Question:
Okay, what I am about to say is just EVERYTHING I have been thinking. Please don't reply (edited)! If you reply reply with the answers I am looking for! Thanks. I was considering going OTR, but the more and more I read on the site the more and more I feel like I am not going to make money, I am not going to have fun, and I am not going to like the lifestyle of the OTR driving. Supposly from quite a few people in this business the OTR business sucks! Even though there is like 2 million OTR drivers. They say you can make more money working at a fast food joint! That was kind of making me think why is there SO many truck drivers out there if you could make more money at McDonalds and you could be home everynight? I don't know if just some of these guys are bitter over the paths they chose in life and blame it on trucking, or if it is realy the truth! I go to alot of other web sites, alot of these "Show Truck" web sites, what I want to know is how some of these guys have these wicked trucks if they can't make money? Is it just that SOME people say you can't make money but realy they just don't know how to manage there money? Or were so far in debt BEFORE they bought there first rig that they ended going belly up? There is alot of drivers I talk to that say I am going to have alot of fun, I will HAVE the opportunity to make good money if I TRY, and YES you can make good money being a O/O aslong as you have good money managing skills, and a half way decent rig! In a few years I would LOVE to have my own truck! See I look at trucks like some people look at MotorCycles, or Hot Rods...I think if I can own a bad (edited) Pete and pay for it and still have alittle change in my pocket then I will be living a DREAM! Its like getting paid to drive your you toy! I am single, I have a Daughter that is 2...She lives in Kentucky though...That would be another advantage for me, I would probaly get to see her more if I was OTR. So what do I do guys? Can someone set EVERYTHING straight for me? I am confused and don't want to toss my life away if this business sucks as bad as alot of guys say it does!

Answer:
Oaky, here it is....
If you own your own truck, the odds are excellent that you will make less money than driving a company truck. If the truck you'd like to own is a bad azz Pete, you probably have no chance of making as much money as a driver in a company truck, and an excellent chance of going bankrupt (because you made a poor business decision right off the bat).
A company driver can make anywhere between $45K - $55K after the first year, if he gets on with a good company (which will probably not be the company that he started with as a newbie).
To make that $45K - $55K, you will sleep in the truck about 330 days per year. This makes the odds of visiting any friends or family very slim, unless they'd like to drop whatever plans they may have when you call 12-24 hours out and come meet you at a nearby truck stop for an hour-long meal.
I occasionally hear truck drivers bragging on the CB about how they've been driving for 30 years.
I wonder why they haven't retired (but I already know the answer... they can't afford to).
Smart and thrifty people can make some money driving a truck, which eliminates well over half the general population Those same smart and trhifty people can transition from OTR to a local job, after a few years of experience, and make similar or slightly less money but be home every night or most every night.
The best thing I can say about OTR is that you can live like a gypsy and sock away some good cash in a relatively short amount of time, if you don't blow it on gambling or chrome. As a career, I definitely would not recommend it for the average person, for it is a rather solitary lifestyle and the vast majority of people spend the excess cash rather than save or invest it.
If you don't have a plan, including monetary goals and a timetable, you'll wind up getting sucked into timeless vortex and find yourself like those occasionally heard on the CB, 60 years old and broke.
This industry tends to use people and throws them away. You have to be on the ball to survive and prosper. Most are not.

