Truck Driving or Bull Riding Schools
photo credit: tambrook33
I just read an article on a news blog for the Northwest Herald out of Illinois saying that enrollments are up for truck driving courses. It seems trucking companies, at least in the United States are among the few businesses that are still hiring. So many folks who have been down-sized, out-sized, and resized from their jobs are looking at a complete career change.
That is probably good news for the families of those new drivers, renewing hope for an ongoing income to support them. It is also good news for many of those ex employees who may have been feeling depressed and even desperate at the though of ongoing unemployment. But is it good news for the rest of us out here on the road, many who have been in this career for years, through the best of times and the worst of times?
I know of many personal friends in the trucking industry who are experiencing slow downs. Their weekly and monthly mileages are shrinking and thus their paychecks. I’ve talked to drivers within the past week who are sometimes sitting for two or three days at a time waiting for a load. Then when they finally do get a chance to go home they can’t afford to, as they need more miles to try to build a decent pay check for the month.
I know from experience that a large percentage of these new drivers will go to the expense and trouble of passing a truck driving course, only to find when they do gain employment that they hate the job. My own son was one of those a number of years ago. Many will not be able to handle being away from their families for extended periods, and many more marriages will break under the strain. This is to be expected, as many wives, especially the younger generation are not ready for the sacrifice involved nor the loneliness and isolation. Those with strong relationships will struggle through for the sake of an income, but many will crack under the strain.
My advice would be for those considering the jump into truck driving, to think it over very carefully and not make any snap decisions. One book that may be helpful in this decision is Trucking Made Easy. One area of trucking that has been growing in demand lately is team driving, and a book I recommend on that topic is Team Driving Millionaires. This is a great way for a couple to spend time together and make a good living at the same time.
Just keep in mind that truck driving can be a satisfying and rewarding career if you’re properly prepared, but it is not for everyone any more than bull riding is
photo credit: Jami Dwyer
Great article. And, I couldn’t agree more. Many people try to enter this profession and fail. They don’t fail the driving part. That’s actually relatively easy. it’s the time away from loved ones.
When I first entered into “big rig” driving I’d heard that a study was done that stated the average career life of a Class 8 vehicle driver was 6 years. I’ve never been able to find that study anywhere. I’d sure be curious to see how long it takes for most folks to bail out of trucking.
Many come to trucking, many stay in it at great cost to family and health.
Thanks for the article.
Walt.
Trucker industry is very developed. Many people choose as a job to be a trucker and therefore, it is normal that truck companies provide courses in order for candidates to learn.
One of the reasons that enrollment in driving schools is on the increase over here, is the common misconception that truck drivers are well paid, well respected, and driving jobs are easy to come by.
Open any industry publication in the UK, and there’s bound to be a story about the massive driver shortage we are facing. Professional bodies, such as the Road Haulage Association, Freight Transport Association and the Unions, claim we need between 10,000 and 50,000 more drivers to fill all the vacancies. Job postings will claim drivers can earn up to £35,000 per year and, as a result, driver training companies are booming.
However, if you dig a little deeper, things aren’t as clear cut as this. The vast majority of job postings are placed by driver agencies. These provide short term drivers to cover holiday relief, sickness and cover for short term contracts. Agencies are notoriously bad employers, and always want far more drivers on their books than they can provide work for, simply to be able to guarantee their ability to provide drivers when asked. If you want to earn £35,000 with an agency you can, but it will mean working 6 12 hour night shifts every week, including Saturday and Sunday.
There is also the strange belief that truck driving is a glamorous and exciting profession. New drivers often expect to get a class one license, then jump into a shiny new truck and head off to some exotic far flung European destination. In reality, they’ll get the worst truck, the worst load and a map of Glasgow. It takes about a year for them to become thoroughly demoralized, and then realize that they’re better off with a 8 – 5 factory job.
The biggest problems facing our transport industry is not the recession, it’s industry retention. Plenty of drivers with licenses out there, but none of them want to drive for a living.
Does that sound familiar….?
Heck I don’t want to be driving for a living either. But ever since my wife got in the habit of eating three meals a day and wearing clothing in public I’ve had the need to generate an income. The fact that I tied myself into a $2450 a month truck payment has a lot to do with it too.
Grumpy
If you want to earn £35,000 with an agency you can, but it will mean working 6 12 hour night shifts every week, including Saturday and Sunday.
I’m surprised that’s even legal.
It takes about a year for them to become thoroughly demoralized, and then realize that they’re better off with a 8 – 5 factory job.
There are a lot more people who want 8-5 factory jobs than there are 8-5 factory jobs. In order to even get a 3-11 factory job over here in the US, you need to be 18-27, and in perfect physical condition – and that’s not just now, that’s been since the 1960s, at least.
Plenty of drivers with licenses out there, but none of them want to drive for a living.
