I didn't realize that truckers could do so well

[aswedc]

This is why I'm not afraid of failing at life. Haves, have nots, blah, blah. Come on people, it's really not that hard to make money.

 

[BooGiMaN]

if the life of a trucker was easy....everyone would be tryign to get a job as a trucker....

making good money many times comes without sacrifice......i for one like spending time at home and seeing my kids and wife everyday, and sleeping in a nice comfortable bed in my own home.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: middlehead
My dad did it for a few years before my (older) brother was born. He made good money, but he wasn't willing to be on the road that much after a kid popped out.

That's exactly my problem. We're signing my son up for soccer right now. He'll start tee-ball next spring. He's going to swimming lessons now and I'm taking to the pool a couple of times a week. My 10-month old daughter is starting to walk now.

I'd miss out on so much. :frown:

 

[essasin]

I wouldn't want to be alone driving through the middle of nowhere most of the year.

 

[skyking]

To make that kind of change with that schedule, he must be a bed-ah heck. (moving household goods). I've done that and it is quite lucrative. Unfortunately, it requires a great deal of skill and physical effort to properly load a moving truck and avoid damage claims.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: skyking
To make that kind of change with that schedule, he must be a bed-ah heck. (moving household goods). I've done that and it is quite lucrative. Unfortunately, it requires a great deal of skill and physical effort to properly load a moving truck and avoid damage claims.

I believe he does do household moves. I don't believe he does any of the loading or unloading though and the trucking company handles the damages.

 

[metalmania]

I know a female member on this forum who is a trucker. She listens to the Stephen King audio books while driving. She is cool.

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: BooGiMaN
if the life of a trucker was easy....everyone would be tryign to get a job as a trucker....

making good money many times comes without sacrifice......i for one like spending time at home and seeing my kids and wife everyday, and sleeping in a nice comfortable bed in my own home.

I'm sure you meant with sacrifice, yes?

And you're right. There are few occupations in the world that pay highly without a lot of personal sacrifice, and those that do are usually more nefarious in purpose.

However, if you have a developed skill/trade you usually have that choice. You can choose to chase the dollar and take the sacrifices that go with it or you can choose to have a more relaxed career and make a more average income. There's nothing wrong with either as far as I'm concerned.

I see it in terms of output ratios. If I put forth 75% of effort now for a defined period of time I'm that much more likely to only require 25% effort later. If I put forth 50% now I'm likely to continue putting forth that 50% for that much longer. That probably seems obvious enough, but again, the point is that most careers have little allowance for putting forth that 75% of effort and actually seeing a return over time.

 

[Bootprint]

Originally posted by: essasin
I wouldn't want to be alone driving through the middle of nowhere most of the year.

Well if you go longhaul then you'll have a partner with you in the middle of nowhere.

 

[BooGiMaN]

Originally posted by: Bootprint

Originally posted by: essasin
I wouldn't want to be alone driving through the middle of nowhere most of the year.

Well if you go longhaul then you'll have a partner with you in the middle of nowhere.

id want my partner to be a girl......

being bit by a rattlesnake on the ass out in the middle of nowhere and asking my male buddy to suck out the poison would be just awkward for me...especially if he wants to use our body heat to warm each other afterwards..

 

[DainBramaged]

Jesus, no wonder lot lizards are so expensive. They can afford to be.

 

[Rumpltzer]

Longhaul trucking is a good career if you like to pick up hitchhikers and then need to dispose of the bodies. 😱

 

[49erinnc]

Not sure there's an amount of money I'd do it for. As others have said, it just comes down to your lifestyle. $200K or even $500K isn't worth being on the road that much and dealing with the elements that come along with it (traffic, away from family/friends, crappy eating habits, stress, etc.). But with that said, I know truckers who absolutely love their job and couldn't see themselves doing anything else. They would think that most of our jobs are very boring and wouldn't sit at a desk for $500K either.

8 hours in a car is about as far as I can go before the irritability and discomfort starts kicking in. I have done 14 hours and I have never wanted out of a car so bad. I just couldn't fathom being on the road all day long and in a huge truck to boot.

 

[foghorn67]

It can be a long road before you can get there for many to get that salary/business. People start out as delivery, and then freight with a company truck. They make it almost impossible not to break laws once going to interstate freight. Speed laws are always broken, inspection, log books, etc. are constantly being spun to keep smokey off of the drivers. But the drivers are forced to do this to because their employers know what people can do on their routes.
However if you got some capital to lease or buy a nice rig, and know some connections for clients, life can be good.

 

[BoomerD]

Before you run out and drop a couple hundred grand into a big rig, consider that MOST truckers don't get anywhere close to this kind of compensation annually.
Next, consider the costs of fuel. At over $3/gallon, these trucks eat up your profits, since most of them only get 3-4 MPG...then insurance, broker fees, licencing, permits, etc, and after it's all done, you don't make as much as it seems. If this were an easy way to get rich, WAY more people would be doing it.
I've used trucking as a "fall-back" job many times in my life. Had my class A licence (by many other names over the years) for about 30 years. MOST jobs where you drive for someone else, pay pretty crappy. You might be able to scrape by on them, but you ain't gonna get rich...Some pay by the hour, others pay by the mile, and others pay a percentage of the load, so depending on what you are hauling, you may make good money, others not so good...

