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Driving trucks for a living.......

Started by Furby, November 08, 2004, 08:22:45 PM

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Furby


J_T

Got a buddy that does it .I wouldn't He is almost never home bad food ever sleep in a sleaper at a truck stop ??? I had rather be home broke as on the road .Glad some can do it If you have kids at home it can be hard on everyone . My wife is an xwife of a truck driver he fell in love on the road :o
Jim Holloway

UNCLEBUCK

Yeah I got alot of thoughts that might help . Big companies advertise big pay per mile but make sure they guarantee a minimum of miles per week . No touch freight is the best ! Hauling food like meat and produce is the worst due to alot of deliveries and pickups and waiting . Pulling flatbed is the funnest and the least stress and you seldom have to back up in a crowded loading dock at night when its raining , the people seem nicer where you load and deliver pulling a flatbed and its usually one pick and one drop . Short trips get you home more often but long trips like 2000 milers make it nice . I drove for a outlaw with 6 big peterbilts and that was way better than a big company because he had nice powerful trucks and steady runs but he had  big turnover in drivers due to 5000 mile work weeks which I think would mean jailtime by todays rules. Shop around and there is such a shortage of drivers today that even part-time might be enough just hopping from seat to seat when a driver needs time off . There is so many places looking for drivers I guess close to home is better than far away . Good luck
UNCLEBUCK    bridge burner/bridge mender

james

been doing it for 7 years now and love it flat bed, and now a specallized hauling boats wouldn`t care to pull a dry van or a refer pulling produce  drove transit for 13 years prior at least this freight dont complain if you hit a bump ;D ;D (i dont haul explosives )  :o :o  like one guy said hard if you have a family- i dont  went over the road when the marrage went south:-X :-X

Ianab

Lil's cousin is over there in the US right now driving trucks. There must be plenty of jobs going if they will hire guys from NZ for a 6 month contract. Anyway he's young and single, so it's a 6 month working holiday for him. I believe he's hauling silage  ::) , not exactly a glamour job, but it's one way to see another part of the world  :)

Ian
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

Tom

A friend of mine made a turn of it for a couple of years and finallyl quit after bad experiences that he couldn't handle with the company.  Things like:  No return loads and dead-heads don't pay to bring the truck home.   When he delivered dry concrete to the concrete factory he had to pump it out of his truck and there's no pay/no mileage in that.  There seemed to always be bad blood between the drivers and the dispatchers and he finally got tired of the politics.

Bruce_A

There is more net picking free stuff up along the road if you put in the same hours.

bighoss550

i love it. but i bypassed all the problems that were mentioned by getting my own authority and runnin my own business.

i dont have a big expensive semi either. and my daily driver is also my "rig".  i pull a 32' flat and only do partials. thats nice because they are rarely in any big hury, and if they are, they pay tons o money to get it there:)
def get on with a small time guy, and dont dont go far. im home almost every night.

the best drivin job i think is the guys with the 1 tons that pull a trailer loaded with campers. the get decent wages and they are free to backhaul whatever they want. i get some of mine from www.getloaded.com

Furby

Thanks guys!
I don't have a problem with sleeping in a sleeper. When I travel, I sleep in a small car at rest areas, truck stops, hotel and store parking lots, anything that looks on the safer side.  ::) I LOVE being on the road, just figure I'll get sick of it after a while.

I'm going to have to do two years of OTR before I can get a local route. Then I think I can get something that will get me home a little more offten. This area is really short on drivers as are a lot of other places around the country.

I'm guessing a lot of what you all are talking about is owners/operators???

Looking at just being an employed driver with a company.
Don't want to deal with the owner/operator thing.

