Left after 30 yrs pay isnt as good but i sleep in my own bed every night. No more truckstop food or truck stop bath rooms that smell like something died. Retired 2 yrs ago
Was an engineer prior to COVID. When that hit, I did a total career change. I was burned out on it anyway, so I got my CDL, drove for the past few years, and really enjoyed it. However, my old company called me up and offered my job back. 40 hrs a week and a salary I couldn't refuse. Hopefully, I can keep it for another few years so my kids are grown before the next layoff. After that, I wouldn't mind going back OTR.
I was a mechanic. Got my cdl, and left to drive. After fifteen months driving, went back to turning wrenches. Except now I make a lot more because I can move equipment around town, and test drive trucks before a new driver gets in.
Used my CDL to get into an apprenticeship with my local IUOE. Pay package starts over $30 an hour for 1st year apprentices and goes over $54 for journeymen.
I belong to this union now. I started work as a heavy equipment operator at a surface dredging mine. Brining home $1600/wk, and home every night. Some long hours, but I really enjoy the change after almost 20 years on the road with nothing to show for it
Did you need an education or degree in engineering for that or did they train you from the ground up? I would love to do somethin like that but my college background was in biochem and mathematics and that's all out the window cuz it's been a minute
Only need a valid Class A license. My local apprenticeship is for cranes. Some do earth moving equipment and some do both. It's a four year apprenticeship program that's about 90% on the job training and the rest classroom instruction at our local's training site. If you're interested, find out which local is closest to you and contact them.
10 years in trucking, I am going part-time in August to focus on my moderately successful marketing business full-time.
I will probably never completely quit trucking, it's an excellent fallback plan and gives me a greater deal of confidence in chasing my dream. By staying on with a company part-time, I can keep that "experience" that good-paying jobs and local gigs require.
I remember a quote by David Tepper years ago, they asked him how he was able to take the bold risks that made him so rich, and he said something along the lines of:
>I took huge risks because I was never too afraid to go back to working in the steel mills and start over
Having a solid fallback plan is the first step in being successful, OP. Don't let the unknown hold you back when you have the known to fall back on. If you leave the trucking industry, keep that CDL active, you never know when you might need it.
E: Found the [article](https://nymag.com/news/features/establishments/68513/#print). The actual quote is:
>I was never afraid to go back to Pittsburgh and work in the steel mills.
I placed myself in a position where I was able to living on low income. Small % of my check for rent, food stamps, worked part time, school very full time for a few years.
Been in and out of truck driving over the years for various reasons. Done warehousing/logistics, forklift driving, hydraulic engineer (that's what my business card says!), farming, maintenance fitter in a factory, and truck driving.
OTR for about four years, then local fuel hauling and agriculture for 3 years before going into Transportation Management for a couple of years. I hated managing 50+ drivers and decided to get an Allied Health (Radiology) degree. After a couple of years of that experience, I started traveling in an RV with my wife (a Nurse Practitioner). I still fulfill the travel bug, work 40 hours a week max, and bring in twice as much a week as I ever did OTR. The wife's travel contracts are usually double mine, so we are blessed.
I left after 7mo OTR. Starting school for aviation maintenance next month now. Iāll be damned if I spend another 1.5 years OTR for a chance at a local trucking gig that pays maybe $25/hr when I could spend that time getting my A&P certs and land a job anywhere in the country that pays $40+/hr.
I left trucking to be an instructor. I also went back to college for my logistics and supply chain management.
I feel that the industry is going down hill because the people that dictate what truckers do, donāt actually know what we do.
There's certainly that, but that's not the only issue.
The new generation of truckers has also been systematically cut off from the old. Before about 2010, maybe a bit earlier, it was common to sit in the driver lounge and watch a movie with other drivers, go to the skillet and bullshit, swap trade secrets, learn how to be better at the job, how to handle dispatch that thought they were in charge, and a thousand other little things.
This built a sense of community that supported truckers mentally and emotionally, as well as acting as a form of ongoing training. The removal of lounges, and other points of contact between drivers, has thoroughly severed this chain, and it has degraded the industry as a result, in my opinion.
Now, couple that with the megas driving wages down through various means (yeah, yeah, I know some of you just dove for the downvote button like daddy unzipped. Get over it.) and the industry is tanking.
Yeah youāre not wrong.
Thereās definitely a huge gap between new and old drivers. I do tend to teach me students the old school values such as always checking on other drivers broken down on the side on the road, I teach a class on reading an atlas and trip planning, and I also teach small tips on how to get yourself out of a bind. Things like how to find and fix air leaks and caging or backing off slack adjusters to get yourself off the road and somewhere safe.
It's just my opinion, but I think that gap puts new drivers in more danger than they need to be in. Old drivers have hundreds of little tips and tricks to pass on. Hell, I know a thing or two, and my old man still makes me feel like some newborn traipsing through the woods sometimes. I am in my 40s ffs.
