any of you fellas truck drivers in another life?

[movingtocally]

I can't imagine it's that bad. although I'm the person who dreaded the trek to work not for the work but for the interaction with others. The loneliness wouldn't get to me, i don't think. I'm sure driving one of those big bastards is deceivingly difficult, though.

 

[OregonMediGrowr]

My day job is as a local delivery driver in a large izuzu box truck. I drive on average 500 miles a week, completely load and unload the truck almost every day and don't have to pee in a cup.
To drive this kind of vehicle you don't need a Commercial drivers licence, wich you need for driving any kind of large truck like a tractor trailer. This means you wouldnt be subject to drug testing laws specific to cdls. if you like doing that then you can get your cdl fairly easily, and look into driving hazmat products wich require a special endorsement on the licence and are by far the highest paid driving positions i am aware of.
hope that helps

 

[good drown]

same with him, i drove izuzu box trucks from 16-24 feet, they are my fav because their height(and the vent out at the top of the cab,but their front suspension sucks and is VERY bouncy and not good if you have a bad back). driven many a international 24ft as well as penske and budget trucks(i dont like them as much beacue of their ride height)
never a drug test for that job, and maybe my favorite. i love alone time, driving, and being high

 

[whiterabbit9]

so 18 wheeler guys cant smoke or have to work around pee tests ?

 

[geopolitical]

I can't imagine it's that bad.

Years and years ago I ran the Dalton. Lemmie tell you, imagine the most f*cked up road you've ever seen in your life. Then add 100mph winds and pure ice the whole route. Oh, and sections are narrow enough when they don't regularly run plows to allow only one truck at a time through. I wasn't even the guy driving, I was the "safety" rider. Never again did I take that trip. It was 400 miles of white knuckling. Lots of dead trucks up there.

As far as piss tests, depends a LOT on the company and what their insurance requires them to do. Owner-Operators are a whole nother ball of wax.

http://www.ooida.com/

take a look!

 

[whiterabbit9]

I have an uncle who drives a 18w

he has a bed in the back, seems cool

dunno if all the drivers become fat

 

[G.O. Joe]

I have a lot of reefer experience.

Pulled 53' trailers for a couple years, now I'm a chem tech with an expensive class A CDL with TX endorsement. Quit voluntarily, so they put on my record that they fired me for refusing a load. That's how it works, I'm not sure if anyone has ever quit a driving job, according to the employers. I quit because they wouldn't let me sleep and so was an 80,000 pound menace to society. They wouldn't let me sleep because that's how it works. I would have lasted longer if the new DOT hours of service regulations were in place then.

There is a reason why the pay is good for OTR drivers, I think even fast food has less employee turnover. Most drivers last less than a year. The homeless can call Swift, and they will have a bus ticket waiting at the nearest bus station. They have dorms at their training facility, and you get your CDL there.

Most O/O's don't last that long either. Not only do they lose their job, they go bankrupt as well.

If you can drive to the same few places over and over, it works out OK. If you go all over and wait to be loaded and unloaded, you have a shit driving job. Most driving jobs are shit. I lasted for 2 years only because I drove out of a regional distribution center, and mostly at night, which is not so bad as pure OTR randomness.

Driving in unfamiliar places with bad directions in winter or in the city, while pulling a 53' trailer, is very stressful. But if you're willing to put up with some entry-level shit to get your 1-2 years experience, you might be able to find one of the rare decent driving jobs, like 100% drop/hook at the same places or at least places easy to get to.

The drug testing is a DOT thing, and the DOT screen is the easiest testing to work with. Lots of drugs not tested for.

If you're the kind of person who can fall asleep anywhere at any time, at night one day and during the day the next, OTR is for you.

It's a nice skill to have, I will renew my CDL forever, and BTW it's smuggler's school - anyone who sends out a million dollars worth of whatever, and that gets confiscated, deserves to go to prison for his stupidity because it doesn't have to happen.

 

[good drown]

most places require a piss test for insurance, but usually that test is not a drug test, but for diseases such as diabetes and others that can cause blackouts

 

[Classyathome]

I have driven single tanker fuel trucks - up to 30,000 litre.

Piece of cake. I really enjoyed it.

And smoked pipe loads in the cab - and standing at the back of the truck in the fuelling depot while refilling...

