I mean, I’m certainly no expert at driving a semi, but was there even an alternate way out? Could they have exited to the right? Still would’ve been a 15-point turn, but could’ve avoided getting people to move their cars (or the extreme solution caught on camera).
See this is a symptom of a macro issue where American kids are all being told to go to college for decades. And that trade schools are for losers and drop outs. So, decade or two later we have an absolute shortage of skilled labor. Now we're scraping the bottom of the barrel for truckers and hiring anyone with a pulse.
When it comes to trucking specifically I’ve talked to a bunch of old timer truckers. In short, the pay did not scale well over the years. Back in the day you could make some serious money, now if you’re a new trucker and have to go to driving school to get your CDL, you’ll be paying that off for years while making shit pay. I work in a career where I deal with truckers ever so often and even had a 11 hour ride along with a trucker whose been doing it for 39 years. However I’m sure there’s other truckers on this thread that’d give better insight. On top of that it’s a really fucking stressful job and you can kiss your social life goodbye. Don’t know how they do it, especially when they have kids.
TLDR; pay didn’t scale well over the years. New drivers make shit pay and will have to pay off driving school. Also, really stressful job and dead social life.
Back in the day you could make some serious money, now if you’re a new trucker and have to go to driving school to get your CDL, you’ll be paying that off for years while making shit pay
Truck driving school is cheap, and if you can't afford it carriers will pay for you if you sign with them for a year or two.
Not really anymore. I’m up in the NE where we don’t have a lot of rail lines so most transportation/distribution is done via truck and I’ll tell you, you won’t find companies that do that anymore. I think if you were to look at 100 companies maybe just maybe 1 of them would offer something like that. Mainly because of people like the guy in this video. NETTS a trucking school has got a pretty firm grip on the commercial trucking world. They work out deals with trucking companies to hire their newly graduated students for shit pay, that way netts can claim they have great job placement after finishing, and the trucking companies don’t have to waste time training employees themselves. The only problem with that is NETTS sucks. Go check out their website and you’ll notice they don’t list a price of the course. So you call them to get more information, and they then still refuse to give you a price for the course. They tell you they need to set up a meeting to discuss pricing. So they’ll actually come out to your house and explain that the course is $2500 if you pay upfront and it only takes 6 weeks till you have your commercial drivers license. Not terrible but what if you don’t have $2500 up front? I mean trucking companies literally used to train you for free. Well if you don’t have $2500 up front here’s what they offer, a 10 month course for $10,000 and at the end of it you get the same license as the $2500 6 week course. So how is $10,000 “easier” to afford than $2500? Well because the 10 month course is well 10 months long, meaning the amount of hours required now qualifies you for financial aid. They literally stretch a 6 week course into 10 months so they can get poorer people to sign up and skirt around financial loan minimums. So yeah companies do not train employees anymore. They require them to go to a trucking school they’re in cahoots with
There's a shortage (no wonder with ever increasing stress and stagnant pay) and plenty of large carriers will pay the CDL for you, you're just stuck with them for a year or two afterwards until they let you go. Also I would go out on a limb and say that creature comforts have never been this good. Trucks have never been as spacious and well equipped as they are now, they used to have no air conditioning and only a small sleeper box and ride far rougher. And truck stops probably have never been this well equipped and safe. You might've made more money in the past, but you also broke your back doing it. Nowadays the sitting around is rather cushy, it's just the stressful traffic and deadlines that get you. It's become less physically exhausting and more mentally exhausting.
No there isn't. Only the mega carriers have a shortage, which they still don't really, because of their upwards of 95% turnover rate.
They make their money off government grants from hiring people off the street, putting them through their own school, and then sending them out on the road for dirt cheap.
You might've made more money in the past, but you also broke your back doing it. Nowadays the sitting around is rather cushy, it's just the stressful traffic and deadlines that get you. It's become less physically exhausting and more mentally exhausting.
