisions. You have to constantly rely on your own judgement and intuition to decide your strategy for managing your time and create a game plan that will allow you to consistently get the job done safely, make good money for yourself and your company, and not get burned out in the process. That is no easy task for sure. There are always a million variables to consider - like traffic, weather, DOT inspections and weigh stations, eating, sleeping, showering, fueling, keeping your logbook legal, getting maintenance done to the truck, and a host of other factors. It takes quite a long time to learn how to juggle everything in a way that suits you best. But then again, there are so many variables and it's such a dynamic environment that more than anything else you're simply 'wingin it'.

So your personality has to be such that you can handle the lifestyle. The most important traits you should have, or learn to develop very quickly, are patience, independence, determination, a good work ethic, a love of adventure, spontaneity, and discipline. I happen to have a good helping of those qualities. In fact, my mom likes to tell people the story of my first day of kindergarten. I started young - I was 4. She was going to walk me out to the bus and I wouldn't let her. I told her I can take care of myself and that I would be embarrassed if she had to walk my out there like a baby. So she had to stay on the porch! LOL! And she did. I was serious!

If you have a strong personality, you like to make your own way through life, you enjoy adventure and challenge, and you have a decent amount of good judgement and common sense, then I would say there is an excellent chance that you will truly enjoy your life on the road. I can honesty say that I've absolutely loved it. It was certainly no bed of roses all the time, but overall it has been amazing. Good money, tons of great experiences, and countless lessons learned. You're providing a tremendous service to people that you can be proud of, you're experiencing this country in a way that most people could only dream of, you're driving big, beautiful trucks, and you're making good money doing it. It's a one of a kind way to make a living and if it suits your personality, you're well on your way to making many of the best memories of your entire life.

Second of all - how well you understand how trucking companies function on the inside

This one isn't too difficult. You simply have to understand that trucking companies get paid based on the amount of work that gets done. The more loads they haul, the more miles they run, the more money they make. Now there are obviously laws that both the company and the drivers are responsible for abiding by. But I'll be straight-up with you about something - both the driver and the company stand to make a lot more money by breaking the rules, within reason, than by abiding by them.

Cheating the logbook is a common, everyday practice out there for the vast majority of drivers. If you say you're not a cheater - there's a good chance you're a liar! But if you go too far and get caught cheating too many times, the penalties outweigh the gains. The companies will generally allow you to run as hard as you want to run, again - within reason - as long as you're staying under the radar. You start getting a lot of logbook violations, your company is going to get in trouble for allowing you to run so hard, and they are going to promptly throw you under the bus and probably fire you. I've been fired a number of times for too many violations. Sometimes you hit a string of bad luck and all the things you've been getting away with for so long suddenly catch up to you and you get a few tickets in too short of a period of time. Well, the company is going to blame you - basically say you're an outlaw - and fire you. And I don't blame them. They're usually willing to give you all the miles you want to run so that you, and your company in turn, can make a ton of money together. But if you screw it up, it's on you - not them.

So basically, the more miles you run and the more consistently you are safe and on time:

- The more money you make
- The more money your company makes
- The better service your customers are getting.
The laws will try to limit how much you can run, and it's up to you how you're going to handle this scenario. You just have to weigh the risks and rewards and determine how you're going to handle it. You certainly don't have to cheat, but you'll only be running 1/2 - 2/3 of the miles the cheaters are. Therefore, you're going to make less money, your company will make less money, and the best loads with the best miles will be going to those drivers who are willing to run the hardest and make the most money for the company.

Of course you will never hear anyone within the offices of any trucking company in America officially admit to any of this - and that's what 's so great about TruckingTruth - we don't answer to anyone so we can tell it like it is! And that is truly how it is. How you handle this scenario will greatly affect the money you make and how well you get treated. You want special favors like being given great loads fairly consistently, getting an extra day or two off here and there, and maybe a nicer truck or a turn of the cheek when you screw up a tiny bit - you'll have to earn it. I never had any problem with any of this. It made perfect sense to me. A lot of guys want to be treated like gold but never want to go the extra mile to earn that treatment. Those tend to be the grumpy ones that sit around truckstops complaining about how horrible they have it. You earn nothing, you receive nothing.

Lastly, I'd say you have to have a willingness to do whatever it takes to get the job done - outside of just running more miles than you legally should.

