Profile For Mark S.

Thanks to everyone who has shared their story, Steve, Dennis, Zen Joker, Nick and others.

I spent the first three decades of my working life volunteering for a cause that I can no longer believe in today. I stepped away from that at age 50 with zero; nothing financially and no training or education. So, I am 30 years behind. There will probably be no retirement for me so the one option I see is to work hard while my body is still able and be developing a business centered around something I can do into advanced age.

As it became more and more apparent that I wasn't going to be able to continue in the church (cult) that I was serving my thoughts began to turn to trucking. I have a brother who drives OTR and I've ridden with him on a number of trips. To me it was a quick training turn around into making better money than any other option. My original thought was to drive OTR and live in the truck with no rent or house payment. My plan got sidelined because I saw that my parents needed help to stay living in their own home, so I moved in with them for over a year before they needed to move into a senior living home. I was able to get my CDL at that time and took a job driving school bus as that gave me liberty to be available for trips to the doctors, shopping etc. And get home to get lunch and supper on the table.

I planned to then go OTR but I made the terrible strategic decision to fall in love ;-) and got married this past April and that put my OTR plans on hold. Now I'm driving regional in the northwest, mostly Washington, Oregon and Idaho out 5+ days and home for "weekends". Pushing pretty hard Monday thru Friday+ then a pretty hectic weekend and back on the road. Maxi loads so drop and tag axles for 8 axles total.

The company has taken really good care of me so far. I really enjoy driving and I also dislike being away from family so much. I don't know how long I will drive. I can make better money doing this than anything else for now, but I don't want to be away from home so much for too long. Maybe a local job after a year or so?

When I posted my first post, I didn't intend to start a conversation about training and the trucking industry. However, thank you to those who have weighed in on the topic, and for pointing out the weaknesses in my thinking.

Naenae, I appreciate what you wrote. I have very much scaled back my studies, precisely because of what you mentioned about being a distracted and dangerous driver. My trainer and a good friend helped me understand that early on. I think what I have taken on is manageable within the demands of the job. There is a lot of work ahead for me but I'm not in a rush.

On another point, my intention hasn't been to change the industry. As has been pointed out I really don't know much about the industry. But I have three decades of working with people in a huge variety of settings and that transcends all industries. A couple have mentioned the limitations of my friends input because of his lack of driving experience. If the intention was to create better dispatchers that would be valid. However, my friends experience has given a pretty clear indication that when drivers feel seen, respected and supported their company makes more money (that's true across most industries). True, not all drivers need that, but plenty do. That would be an interesting forum topic... Something like "would you have stayed on longer at your previous company if you have felt respected and supported?

I'll write more about my own story in another post but can mention that I didn't start with this idea in order to change the industry. My start was watching the emotional and mental toll the industry was taking on family and friends (I know a number of drivers very well). There is a need. I have skill that can help with that need. Now, as pointed out, will anyone pay me for that? No idea. But at the least I will make reasonable money to carry me into the next phase of my life, and I will gain a lot of experience.

I do need plenty of input from the drivers themselves so I welcome all the comments on here.

One further response to you Old School.

When reviewing my experience one of the administrators lamented the fact that some trainers are just in it for the money (ironic I know) and don't care about the students, referencing my trainer. I objected because I feel that my trainer actually did care deeply about me, my safety and my future as a driver. However, because of his own limitations he wasn't able to perform his job adequately (again I'm being intentionally quite vague here).

(I wasn't using the platform correctly and thought there hadn`t been any responses to my post. I took a closer look this morning.)

Well Old School, looks like I was wrong. Sounds like the first step will be to grasp what an uphill battle this will be. Thank you very much for your frank reply. I am new in the industry and can already see some of what you are referring to. There are huge challenges, and I may be naive to try this. But doesn't trying to enact change require some level of naivety :-)?

I don't come to this fight completely unarmed and I feel I have a couple of pieces of leverage. One, a friend of mine who has risen to upper management in his company. He started in dispatch and since he is by nature a deeply caring person, he really gave himself to his drivers. And the numbers reflected the time he invested in his drivers. We have a mid-term plan to implement programs at his company as he gains more influence there. Second, (I don't want to say much on this public platform) my own experience made the cracks in our program glaringly obvious. I now have the ear of some in the company who are interested in my proposals.

Old School, I don't know if there is a way to correct privately outside of the forum but suspect you would know that? Would you be interested a phone call about this?

PS. Would those of you who replied mind sharing what got you into trucking in the beginning?

Hi everyone.

Like many of you I've made a pretty drastic career move later in life. I stepped away from Christian pastoral work after almost three years. I got my CDL last year and drove a school bus for 9 months as I helped my parents stay in their own home until last fall when they moved into a senior living apartment. In January I started training with a dry van company and have been driving on my own for a little over two months now.

I am currently undergoing life coach training, and my current plan is to start a coaching/consulting business. Coaching drivers and consulting with companies to improve their driver trainer program (born out of my own experience with a trainer).

One of the first steps in this process will be to understand what motivates people to become drivers, so if anyone want to share their reason(s) I'd love to hear. And if you have a link to studies on this question, please put them in your response as well.