Just signed up to be an interstate trucker, what should I expect in my travels?
This could get interesting hopes theres some /trv/ers that know some stories
expect wage cu'ckery.
you know that whole trucker shortage things was bullshit right?
>truckers atlas
>modest mouse
>>1052150
Yup. Did the OTR thing for a little but decided it wasn't worth it pretty fast. They do some pretty shitty things with pay. They pay by mile but they pay by mile of the area code you're going through (even though in the world of GPS they can pay by actual miles,) they don't pay you for sitting in traffic, and they don't pay you for doing paper work, unloading/loading, swapping cars, washing out your truck, getting weighed, putting on chains etc. They also promise 1 day off a week but they'll teach you to get around the spirit of those rules so you're driving the same amount of time, just less amount of time driving a day. If you don't drive every day they'll give you bad routes, granted they'll give you shit routes anyway if you're a new driver (shit routes being short, through the mountains, stopped in a place with no good loads around.)
Also OP I suggest you go to a truck stop and talk to some truckers. They're missing something, it's hard to say. Being out on the road too long fucks up the lights in their brains somehow.
>>1052185
Also, seeing how this is a travel board, I'll say that it's still not worth it. Admittedly you'll see some cool things and you'll see "real America" and you'll get to see a bunch of American cities but you wont get to interact with them at all. If you go to a major population center there's bound to be a load just around the corner to pick up so they'll have you do your mandatory 8 hours sleep then they'll have you leave the city immediately. National parks are a no go as well because they're usually off the main road and you can forget bring your rig off the main path. If you do get lucky enough to stop for an extended period then it'll be a truckstop in the middle of nowhere or a rundown city with no industry and high crime.
>>1052099
There are some hungry hookers out there looking to make a few bucks with lonely truckers at many truck stops. If you're into that, bring protection because most of the time, they won't most of the time. Also be aware that they will be pretty bad "quality" if you catch my drift. If you're looking to get your rocks off real quick, get your business done, pay up, then kick em out by telling em your leaving soon.
If you get a knock at your door, don't answer. They'll annoy the fuck out of you if you reply and know you are there.
Invest in a windshield screen and curtains for your window if your going to be doing any sleeping at truck stops.
Invest in a lock up device to keep your valuables. Theft is common. Also invest in a close range weapon / small fire arm.
I'm a frequent poster on /trv/ and manage a transportation logistics company. While I've never driven a commercial vehicle and am not authorized to do so, I work with truckers and and freight brokers nearly every day. Unfortunately, you've picked a rather bad time to jump into the business. A lot of manufacturers overproduced last year and the overall load:truck ratio is much lower than usual. Consequently, drivers for smaller companies and larger ones alike aren't making as many miles or earning as much money.
The work itself seems like a drag. You can make a good amount of money if you own your own vehicle, but otherwise, you're just driving from Point A to Point B. Sometimes you'll get a day or two to sit while your dispatcher or company tries to find you a reload, but you have to be available and near your truck at all times - you can't just wander off and sight-see. You'll be seeing a lot of highways, scenery, and the insides of gas stations and rest stops. Your job is basically just to drive, pick some stuff up, maybe throw a tarp over it, and then deliver the goods to the receiver while ensuring that your vehicle and trailer can meet federally mandated inspection standards.
There might be some different requirements if you're working for a big company or are doing dry van or reefer (my company only does flatbed and stepdeck), but that's about the gist of it. You might get to see a lot but you're not going to get to interact with it.
Our company is very fair with our employees, and we tend to let people take extra time off to do things like go to funerals, celebrate birthday parties, or be with their families on special occasions. They impression I get of many larger companies, as well as some of the other smaller outfits, is that they will cheat you or drive you into the ground at every opportunity they get.
>>1052226
This might not be a "politically correct" thing to post, by /trv/ standards, but I'll say this: my impression of the transportation industry is that it attracts a lot of relatively stupid people looking to make a lot of money while doing the least amount of work possible. When the market is good, people are shocked at how they can gross thousands of dollars every week with a single truck. When the market is bad, suddenly everyone is fucking everybody else and sucking the dicks of brokers for loads they would have passed over the year before.
Consequently, there are a lot of "people problems' in trucking. Dispatchers and managers don't trust their drivers and vice versa. Freight breakers don't trust freight carriers and vice versa. Everybody lies and everybody cheats.
There's no way I'd want to be involved in this business for the rest of my life. I don't think trucking would be bad to invest in but I could never have a transportation career. It's just not fulfilling and you have to deal with too many assholes.
Like I said, our company is fair with our employees. We're friendly with most of them. That doesn't change the fact that human error or stupid mistakes on my part or theirs can end up costing us big bucks.
Anyway, OP, I don't think it's a bad way to make money for a while. You'll still get paid quite a bit, regardless of who you work for. I've just been doing this for a while and my impression of the transportation business just gets worse and worse every month.