You will have to deliver in the middle of the night sometimes. You will have to sit for 10 hours waiting to be loaded sometimes. You will have to deliver in downtown Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, Detroit, and Denver - sometimes in the snow, sometimes in the middle of the night, sometimes on only 2 hours of sleep, and often times in terrible traffic. Sometimes you will have to help load or unload, sometimes you will have to get the truck worked on and miss out on the shower and the nap you were hoping for, and sometimes you will have to wait an extra day to get home. But if you take the approach that you have to do whatever it takes to always get the job done safely, and be on time whenever possible - which better be almost every single time - then you'll be just fine.

As you can see, I can go on forever and ever. And this is just scratching the surface. You surely saw my book advertised on the site. It has 1000 times the amount of information in it than I can give you here. The entire point of the book is to let new truck drivers know the honest truth about life on the road. I have offered a money back guarantee on this book from day one and I swear on my Father's grave that I have never once been asked for a refund. Not once. It is absolutely crammed with every bit of advice and information I could think of after 15 years on the road to help new drivers learn what it takes to be successful and enjoy life as a truck driver. It will help him avoid tons and tons of mistakes and hard lessons learned. It will also help him understand how the industry works so that he can make good decisions with his career. It's actually pretty funny, too. It has a ton of great stories in it from over the years. And, lastly, my mom really liked it! LOL! It would be a great way for you to help him out - and inexpensive - and you will absolutely get every penny back if you're not happy with it - no questions asked.

I've really enjoyed my years on the road and I would say that most drivers out there do. But some people quickly find out that they are not cut out for it at all - and usually get out pretty quickly. But if it seems like the lifestyle would suit your personality, and you hang in there for a couple years so that you can really learn how it all works, there's an excellent chance that you will have a lot of really fun, adventurous, and rewarding years out there for sure!

I sure hope this helped!

Here are some other resources from our site that you'll find interesting:

A couple of my blogs:

Is Truck Driving For Me?



Will I Enjoy Life On The Road?



A couple of stories from the road:

Truck Driving Story From Phoenix, AZ



Truck Driving Story From New York, NY



Here is the homepage of my blog - it lists all the different blogs I've done on different topics in the industry:

Brett's Trucking Blog



Here is a blog that is done by a husband/wife team that has some good day to day stuff in it:

Husband Wife Team Blog



Thanks for the question Keith. If there is anything else I can help you with, please don't hesitate to ask!

All The Best,

Brett Aquila

Questions About Truck Driving: How To Protect Your Freight And Get Enough Sleep

Hi



I am thinking about getting my CDL and becoming a truck driver. How safe is truck driving from the stand point of getting enough rest? How do you keep your loads safe from people who may hurt you and steal the load? What do you do when you are extremely tired and your manager wants that you keep driving? Please tell me about all the obstacles and challenges that you have, so I can see if truck driving is the right career for me.



Sincerely,



Mansour

Answer:

Hi Mansour



You have some excellent questions. First, there are a lot of materials on my website that cover some of these exact questions, and my book covers every one of them.



Here are a few articles that you'll find very helpful:



Becoming A Truck Driver Part 3: How Do I Know If Trucking Is For Me?



Becoming A Truck Driver Part 5: Will I Enjoy Life On The Road?



Truck Driving Story From Phoenix, AZ



Truck Driving Story From New York, NY



The first two explain a lot about what life on the road is like. The last two are stories of mine from the road to give you some examples of some of the stuff you will find out there.



Now I'll answer your questions directly.



How safe is driving from the aspect of getting enough sleep?



As far as safety concerns with getting enough rest - there will be times when getting enough sleep is very tough or nearly impossible. The hours are very inconsistent.
Sometimes you might pick up a load at 2:00 in the afternoon, sometimes 2:00 at night. Sometimes you have to run odd hours because of traffic concerns. Say for instance
you have a delivery at 8:00 in the morning in Chicago. Well, you sure can't go strolling into Chicago at 7:30 and expect to get there on time. You'll be stuck in traffic and
you'll be late. So you go in about 4:30 in the morning, arrive at the customer, take a nap for a few hours, and your day begins again. So there is no way that you will always
get enough sleep. Time will teach you how to schedule your runs the best way you can - but more than anything else you will learn to get by sometimes on 3 hours of
sleep sometimes. That is just the reality of life on the road. It's not a nine to five schedule.



How do you keep your loads safe?



