Question:
Newbies: You see me write a lot about the importance of craftsmanship and responsible profession behavor, and the going-rate wages and benefits for new drivers. Here's another side of the story:
OTR takes you away from your family and home for weeks at a time, and when you subtract even minimal expenses living on the road, there's precious little left for the wife, kids and home expenses.
You can make more net money for your family, work fewer hours, and at least sleep in your own bed every night with TWO full-time fast food jobs. The novelty of being a trucker and living on the road will wear-off pretty fast, and what's left is a disgraceful wage for the responsibility and risk, and in most cases, a family and home left abandoned and broke.
If you've got a wife and kids that need you and your support, DO NOT get into OTR trucking with Werner or anyone else. The number of tragedies -- guys who end up in divorce and living hand-to-mouth on the road while most of their paycheck goes to child support -- is staggering. They thought they could be a dad and husband with only a few days home a month and could eat baloney sandwiches most of the time and send most of their money home....WRONG! It rarely turns out this way.
No matter how much your and your family is dedicated to making this plan work, the fact is it will turn your relationships and finances upside-down. Few can make the stress and pitiful financials work -- and even if you do, you're missing the baby's first steps and the little league games and everything else you supposedly got married for. If you got married and started a family, stay home and be a husband and father.
OTR trucking isn't a "mission" to protect the public or your country like being a soldier or cop or firefighter. We're not heroes -- that's just what the industry tells us to take their crappy jobs. We just move paper towels or produce or little boats from one location to another -- just a low-wage worker doing relatively dull, mind-numbing work. Your body will get soft, your mind will suffer from the irregular sleep/work cycles, and your life will fly by with nothing much to show for the sacrifice. There's no retirement, no sick leave, nosignificant recognition for your efforts, and the trucking labor pool is increasingly dipping into the "working poor" class. This is no longer the middle-class job it once was,and the moment you make a poor decision behind the wheel that gets you in trouble, you're out on your azz facing possible criminal charges and civil action. The company will cut you loose and let you hang.
I could go on and on and on..... But the point is: This is a terrible career choice for a married guy with a family and home life.
You effectively disqualified yourself for living on the road in a truck when you started a family. If you're going to go on the road for weeks in a truck, you might as well just sit down with your wife and tell her you've changed your mind and are leaving for good. Hire a lawyer and get it over with before dragging her and your kids into this charade.
For a single guy...? That's another story. You can give-up your permanent residence, live out of a post office box and put away some money for a few years while living relatively comfortably on the road with al the cool gear. But there's no point in having a "real" home if you're never home to enjoy it. Your car will sit 26 days a month for all the payments and insurance, etc. And you'll effectively lose most of your friendships as you disappear from their lives.
But hell -- if you're single, want to destroy your health and set your course on slow suicide, who cares. At least you're not dragging anybody else down with you. And if friendships don't come easily anyway and you don't care much about a "normal" life -- OTR is actually a pretty good way to escape that reality. That's MY reality - to be perfectly honest - and I love this life. I'm a social misfit and a perfect match for this nonsense. But I wouldn't even consider it if I had the slightest responsibility beside my own admittedly self-destructive selfishness.
Got it? This job SUKS unless you're a little crazy and have nothing to lose. It's an irresponsible career choice if others depend on you, or you want anything like the "normal life" so many truckers come to miss after the novelty wears off.
40k may sound like pretty good money, but it's crap for the quantity of work, the responsibility and risk, the toll on your mind and body....and most of all, the family who'll see precious little of it from the dad who abandoned them to go live on the road.
Stay at home where you belong. Pretend you're an illegal immigrant and get into construction...ANYTHING but abandoning your family trying to be some hot-shot young buck again. Open your eyes and see the reality. The turnover is way over 100% a year -- even higher among newbies -- because most first-year drivers realize they've made a mistake and leave the industry, a little embarrassed and a lot poorer having been fleeced by a truck school and everyone else along the way.....
"...fair and balanced - you decide."

Answer:
SUPER POST!! I COMMEND YOU, SHUFFLER.
I might add that even "regional" driving jobs aint what they are cracked up to be. And the local jobs, for the most, are 12 hours a day or more and that certainly doesnt leave much time to enjoy life.