Bighoss550,
I kinda figured I'd hear from you. ;)
Wouldn't mind doing what you are, but is that your only source of income???
I don't have any $$$ to invest in something like you have. That's why I need to get back to work, almost everything is maxed out.  :-/

Percy

Heya Furby.
I hauled logs for many years and am glad to be rid of the truckin bug. Transportation is the albatross around big businesses necks and they will do whatever it takes to cut costs, and there are too many drivers out there willing to exceed hours of service laws and drive at excessive speeeds to make up time/revenue. There is no difference between an owner operator and a hired driver in my opinion. They work too hard and get paid too little, all in the name of reducing costs for the big corporations.. It can be done but keep your head up and dont let the "yappers" intimidate you. I see by your profile that you are 99 years old :D. Well I dont have to tell you, after being on the road for a couple of months, you start crappin strait lard. The restarant that was soooo good at the begining of your stint is a "greasy spoon" after a bit. Its a tuff racket no matter what you haul and its no wonder there is a shortage of drivers.
GOLDEN RULE : The guy with the gold, makes the rules.

bighoss550

QuoteBighoss550,
I kinda figured I'd hear from you. ;)
Wouldn't mind doing what you are, but is that your only source of income???
I don't have any $$$ to invest in something like you have. That's why I need to get back to work, almost everything is maxed out.  :-/

yep thats my only source of income......for both of us.....and it pays for her college....

i only had 3600 bucks when i started, with good credit, and now my gross weekly is almost that:) ;) not braggin or gloatin or anything like that....just kinda proud of my self i guess...haha 8)

good luck, and i must say it is extremely commendable that any 99yr old is willing to venture into a new line of work :D

Furby

 ;) ;D ::)

Credit is great, just maxed! May not stay good for long though. ::)
So how did you start up? This your first truck?
Just thinking I can't do something like this with an older truck. That means trying to swing financing with out a job, it don't work! So I'd have to do a business start up, in order to get a rig, right???


Nothing wrong with being proud of a job well done! 8)

UNCLEBUCK

Just a thought but alot of companies have very easy ways for you to sign on the dotted line for a tractor in their fleet and you become a instant owner/operator and you run on the companies money and they instantly also have you over a barrel ,if I was you I would just drive for a few years and see the country without any of the stress involved . After a few years then you will know for sure . I never owned and just drove hard but I liked going back and forth from minnesota to california . Get on with a long haul that goes west where you can get steady long trips . If I lived in michigan I would love to drive a big log truck that goes across the mackinaw bridge everyday . Make sure you check out hauling hotmix with the road construction companies then you could draw unemployment 5 to 6 months per year and go fishin !  most all truckstops have nice clean private showers to use when you fuel there. Hope you have a good time and its what you hoped for !
UNCLEBUCK    bridge burner/bridge mender

sawguy21

Percy, I know the logging roads around Terrace. I hear you bro', especially the part about the lard. Trucking is a lifestyle, not a living. If you are looking to make a good living, go back to school and get a real job. Once into it, yer a lifer cause you can't afford to get out.
old age and treachery will always overcome youth and enthusiasm

Quartlow

What ever you do DO NOT do a lease purchase. you can bet you will end up paying about 3 times what a truck is worth.

One of the worst scams out there. I'm probably going to be heckled for saying this, but try to get on with Shneider or JB hunt. yeah they get a lot of abuse from people just because of the name but your working with a steady company. theres a chance you could run regional as opposed to over the road.

Stay away from onwer operators with small fleets. Allmost always there are no benifits, huge abounts of miles to run per week and lower pay for those miles.

Remeber
Crome won't take you home. yeah those big pretty trucks are nice but crome and big motors don't put food on the table.

They are right trucking is a lifestyle, but you can get out. I did after 20 years of it. Sort of. I stuill drive local 3 days a week. But I pretty much do what I want when I want.

There are some GREAT driving jobs out there you just have to find them. One really good gig. Find a Rental company, Like RSC , Sunbelt, United. The big ones. Do delivery of rental equipment. thats what I did fo rthe last 4 years I drove full time.
No loading docks
Little paper work.
Usually pretty good pay
Benifits
Breezewood 24 inch mill
Have a wooderful day!!

Quartlow

another thing, watch the traffic lanes of a company. A company that runs say illinoise to california isn't going to get you home very often.

Where as some one who runs a olt of say detroit to points around the states stands a better chance of getting you home.