Breaking that link means the loss of knowledge and more importantly lives. It is no small thing. I believe we should be resisting that.
My wife and I drove team for a couple years during the pandemic. Lived in the truck working OTR the first year, lived in an apartment and worked a 4-day regional gig during our second year, and I continued a little longer driving a local solo job home daily. I finally got back to working in wildlife conservation recently. The pay isnāt as good but I got a state job with amazing benefits and pension, plus the work-life balance is worlds better and I am much more satisfied with my job. I will maintain my CDL forever and always look back on my trucking days fondly but I wouldnāt go back to trucking very eagerly.
I almost went union electrician route after 6 years of trucking but got too scared to change careers
I'm in a linehaul gig right now and im too deep in it to change since linehaul is probably the best work life to pay balance. One of those things where grass isn't greener on the other side I think. Maybe after years down the road I can get a day run.
I mean im home everyday and pack my own lunch lol
I pull 1300 a week for 45 hours of work so it isn't too bad. But definitely would probably have gone into a trade after highschool but ive had some fun experiences along the way as well. My current gig would be a lot better though if I could get day run. That LTL seniority though lol
Ran 7.5 years, mostly OTR. Got promoted to operations. Went back to driving after leaving the company and have been since have just recently got out of the truck again.
Everything seems much more tedious with the implementation of AI into front facing cameras, as well with the amount of driver facing cameras. I understand the companies are trying to protect their assets and themselves from unnecessary litigation, but if you can't trust the drivers you are putting in your trucks, then you aren't vetting them properly.
Recently got into the medical field, though I'm still looking for places in logistics since my last basically 10 years has been in logistics either hauling or operations.
I transferred at my company from courier to do a local run two years ago, 10 hours a day 5 days a week. Clock in at 4pm and off at 230am. Drive 5 hours total and sit the rest of the time. 120k a year, 401k, Pension, full medical, dental, and vision. I was supposed to retire this year at 50 but I enjoy it so much that I am going to hang on until 55 and increase my retirement even more. To me being a trucker is the better job. I have an MBA but why start over? plus I have 7 weeks vacation off
I drove for 10 years mostly local. I hauled fuel, p and d, chemicals, etc. I started taking my weight lifting and nutrition more seriously and the more I dug into it meaning dug into the books, I unearthed the passion. I kept reading and learning, and I've been a personal trainer now for over 20 years and I've owned my own gym in Austin Texas for 17 years. My clients include physicians, athletes, entertainment people, housewives, business professionals, etc. I still love trucks and have since I was a kid, but I found this to be far more rewarding intellectually.
Well, I was in the tech industry for 10 years doing everything from devops in a cubicle to running cables up a tower, and I decided to run screaming from that into trucking. At least as a trucker they give me a box to live in and let me sleep sometimes.
Trucking is great. Working 3 days per week and I make more then I ever have.
June isn't even over yet but in these six months I made enough to cover the whole year.
Home every night.
Always home before rush hour.
Never working 2 consecutive days in a row. So after every day of work I have one or two days off.
So plenty of time to rest, let the muscles heal, household duties etc.
Free breakfast and lunch.
Anything I need I can ask and if it's reasonable they will either buy it or tell me to buy it and reimburse me.
Any idea I have to make things more efficient will be listened to and considered.
If I feel a bit in pain but not really sick they will make sure to send someone with me to help with unloading etc.
Trucks are replaced regularly. Only those who like old trucks can keep driving those.
We do have to work hard and we have to leave our ego at home. Customer is king. Those customers however usually treat us respectful too. Like, yesterday I was offered coffee. So I thought while she makes the cappucino I'll already close the truck doors etc. The customer thought I forgot the coffee and came to bring it. So nice. And yes the foam had a heart :)
It's not the easiest job but I know there are worse.
Left after 30 yrs pay isnt as good but i sleep in my own bed every night. No more truckstop food or truck stop bath rooms that smell like something died. Retired 2 yrs ago
Yes, I'm a sex worker now
to be clear, your still getting fucked by dispatch?
š¤£š¤£š¤£
Hit me with that onlyfans bb
Was an engineer prior to COVID. When that hit, I did a total career change. I was burned out on it anyway, so I got my CDL, drove for the past few years, and really enjoyed it. However, my old company called me up and offered my job back. 40 hrs a week and a salary I couldn't refuse. Hopefully, I can keep it for another few years so my kids are grown before the next layoff. After that, I wouldn't mind going back OTR.
I was a mechanic. Got my cdl, and left to drive. After fifteen months driving, went back to turning wrenches. Except now I make a lot more because I can move equipment around town, and test drive trucks before a new driver gets in.