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All phases of trucking, blow. OTR is a pitiful choice. There are just too many other careers to look into and sure, everyone of them has a few negatives, no doubt, but not to the extent trucking does. To those that you just can't make them believe this, I will...uh...uh....uh...... say a prayer for you.______
|l ,[____],
l---L –OlllllO-
()_) ()_)-(-)_)
I'd rather die on my feet like a man than live on my azz hiding in a truck.........Sir James Brown

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Good post Shuffler.
But I do have something to say about this statement.

Ever try to get a job flipping burgers?
A friend of mine tried (half heartedly) while ordering dinner one night........
He told the manager that he was a soon-to-be former OTR driver and wanted to get off the road. He wanted to work 60-70 hours a week and be home every night.
The manager looked at him like he was smoking some illegal funny stuff.
Then the manager basically told him that since he was NOT one of the following, he couldn't hire him.

1. A minority
2. A student
3. Retirement age
4. A young mother with kids that could work 2-3 hours per afternoon.
5. A female

My friend was also told that NONE of the employees are allowed to work more than 30-32 hours a week.

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I approve of this message.
Shuffler, you've once again demonstrated an eloquence that captures the true nature of this business.Government Ain't YO' Friend. Nor your Servant.
A Tax Reduces Incentive & Capacity. A Regulation is also a TAX.


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The reason for the 30 to 32 hours aweek is so they won't have to pay any benefits, like healthcare, and all the other benefits. And if you don't believe the list of reasons they could not hire him, put your app in and see what they say.
JMHO.
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and the ex-wife isn't on mileage pay or percentage
slow weeks,wifes cut $$$ their cut ZERO
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Exactly!

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Good post Shuffler.
I'l add, if I had to do it over again i wouldn't even do it if I was single. It's a great job for those who want to be alone and not for those wanting a relationship later on.
I never could understand why burger flipper" is the job people point to as an alternate to truck driving. There are lots of career choices out there and the money spent on driving school and lost the first year driving would go a long way towards starting a better career. It's a matter of priorities.
If burger flipper is your thing almost anyone with a little age, intelligence, neat dress and some people skills could quickly get into a "burger flipper" management position. Those jobs are nothing to sneeze at. I've know Burger King managers who make in the 70's a year. It aint easy but it does pay off.

Answer:
Hoss said....

Hell no. I'm a mthoer-fkicun' squirell-sqwashin', deer-swatting trucker!
There's an intangible quality to OTR lifestyle for some us -- the combination of idiots and machines I suppose. Difficult and stupid...but good times too. Just not good enough to justify abandoning your family -- your kids. That's what it is, and trucking ain't even a good last resort. It's abandonment.
But if it's just you and no kids -- it's your life and you're entitled to be a foreign mercinary or an over-the-road-trucker. Lord knows we could use some better ones.

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Maybe they will give you a job. I myself am in manufacturing. Have been for 20 yrs. I went through 3 plant closings in 4 years.And these jobs are getting harder to come by. Most just hire low wage immigrants, or use temp service so they don't have to pay for full time benefits. I use to make 48k a year, thats not including the 12,000 a year in overtime. I will never see that again no matter where I go. And after 20 years experience at the same job. Maintenance Spvr. Industrial Maintenance. No one will hire me at that wage. Now I already lost my house. because of this. I did drive for Roehl in 2001, now I really regret leaving. But was offered a job in Ne for 22.00 an hour. Took it. 2 years later Co closed plant.
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My Dad was an OTR Driver for the first 17 years of my life. I am now 41, and you no what My parents are still married, and our family is still normal to this day.
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God Damn that's a good posting Shuffler. Even being single & OTR still sucks! I would like a day off at least once every 2 weeks at my own dwelling. But it just doesn't happen with OTR carriers. The new folks can eat this crap up.

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I got offf the road, and got me a job driving a concrete truck. I make three times as much as when I was on the road.( last weeks check was $900) I'm home every night, with mama.

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help wanted
there is probably 100's of these burger joints in my area,plus all sorts of other b/s jobs,yet no help wanted ads in the paper for those jobs
now if I look under driver companies from the area and around the country fill up a some space in the help wanted ads