Answer:
For starters you can make money in trucking. but it takes more than just folowing a dream and falling for the crap recruiters, schools and some drivers tell you. You need a plan.
When you say there are over 2 million drivers OTR that isn't exactly true. there are less. but more importantly your missing the one important fact. The trucking industry has over a 100 percent turnover rate. That means for every truck out there they loose the same number of drivers yearly, actually more. It doesn't mean they loose all the drivers, just the same number.
Yes there are those who have some very nice trucks who have taken the time to fix them up. most how ever do not work for the average OTR company sucking up pennies for miles. Most are in a nitch market and make above the norm. Those markets are getting harder and harder to get into unless you have some one to open the doors for you. Why, because anyone with half a brain wants in them.
O/O's who tell you that they make good money are changing their tune quickly or they are lying. Fuel prices have gone way out of control as has the cost of licensing and insurance. The money is getting slimmer because the rates and fuel surcharges are not keeping up with the cost. I wouldn't even dream of buying a truck until those cost are under control or the rates have gone up to match. The cost of getting into the trucking business, buying a truck, licenses and insurance down payments are nothing compared to the cost of running a truck down the road. When fuel prices got up around $1.80 a gallon used truck lots were filling up quickly. With the prices to day in cheap states like Ga. bein g around $2.40 a gallon and up to 3 bucks in higher priced areas it will only get worse and more trucks will be parked. You need to be in the better paid nich market right now if your going to last. hoping to get into one in the future may prove to be a waste of time.
I'll give you my advice on what to do. Since you are determined to drive a truck and it is your life long dream I would do it. but I wouldn't blindly do it like the majority of drivers. I would plan it out to my advantage. Find an area of trucking you like or might be interested in and see what 5 years of experience could gain you. If in 5 years you would still be running a dry van hauling the same freight in a different color truck for the same basic pay or will you be able to move into some thing different with higher pay and better conditions. OTR will wear out in a very short time so planning past the fun stage is smart.
My story although weak compared to some. I started out in FB's with a crap company out of jacksonville Fl. I then tried reefers, vans and local rock hauling. It didn't work out. I went back to flatbeds first loacl and then a 3 state area mainly hauling produce. Then with that experience i started hauling boats. A job that has lost alot of ground in the last few years. I gave tanks a try for a very short time while I continued to apply locally. I now have a job hauling equipment around Florida and south Ga. If i had not started with flats and then returned to it and moved into a boat hauling job with an RGN I would not be doing what i am now. 30 years in a van or reefer will not get you this job.
I'm not bragging because it does have it's down falls and is not the end of the line.
If you really want to do it make a plan and stick to it. Figure out what excites you most and also has the greatest career opportunities and then continually work in that direction. You can waste time in the middle like I did but it will gain you almost nothing. you could start in FB's and then move to drop decks and later go into RGN's and haul OD and OW loads or you could get into reefers hauling for specialized companies or produce packing house under contract. It's up to you. just make a plan and don't be like most simply hoping to get hired on by anyone and then end up quitting in a short time.
By the way some of the most successful O/O's I have met were pulling their own Drop deck trailers hauling every thing from machinery to military eqipment. Nice rigs and a easier better paying job.

Answer:
Thanks for the advice Guys! You know I have been driving trucks since I was 18, Just doing local stuff like hauling Hay, and Feed to Dairies. I didn't like that stuff. Very long hours (14-1 a day 7 days aweek! By the time I got home, ate, showered, and got to sleep I only had 3 or 4 hours before I had to get up again! It was also boring, hauling the same stuff to the same place everyday. I want change, different loads, different places. Even though I have been driving for 2 years most of these "bigger" local companies want you to have 2 years OTR not local (Go figure). So I think thats what I need to do. Get my 2 years of OTR in. Come back home and find me something local. Who knows maybe by that time fuel will drop and pay will go up! Things are changing everyday and how do we know its always going to be for the bad? I think I want to go OTR. I know I need to do it for the experience. I am ALWAYS going to be a truck driver. I don't want to do anything else. This is my career, its what I do.

Answer:
I think the above posts covers most of the specifics -- I have nothing to add except this general advice:
Everything you read at trucknet is "the truth". All these points of view are valid from that poster's perspective, and have a LOT to do with what happened to them personally. The guy who says "do this" sees that as the best option from his unique experience. The guy who says "make a plan and follow through" is someone struggling with that issue.
I'd probably say, give-up your land-based residence and live out of the truck like a king of the road, but that's my approach and obviously isn't practical or responsible for someone with a family. Your "truth" -- what you experience if you do this -- will have it's own twist but will generally fall into what you've been reading.
The most comon truths we all agree on are things like:
You will get dumped on, lied to and taken avantage of -- this is absolutely a given in OTR.
You will work like a dog for relatively little pay compared to a successful career in may different areas -- no matter how "good" the job is, they're ALL underpaid given the work and responsbility.
You will have plenty of reasons to dislike OTR ( and I mean PLENTY of reasons). It's stressful and difficult and full of inherent hardships and humiliations.
But then....you got your feet wet driving already and probably can better imagine a lot of this stuff. I wouldn't recommend OTR to anyone because statically the majority of folks receiving that advice will not agree before their first year is up. But hell, go for OTR if you think you got the right stuff. Where you're coming from with the local work, it may fit you better than most. You have to work at letting the crap roll off your back and enjoying the life -- it doesn't come automatically. If you understand this fact of life, you may have a better chance than most who go OTR.
There's a saying that gets bantered around here a lot: "Trucking is what you make it." It's used as a put down by some, and an act of faith to others. But most of the time, it's dead-on target. OTR will try to beat you down and kill you. Everything depends on what you do with that "truth". Good luck.

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Maybe they have not retired do to the fact they are not that OLD yet I have driven for 31 years , nearly 30 as an O/O and have no intention of retiring for a few years ( only 49 years old ) and MARK the SPARK no need to fret the $ in the retirement fund is doing good

Answer:
RoadHugger represents many who've done this a while and are good at it. He knows how to work at making the life worthwhile despite the problems. Turning lemons into lemonade, if you like. Some can and do -- some can't or won't. But any which way you look at it....OTR is a very hard life all the way around.