Really, this is very rarely a problem. If you put a super heavy duty lock on the trailer, that is usually all you will ever need. I've driven for 15 years, rarely locked the trailer, and
never once had anything stolen. Now here is something to look out for - sometimes you will pick up valuable loads - say a load of computers. What will happen is there are
thieves that will drive around in vans. They know the company you picked up at has just given you a load of computers. So what they will do is secretly follow you, hoping you
stop somewhere soon down the road to get something to eat at a truckstop or take a nap in a rest area. When they get their chance they'll open up the trailer, grab a bunch of
computers, load them in the van, and be gone in a matter of minutes. That's if you're lucky. If you're unlucky, you'll go in the truckstop to get something to eat and when you
come back outside, your truck is gone. The best thing to do when you get a load like that is leave the shipper and drive for at least 200 miles. They will only follow you for so
long and then they'll turn back and wait on the next truck to leave the warehouse. 200 miles without stopping and you should be fine. The other obvious point is don't sleep
overnight in a bad part of a city. It isn't always avoidable, but usually it is. But I wouldn't be too concerned with this. Theft does happen, but it's pretty rare overall. Common sense
will usually keep you out of trouble.



What if you're really tired and they want you to keep driving?



See, this is a fine line you have to walk. If once in a while you're just too tired to get somewhere on time, most companies will let that go. But if you do it too often, they simply
won't give you very many good loads. You'll be sitting a lot and all of the good loads will go to the guys who are consistently on time. Again, after a while you will learn to
schedule your runs in a way that you can get the job done safely. But no matter how long you've been driving, sometimes you're going to be tired and it comes down to a decision
you have to make - can I grab a nice big cup of coffee to stay awake safely for a couple more hours or do I have to shut down for the night and be late with this load?
You have to know your own limits and always put safety first. Your manager will never, ever actually say you have to keep running even though you are tired. He will start
giving you less miles though if you can't seem to get the job done as well as other drivers. It's kind of an 'unwritten rule' that the guys who are willing to run the hardest will
get the most miles and the best loads. The guys who can't seem to get the job done wind up sitting an awful lot.



The articles and my answers will give you a good start. If you're really, really serious about becoming a truck driver and you really want to know all the information you can
get before making a decision, my book is the way to go. It's very inexpensive and it is packed with every detail I could think of from 15 years on the road. Here is the link
to my book about becoming a truck driver.



I sure hope this helped!



Best of luck,



Brett Aquila

Even In A Slow Economy, Truck Driving Jobs Remain In High Demand

Is It Time To Change Careers?

With a slow economy, many people are losing their jobs, being laid-off, or are worried about one or the other. Many are considering changing careers, and are hoping to find a good paying job that takes little training, is fairly quick and easy to get into, is in demand, is enjoyable, and offers a good future that they can count on. Well, buckle up your seat belts because truck driving might be the perfect career choice for you!

Many people are under the impression that high fuel prices have been killing the trucking industry. It's true in some sense - many, many companies have been going bankrupt. But most often you'll find that these are the smaller, poorly financed companies that were struggling to begin with. A slow economy and high fuel prices will certainly weed out the weaker players, and in a commodity business like truck driving, there are a lot of em.

Still A High Demand For Truck Drivers

But freight is still flowing, and the demand for truck drivers remains high. If many companies are going out of business, how can it be that the other companies are still hiring? There are several reasons for this.

Truckers Want To Make More Money Too!

When freight gets slow, not all companies are equally good at keeping their drivers moving. As freight fluctuates and the number of drivers a company has working for them at any given time fluctuates, sometimes there are too many drivers and too little freight. Because truck driving jobs are plentiful even during slow times, as you can see from this extensive listing of truck driving jobs in Atlanta, Georgia for example, drivers tend to be quite impatient when it comes to getting the miles they are looking for. Often times a few slow weeks will send them packing down the road hoping to find a better job with a company that can keep them rolling. So the turnover, or churn rate, stays high in the industry and therefore most companies are hiring year round, even when times are toughest.

The Turnover Always Remains High

The industry is famous for a high rate of turnover. Traditionally this is because there is a shortage of qualified drivers to choose from, so jobs are fairly easy to come by. On top of that, truck driving is not an easy job. I've written other articles that talk in detail about how the truck driving lifestyle is not an easy one for most people to adapt to, and I would state without hesitation that truck driving is not for everyone. So even in good times, the trucking industry always suffers from a high rate of turnover.