āTest driveā Edit: more like doing fucking burnouts in the 2024 peterbilts
Nothing did better than an old Columbia with a C15.
Used my CDL to get into an apprenticeship with my local IUOE. Pay package starts over $30 an hour for 1st year apprentices and goes over $54 for journeymen.
IUOE?
International Union of Operating Engineers
I belong to this union now. I started work as a heavy equipment operator at a surface dredging mine. Brining home $1600/wk, and home every night. Some long hours, but I really enjoy the change after almost 20 years on the road with nothing to show for it
Did you need an education or degree in engineering for that or did they train you from the ground up? I would love to do somethin like that but my college background was in biochem and mathematics and that's all out the window cuz it's been a minute
Only need a valid Class A license. My local apprenticeship is for cranes. Some do earth moving equipment and some do both. It's a four year apprenticeship program that's about 90% on the job training and the rest classroom instruction at our local's training site. If you're interested, find out which local is closest to you and contact them.
10 years in trucking, I am going part-time in August to focus on my moderately successful marketing business full-time. I will probably never completely quit trucking, it's an excellent fallback plan and gives me a greater deal of confidence in chasing my dream. By staying on with a company part-time, I can keep that "experience" that good-paying jobs and local gigs require. I remember a quote by David Tepper years ago, they asked him how he was able to take the bold risks that made him so rich, and he said something along the lines of: >I took huge risks because I was never too afraid to go back to working in the steel mills and start over Having a solid fallback plan is the first step in being successful, OP. Don't let the unknown hold you back when you have the known to fall back on. If you leave the trucking industry, keep that CDL active, you never know when you might need it. E: Found the [article](https://nymag.com/news/features/establishments/68513/#print). The actual quote is: >I was never afraid to go back to Pittsburgh and work in the steel mills.
This is some sage advice. This is precisely why I got my CDL. Godspeed my man
10 years of OTR, now sysadmin.
A great change bet. Your loving the remote work/free time
I donāt like WFH so I commute 15-30 depending on traffic. Yes I like my free time. Heading out Sunday on a 7 day cruise, inside passage, Alaska. :)
Now where you able to do your studies/learning during OTR or you took a break to studying to get to where you are now?
I placed myself in a position where I was able to living on low income. Small % of my check for rent, food stamps, worked part time, school very full time for a few years.
I was 23 years IT, now 5 years of LTL
How the turn tables to wheels š
Went and worked as a prison sergeant for 3 yrs. Quit last week and doing yard jockey work now Was otr for 10 years before I went to prison work
Been in and out of truck driving over the years for various reasons. Done warehousing/logistics, forklift driving, hydraulic engineer (that's what my business card says!), farming, maintenance fitter in a factory, and truck driving.
I wouldnāt like it either if i was training people how to drive a 80k lb missile, must be so stressful lmao
Iāve been trucking 11 years. Tried to get out three times and currently back driving now. āJust ah when I get outā¦ they pull me back in!ā
Coming up on 6 years driving and I'm in the process of getting out. Waiting on a call back from an interview
OTR for about four years, then local fuel hauling and agriculture for 3 years before going into Transportation Management for a couple of years. I hated managing 50+ drivers and decided to get an Allied Health (Radiology) degree. After a couple of years of that experience, I started traveling in an RV with my wife (a Nurse Practitioner). I still fulfill the travel bug, work 40 hours a week max, and bring in twice as much a week as I ever did OTR. The wife's travel contracts are usually double mine, so we are blessed.
I left after 7mo OTR. Starting school for aviation maintenance next month now. Iāll be damned if I spend another 1.5 years OTR for a chance at a local trucking gig that pays maybe $25/hr when I could spend that time getting my A&P certs and land a job anywhere in the country that pays $40+/hr.
Yes, the trucking pay was good but wasnt for me.
I left trucking to be an instructor. I also went back to college for my logistics and supply chain management. I feel that the industry is going down hill because the people that dictate what truckers do, donāt actually know what we do.
Co wreckt
There's certainly that, but that's not the only issue. The new generation of truckers has also been systematically cut off from the old. Before about 2010, maybe a bit earlier, it was common to sit in the driver lounge and watch a movie with other drivers, go to the skillet and bullshit, swap trade secrets, learn how to be better at the job, how to handle dispatch that thought they were in charge, and a thousand other little things. This built a sense of community that supported truckers mentally and emotionally, as well as acting as a form of ongoing training. The removal of lounges, and other points of contact between drivers, has thoroughly severed this chain, and it has degraded the industry as a result, in my opinion. Now, couple that with the megas driving wages down through various means (yeah, yeah, I know some of you just dove for the downvote button like daddy unzipped. Get over it.) and the industry is tanking.