>>1052226
they will cheat you or drive you into the ground at every opportunity they get
Man, I see this so often. Is it the economy--good jobs are scarce so workers have little leverage in negotiating conditions? And/or are we Americans just too accepting of a culture that values work over leisure?
In my experience trying numerous different jobs in different sectors (from creative class type editorial and new media stuff to, currently, the maritime industry) over the last six years, it's really fucking hard to find work that pays a comfortable paycheck yet allows you ample time off to enjoy yourself.
Granted, I've deliberately chosen jobs that I thought would be interesting or intellectually/emotionally rewarding, and not simply high on the income-to-hours-worked ratio, but jobs elsewhere don't seem a whole lot better. Maybe I'm just a spoiled, privileged young whitey, but I really feel that too much is demanded of workers.
On the other side of the coin, I think there is way, way too much excess in our lifestyles.
Basically, I want to be able to work less in return for consuming less. But I think our system strongly disincentivizes this. Do others feel this way? What can we do?
>>1052238
You answered your own question.
Work less.
Buy less shit.
Have better experiences.
If your car is less than ten years old you are an idiot.
>>1052099
Have fun mang. The money isn't great as a company driver, but better than some dead-end retail job. What company?
There is always a truckerfag thread on /o/. I do local but there are a handful of OTR dudes.
ONE OF US, ONE OF US, ONE OF US
>>1052301
Oh hey look guize it's PepsiFag.
Join us in /o/, OP. I'm on an iPhone and also a lazy fuck so you don't get a link. Search for trucker, you'll find us. Also, don't mind the naysayers. Company OTR isn't 100% terrible if you get into a decent company like I did, mostly just avoid the big names, like Swift and CR England. The real money is found Owning/Operating your own truck. I'm averaging 2500 miles a week at the company I'm with but company pay is only $0.38/mi starting. Truckerfag (the father and namesake of truckerfag threads on /o/) makes $2-6/mi generally, running his own truck and flatbed. Do your two years in the meat grinder like I am and look into getting your own truck and working for yourself.
>>1052099
Depends on which puppymill you sold your soul to.
>>1052150
Ah, Whiney-kun still hasn't figured out how to deal with his and he's past the 6 month mark iirc.
>>1052185
Yeah, all of those things happen if you end up with a shitty company like Navajo, Chizek, or Eagle Express.
>>1052218
Where did you find a lot lizard? They've been more or less extinct for the better part of the decade.
>>1052226
The slump hasn't been any fun for us O/O's, either. I've worked about 16 of the last 40 days, and every time I go out on a run I end up with a $600 repair bill so a whole day ends up shot. Just need to get a turbo and all that will be left is a rebuild on the motor before I get around to replacing the hood that has been broken for 2 years.
>>1052229
Yeah, we do go through tens of thousands of idiots and cash grabbers in turn over annually, but there are a few decent people in this business and they tend to stick around. They don't tend to stand out as much as the loud idiots barreling their way towards turning a large fortune into a small fortune.
Granted, I came to the business to stall on college and stayed because it's so stupid easy to make money when you're over-qualified.
>>1052238
I can get by in this industry working two days a week as an established owner operator working the spot market. I do it from time to time, but it ends up boring me to tears. I'd much rather work a week or two then spend 2-5 days visiting national parks or friends, and going to conventions and museums around the country. It'll be a lot easier once I get a motorcycle mounted on my truck.
>>1052301
>>1052306
Sup, fegs?
I have a friend that's trucker, post retiring from the Marine Corps at 15 years (TERA). He seems to enjoy it, though only has been doing it a matter of months. I've seen pics of places he's visited, so there is some down time. I reckon it's between dropping off and picking up loads. Just tonight he coincidentally had a drop off in the town/base I work at and asked me to rent a car for him (he wired me money), since he'd arrive after they all closed. He'll be driving home tonight, about 4 hours away, then driving back here Sunday to pick up his truck. I don't know what his average week is, but that's a 3 day weekend. He's married, as well.
>>1052328
Oh Allah.
Transportation logistics manager here. I fucking hate CRST. We used to have a dedicated route that ran 1,000 miles down south to Texas. Unfortunately, the broker who had control over it was pushed out by the manufacturer, due to a slowdown in production. They created a new contract with CRST, who reduced the rate for solo and team runs significantly.
I don't think they're terrible, but big companies like that usually don't go above and beyond for drivers.
I'm not very knowledgeable about the driver end of things, but I can ask around at the office tomorrow if you want. The people who pay the best are going to be smaller companies, but you're going to have a problem getting hired by one if you don't have any experience and just got your CDL.
>>1052334
Sorry, I've been drinking for the first time in several months. Don't take my personal dislike of the brokerage side of CRST to mean that they're a bad company.
They're not even terrible, to be honest. Total Quality Logistics and Mercer are far, far worse, from my end of things.
>>1052334
>but I can ask around at the office tomorrow if you want
That'd be great actually, thanks
No problem.
But I will repeat what I and another person said earlier: the industry hasn't been having its best year. While I'm sure that you'll have few problems finding a position, the pay might not be quite as great as it could be. If I were you, I'd saving my earnings while the market is depressed and then try to find a smaller company.