With schneider or jb its not going to be to big an issue
Breezewood 24 inch mill
Have a wooderful day!!

bighoss550

i know alot of people that make good money pullin those campers with 1tons, and they are almost all outta indiana. right below you. they get from 75-1.00 mile, and are gettin 15mpg. the company's (quality drive away, southeastern trailer transport, etc.) give u all the necessary things to get goin, pay you on a weekly or bi-weekly schedule, dont force u to go anywhere, there is no rush on stuff so u can drive by the rules, and u dont have the problem of drivin for a big corporation. there are 3 guys in my home town right now that are gettin out of their semis and into trucks like mine.

another benefit is that u dont have to have a second vehicle to drive around in. ur truck does both....... work and play:)
its just a thought and i feel that u should look into it before u dive into a semi..... u dont have to have a fancy new 55,000 dollar F550..... u can get a nice used 1ton or F450-F550 in the 20K range

ok, ill shutup now:)

dave7191

Furby my brother has been with Gainie for the last 8 or 9yrs and he had never stayed over a year at any company so they must treat there driver fair and their in GR the camper hauling seems to be a good deal too know several people who drive for one of the trailer factorys or boats
 look at it myself and though about it just don't want to be awy from home that much any more
 Dave

Furby

Ok, thanks for all the info!
Just got back from a meeting with the trucking school AND Gainey. While it's all sales pitch, what I heard wasn't to bad.
They actually told me that right now just getting 9 months under my belt, makes me real marketable for something local. Not the 2 years I've been hearing.
Gainey's talking 3k miles a week, with 110k a year average. I can work my way into one of their dedicated routes down the road. Until then I'd be bouncing around the country. There are no contracts with Gainey, I can walk any time. Will be tied up for 6 months to a year if I have the schooling paid for.

Nope, not going to be home much, but I wouldn't anyways working 2 full time jobs at $6.50 an hour.

My situation is that I need the schooling and experience, in order to get a local route, or another job, say driving log trucks. I could cover the cost of schooling myself and be free of HAVING to OTR, but with out the time under my belt, I'm a little limited unless I work for myself.

I did find another school/driving company, and like the looks of their website, but that really don't mean much. ::)

I DON'T like the idea of owner/operator leasing. But what Bighoss550 is doing don't sound to bad. I don't mind being gone for a week or two at a time, just would like a break in between. ::)

Bighoss, I'm sending you an IM. ;)

Frickman

Monday and Tuesday I was in Northern Indiana on some business, and saw plenty of those fellows with one tons delivering trailers. Seems like a nice way to earn a living for the right person. Especially if you wanted to do something part-time in retirement.

By the way, I ventured into Jeff's home state, Michigan, a few miles. Almost accidentally really. I needed a few small items at 5:00 Am and ended up at a Wally World a few miles over the line from where I was. I couldn't figure out why there were whole crews attaching price tags to every piece of merchandise in the store, I thought that they would just scan the UPC code like everywhere else. The nice lady at the checkout told me they still scan the UPC code, but that Michigan law requires them to price every pin and bauble in the place. She did welcome me to the state though and hoped that I enjoyed my visit. I must say that everyone I met in those twenty or thirty minutes were some of the nicest people around.
If you're not broke down once in a while, you're not working hard enough

I'm not a hillbilly. I'm an "Appalachian American"

Retired  Conventional hand-felling logging operation with cable skidder and forwarder, Frick 01 handset sawmill

Pretend farmer when I have the time

J_T

Furby have you checked out the oversize load escort buisness ??? I did it a while in two weaks I almost needed a wheelborow to carry my money home in :D :D Here it pays 95 cents to a dollar a mile and most times they pay motel on over nights . Gave a buddy of mine the fever now he is hooked up with a guy that runs 150 foot long super loads the man pays for the best food and motels
Jim Holloway

Furby

Yeah, but do the supply the truck???
Any leads as to who to talk to???

bighoss550

ya, i didnt even think of that!!!!!!
that is a real good racket to start out in!!!!!!
a friend of mine moves those house trailers, and has to have escorts. a few of my other friend escorted for him a few times and they do get pretty good pay!

if i see jim, ill def ask for ya ;)

Furby


Paschale

Some negatives in that article, Furby, but overall, sounds like you're moving into a field where there's a definite need, which makes you marketable!   8)  A buddy of mine drove for one of the moving companies.  He actually enjoyed the driving, and seeing tons of the country.  He did for a few summers, and I know he doesn't regret it.  He didn't like the moving part of it, since he needed to be the one helping loading and unloading and stuff, but it sounds like with Gainey, you wouldn't be doing any of that stuff.  

I say, more power to ya!
Y'all can pronounce it "puh-SKOLLY"

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