It’s the same situation with RNs over here. The hospitals expect nurses to work 10-hour and 12-hour shifts, and come up to nurses with 2 hours left on their shift and say, oh, by the way, you have to work a double-shift. Working 20 hours straight, 4 hours off, and then another 10 hours (or 20 hours) is pretty rugged, specially when you consider that these nurses spend much of their working time running, and they are having to do mentally-demanding work, with even a minor mistake potentially killing someone.
That’s not to say that truckers don’t have physically-punishing jobs, and that mistakes can’t be potentially lethal, but it’s more common sense for truckers than having to calculate how much medicine is required for a 330-pound person at 52 mg per kilo if the medicine is a 3.2 Molar solution.
I wouldn’t care to do either job….
Working 6 -12 hour night shifts is perfectly legal. Our drivers hours regulations (HOS) are laid down by the European Union. They allow six shifts per week, 3 of 13 hours, and 3 of 15 hours. People can, and do, work up to 84 hours, have 24 off, then do another 84.
Attempts were recently made to reduced these hours by introducing a maximum 48 hr working week, but this was watered down by taking breaks and waiting time out of the equation. My working week didn’t change (still averages around 60 hrs) but it did give me more paperwork to deal with.
Why this industry needs to be overhauled.
Ok so you drive to a pickup in the morning, takes a couple of hours to get there. Now your appointment time is something apparently invented by your dispatch because your hours too early. You now wait five hours to get loaded then it’s another ½ hour to get the paperwork. You are now 8 or 9 hours into your 14 hour day (US) and you still have to stop for fuel and fax your paperwork to the broker. Your load is due in Canada (say 11 hours driving) the next morning at 6 am so if you take your legal 10 hour break when your 14 hours expire your are not going to make the drop on time and are going to be very very late.
Now the company I work for don’t pay waiting time therefore if I don’t drive I don’t get paid. So I fiddle my log book to say I got to the pickup just 30 minutes before I was loaded and started driving immediately afterwards. I end up doing an 18 hour day sleep for six and start the whole thing over the next day. If I don’t work like this I will not earn much by the end of the week. If I am continually late for pick ups/drops then I think I may not get load offers at all and will be looking for another job.
The shocking truth is that the Drivers, Companies, DOT, and the Government know this is going on and in reality turn a blind eye to the whole practice. My company give unreasonable delivery times as many drivers think that they can make lots of money driving over their hours, in reality every time you fiddle your log book you are working for nothing. The kicker is this, if I get caught falsifying my log and get fined, firstly I have to pay the fine myself and secondly lose my safety bonus for the period.
The long term effects, due to sleep deprivation and stress, on drivers health must be massive. Ever noticed how your lane control suffers when you have been driving to long? Ask yourself why there are enough class 1 drivers in Canada but a shortage of drivers willing to do long haul.
In reality if I take all the hours that I work paid or otherwise I would probably be better of working at Tim Horton’s paid by the hour. Of course Tim Horton’s wouldn’t allow a member of staff to work 18 hours a day for 10 to 14 days at a time, is not humane is it?
Something needs to be done, if drivers were paid by the hour for all time on duty including waiting to be loaded or just hanging around I bet we wouldn’t have to wait around as long to be loaded. How many other jobs can you work for a whole day and get paid nothing? I know that there are a few transport companies that do not allow their drivers to drive over hours but the majority do and coerce their drivers to work illegal hours whilst ostensibly saying the opposite.
Ok so perhaps it would add at a couple of cents onto the price of a pound of bananas at the supermarket. It a small price to pay for the health and wellbeing of drivers and ultimately for the safety of all road users.
This is national scandal and should be addressed as a matter of urgency and a whole rethink of how the industry works should be undertaken. Electronic monitoring devices could be used as in Europe, inevitably drivers would benefit and exploitation would stop.
I am writing this post in my truck I got to the drop at 7am as per my appointment time I have just finished getting unloaded 1pm!!!!
Truck Driving is not for everyone but most that enter the field thinks they have to be away from home every night. Those of you that don’t like the nights away from home try the construction field. Belly dumps, End dumps, Dump Trucks and so on. You don’t need to be that long distance truck driver to be a truck driver. I started in 1970 and I have eight years hauling on the Alaska Pipeline I wanted to get that Ice Road Experience in before I became a flat lander. I put in 36 years driving I would say 2 years of it was away from home.
In response to Joe Soaps comments, there is one more European principal that could benefit the north american transport industry.
Over here, if a driver is convicted of any offence – vehicle defects, overloading or drivers hours (HOS) infringements, the company will almost certainly be convicted of causing or permitting the offence. company owners and transport managers can be barred from involvement in the trucking industry, and for severe cases can go to jail. It is also illegal to pay drivers in such a way that may encourage them to drive over their hours. most of us are paid by the hour, for all the hours we’re on duty.