Shit, dude, I'll hire you in a year or two if you're still around. We pay almost fifty cents per mile and have a $1300/week guarantee. Unfortunately, our fleet isn't large enough for our insurance to approve people who don't have a certain amount of experience.
Save your money and get your own truck. Pay some poor sod like me to dispatch you for a 10-15% commission and you're golden.
>>1052315
Oh, I know how it goes with owner-operators. We have a couple working for us. I feel bad for them. Just back in May it was easy to find $2 per mile on all kinds of different routes. Now I'm lucky if I can get my guy $2.20 from fucking Michigan to New Jersey, let alone on a normal, desirable lane. We have a lot of trucks in Dallas and they're paying about $1 - $1.50 per mile out of there. It's just getting worse and worse. I have faith in the market to correct itself (who could have expected last year wouldn't hit us back?) but I hope it doesn't take too much longer.
I'm eagerly looking forward to the day when I can slam down the phone on these dickhead brokers for offering cheap rates.
Bleh. Again, pardon me - first time drunk in a few months.
>>1052340
what company? Also, you suggesting that I save whatever I have and use it to buy a truck?
>>1052328
>CRST
>job + training
Don't
>>1052340
>paying about $1 - $1.50 per mile out of there
It's gone to shit due to everyone undercutting and fucking each other in the ass.
>>1052343
Not gonna say because you'd have my name in a heartbeat. I trust /trv/ but I don't want my shit getting out to other boards. I've been here a decade and know what some faggots do.
>>1052347
The way I see it is that truckers and small freight carriers are just organized messes. If you read the contracts that freight brokers require us to sign, it necessitates that we refuse communication with their shippers and receivers, thus requiring that carriers can only have business relationships with third-party brokers. Truckers never corrected this, and thus we're getting fucked by brokers.
Big companies like Landstar have it okay, because they have fleets as well as brokerages.
I really wish I could have hopped in this world ten years ago.
>>1052328
CRST? You could do worse, but not by much. Same thing we tell everyone looking to drive a truck: don't sign a contract, don't train with a company. They'll have you by the balls for two years and if you quit you'll owe them like $5000 and they usually lie about how you left, effectively blacklisting you.
Find a community college or a dedicated "school" for a CDL class A course. Some of these "schools" will even finance, that's what I did. (I say school with quotes because they don't do anything else, just CDL). If you can't get financed, go to the bank for a loan. They practically give them away because many companies will reimburse you for the cost, practically guaranteeing the bank they get paid.
Look for smaller outfits based in your nearest major town. The company I drive for has only a little more than 100 drivers, and it's a great company to work for. They hired me before I had even finished the course, and I've done so well they upgraded me to a newer Peterbilt within 3 months.
>>1052099
Wear sunscreen
>>1052339
Sorry, man, I didn't feel like waking up in the morning and skipped going to the office.
I'll ask for you on Monday.
For what it's worth, the fact that I can let a minor hangover keep me home and not have to worry about even calling in sick is a testament to the shape transportation is currently in. Loads are so slow and few and far between that I don't even need to go to work as long as somebody else is there.
>>1052422
This. Even after 3 years in modern tractors I could feel the damage in the left side of my face and my left arm. Radiation is no joke.
>>1052511
I've been taking a ton of "fuck it" time off as well. Might pull one load next week, might just bobtail 400 miles to my brother's house. Who knows?
>>1052099
Hitchhikers will help with boredom cause they usually have cool stories and whatnot. But be careful, make sure they know that you'll kill them if they get injured in an accident and they take legal action on it. Also make sure that people from your company don't see you pick them up. Apparently people are big tattle-tales.
Also if they're a girl and you creep on them at all you're probably gonna get stabbed. Picking up guys is honestly safer cause girls do not fuck around.
source: a few truckers that picked me up while hitchhiking
>>1052787
Girls are usually boring as shit compared to the guys I pick up. Except that one succubus I took to Montana...
>>1053180
Logistics officefag here.
I honestly think this is true of travelers in general. I've slept with a lot of women and am currently in a relationship, so I'm not speaking from the perspective of an autistic sperglord, either. Most girls I meet over the road tend to be way too defensive and overly interested in spiritual nonsense or having sex with as many men as possible.
With very few exceptions, male travelers are usually more interesting.
>>1053259
What's the deal with people that drag their dog around the country with them? It's fine and all if you're doing it in your own vehicle that you're OK with destroying, but why lay that burden on every stranger kind enough to give you a ride?
>>1052348
>I trust /trv/
You shouldn't, there are plenty of arseholes here who will stalk you for lulz. Just look at the kektroll.
Does someone have that 4/5-part story about the dude asked/forced to drive an empty lorry to Cali through infernal conditions?
>>1053403
>Does someone have that 4/5-part story
Haha, no but I remember it.
>>1052226
aus?
>>1053927
His language and terminology suggest he's American.