Great job - driving those trucks and fuelling planes. While high.

 

[Sam the Caveman]

I've got a buddy that drives the big UPS trucks on the highway and from what I hear that is the best truck driving job there is. He has been with the company for 15+ years and gets 10 weeks off per year paid. He also never has had to change a tire or fuel up his truck and he is home every single night. You have to work you way up to get those jobs though, he loaded trucks and then did city delivery for ,I think 8 years.

I also have 2 uncles that used to drive 18 wheelers, one was an owner/operator and when gas prices shot up he got screwed big time cause he was under contract and couldn't charge more for fuel, eventually he lost a few routes and insurance was too high. My other uncle got injured somehow and is on disability now.

Unless you can find a job where you are home every night, I think it's a horrible job.

 

[movingtocally]

My day job is as a local delivery driver in a large izuzu box truck. I drive on average 500 miles a week, completely load and unload the truck almost every day and don't have to pee in a cup.
To drive this kind of vehicle you don't need a Commercial drivers licence, wich you need for driving any kind of large truck like a tractor trailer. This means you wouldnt be subject to drug testing laws specific to cdls. if you like doing that then you can get your cdl fairly easily, and look into driving hazmat products wich require a special endorsement on the licence and are by far the highest paid driving positions i am aware of.
hope that helps

same with him, i drove izuzu box trucks from 16-24 feet, they are my fav because their height(and the vent out at the top of the cab,but their front suspension sucks and is VERY bouncy and not good if you have a bad back). driven many a international 24ft as well as penske and budget trucks(i dont like them as much beacue of their ride height)
never a drug test for that job, and maybe my favorite. i love alone time, driving, and being high

how did you boys start out in this field?

 

[h^2 O]

The homeless can call Swift, and they will have a bus ticket waiting at the nearest bus station. They have dorms at their training facility, and you get your CDL there.
.

well I know how who's buying my next Greyhound ticket.

 

[Stoner4Life]

How about never being home as your dispatcher shuffles you from
one coast to another randomly? Or the fact you'll smell like diesel
(not the weed kind btw) and everything you own will smell like it
too. Living off of truck stop food (beef/potatoes) 24/7 sucks too...

 

[Bobby Stainless]

I can't imagine a more mundane existence.

I like to be near the home base. It would also be hard to grow in a big rig.

 

[BlueIApachee]

I wouldnt want a job driving purely for the other motorists on the road. Im the kinda driver that keeps in mind the truckers, but i see not everyone does, sometimes people put themselves in alot of risk and its all up to the truckers to keep things safe.

 

[OregonMediGrowr]

I got into driving truck because its the second highest paying job at the store I work at behind the store manager. Having worked random sesional jobs and construction the local job market was to tight doing anything i had experience doing so i finaly took a job as a laborer at a thrift store in oregon and in less than a year worked up to the driving job. Its far from hard work and for me i have to manualy load and unload the truck so it keeps me in shape and it keeps a roof over my girls.. As we say at the store the jobs a job... thats about it.

 

[Presto_D]

I drove for Werner Enterprises. Only lasted nine months, long enough to know I didn't want to do it any longer. OTR, greater 48 states, there are six states I haven't driven through, and two of those are Alaska and Hawaii.
If you have a knack for not falling asleep at the wheel, this could be the job for you! Doesn't take a whole lotta skills to be a company driver.
I was fortunate enough to do team driving. Truck rolled 24/7, 70hrs straight. Earned one day off for every week worked. Drop and hook is sure the way to go, but you have to have really good on time records to earn that kind of gig.

I got popped for random piss tests three times in that nine months. And they were checking for drugs, although some kind of uppers would be more common as a driver.

This was back when you could get ephedra, I liked pills called "Truckers Love It". LOL

That was one long ass lame T break.

 

[bengie187]

I used to work for to Oilfield companies in canada that we were required to drive and operate the piece of equipment that we were driving....4 years of running 15days on 5 days off and during the days on working min of about 12-14 hours a day then having to drive to new location or city.......long hours but the pay is good i guess........around 75k per year to start.....reefer trucks, Horsepowers, Bulkdry units, Chemical units......and more.........hmmm i guess it wasnt that bad of a job now that im jobless and looking for one maybe ill go back to that