More Possibilities In Truck Driving

Hi everybody,

I new to truck driving. Interested, but not ready to commit just yet. My question is are their more possibilities after I "pay my dues" (6-24 months OTR). I am currently 30 y.o. college grad with a dead end job, got passed over 3 times this year for promotions. I am single with no wife or children. I want to know can I do a trucking job and have time to raise a family someday. I've read some are drive 5 days off 2 days ($50,000 salary), or I read in the North Dakota with oil and fracking, you drive 10 hours 5 to 6 days, 1 to 2 days off and get to be home every night with free board on top of $100,000 salary. I want to go home every night, after I done my 2 years of dues. Is this a real possibility, or are these 1 in a million story recruiter are selling to me? Time and money are my biggest concerns.

Welcome aboard Joseph!

Here's how I look at trucking and how it relates to the family thing:

Trucking is an awesome career for the right type of person in the right circumstances. It doesn't pay all that well considering what you have to go through, but it's decent enough. The travelling lifestyle is what made it all worthwhile for me. There's nothing that compares. Travelling the country, seeing the beautiful scenery, every day a new adventure, meeting tons of interesting people, and getting to spend time in places like New Orleans, Miami, Southern California, Vegas - I mean, no other career offers the same things trucking does. It can be amazing.

But there are two big negatives that stand out:

The first: there is no "future" for truck drivers other than being truck drivers. The salary generally tops out in the mid $50k range after a few years no matter what job you have. There are a few union jobs still left that pay better but they won't be around much longer I'm afraid. So about $55k is the ceiling for the most part. And there isn't any ladder to climb. Being a truck drivers makes you perfectly qualified to be a truck driver and that's about it. So it doesn't lead anywhere.

The second: Home and family life - it doesn't exist really. Even local jobs can mean very long hours. Remember, a truck driver can be on duty up to 70 hours every 8 days. That's almost like having two full time jobs! So even the guys who drive local will often times have their share of 10-15 hour days including weekends sometimes. So it's certainly no picnic.

Now in your situation you're still plenty young and you don't have a family. That leaves you with endless options for now, but it sounds like you want to have a family someday. That will change everything.

In my opinion you should consider trucking as a career for right now but I would look at it more as a stepping stone to something better down the line when you're ready for a family. I drove for 15 years but I also took some time away to go to school for welding and Harley Davidson mechanics. I also taught myself a ton of computer programming when I was on the road. You might consider doing the same thing - get into trucking, save up some money, enjoy it for a few years, and in the meantime look into other careers, maybe even get started training yourself online while you're on the road.

My theory is this....if you can start any career you want and you'd like to have a family, why not pick something with endless possibilities? Even take the building trades for instance - electricians, plumbers, HVAC, etc...you can go to school and get licensed for those kind of trades and land a solid job doing it. You work for someone, build up your tool collection, and before long you can start making money on the side. Then after a while you will even have the opportunity to start your own business doing it. The sky is the limit.

With trucking, driving a truck is the limit. You don't ever want to consider becoming an owner operator or starting a trucking business - there's very little profit in it. And there's no ladder to climb. And there's no way to really make money on the side. So your opportunities are quite limited in trucking.

If I were you I would consider getting into trucking for a few years, not only the adventures, but to save up some money and get started on your next career. At some point move away from trucking and into a career that's more family-friendly and has better opportunities down the road. Have some money behind you, get a solid foothold in your new career, and find you a beautiful wife and start a family.