Question:
i can't seem to find much info on the good points in going into trucking. i just find these looong depressing posts of people saying how bad the job sucks and the low pay and little family time. but i never can find anybody talking about being proud of there job. i am still considering a career change from security/law enforcement to trucking. i have a passion for being a police offcer and driving a truck....i have the desure to make the change but would like to know if there are any positive feed back from anybody in the industry

Answer:
If you keep a clean record,get some expierence and you can land a decent job. I've been in it for 11 years and it has supported my family and i with a nice income that is very stable as long as you stay out of trouble,don't go outlaw or cowboy on us. While you're computer programming buddies are looking in the paper for their 3rd job,you will never have that problem.
More jobs+Driver shortage= good for you, you'll never be unemployed as long as you want to work. I'll say that in the last 5 years i have made well above 63k every year. How's that for a positive,i like it and that's all that matters and as long as YOU do that will be all that matters to you.

Answer:

It's a job is about as positive you'll hear until one of the
Vagobond Gypsies reply.
Answer:
thats one thing i like is you can always find a job. there will be always work.

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As opposed to likeing that idea it might be better to try and understand why.
There are a couple hundred trucking schools in the US (probably more) and there are several companies who train. Between them they put out a few thousand trainees a year. But there is still a shortage of drivers. Almost every company out there has lost more drivers each year than they have available trucks. Swift with nearly 17000 trucks goes through 19000 drivers a year. Most companies (Werner, Schneider etc.) hold the same statistics. That alone should make a person question why.
With the opportunity appearing great and the financial rewards appearing great why do drivers quit faster than they sign up. It's simple really. It is not what you think it will be. It never is. Not being home for weeks and not having much of a home life or sociol life is alot harder than most think it will be. Couple that with lousy working conditions, poor hours and a middle income you have a recipe for failure.
While their looking for a better job with higher pay and better benefits you'll be filling out online apps and sending them to 20 companies at a time. You'll be searching for a couple more cents a mile and a little more home time. While their finding what they want you'll be lucky to break even. As the old saying goes, "when you change companies (trucking) all your doing is changing the color of the truck".

Answer:
Countryboy if you get on the cb you will find most truck drivers are chronic complainers. Yes you are away from home if you are otr 14 days + that is the down side. Regional is not that bad you get with a company that gets you home at least once a week. And then there is always local work. If you dont like traffic. trucking may not be for you. If you dont like being alone,trucking may not be for you. You may miss things like birthdays, anniversary. Its may cause a strain on your relationship depending on how your spouse. Now all of these things may sound bad but for me it is in the blood i love driving a truck i could drive forever. Traffic doesnt bother me and i never feel alone. I have my music my cb and i can sling some sh?t with the best of them and i have my thoughts.It is a job and as long as you keep your driving record in good shape you have a dictionary full of trucking jobs you are a commodity. I cant think of any job i have had that i have enjoyed more i have been driving for 9 years and have a family full of truck drivers. I do have problems with my husband at times but he knows i wanted this when i met him and i still want it and we have been together for 23 now, 3 children and 2 grandchildern.
Answer:
If you can stand to be in BOOT CAMP for a few years it is ok. You will never earn what it is worth. Overall it sucks. If your smart enought to come on here for info you are probably overqualified and will never be happy. It is a one way black hole to hell.
I've been doing it 13 years and just went local. 12 hours a day 6 days a week.
Have fun!***Patience is the hardest thing to learn..

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Living in a truck is better than living in a trailer park during tornado season.

Answer:
i have a passion for being a police offcer and driving a truck..
=============================================
Interesting/
I had a passion for being a Police Officer too.
I could spell Officer, but they would not give me a gun!! It may have had something to do with my Personality Disorder.
I wanted a gun like Dirty Harry's,,,way too cool.
I could have been a rent a cop, but they wouldn't give me a gun either.
So now I have in my possession an 80,000 pound missile...way cool!!!

Answer:

I guess it never occured to you that there may be a good reason for this - there aren't many good points in trucking!!

But of course, since it is negative, it can't possibly be true, right?

And it never occured to you that it may be because there isn't much to be proud of in the trucking biz?

Trucking isn't the great paying, glamourous job everyone thinks it is. You will be working long hours, often for no pay, you will never be home, you won't have a life outside of the truck, you will be treated like crap by most everyone, from your dispatcher to the customers you deal with, to the general public.
To say nothing of the fact that trucking is a dead end job - you will top out in pay in less than 10 years, and will spend the rest of your life driving the same trucks on the same roads pulling the same freight for the same low pay, until you die.
If working 100 hours a week, never being home, eating/sleeping at odd hours, and making what will amount to about $6/hr is appealing to you, by all means go for it - the biz needs more suckers to take advantage of.
Answer:

The positive feedback won't help you much other than encourage and perhaps make you feel better about your own decision to enter into the industry.
Do your research and find out as much as you can about the job before jumping in... both the good and bad. Even after having done that, you still won't really know what it is like until you have done it yourself.

Answer:
i been trucking for 20 yrs and yes i had some bad jobs working 20 hrs a day and never home but on the bright side i have always worked my way up to a good job with better pay and home every nite and weekends of now.
they are out there just keep looking.

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Trucking is not all bad. I still credit where I am today because of trucking. I went OTR at 21...did 7 months team and 11 months solo. It was hard and I was gone alot but I was able to save a nice chunk of change, put a large down payment on a house and buy a car, both of which I still have. Was it hard, and did I get frustrated and lonely, sure but I feel it was worth the sacrafice. I still drive today on a part time basis. I am a full time firefighter now, actually a driver operator or engineer, whatever you want to call it, and my time over the road sure helped hone my skills as a "Driver".
It is what you make out of it and what you want out of it. I used it as a stepping stone. It is a nice skill to have. After I was OTR i got hired locally running a recycling route at $13 and hour and went back to school for awhile. Decent paying job for a college kid. I have 275K accident and ticket free miles and I am proud of that. I know it is not that many but there are many who never made it that far.
I can retire from the Fire Dept at 49...I will probably hit the road again, but local or regional...maybe running Albuquerque to Pheonix or Vegas would be nice.
It is hard and thankless, but I have had some really great moments and some awesome days and nights behind the wheel.
I forgot to mention that I am still gone every other night and I still work 72 hours a week, granted I get paid for every hour that I work but it is still hard. Every job has its thorns, and every job is hard.

Answer:
The good points are the truck, if you're into that sort of thing. I like the machine; I enjoy driving it, I like working on it. I've made a lot of good friends working the few jobs that I've had.
Those good points, don't quite outweigh the bad though. Those scarey winter nights where you need to park it, and can't find a place. Those traffic jams, F'd up loads, bad directions, etc. Missing your family, missing your friends. This job has a ways to go before it's suitable work where a decent man can make a living.

Answer:

This is one of my big frustrations with the trucking biz.
Trucking has such a potential to be a really great way to make a living.
However, most of the people in the biz don't have the imagination, courage and foresight to do what is needed to make trucking a really great way to make a living.
I have a far better chance of living to 140 and winning the Powerball many times over before trucking ever lives up to it's potential.