I'm not trying to bust your balls man, but you sound seriously disgruntled & if I understand what you said, have been away from the industry for a while.
Yes I've been away for a while, but not disgruntled. I actually did quite well out there aside from a few bad experiences that I had to walk away from ( and one crook I was leased to that I lost a truck and over 20 grand over, turned out the FBi had been after the guy for over 20 years...last time I checked, he was operating yet another trucking company. If I saw the jerk today, I'd probably thank him, after that I hooked up with a small company that treated drivers like kings and made very good money with them for a bunch of years till I wanted to move.
If my body would ,let me, I'd be back in one in a heartbeat. I've always had a serious traveling jones and been an insomniac....job description for cross country driving
But I have seen all of the above and believe it's important for people to realize the downside before jumping in. Before I started ( and I was driving a straight truck local in CA doing well ) I asked all kinds of guys and they all would sing the praises of how good they were doing.....a year later I run into the same guys out on the road and they are all singing the blues. I realized that most people don't want anyone to know that they aren't doing well and have a habit of painting a rather rosy picture to those outside the industry ( understandable ) but when you pull up in a truck , you finally get the truth.
One thing I found is most of the folks with those really nice trucks and are living easy and playing rolling tourist , made their money doing something else and instead of driving a truck, got a second on their house to get the truck, stay on the road for 2-3 years while quick depreciating the equipment at tax time and sell out of it, they come out so far ahead it's not even funny. It's great for them, but it does paint a picture of unreal expectations for someone coming in off the street to think they can drive for company x and work their way into one of those rolling castles in a couple of years.
It's great that you can finance trucks with 100% financing, but without a previous business or good conections, that doesn't happen for most. Usual channels are providing a 2 year profit and loss statement from existing business to talk to the load officer ( don't have one, no truck loan ) or have enough money to plop down to make them smile,or go through one of the cheesy lease to buy outfits where you basically buy a job( except for a few decent outfits ) or go out and drive for wages.
At least most of the company trucks out there these days are alot more comfortable than they used to be.
*EDIT, I thought you were someone else, sorry, you're not in CA, but you are in a niche market, which makes a big difference *
With you being out in California and running regional, you are a bit isolated from the rest of the situation. Ca managed to fend off most of de-regulation when it happened, that means people still have to actiually pay you for your services out there, not so with the rest of the country ( I learned that lesson the hard way, I started out in CA,and quickly found the rest of the country doesnt work that way, however the 7 western state region still has a lot of the old influence ...I should have stayed out there I made seriously good money out there )
My Brother in law started driving about 6 years ago ( I tried to talk him out of it ) He ran for a few national companies, got the usual treatment, landed a local job in CA with JB hunt hauling pigs from the rail yard that was pretty sweet, due to california laws. ( although the main office was always trying to do the kind of things to them that are legal in Arkansas at the home office, and had to be regularly reminded) unfortunately, they have recently found their way around many of the protections in CA law and it's getting to where he's working his hind end off for not much there too. Since he's established with them , but now making Arkansas wages in CA, they're considering moving to another state with lower cost of living and staying with them. Where they live , options are limited for staying.
Personaly, I don't know how they do it now. When I stopped, I was complaing about plate lunches in this area going up to $4. Company drivers aren't making much more per mile now, but sit down food has got rediculous on price and with all the computers and satellite tracking, they cant run the kind of miles that we used to run without getting in trouble. I've done the math, there's no way to make the kind of money I used to make now.
And yes, I have seen plenty of guys crying over pictures of their kids, more than I care to remember . The ones that wanted to talk, always the same one of two stories, either the company has had them out for 2 months plus and cant manage to find a load that goes past their house and they can't get anough of an advance out of them for a bus ticket( *cough -Werner-cough-schnider-cough*
or an o/o trying to make truck and house payments by themself and can't afford the detour.
I've personally bought more than one bus ticket to help someone out.
Getting established in that game is definetly for single folks or couples without kids.
---------Robert
, then the DOT climbing up your **** every time you turn around, and just wait till you have to start unloading on the east coast. the level of jerks and corruption that you have to deal with everyday is the kind of stuff your parents used to tell you was only on TV. The list goes on...
