how many guys actually drive truck on here?
 

wondering how many truck drivers we have on here. i know the one guy does dump truck stuff(assuming since his display picture is a nice dump truck).

Re: how many guys actually drive truck on here?
 

Me!

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I'm a retired OTR Driver.

- RCT

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are you guys O/O or threw a company? i am recovering a from a bad motorcycle accident and about all healed up, which i am just needing to start getting some money coming in and have decided to start looking at trucking as a possible career switch(worked in factorys the past 4 years) but when i got into accident i got fired from my job, so i am kinda at square one with not know what to do for a job. since i can't really do factory work right now, due to restrictions. which i have a couple uncles that drive, but none of them would be able to get me into there work(chrysler and hertz) for awhile.

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I started with hauling oil in 88-89, then I did proharvest from 90-96, then did regional grain hauling from 97-03... now I just drive my own semies for my own grain. I've missed a few harvests, but I've been here to seed every crop since 87.

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I ran for CRST for about a year, then Werner from '99-2000, and then drove for J-Mar for just over a year. Then I was diagnosed with a brain-tumor and lost my driving :eek: :eek: :eek:

Oh, well.... on to the r/c tractor-trailers. :D :D

- RCT

Re: how many guys actually drive truck on here?
 

Heavy lowbed

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Well I usta did :rolleyes: and then some . In my short time on this rock , werking for dad , I started on grading dozers ,loaders , etc then got me lic at 16 . Thats when it all went down hill :rolleyes: baby dirt buckets and detachable till they came out with CDL lic'ing ("91" here IIRC ) Dad pulled me off till I took the test (with a real pre-trip test :rolleyes:) then back at it for dad and myself till 2012 . Soo , D/EQO,O/O . in the off season I built the trucks I drove ( dad would buy the walered out ,ready for the scrap heap trucks ) repaired the equipment .

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I used too drive Locally.....but really only a KW Vactor Truck......35' long.... Dont really count I guess...anyway now the boss dont drive the cleaner.......almost a desk jockey..

michael

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I started operating log skidders, log loaders anflatbeds when I was prolly 13. Started driving a truck when I was 17. Done that off and on for around 9 years if we weren't to far from the mill :D lol. My dad and granddad went out of business then I drove a front end loader for a little bit helping build a power plant. Then I finally got my license when I was 27 :D lol. drove OTR for about a year for TMC pulling a flatbed. Currently I work for Frank Thompson Transport where I drive a bomb :cop::cop::lol::lol::lol:. I haul gas, diesel and distillate. Which is 4 times more flammable than gas :eek::D

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Well I am retired but drove for 56 years. Pulled doubles for UPS as a casual and pulled twin 48 dox doubles across NY and MASS for a freight and double tank trailers for a tank company. Drove dump trailer and flow boy and liquid tanks and pneumatic tank mainly. Out of all of them I like tank work because the product flows on and flows off the heaviest thing you have to handle is a hose. Ed

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Been driving for about 10 years now....Started working at fed-ex and got my Class A CDL through them.......Didn't want to wait in line for a CDL position to open up so I left fed-ex to work as a yard jockey for Meridian IQ....I picked up and dropped trailers around the yard...Left Meridian and went to go work at Yellow freight.......Did routes to and from Manhattan till I found a HazMat company Called NUCO2...... been with the Company for about 7 years now delivering Carbon Dioxide....I drive a tanker at this point...

But besides me, my father drove trucks for over 40 years in Argentina and the US...You can say its in my blood...lol

Alfy

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Started driving end dumps for 2 years, then 13 years in Indy car racing driving the haulers. Now drive lowboy around Chicagoland.

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Well my friend you must be ready to pass a DOT test first then ur lic must be clean no DUI or tickets, you can go by your self to take the test at dmv or go to a school and in 30 days you have a job. Now they will talk to you about a x or y company that is the best for you, but the best person can tell you where start is a friend or somebody on the line now. I work for MS carriers then have to switch to (swift) but was for a little, then move fuel for KENAN then move over MARTIN BROWER delivering for Mc donalds. move fast is the best time to start.

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Had my own tri axle for 8 1/2 years. Still hop in my dad's every once in a while.

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Started around '77 running lease trucks between various national lease facility's in Indiana, hauled scrap for a few years then mostly dry freight for an O/O. Decided to get married and had a chance to get into military truck manufacturing for around 10 years. Currently and for the last 20 years I've been working for a class 8 truck manufacture building and testing prototypes.

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im in 26 yrs ,,my dad and two older brothers ,I drive for a crane and rigging co. hauling crane parts and oversize loads in the city of boston ma. neil

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Will I have thought of my self as a drive for over 40 years running in 48 states and 10 provinces vans and flat deck.. I guess I qualify as over the road O/O..


