Current Events > Do you think being a truck driver now is a good job?

(+) Yeah! (+)

do you

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Yes, as a person who contract work for a trucking company. They pay for your truck license and train you further. The only thing that sucks is driving for a long ass fucking time.

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around how much can they make?

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From what I've seen, lowest they'll start you is at 40k. That's with them paying you to get your truck license and training.

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Veggeta_MAX posted...

From what I've seen, lowest they'll start you is at 40k. That's with them paying you to get your truck license and training.

aren't most of the semis stick shift?

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UT1999 posted...

aren't most of the semis stick shift?

Naw a ton of them are now auto.

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It pays pretty good from what I've heard. You have to really enjoy being on the road though.

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same for school buses probably. Back when i rode the school bus i remember most were stick

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It's not for everyone honestly. But the pay is there, with starting salerys over 40k and full benefits. With not that much competition. And if you're single and otr you won't have to worry about typical living cost like rent, bills, or etc.

The issue though is that the hours can get pretty long no matter if it's otr, regional, or oftentimes local even.

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Once you're more tenured they will give you dedicated routes and local 9-5 work as well.

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Hell yeah it pays well. Im a local intermodal driver. I started with swift making about 32 to 40 thousand now after a couple years experience Im at around 80

But they're so big. How do you drive in cities? All the tight little streets. Oof magoof.

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Around here they make quite a bit driving truck for farmers and co-ops. They're always in demand.

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Hours suck but the pay is great and its a mostly low stress job until winter weather hits. I did it for a couple of years when I was younger and honestly kind of wish I had stuck with it to get enough experience and move on to a different company with shorter hours. The hours were really the only reason I quit. Where I work now is way more stress and actual work, and for arguably less money than I would be making driving a truck.

LincolnDuncan posted...

But they're so big. How do you drive in cities? All the tight little streets. Oof magoof.

Its not bad just swing out a bit.

At my company, they make well over $100k a year, but I wouldn't ever do it. Spend their whole lives just driving, I dunno when they have the time to actually use that money.

Prismsblade posted...

It's not for everyone honestly. But the pay is there, with starting salerys over 40k and full benefits. With not that much competition. And if you're single and otr you won't have to worry about typical living cost like rent, bills, or etc.

The issue though is that the hours can get pretty long no matter if it's otr, regional, or oftentimes local even.

40k salary for a truck driver? that's rough. Don't they ride more than 8hrs a day?

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they literally just drive all the time, i can't imagine how often they're not home

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If you hate your family & friends and like not being paid much and like being treated like a loser, it's the job for you.

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Ive heard that if you own your own truck, then you can make some money. If you drive a company truck, youre probably looking at $15-20/hr maximum pay. This varies with whichever company you work at, though. Theyre incredibly aggressive about drug testing employees. If you fail a drug test at one trucking job, they flag you to where you will basically never get hired again in the industry. This goes for marijuana, too. Often times, you have to work very undesirable hours, too (like be up at 3am).

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Guerrilla Soldier posted...

they literally just drive all the time, i can't imagine how often they're not home

Im home everyday 10 hour shifts. It depends on if your local, regional,dedicated, or Otr

Just be careful of low bridges.

https://11foot8.com/

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https://www.usatoday.com/pages/interactives/news/rigged-forced-into-debt-worked-past-exhaustion-left-with-nothing/

A yearlong investigation by the USA TODAY Network found that port trucking companies in southern California have spent the past decade forcing drivers to finance their own trucks by taking on debt they could not afford. Companies then used that debt as leverage to extract forced labor and trap drivers in jobs that left them destitute.

If a driver quit, the company seized his truck and kept everything he had paid towards owning it.
If drivers missed payments, or if they got sick or became too exhausted to go on, their companies fired them and kept everything. Then they turned around and leased the trucks to someone else.

Drivers who manage to hang on to their jobs sometimes end up owing money to their employers essentially working for free. Reporters identified seven different companies that have told their employees they owe money at weeks end.

The USA TODAY Network pieced together accounts from more than 300 drivers, listened to hundreds of hours of sworn labor dispute testimony and reviewed contracts that have never been seen by the public.

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Arcanine2009 posted...

40k salary for a truck driver? that's rough. Don't they ride more than 8hrs a day?

Starting salery. Which Due to regulations you're capped at 11hrs total a day.

With a mandatory 30min break within 8 hours of driving to unlock the last 3 hours. Although depending on the loads distance and your schedule can be a few hours less often.

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We have a school here who teaches this.

People hate getting behind those guys.

Anyway my job has drivers that will do 4 (8 hours) to 6 (12 hours) hour trips.

Be at work by 4:00AM and go home by 6:00PM.

Other drivers I know will do cross country.

A trip to TX from NC and back can generate $5,000.

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It's a crappy demanding job thats meant for single people that has the ability to pay really well. Not worth the stress mentally and on the body personally for me.

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Chosen1987 posted...

Its not bad just swing out a bit.

How do you swing out when there's no room? What about meeting another truck on a tiny street? Do you guys just do the secret hand signal and it all works out?! STREETS ARE SO NARROW!

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LincolnDuncan posted...

How do you swing out when there's no room? What about meeting another truck on a tiny street? Do you guys just do the secret hand signal and it all works out?! STREETS ARE SO NARROW!

If there's generally not enough room for a truck to maneuver past one another or turn then it's a road that driver should probably never have been on in the first place.

Which could be a mistake on the consigners, but more often then not the driver and GPS.

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Prismsblade posted...

If there's generally not enough room for a truck to maneuver past one another or turn then it's a road that driver should probably never have been on in the first place.

Which could be a mistake on the consigners, but more often then not the driver and GPS.

This was reassuring, thank you.


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My friend's nephew who's been a drug addict fuck up for most of his adult life just got hired driving for wal mart for 80 grand a year.

So yeah, I'd say it's a solid option

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I knew a guy in high school and his dad was a driver. He'd be gone for 3 weeks then home for 1-2 weeks then gone for another 3 weeks.

His mother had to do most of the child raising.

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I heard they pay well but you're on the road a lot

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LincolnDuncan posted...

How do you swing out when there's no room? What about meeting another truck on a tiny street? Do you guys just do the secret hand signal and it all works out?! STREETS ARE SO NARROW!

You just move to the side of thats the case and honestly they are never that narrow if they are then they will say trucks prohibited