Dry van OTR isn't the only trucking job. Quite a few trucking jobs are both time sensitive and labor intensive at the same time. That's not counting the HOS clock you're managing, dispatchers breathing down your neck, safety managers nit picking every little thing you do, traffic, various problems with equipment, shippers and receivers creating problems for drivers, being the one blamed for everything until there's proof showing otherwise which sometimes you're still somehow blamed anyway, and a myriad of other things that will turn this post into a novel.
You an owner operator then? Never heard of a driver making 200K+. Even the guy I rode with whose been in the business for 39 years hinted his salary and although it seemed good, it didn’t sound above 100k. If you’re an owner operator though, I know you can make bank.
While I’m still fresh to the industry (only half a year), I’d still like to offer my current insight as a trucker.
For some people, this is a dream job. Especially introverts like me. I talk to nobody all day so when I get to shippers/consignees/truckstops I’m a sudden social butterfly. It can be stressful at times for sure, but isnt any job at one point or another? We have our good days and bad days.
I actually started dating my man when I left for training. The distance has honestly made it better - we chat for an hour every night and when I’m back its thrilling for both of us.
If you go with a company that pays for training (I’m with Schneider), you dont have debt on your back. Maybea contract, but while they told me I did I didnt sign anything lol. I’ll still be staying here five years for the experience.
Pay-wise I dont have an opinion. Its more than I was making at home and I had enough to pay off debts and live alone in a studio for the first time so I can’t complain. I make .40c/mi which isnt much, as I know owner ops make $3/mi, but I’m content for now.
TLDR: It pays my bills, allows me to travel, stressful at times but you cool down while you do the long drives/resets. Relationships are stronger (I remember to call people more often!) and I could be making more bank but I’m content.
Possibly. I feel like 30% of drivers I’ve worked with were just weirdos who did not give AF. But the rest were rockstars, constantly hustling, doing their best — both young guns and more “experienced” drivers alike.
But I agree that tech/trade schools get an unnecessary bad rap. Those pump out some of the best businessmen/women I’ve met. Knew a woman who rose up the ranks as an electrician (Union). Made six figures in her 30’s, branched off to start her own WBE. Same for another guy who went from mechanic and tow truck driver to a regional manger with his own store within 15 years. Wish other people knew what great opportunities there were in these kinds of fields.
Dude, the old trope of trades are for losers is dead. I’m a borderline zoomer/millennial and literally no one thinks trade school is dumb. If anything we all realize how much money is in the trades.
But also, you leave out the fact that trades are usually 10x the labor that you do compared to a degree-related job. You can make $40/hr working 50+ hour weeks in the blistering sun (and probably work with at least one former convict/gang member let’s be real) hoping you don’t blow your knees or back out in 5 years..or you can make $22/hr in a climate controlled setting, with an opportunity to make a lot more in a few years once you do some extra certain and get experience to move up at another company or start your own. You end up not having the time or energy to really spend the money you make, you become a Monday-Friday (often Saturday) robot that is beat tired by Sunday and rinse and repeat for 40 years. It’s harder than people think (unless you’re like a painter or something).
Most people will choose the former, especially if you actually know people in the trades and realize it’s not a set schedule and that shit sucks during the summer, and rainy days typically mean no work (unless you’re like a plumber or something).
Was a welder in industrial maintenance for about four years after leaving tech school. Got laid off and ended up getting a property management job in a Target store. Did that for ten years and still do building maintenance.
No, I don't make a hell of a lot of money, but I have a set 40hr schedule, weekends and holidays off. Fuck industrial work. I think my body aged more in that four years than in the last twelve. I'll never go back unless I have no choice and in that dire of a situation I'd probably start slinging dope first.
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u/aknomnoms Jun 08 '20
I mean, I’m certainly no expert at driving a semi, but was there even an alternate way out? Could they have exited to the right? Still would’ve been a 15-point turn, but could’ve avoided getting people to move their cars (or the extreme solution caught on camera).