In the past, truckers were known as “Knights of the Road”. Those days are long forgotten, though, and through time the truckers and their rigs have lost their knightly reputation. Truckers are no longer depicted in a positive light and the situation looks like it may be getting worse for a number of reasons, including our own (lack of) pride and personal discipline, attitude, driving skills, and factors outside of our control including the media, more dangers on the highway, and recent waves of terrorism. Is there anything we can do to improve our reputations? Oh indeed there is plenty we can do.
I decided to hypothetically put two people seeking professional careers, one a prospective college student, the other a truck driving school candidate, up against each other in a comparison of job training, annual salary, debt accumulation, and investment capability throughout their careers. The results are quite interesting.
Truck driving has always been a great career for those of us who were cut out for the lifestyle. If you’re not the right person for the job, you’re really not going to like it much and you’re not going to last long. But if you feel like truck driving might be the right career for you, the outlook for the industry looks to be very solid for many years to come.
Filed under Advice and Opinions, Becoming A Truck Driver, Career Help, Tips, Advice, Current State of the Trucking Industry, The Economy and Politics.
Tagged Advice and Opinions, Becoming A Truck Driver, CDL training, getting your CDL, new drivers in a slow economy, truck driver training
Posted by
Rhonda on
20 January 2010, 3:00 pm
With all the fuel that drivers purchase, it’s wise to get the driver payback cards from the truck stops that offer them. Its free, and it’s a way of saying thank you to the professional driver. For each gallon of fuel purchased, you get 1 cent/point put on the card. You can use these points [...]
Filed under Advice and Opinions, Career Help, Tips, Advice, Great Stories, Stories of the Road, Women In Trucking, truck driving lifestyle.
Tagged Advice and Opinions, driver responsibilities, hard lessons learned, life on the road, Stories of the Road, truck driving lifestyle, truck driving stories, Women In Trucking
Before I became a truck driver, there was nothing better than a good snow storm in the winter. Sliding around in my 4-wheeler, sledding, snowball fights, snowmen, hearing the scrape of the snowplow as is passes by, and the beautiful sight it leaves. That was then, and this is now!
Filed under Advice and Opinions, Career Help, Tips, Advice, First Solo Months On The Road, Great Stories, Safe Driving Tips.
Tagged Advice and Opinions, driver responsibilities, hard lessons learned, life on the road, Stories of the Road, truck driving stories
Posted by
Rhonda on
11 January 2010, 5:27 am
If you are the type of driver that thinks about the cost of doing business for your employer or the trucking industry in general, you are in the minority. If you’re not thinking about it, you should be – it has a major effect on your paycheck.
I talked to Randy sooo much today. We discussed EVERYTHING about trucking, the school, our experience so far, every aspect of our future, and how we’ve both been sort of “cracking under the pressure” lately.
Filed under Advice and Opinions, Becoming A Truck Driver, Great Stories, Rhonda & Randy's Story.
Tagged Advice and Opinions, Becoming A Truck Driver, CDL training, getting your CDL, hard lessons learned, life on the road, Rhonda & Randy's Story, Stories of the Road, truck driver training
I keep reading that the 2 most important factors for a successful marriage, especially in OTR trucking, are trust and communication…this week, we had neither one. I suppose the added stress of all this didn’t help, and we both had a major thinking/behavior relapse. This career truly does test a relationship, and any weakness that existed before WILL be magnified 1000 times.
Filed under Advice and Opinions, Becoming A Truck Driver, Career Help, Tips, Advice, On The Road In Training, Rhonda & Randy's Story.
Tagged Advice and Opinions, Becoming A Truck Driver, getting your CDL, hard lessons learned, life on the road, On The Road In Training, Rhonda & Randy's Story, Stories of the Road, truck driver training
Life on the road is not getting any easier for Randy, and life at home without him is getting even worse. He’s due for home time and we’re hoping it comes real soon. This is getting to be unbearable.
Filed under Advice and Opinions, Becoming A Truck Driver, On The Road In Training, Rhonda & Randy's Story, Stories of the Road.
Tagged Advice and Opinions, Becoming A Truck Driver, CDL training, On The Road In Training, Rhonda & Randy's Story, Stories of the Road, truck driver training, truck driving lifestyle
We’re about half way through with CDL training and Randy is hardly making anything out on the road with his trainer. He can’t wait to get done with training. He’s been through a lot already but unfortunately there’s still a good ways to go.
Filed under Advice and Opinions, Becoming A Truck Driver, On The Road In Training, Rhonda & Randy's Story.
Tagged Advice and Opinions, Becoming A Truck Driver, CDL training, getting your CDL, life on the road, On The Road In Training, Rhonda & Randy's Story, truck driver training
Another day stuck at the school, another interesting story…don’t know if it’s true, but it’s interesting. Supposedly, a student took a bottle of liquor on the truck while with an instructor and other students. They got 30 miles away at a truck stop, the safety manager and cops were called, and he got a D.U.I. If it really happened, it’s incredibly stupid! A lot of odd things happen at that school.
Filed under Advice and Opinions, Becoming A Truck Driver, On The Road In Training, Rhonda & Randy's Story, Stories of the Road.
Tagged Advice and Opinions, attending truck driving school, Becoming A Truck Driver, CDL training, getting your CDL, life on the road, On The Road In Training, Rhonda & Randy's Story, Stories of the Road, truck driver training, truck driving stories
So, Randy has been acting very strangely and I can hardly get him to talk to me at all. Two days ago he was all happy, now he seems really uncomfortable again…something is going on in that truck. I suppose I won’t find out until he has some “alone time” again.
Filed under Advice and Opinions, Becoming A Truck Driver, On The Road In Training, Rhonda & Randy's Story.
Tagged Advice and Opinions, attending truck driving school, Becoming A Truck Driver, CDL training, life on the road, new drivers in a slow economy, On The Road In Training, Rhonda & Randy's Story, truck driver training
It’s been a few days for Randy on the road now and I think he’s getting a bit wacky
He’s struggling with some things but doing quite well overall. Being apart this long is not getting any easier for us.
Filed under Advice and Opinions, Becoming A Truck Driver, First Solo Months On The Road, On The Road In Training, Rhonda & Randy's Story.
Tagged Advice and Opinions, Becoming A Truck Driver, CDL training, getting your CDL, hard lessons learned, life on the road, On The Road In Training, Rhonda & Randy's Story, truck driver training
The reason I’m sharing our personal experiences with this is to help people understand the truly tension-packed environment at truck driving school, and how it may affect your spouse. Everyone’s marriage is different, so everyone’s experience will be unique, but there will be common issues for sure. And things will pop up that you never even considered. I’m being completely, 100% honest here, because I don’t think glossing over the tough stuff would be very helpful!
Filed under Advice and Opinions, Becoming A Truck Driver, Career Help, Tips, Advice, Rhonda & Randy's Story.
Tagged Advice and Opinions, advice for couples, attending truck driving school, Becoming A Truck Driver, CDL training, driver responsibilities, hard lessons learned, Rhonda & Randy's Story, truck driver training
This is a summary of what I’ve learned from many experienced truckers on TruckingTruth, plus the perspective I’ve gained as my husband went through the classroom training during August-September, 2009.
Filed under Advice and Opinions, Becoming A Truck Driver, Career Help, Tips, Advice, Rhonda & Randy's Story.
Tagged Advice and Opinions, attending truck driving school, Becoming A Truck Driver, CDL training, driver responsibilities, getting your CDL, hard lessons learned, Rhonda & Randy's Story, truck driver training, trucking school