Profile For Brian G.

I drive 60 miles each way from Toledo to Ann Arbor every day and I see hundreds of truckers out there every week. 99% of them are professional drivers that are safe and courteous. Most signal their appreciation of me letting them in so they don’t have to slow down for a slower vehicle in their lane.

Y’all do a hard job for not enough pay, and not enough home time. You’re on the toad by yourself a ton, and have to fight for spots in substandard truck stops.

You carry the bulk of transport in this country and have to contend with idiotic fuel prices that seem to be going up daily. You are the crtical link, unsung and underappreciated , in the nation’s supply chain. At some point after I retire, I may be one of you.

I want to say a big and heartfelt THANK YOU!!! For all that you do! You are the knights of the road! Be safe out there!

Thanks everyone who has replied! I really appreciate the help and the insights! Bruce, thanks for that as I'm going to be 65 when I transition over to trucking.

Thanks for that explanation Turtle!

Attempted to read the FMCSA CDL document regarding driver's hours and got a headache. Could someone please give me a plain English, for dummies, explanation of how driver hours are defined. I get that you can drive for 11 hours out of 14 hours then you get 10 hours of rest. But is sounds like this really isn't the case. Can you start and stop your times or is it once you start on-duty you can't stop until you clock in 11 hours. From what I've seen and heard drivers aren't getting a ton of rest so how does that work? Sorry for all the questions from a potential newbie nugget but just wanting to find out all the facts before I decide on making the jump.

Thanks for the information and advice Old School! I appreciate it immensely!

I didn't know how to word "current situation". Didn't know if it's an actual driver shortage or if the offers, bonuses and pay is just a relatively short-lived bump.

My wife is a below-the-knee amputee that can function without me. We're planning on moving down to Florida in a couple of years so I'd probably want to be based out of there. If I can get a job where I'm home maybe a week out of a month then it would definitely be doable. We've talked that the first year would require me being away from home more than being at home, and while it's a bit scary, we feel we can manage.

Hi All! Forgive me if this has been asked countless times but I'm looking for some current and possibly future information (estimates?).

Some background. I'm going to be 63 this year. My current position is an office job. I've got a wife who is disabled and a 20-something son who lives with us. I currently make $50,000/year with paid health insurance. Even though Social Security says I can retire at 66 years and 6 months, our financial dictates that I'm probably going to need to keep working until at 70 to build up some savings.

I've always liked trucks and what they do for this country. I started checking out The Trucking Truth site and have gotten some good information from there, but I don't see anything 2021-related as far as career advice and initial salaries. I understand that as a rookie coming out of CDL won't typically make a normal salary the first year and that the first year is the most brutal as far as the hardest year in trucking.

But with the current outlook on trucking professionals, is it reasonable to assume that carriers are paying more than the $35,000 starting salary and that initial working conditions have improved because the of the current situation? I'm trying to look into trucking as a career that I'll be able to at least make what I'm making now in a year if I work hard.

Does one type of work pay better than others? Is home every week a myth?

Thanks for your help in advance!