Question:
Hey guys. Ok, I'm sure that you've seen post similar to this. But, I'm wondering if there are any guys out there driving now that used to hold an office job. Right now, I'm a supply chain/shipping manager for a large company but I'm sick of sitting behind the desk. I've been interested in professional trucking as long as I can remember. However, my dad is a blue collar guy and he wanted me to do the college thing so I did. Now, I want a change. I'm 30, have a fiancee and she has a 8 year old girl. We are getting married in April. I am considering the industry. I've looked at Transport America. How do you guys feel about these guys for a beginner. I'm wanting someone that has good hometime. It seems that Transport America, Roehl, TMC, and Maverick are the front runners. Any more out there? I'm currently in Tucson, AZ but moving back to Huntsville, Alabama in 2 months. For you guys what used to be white collar, what did you do before and how do you like trucking? Thanks guys.
Anthony

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You are going to get a ton of replies, some good and some bad.
About 25% of the truckers today have a collage degree. I had a degree in accounting when I started driving in 1958.
I have 4 degrees, including a PhD. If I was a couple of years younger I would be back on the road. I am not sure how the lady friend and her daughter will work out in this triangle.
Remember TRUCKING IS NOT A JOB IT IS A LIFE.
If you want to talk a little or a lot, call me. 530-529-4431I will buy coffee at the TA or Petro

Answer:
Wrong answer. It is a job plain and simple and it always has been. There are "lifestyle" truckers who have no other life than their trucks and there are truckers who have a life and use trucking like any other job to provide the needs for that life. the "lifestyle" truckers have been dragging the industry down for years. It's getting about time to set some higher standards and be professional drivers who have a professional job. Maybe there are "lifestyle" accountants and "lifestyle" Doctors, Nurses, attorney's etc who's only life is the job they do. But there are just as many and probably more who enjoy the rewards of their given profession to enjoy their "lifestyle" they have created at home.
It's really odd that you see adds all the time for retirement communities and I've seen some for Model Airplane communities that tell you to enjoy the "lifestyle" you want and deserve. Their always carefree communities with the amenities people want and never include their jobs. None of them ever tell you to buy your "lifestyle" truck parking space where you can idle 24/7 and enjoy the Lifestyle" you want and deserve. You can retire from your job, profession, occupation but your "lifestyle" stays with you. It is what you create for yourself at home, where you live, not one you created at your job.
Personally I think you'll be very disappointed when you find out trucking is not the job you always dreamed of. It's filled with some good people but it holds far more than it's share of those who simply cannot live and work with other people. When your in a truck as a solo driver you do not have the freedom people and other drivers like to brag about. You are constantly watched and monitored and every move you make is calculated and evaluated. You might be the only person in the truck but there are enough electronics on board all trucks today to know your every move. One mistake and you can be done. Then you have traffic and congestion almost every where you go and what seems to be never ending problems that hold you back and slow you down. freedom of the road is only a dream and it's one that will not come true. The only way to make it and earn some money is to see it as a 24/7 job and work it like one. You have to always push for more miles and more loads while doing a balancing act with running legal according to the Hours of Service regs. It's not some glorified kick back "lifestyle" where all you have to do is kick back and drive. It's a job that keeps you on the edge even in the best of conditions. your in charge of a truck and trailer 24/7 and you have appointments that have to be made. A few mistakes and it'll be bottom dwelling carriers for you for a very long time.
I hope your girl and her daughter don't mind not seeing you for 3-4 weeks at a time. Because that's the way it will be for a while. If you do get a home weekend job just remember there are no promises when you'll be home and when you'll be leaving. You'll find out soon enough that home time is when you visit your family and friends for a couple days. Divorce rates for truckers is high and the very best truckers are the single one's who have no home to go to.

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I 100% agree with stuffs on this one. Great advice. SPEECH IS WORDS THAT THEY WILL BEND
FREEDOM WITH THIER EXCEPTION"
Metallica "Eye of the Beholder"


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Absolutely.
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Other than not allowing it to be called a "lifetyle", Stuffs nailed it. Excellent post.
But I understand what he's saying. "Lifestyle" sounds romantic -- the birds are singing and you're driving the big truck and enjoying the beautiful scenery and sunsets and every turn is another postcard picure and you bunk down in your cozy cab in a national forest and can hear the coyotes on the ridge across the stream as the moon comes over the horizon......yea, yea, yea.....it gets old real fast.
It's a "lifestyle" all right, but when the novelty wears off this style of life is working and living like a dog in virtual seclusion with a bunch of social misfits you're not going to like anyway. Fine if you're circus material (like me and many here ) and don't have personal responsibilities that preclude this adventure.
But here's the bottom line:
If you love this woman and want to be a father to her child, get a "job", live with THEM and do THAT.
If you want to live our "lifestyle" on the road 25 days a month, cancel the wedding, say goodbye and
let her look for someone who's not abandoning them in this self-indulgent quest for a new identity.
A wife and kid deserve better than an absent husband and father.
I don't care what some recruiter tells you about hometime -- you'll rarely see
your family, and there won't be much money left after road expenses to bring home.
You're about to make a classic mistake. We see the devastating results out here all the time.
Not trying to be rude, just honest.
Don't do it!http://www.weather.gov/forecasts/graphical/sect...onusWeek.php#tabs

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HOLY CRAP!! Is there a full moon or something??

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I just call them as I see them.
This one was good.
....and strangely similar to what I've been saying for years....
---> http://roundtable.truck.net/viewtopic.php?t=52519&start=0 <---
.http://www.weather.gov/forecasts/graphical/sect...onusWeek.php#tabs

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I'd like to see the statistics concerning this statement.
Mr. Stuffs gets a
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As per all the above POSTS its a job.
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99% agreed with Stuffs ... I have no qualcomm , no tracking device , no govenor on truck (that I have hit anyways) I only have Co. phone and only used to recieve info on next load.(cough cough .. well I use it for personal reasons) When and only when I am ready.,which is always a return load to my home town ,,,,and never away from home more than a week at a time.
Even with all that, which is hard to find in a co. these days.. I would NOT do OTR with a soon to be wife and children at home. NO WAY
My I suggest "if possible" Go out with a driver, as a rider and see what its all about and how you and your soon to be wife feels about this kinda of employment , life style , job. Go out twice if possible.... Then come back and let us know how ya feel about it.

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I would get my money back if they didn't teach me how to spell college correctly .
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The Degree was in Accounting,not spell'n. Nit pic'n us Seniors are ya?
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Here's my best advise.
Go watch the movie Grapes of Warth staring Henry Fonda
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In the movie there is this one part where they are all sitting around one evening on their way to California talking about all the work they would get when they got there and this one guy who had already been there tried to tell them what they were really in for, but they wouldn't listen and went anyway.
Go watch it because that movie shows you what is going to happen to you and your family.
Yes I know the movie isn't about trucking, but its the same thing.
They need 500 truck drivers so they hire 5000 truck drivers. Promise them whatever it takes to get them to go to work. At first it's exciting ,but after awhile the loads get shorter and farther apart and then you start to complain about the working conditions and then you think well I leave Werner and go to SNI and then the next and the next pretty soon you got nothing and then you are used up and guess what? They just hired another 5000 truck drivers that will work cheaper than you and you're out. Broke without a family and homeless.
Don't believe me do you? I didn't figure you would.
Anyway it's a good movie go watch it with your fiancee.
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Well someone has to keep you guys in line .