Wayne

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Drove my own quad for 20+ years

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Well my dad was an owner operator for 35 years till he passed away in 2003, I decided to give the owner operator thing a try for three years hauling my own reefer and doing some flatbed work also. Then I sold my truck due to financial reasons and got a job driving a tanker locally. Then got a job in the township as a diesel mechanic. Been there for the last 4 years and I'm planning on getting another tractor n going owner operator again with my brother.

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Wish I had a set to get my own truck. There is money out there if you find the right gig. All the work still going on down the shore a flatbed or a lowbed would probably do alright

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Drove heavy wrecker for about 8 years

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Started hauling silage for farmers close to our family farm when I was 8. Boy how things have changed in the 31 years since. When I was young I drove any truck that I got the chance to. Then in 97 through 03 I hauled livestock local and long haul. Ended up owning a fleet of 5 trucks. Then I made some life changes due to health and only drove truck for the Ice Road season running out of Yellowknife. I still run the odd truck when the chance arises, yesterday I got into a 1974 Pacifica bed truck to move a few drilling rig buildings around the yard. Always trucks needing good operators, good fall back job if times are tight.

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I have an old 82 Ford three axle. Has the big Cam Cummins, and this truck works hard when I use it. I just use it for my private property. Would like to do a little hauling for some other companies, seems as though no one is interested though, maybe because it's an old truck?

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Well besides all the tons of work due to superstorm sandy, I have work lined up with a reefer and a flatbed that I did before I got outta trucking. And a friend of mine has a dump truck tgat he runs 24 hours a day 7 days a week. The truck never turns off. It runs sand n stone for sandy storm repairs during the day and does paving at night. He's was doing so good with the one truck he bought two more and now all 3 are running non stop. It's crazy how something so negative like a devastating hurricane can generate so much work and do so much good for the local economy.

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I tip my hat to all of you and any truck driver.:D:cool:;):bounce::cool: You are the ones who make it possible for us non-drivers to get what we want and need. :jump: THANK YOU!!!

Big John

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I've driven OTR for 26 years, in fact I'm sitting in my truck right now...

I have also been an instructor at a driving school. I know this industry inside and out and currently...

I can tell you with no experience your only hope to get into trucking without school would be to know someone with a truck and their own authority or be lucky enough to find someone desperate that's willing to fudge some paperwork. The government says new drivers going to school have to have a minimum of 160 hours of to get their CDL, HOWEVER... they do not require schooling. Anyone 21 or over (18 in most states for Intrastate only) that can pass the written and skills tests can have a CDL. The problem arises with the Insurance companies. With the exception of self insured large companies like CR England, Swift, Central and a few others that have their own schools, most all other companies that will hire drivers with no experience are required to only hire drivers that have graduated from Accredited driving schools.

Here is the important part... "Accredited Driving School". The companies listed above and all the others that have their own driving schools are NOT accredited and until you have one years driving experience with them no one else will accept their driving school. That's not to say going to one of those companies is out of the question, just go into it realizing that no matter what line of BS they will tell you, their school means nothing to anyone but them. The advantage to going to a place like that is that you usually don't have to pay for the schooling if you stay for at least 6 months to a year. The disadvantage besides that of what I just spoke, is that they often pay you less in order to "Repay" them for your schooling.

Your average Accredited school in the US will cost you around $4000.00 to $6000.00 and last 3-4 weeks but after that providing your driving record is good and you have no DUI,DWI, weapons charges, or drug charges on your record. Going this route your options for jobs is GREATLY increased, most companies these days do hire student drivers.

Next you need to be aware that all companies, driving schools, ect. will make this job out to be the best thing since sliced bread. They will tell you you can make 65-70K your first year, and that you will get to see the country and go places you always wanted to go... BULL S!@#... You will be closer to 30-35k for you first few years and unless/until you fall into that right job, you'll be hard pressed to make much more than that. Specially with the way the hours of service rules are these days. I have been doing this basically non stop for 26 years, and up till I got the job I have now the most I ever made was $37000.00. Obviously that can be more depending on the job and the area you run.

As for seeing the country, well that's not a total lie. You will se quite a bit of it as you pass it by at 65. I do know some drivers that take the time to call a cab or rent a car and go see things from time to time. But remember the pay thing I talked about. Well you don't get that much if you don't keep the door closed and the wheels turning. Plain and simple, truck drivers are paid by the mile so you need to drive miles to get paid.

Good luck with what ever you decide.