 

[rudder]

Originally posted by: DaiShan

Originally posted by: iwantanewcomputer

Originally posted by: Descartes
I think that's a common misconception all around. I'm sure there are statistics that suggest otherwise, but there are a lot of successful blue-collar workers in every trade you can imagine, and they often make a lot more than your average white-collar that sits in a cubicle all day. My brother is an electrician and makes a considerable income as do most of his colleagues; most of those with contractor's licenses break six-figures without a problem.

omfg...sign me up

A friend of mine works on a construction site, with almost no experience and gets $17.50 an hour. Considering I pay my webmasters $16 an hour (which is about $3 more an hour than most places around here) It's very appealing.

Yes, but see those same construction workers when they are 45 years old versus the webmaster when he is 45 years old. Hmmm bad example... arthritic 45 year old construction worker versus obese 45 year old webmaster.

 

[MrFanel]

My girlfriend and I considered doing it if both of us could not find jobs out of college... could be fairly interesting to drive around and see the States... and make a load of cash for that.

 

[Feldenak]

Originally posted by: Descartes
I think that's a common misconception all around. I'm sure there are statistics that suggest otherwise, but there are a lot of successful blue-collar workers in every trade you can imagine, and they often make a lot more than your average white-collar that sits in a cubicle all day. My brother is an electrician and makes a considerable income as do most of his colleagues; most of those with contractor's licenses break six-figures without a problem.

Skilled tradesmen are worth their weight in gold.

 

[Dunbar]

Originally posted by: Queasy
My wife is helping her cousin find a home in the Atlanta area. He is a trucker and I never realized they could make that kind of money. He's pulling in $200k+ and he takes 3 month off during the winter months so he doesn't have to drive in the bad weather. Yeah, gas is expensive but part of that $200k is his trucking company reimbursing him for gas & mileage on his truck.

What was his income on his tax return? Since he owns his own truck, a lot of that $200k could go towards the maintenance, gas, insurance etc. Since trucking is largely unskilled labor, and there's no shortage of competition, it is quite obvious that generally pay isn't that great compared to hours worked.

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: tfinch2

Originally posted by: Descartes
I think that's a common misconception all around. I'm sure there are statistics that suggest otherwise, but there are a lot of successful blue-collar workers in every trade you can imagine, and they often make a lot more than your average white-collar that sits in a cubicle all day. My brother is an electrician and makes a considerable income as do most of his colleagues; most of those with contractor's licenses break six-figures without a problem.

QFT

I know independent roofers, landscapers, medical suppliers, haulers, contract handymen, etc from my company that do very well for themselves.

Barriers to entry. Specialized skills.

 

[ruffilb]

Originally posted by: tfinch2

Originally posted by: Descartes
I think that's a common misconception all around. I'm sure there are statistics that suggest otherwise, but there are a lot of successful blue-collar workers in every trade you can imagine, and they often make a lot more than your average white-collar that sits in a cubicle all day. My brother is an electrician and makes a considerable income as do most of his colleagues; most of those with contractor's licenses break six-figures without a problem.

QFT

I know independent roofers, landscapers, medical suppliers, haulers, contract handymen, etc from my company that do very well for themselves.

 

[Soccerman06]

Originally posted by: rudder

Originally posted by: DaiShan

Originally posted by: iwantanewcomputer

Originally posted by: Descartes
I think that's a common misconception all around. I'm sure there are statistics that suggest otherwise, but there are a lot of successful blue-collar workers in every trade you can imagine, and they often make a lot more than your average white-collar that sits in a cubicle all day. My brother is an electrician and makes a considerable income as do most of his colleagues; most of those with contractor's licenses break six-figures without a problem.

omfg...sign me up

A friend of mine works on a construction site, with almost no experience and gets $17.50 an hour. Considering I pay my webmasters $16 an hour (which is about $3 more an hour than most places around here) It's very appealing.

Yes, but see those same construction workers when they are 45 years old versus the webmaster when he is 45 years old. Hmmm bad example... arthritic 45 year old construction worker versus obese 45 year old webmaster.

My dad did construction for 20 years and now is an EE and is neither Obese or has arthritist. There goes your theory

 

[jupiter57]

Originally posted by: ruffilb

Originally posted by: tfinch2

Originally posted by: Descartes
I think that's a common misconception all around. I'm sure there are statistics that suggest otherwise, but there are a lot of successful blue-collar workers in every trade you can imagine, and they often make a lot more than your average white-collar that sits in a cubicle all day. My brother is an electrician and makes a considerable income as do most of his colleagues; most of those with contractor's licenses break six-figures without a problem.

QFT

I know independent roofers, landscapers, medical suppliers, haulers, contract handymen, etc from my company that do very well for themselves.

Agreed!
There IS money to be made as a private Contractor, but you have to be willing to put your all into it.
For example, when I had my own Contracting business, I arose at 3 AM, drove 1-1/2- 3hrs to be on my jobsite at daybreak (Or whenever the doors opened) and worked until I couldn't work any more. Home to rest a little, repeat cycle 6 days a week.

There was a small cafe in my hometown where all of the local "Contractors" had coffee every day. Sometimes I would need some help on a local job, so I would drive over at say, 9 AM. Several trades would always be in there, complaining how hard it was to make any money (At 9 Freakin' O'clock in the morning!).
I would ask if anyone was interested in helping me, and EVERYBODY was just too tied up, too busy, or they would!
Sheesh!

 

[B00ne]

200k that seems insane - I searched and it seems that here in Germany only 4% make more than 35k and the vast majority makes less than 25k. But that doesnt really surprise me - it's basically unskilled lobour and eastern europeans will do it for maybe 20% of that. Very few truckers are self employed.
On the other hand trucking is way more expensive here too: much stricter laws regarding driving and rest hrs and the allowed top speed is 50mph (it is continuously recorded)

 

[mrrman]

$$$ may be good but its a crappy job...I wouldnt do it for $500K/year