Life Might Hit Fast Forward To Trucking. The Million Dollar Question?

Hi Folks,

First thanks again to Brett for the site and Guy and Old School for their comments in helping me figure out several weeks ago (Andy P was my screen name then) that the present may not be best with a 2 year old at home....

Since that post, there is an elevated chance now that due to a complicated bundle of issues, I may be looking for another career sooner than 8 years. Woohoo for my dream, but still want to think this through.

So here is the million dollar question.....

IS THE OTR LIFESTYLE and lack of HOME TIME the chief reason for the high turnover?

Roehl has regional flatbed available in my area with 5 out 1.5-2 in. This seems like a good balance. I am not afraid to work, commit myself, and be safe and professional. But I just got done reading a post where Brett said turnover rates at some companies (i.e. Swift) was near 100%.

The wife is on board for the change if my present job is lost we would move in with her parents so she is NOT alone at home. I have also accepted that my life as I know it will be over and the only companions I will have 5 days a week will be God and the highway. Will webchat daily with the family and be the best Daddy I can be from the road and will make family the ONLY priority on my days at home. Frankly I don't want to do anything else if I lose my job. Despite a bad experience in 2002 with CRST as I tried to enter the industry, trucking still gnaws at me around the clock practically and every night in bed I imagine myself in a sleeper. I love the road and at one point in life was a loner, and can probably find that mind set again to toughen up the heart being away from loved ones.

Do I sound ready in your opinion if I am faced with an employment change? As always thanks for taking the time to review my post

The reason for the high turnover is because people come into the industry without doing their research. They come to trucking expecting to become a millionaire because of all those posters of people in the company who earned 6 figures, not to mention the instructors make it seem like you're heading into a world of luxury. People just don't do their research and they come into trucking and when they finally realize just how bizarre being alone all day is they find out they can't handle it anymore. They aren't prepared. Its a tough lifestyle.

At home you wake up and walk 5 feet to the bathroom. In trucking you get dressed and walk half a mile to the bathroom in the snow, ice, or heat. Unless you want to be gross and **** in a bottle every morning. But if you're clean you would do the above. Its not as luxurious as the average persons life. But that's the lifestyle and you grow to enjoy it. Its as if you're camping every night.

If you're married, its extremely tough on you to not see your wife but its arguably more tough on your wife. Divorce is common. Not everyone is fit to be in solitude and the lifestyle is not for everyone. I go home once every 4 weeks and I take as much time off as possible. Sure, I'm missing out on money but I also don't want to abandon my wife. Money isn't everything. So I go home as much as possible to see her. There is a huge shift of responsibilities when you go trucking. Everything falls on your wife and it stacks up to everything that shes already doing. Its equally challenging for both.

You can facetime or webchat with your wife but not as often as you think. Even if you have Verizon, you usually wont have a connection powerful enough. Often times you'll be parking where you'll barely have any connection at all, especially with mountains around. The only times I have a strong 4G connection with Tmobile is when I'm in the city at a shipper or receiver or when I'm parked at a big city truck stop. Otherwise you're out of luck usually.

Going with Roehl will make your guys' life a lot easier because you wont deal as much with being alone for weeks on end. This lifestyle is very different. This lifestyle is extremely rewarding but also challenging. It gives you endless stories to tell. I do believe you are ready!

Thanks Daniel for the post

P***ing in a bottle would be me. :) I drink tons of water.

I have a school and a company picked out and a plan for the family. We'll see how the cards fall in the next 6-12 months.

Thanks again and be safe Sir!!

Research or not, you're truly not going to know about life on the road until you get there, but I would agree that the 'lifestyle' is the #1 cause of the high turnover rate. And I don't buy the 100% turnover rate, I mean, if that was true how would you get 5, 10 and 15 year veterans? That's not to say the turnover rate isn't high, though. I mean just here at prime, they have 70 people starting class every Tuesday, so yea, it s high.

Here is my suggestion talk to a few, or preferably several truck drivers at the local truck stop.

Then, Ask yourself a few questions.

Can you be away from home, your wife your newborn for a month at a time, and then only be home a few days before heading out again?

Can you sleep on a moving and jostling bed with music in the background? (With a trainer)

Can you handle living in an area the save of a closet with another person for 3 months? (With your trainer)

Can you handle sitting for 5 hours straight, driving a sailboat down the road with people cutting you off, flipping you the bird and generally being obnoxious?