Negotiating Better Prices On New Equipment

During hard times, purchasing of new trucks often slows dramatically. Dealerships need to keep selling however and so often times trucking companies can negotiate much lower prices for new trucks. Combine these new trucks with the ability to (hopefully) steal away contracts and drivers from other companies, and you now see that the companies that took the best care of their finances during the good times can take tremendous advantage of it during the slower times.

Bigger Companies Have Their Eye On Expansion

How can some companies be hiring while others are going broke? Because as the smaller companies struggle to survive, the larger, better financed companies can take advantage of them. Larger companies can operate at a loss for a time, and will do so, if they believe they will come out ahead later on. By offering to haul freight at a cheaper rate than a shipper is currently paying in exchange for a new contract with them down the road, the larger companies can operate at a loss for a short time and steal away contracts from the weaker players, often times hurting or wiping out the weaker players in the process. Then when the economy picks up again, the larger company has expanded its customer base, therefore expanding the number of trucks and drivers it can maintain in its fleet.

Trucking Jobs Are Always Available

So as you can see, there are a large number of reasons - and there are plenty more than the ones I have listed here - truck drivers are always in demand no matter what the economy throws at us.

Becoming a Truck Driver: How I Got Started In Trucking

I don't believe there is anyone in America, or a multitude of other countries for that matter, who hasn't considered becoming a truck driver. We've all wondered from time to time what life would be like traveling the highways day in and day out ... living on the road, seeing the sites, meeting people from far and wide, and watching the sunrise and set from one coast to the other...what would it be like?



I did exactly that for the better part of fifteen years and I can tell you one thing - I wouldn't trade my time on the road for anything in the world. I was blessed with the ability to do any number of other things. Becoming a truck driver was never any goal or consideration of mine, and I never knew anyone who had done it. I simply came across it by chance once upon a time on a hot summer day in Atlanta....and everything changed in my life from that day on.



Working for $5.50/hr in a warehouse as a 21 year old man-child I arrived at work one day to find a Ryder truck parked in the lot. I was told we had to haul some pallets of literature downtown and exchange them for yet another group of pallets to bring back. It was the largest straight truck that Ryder offered....and I had never even seen the inside of one. But I was determined to be the one to make the trip in it. So how was I going to convince them to let me do it? The only way I could - I was gonna lie my brains out. I told the boss my aunt had moved twice and my grandma had moved once and all three times I drove the truck...same size truck as the one out in the lot.



Amazingly enough they gave me the OK to take it downtown. What were they thinking???? So away I went. The trip went perfectly and I did what I was supposed to do. I went downtown, they unloaded me, reloaded the truck (after their lunch break of course), and I returned safe and sound. Upon arrival I immediately went to my best friend and joyously exclaimed that not only was that a lot of fun, but I didn't even have to do any work that day...."all I did was drive" - and the light bulb came on.



I went home and looked up the only trucking company I knew of and found out that I would start at $40,000/year. I was making $15,000 at the time...including overtime!  Becoming a truck driver was exactly what I was going to do....and a month later I was in trucking school.



I graduated, got hired with a great company on graduation day, and had an awesome career. I made excellent money, met thousands of people, saw many of the most famous sites in America, and many others that were just as beautiful but mostly unknown.  It's not an easy life - but if you're the right type of person for it there is no other job like it in the world. You'll learn so much about yourself, your country, and the people you share it with. You'll experience the differences in culture from city to city and region to region. You'll make very good money, have a ton of fun, and have a career that keeps our economy moving and makes you feel like you've accomplished something worthwhile....and you have.



The moral of the story? Lie. Lie like crazy! No, I'm just kidding. The real moral of the story is that sometimes you have to take chances in life. If you ever want to get anywhere worth going it will take risk, courage, and faith in yourself to get there.



I'll be writing about a lot of issues regarding the trucking industry and life as a truck driver in the coming weeks and months. I've already written a book about becoming a truck driver that has tons and tons of stories from my years on the road and advice to anyone considering a career as a truck driver. I also have a website with tons of free content - it's at www.truckingtruth.com, which has truck driving stories from my years on the road, links to trucking schools and recruiters, advice about becoming a truck driver, and some excerpts from my book. You'll like the site...there's a lot of helpful information there.



I'd love to hear from you and answer any questions you might have. Email me from my website at www.truckingtruth.com and I'll be sure to get back to you.



Til next time.....take care.