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The people "who says "make a plan and follow through" " are most often the people who have been sucessful at it. You would not find one bit of information on building any career that does not tell you to plan for it. Just taking it day by day, month by month and year by year will put you in the same position as a guy who's done it for 25 years and has no planned future. It is sad at best and a poor way to live your life. Especially when you have the ability to start out right as you do now.
Plan for it then. Start at a company that will make it possible to go home in a couple years and do the type of driving your looking for. Don't just start anywhere. Find a company that will meet your future needs as well.
The same for becoming an O/O. Start now by planning and saving towards it. Instead of hoping prices may come down you have the time to plan accordingly. Again find the area you like and then find the market that will pay you enough to live right as an O/O. Prices don't have to come down for a small business O/O to make it. Their rates have to be right and profitable.
The real problem I see is you said driving now is boring because your doing the same things over and over. Unless your doing some thing extrodinare or continually changing and challenging all OTR and local jobs will get boring because it will be the same thing over and over. Thats why I suggest finding some thing that really interest you and that you can do for a long time and then work towards it.

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I actually agree with everything Stuffs' posted on this thread. If you plan on making this your long-term objective, plan every move. Absorb every bit of information and knowledge you can and apply it to making the best decisions for your goal. Aim high for your objective -- be it a long-term career commitment or a passing fascination with a nomadic lifestyle on the road. (for everyone reading this) Decide what you want and get it. In your case, if a trucker is "what you are", plan to do it till you die and set your goals accordingly. There's lots of very cool specialty work that pays very well if you want work hard enough to rise above the fray. A one-truck, over-size specialist running high-value military and industrial hauls can make a small fortune if they're willing to continually educate and train themself till they get there. Or if you just want to go home every night...or if you just want to live on the road doing simpler work..... Like Stuffs says, plan what you want and take it step by step.
Keep an open mind. Read and listen and learn everything you can. Sometimes you change your mind about what you want along the way. Knowledge is a better power to navigate these changes, than just the "opinions" of others. Learn and make your own opinions from a position of knowledge, to achieve what ever it is you want from trucking.

Answer:

Same deal in OTR. 14-18 hour days will be the norm. At least with the local job you get to go home at the end of the day. With OTR you will be sleeping in a truckstop, pickle park, or deserted off-ramp somewhere miles from home.

You might....might...get 2 hours of free time to shower, eat, etc, if your running a legal log and taking a full 10-hour break (and with most scumbag companies, that's a BIG "if"). But it's not really free time per say because you'll always be chained to that truck.

OTR is kind of new and exciting the first 6 months or so. After that, it's the same ole' 4-lane roads, bumping the same docks, hauling the same general commodity freight. Like the first time I went across the George Washington bridge, I thought, hey this is cool. After the 4th, 5th...10th time it's just another bridge and you'll dread going over getting bogged down in NYC traffic.
Bring back those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer...Chi-town summertime traffic, there's another nightmare. I think they've been tearing that place up non-stop for the past 30 years. Heck, if you really want to make make some money and be self-employed, just invest in an orange construction barrel business. Maybe have an orange cone subsidiary on the side. Hot damn, you'll be a millionare every summer.
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Big deal, exchange a US greenback up there in Northern México and get a whole Hefty bag full of Canadian monopoly money in return.
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Interesting thread indeed.
Factual so far anyway.
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other income
you're assuming they are normal people who drive a truck,support a family,pay the mortgage and have a normal lifestyle and have so much money left over from just owning and operating one truck that they can pee it away on chrome
retired milatary,get big check every month
wife has really good job
inherited their home
daddy is a cash cow
live with parents
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I'm glad that someone asked a few simple questions and he got some really good replies. Gee I thought there was nothing but negitive replies on here. Really glad I was Wrong. I really enjoyed the information guys.

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Ensoledad why do you not keep your NORTHERN MEXICO comments to yourself.
I had no choice in which country I was BORN , and a few of my investments are in US $ as we get paid in AMERICAN $ not just CANADIAN $.
As for MONOPOLY $ exchange rate use to be the opposite and the US$ was worth less but then a dweeb like you would not take the time to thnk of something like that .
The other posters posted good info and the big thing is planning , as for OTR try it and get it out of your system , it might be what you want and might not be but you will have experienced it. I give new drivers a taste of OTR , regional and local during their training period , some stick with OTR others go regional or want a local run but at least they had a shot at all 3.