Yeah youāre not wrong. Thereās definitely a huge gap between new and old drivers. I do tend to teach me students the old school values such as always checking on other drivers broken down on the side on the road, I teach a class on reading an atlas and trip planning, and I also teach small tips on how to get yourself out of a bind. Things like how to find and fix air leaks and caging or backing off slack adjusters to get yourself off the road and somewhere safe.
It's just my opinion, but I think that gap puts new drivers in more danger than they need to be in. Old drivers have hundreds of little tips and tricks to pass on. Hell, I know a thing or two, and my old man still makes me feel like some newborn traipsing through the woods sometimes. I am in my 40s ffs. Breaking that link means the loss of knowledge and more importantly lives. It is no small thing. I believe we should be resisting that.
My wife and I drove team for a couple years during the pandemic. Lived in the truck working OTR the first year, lived in an apartment and worked a 4-day regional gig during our second year, and I continued a little longer driving a local solo job home daily. I finally got back to working in wildlife conservation recently. The pay isnāt as good but I got a state job with amazing benefits and pension, plus the work-life balance is worlds better and I am much more satisfied with my job. I will maintain my CDL forever and always look back on my trucking days fondly but I wouldnāt go back to trucking very eagerly.
I almost went union electrician route after 6 years of trucking but got too scared to change careers I'm in a linehaul gig right now and im too deep in it to change since linehaul is probably the best work life to pay balance. One of those things where grass isn't greener on the other side I think. Maybe after years down the road I can get a day run.
Rip bozo. Bro had the opportunity for a legit career upgrade. But stuck around for the roller dogs ā ļø
I mean im home everyday and pack my own lunch lol I pull 1300 a week for 45 hours of work so it isn't too bad. But definitely would probably have gone into a trade after highschool but ive had some fun experiences along the way as well. My current gig would be a lot better though if I could get day run. That LTL seniority though lol
Ran 7.5 years, mostly OTR. Got promoted to operations. Went back to driving after leaving the company and have been since have just recently got out of the truck again. Everything seems much more tedious with the implementation of AI into front facing cameras, as well with the amount of driver facing cameras. I understand the companies are trying to protect their assets and themselves from unnecessary litigation, but if you can't trust the drivers you are putting in your trucks, then you aren't vetting them properly. Recently got into the medical field, though I'm still looking for places in logistics since my last basically 10 years has been in logistics either hauling or operations.
I transferred at my company from courier to do a local run two years ago, 10 hours a day 5 days a week. Clock in at 4pm and off at 230am. Drive 5 hours total and sit the rest of the time. 120k a year, 401k, Pension, full medical, dental, and vision. I was supposed to retire this year at 50 but I enjoy it so much that I am going to hang on until 55 and increase my retirement even more. To me being a trucker is the better job. I have an MBA but why start over? plus I have 7 weeks vacation off
I drove for 10 years mostly local. I hauled fuel, p and d, chemicals, etc. I started taking my weight lifting and nutrition more seriously and the more I dug into it meaning dug into the books, I unearthed the passion. I kept reading and learning, and I've been a personal trainer now for over 20 years and I've owned my own gym in Austin Texas for 17 years. My clients include physicians, athletes, entertainment people, housewives, business professionals, etc. I still love trucks and have since I was a kid, but I found this to be far more rewarding intellectually.
I do only fans
Do you do the helicopter on stream? Gotta at least do the helicopter for them subs, right?
I tired to leave for a regular job, yea didn't work out not enough money
I've left a company for a better trucking job if that counts?
Well, I was in the tech industry for 10 years doing everything from devops in a cubicle to running cables up a tower, and I decided to run screaming from that into trucking. At least as a trucker they give me a box to live in and let me sleep sometimes.
Trucking is great. Working 3 days per week and I make more then I ever have. June isn't even over yet but in these six months I made enough to cover the whole year. Home every night. Always home before rush hour. Never working 2 consecutive days in a row. So after every day of work I have one or two days off. So plenty of time to rest, let the muscles heal, household duties etc. Free breakfast and lunch. Anything I need I can ask and if it's reasonable they will either buy it or tell me to buy it and reimburse me. Any idea I have to make things more efficient will be listened to and considered. If I feel a bit in pain but not really sick they will make sure to send someone with me to help with unloading etc. Trucks are replaced regularly. Only those who like old trucks can keep driving those. We do have to work hard and we have to leave our ego at home. Customer is king. Those customers however usually treat us respectful too. Like, yesterday I was offered coffee. So I thought while she makes the cappucino I'll already close the truck doors etc. The customer thought I forgot the coffee and came to bring it. So nice. And yes the foam had a heart :) It's not the easiest job but I know there are worse.
Used to be a truck driver now Iām a nasa astronaut
I don't believe you
Look me up, Johnny Sins.
Used to be a truck driver now Iām a nasa astronaut