Mike J

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I am a part time driver for a paper roll distribution company...other then that I work warehouse driving a clamp truck unloading train cars and loading trailers and being a yard jockey. The only time I hit the road is when one of our drivers calls out or is on vacation, but the drivers get paid by the load so I actually get paid more when I am in warehouse or being yard jockey lol

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That's the straight skinny of what it's all about. Great explanation Mike. :cool:

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Agreed 100%. And don't forget about the lease special they give these new drivers with the " dream to own their own rig" never seen that turn out as a dream but more of a nightmare..

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Why don't you just go and get a job on a dock for someone. Driving around the yard moving trailers will give you some skills. Or join the Army and when you get out you can use the army license to get the CDL. Way back when you would go to work for a freight company and practice moving trailers around the yard. Then you go and get a class 1 permit and go with a driver on a few trips to get some needed experience and then take your drivers test but now days you need an act of congress to get a license. Some of these drivers they are turning out of these driving schools are a joke. I was going down the thruway one day and blinked the lights to let a truck back in an one of these school wonders said what are you blinking the lights at me, I said if you don't know go back to school. With the invention of supper highways a lot of driving skills have gone to the way side. The company I use to drive for wouldn't let you get on toll roads like the NYS thruway always ran 2 lane highways these school drivers would be lost and never get there on time. If they ever saw the old Jacob's ladder in Mass they probably wet there pants coming of that 2 lane hill. Ed

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Drove some smaller trucks and machines years ago, never a big rig though.

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I have been driving trucks around 30 yrs now been an Owner /Operator for half of those years.i went to school to become an architect/ mechanical engineer but decided i did not want to push a pen all day..absolutely nothing wrong with that but its not for me.My dad told me years ago before he passed away.trucking is not a 9-5 job and if you are willing to work hard..you can succeed at the job but you won't get rich doing it.i follow that all the time. I am the proud owner of an old school 1985 Kenworth W900b Flattop and i am lucky to be contracted to a great company for all of my years as an O/O and hope to retire there too.you get your crap everywhere you work...go...deliver..p/up....etc..my philosophy is it all depends on how you deal with it ,and if you can manage that huge part within yourself and grow thick skin... ...you will do fine :D

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Well put. Just have to find your nich. If you can get a nice flatbed or heavy and specialized company you can earn a nice living at it.

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I drove OTR for 5 years pulling dry vans and reefers in the 90's. I drove for a small fleet owner, Wood Trucking in Wauseon, Ohio. He was leased to Midwest Coast Transport out of Sioux Falls, SD. I drove the 48 and spent a lot of time between Chicago and the east coast which got me home frequently. When I would get tired of all the hustle and bustle I would grab a load headed west or south. I got off the road and went into mechanical engineering. Great career but have never stopped wondering how things may have went if I did the O/O path.

Brian in OH

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I feel the owner operator path is pretty much the last way to earn a living and experience freedom. Its the closest you get to being loke a cowboy on his horse just roaming. You see things most people only see on tv or in magazines, you meet people that are unimaginable both for the good m bad. N you decide you really loke a city and want to spend an extra day or two to roam around and enjoy the area/city you can. My wife loved the life when i introduced it to her, she was home sock at forst for the first two weeks away from home...but after that we got home and she immediately wanted to go back out on the road. Its something perfect for a wonderer of a free spirited kinda person who wants to experience this great country we call home. Especially of you dont have a family. Now that i have a wife and a child, i would do the otr or long distance stuff. A night or two away is fine but not three weeks. I dod land a new part time gig now driving for a massive local food company called wakefern/ shoprite driving forba owner operator who is part of there owner operator union creq called food haulers inc. These owner operators all have gorgeously cuatom trucks mostly Petes n kenworths and theyre annual salary varies between $250k-$300k a year. Its the holy grail pf trucking jobs in the tristate area of guys that haul reefers or dryvans. Im only doing one night a week as of now and the money i make and take home as a driver one night a week is equivalent to one weeks salary at my township mechanic job basically. Now im hoping to make it my full time gig and get hired and offered a very prized and coveted slot as an owner operator / food hauler contractor. These guys work 12+ hours a day 6-7 days aweek but they make the money to make it worth while.

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I am least to landstar pulling a flatbed trailer

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I have been driving part tine for 18 years in three years I am going in full.

TONY

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Drove as a part time job in the mid 90s hauling candy mix from Kansas to Texas in a milk tanker. Couple of short runs in the evenings hauling bulk milk to the dairy plant in Omaha too.

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Hauled hay in the late 70's. Then leased to a freight company running between Southern Oregon and California. Hauled logs until the spotted owl appeared in Northern California. Hauled cows for awhile then drove belly dumps and low beds. Gave all that up to become an educator and am now an elected county superintendent of schools. Some days I wish I was still driving truck!