Think about it, this is the way drivers treat truckers, and you and I are no exception. Are all drivers like this, hell no. But many are, and that doesn't include the shipper / receivers that might make you wait 2-3 hours to load / unload you because it's break time.

Now, don't get me wrong, thats just part of the 'bad end of the stick'. You'll also see incredible sunsets, visit many cities and have other wonderful experiences. But make mistake, it's not all candy and roses. It is a lifestyle like everyone says, and in the end, the only person that knows if they are 'ready', is you.

I will say this however, having a supportive wife is A++, but keep in mind, you will probably miss baby's first words, first steps, and many other firsts. Trucking will always be here, but those firsts will ever happen again.

So, I ask you, do YOU think you're ready?

Research or not, you're truly not going to know about life on the road until you get there, but I would agree that the 'lifestyle' is the #1 cause of the high turnover rate. And I don't buy the 100% turnover rate, I mean, if that was true how would you get 5, 10 and 15 year veterans? That's not to say the turnover rate isn't high, though. I mean just here at prime, they have 70 people starting class every Tuesday, so yea, it s high.

Here is my suggestion talk to a few, or preferably several truck drivers at the local truck stop.

Then, Ask yourself a few questions.

Can you be away from home, your wife your newborn for a month at a time, and then only be home a few days before heading out again?

Can you sleep on a moving and jostling bed with music in the background? (With a trainer)

Can you handle living in an area the save of a closet with another person for 3 months? (With your trainer)

Can you handle sitting for 5 hours straight, driving a sailboat down the road with people cutting you off, flipping you the bird and generally being obnoxious?

Think about it, this is the way drivers treat truckers, and you and I are no exception. Are all drivers like this, hell no. But many are, and that doesn't include the shipper / receivers that might make you wait 2-3 hours to load / unload you because it's break time.

Now, don't get me wrong, thats just part of the 'bad end of the stick'. You'll also see incredible sunsets, visit many cities and have other wonderful experiences. But make mistake, it's not all candy and roses. It is a lifestyle like everyone says, and in the end, the only person that knows if they are 'ready', is you.

I will say this however, having a supportive wife is A++, but keep in mind, you will probably miss baby's first words, first steps, and many other firsts. Trucking will always be here, but those firsts will ever happen again.

So, I ask you, do YOU think you're ready?

All excellent points road hog. Thank you. I should have been more detailed above. Roehl has regional openings 4-5 DAYS out and 1-2 DAYS home. Their training period is 3 weeks. And for another thing, I know all to well my little girl is at the most precious age. I would not leave my job until she was 9 (after she turns 10) so she could ride along once in a while. However, in the near future, I could be facing a 25% curtailment in my take home pay which will flush us down the toilet financially. If that DOES occur, trucking is the only thing in my area that pays over $20k a year as I live in Northern WI. I will not be leaving my job unless willingly for now unless the aforementioned scenario happens. Then I will NEED to be ready as I need to feed my family...Otherwise I am looking at down the road when kid(s) is older.

I realize as much as I prepare, as has been said until you LIVE IT, one does not know the gravity of the lifestyle change. Sitting for 5 hours may be tough but will need to be something I will need to work up to as I have a back that needs stretching every few hours.

Every time I post here I get more perspectives which is a great thing.

Thanks again.

Thats a tough situation, I hope everything works out for you and your fam! Sounds like you have given it a lot of thought. I have given the road alot of thought also and researched a few flat bed companies, Roehl sounds like a good starter company with a few nice home time options.

About turnover rate. It can be over 100 percent at Swift and still have many long term veteran drivers working. Remember, the rate is based upon turnover over a set period of time, usually a year. Many, many drivers are lost in the first few weeks because they cannot hack the lifestyle change, then many more that replace the original losses are lost in the first few weeks again, etc etc, and the total for the year can then reflect 100 percent or more turnover, because many drivers are hired and quit well before a year has gone by. I hope I am making sense. In other words, if a company employs 100 drivers. Eighty quit after a few months, and they hire eighty to replace them, and they all quit too before the year is out, you have gone through 160 drivers in that one year alone, yet there are 20 that go on to become veterans. That is an extreme example, but it makes my point, which in this case is well over a 100 percent turnover.