Does anybody ever want to try a job that you know you wouldn’t like long term, but sounds fun for a few weeks. To me, I’d love to be a truck driver for a few weeks. It sounds fun for some reason, but lonely.
OT: Trucker Life
- Thread starter AttalaDawg72
- Start date
Breaker breaker good buddy, I've had the same thought. I knew a guy that owned a truck and drove as a LTR for years. He has told me the pros and cons.
i wouldn't mind doing it long enough to see the west. But I'm sure I'd just get east coast runs as a newbie.
i wouldn't mind doing it long enough to see the west. But I'm sure I'd just get east coast runs as a newbie.
It’s not very glamorous and the way people drive now I wouldn’t do over the road trucking. Right now the pay sucks unless you really go hard and drive 6 days a week.
Speed and piss jugs.
“Its the way of the road, Ricky.”
I had a guy that I paid for car transport a few months ago. It was like $2200 for two cars from Washington to NC. Did it through a service with a guaranteed delivery date like 7 days after pickup, so i decided to spend a few days in Vegas and timed my NC flight to get there on day 6. But when the dude picks them up, he’s like, “Yeah, I’ll be there in 2 days.” His truck was full of other cars too. Fortunately had some family who were able to accept the cars.
Back in the 1980’s a good friend of my dads sold a business and retired early. He was probably mid to late 50’s. He bought a really nice truck with a huge sleeper and he and his wife hit the road for several years. He said that he wanted to see the country and someone else might as well pay for it. After a few years he quit and sold everything.
I think I’d like to be a big game hunting guide out west for a season. That’s probably all it would take to convince me it’s more fun as a hobby than when you’re working.
The best way to ruin a perfectly good hobby or pastime is to turn it into a job!
Guiding is really hard work. When you are a customer you only see the fun part. The real work and hours are the offseason and after you leave the customer.
I drove an OTR truck for 10 months back in 1993. It was the most miserable 10 months of my life.
Admit it, you're wanting to check out the lot lizard action.
Trucking is hard work, and also they routinely get treated like shiit at shippers and receivers.
I’d love to run a small restaurant for like 90 days max.
I’ll be honest, I know almost nothing about guiding. Why is the real work in the offseason and after leaving the customer?
Repairing blinds or stands. Clearing firing lanes. When the time is right planting greenfields or some sort of food crop. Scouting locations. This is just what I can think of without having been a guide.
I am doing just that. Taking a fisheries data collection job with the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Alabama has and hopefully will continue to do a really good job of looking at this data and adjusting limits and seasons for certain popular species. Also instituting breeding programs at it's fish hatchery to keep stocks healthy. This includes breeding pompano as surf fishing has exploded in popularity. Flounder as populations have declined. Also fighting the overreaching federal government to keep the oh so endangered************************** Red Snapper season extended from the one day a year ******** a few years ago.
You're hired. You come up this summer, I'll put you up at my place, run the restaurant and I'll go fishing and rafting every day. We're closed Sundays so you can go out to the lake or kayak the North Fork.
ETA: You'll have 22 employees, a menu with 5 appetizers, 6 sandwiches, 7 salads, and 21 pizzas in the restaurant.
In the pub you'll have a dozen wines about 6 cocktails and 8 beers on tap. On Friday and Saturday at lunch you'll serve BBQ until you sell out around 1:30 or 2:00.
You'll have an even mix of old farts and families in town on vacation, many of whom have zero experience running a business much less a restaurant in a tourist town... Yet all will tell you "what you oughta do is..." and then spit out something incredibly stupid. I'll pay you $25 an hour plus tips which will be over $150 on a good day.
Here was my Monday...
7 am received freight.
7:30 am posted on SPS since @jethreauxdawg stuck a virtual finger up by my prostate with a housing bubble thread
8:00 am mixed morning dough batch.
8:20 am sat down with one of my bartenders and told her I knew she was stealing hard ciders and canned cocktails and drinking on the job. Demoted her to prep cook and banned her from the pub.
8:30 rolled out the batch of dough
10:00 went to bank for deposits and change 11:00-4:00 made pizzas and poured beers
4:00-8:00 ran the front with 4 teenage boys behind me washing dishes, making pizza, and running pizza ovens while I spread wisdom such as fake sneezing when playing just the tip so the whole thing goes in and always shitting at hotel lobby bathrooms for the privacy, free paper, cleanliness, and free Otis spunkmeyer cookies when you are done
8:00-8:45 clean up for next day.
8:45-9:15 mopped the floors.
9:15-9:45 jumped back on SPS while floors dried.
9:45 jumped in dumpster to smash the trash down to fit in a few more bags because we had our biggest weekend in history thanks to the winter carnival dragging in 30,000 people into our town of a little under 4,000.
10:00 got home and passed out in recliner drinking big glasses of strong whiskey.
If that sounds fun, I got you covered.
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I’d love to run a small restaurant called the Max
I went to truck driving school and learned to drive a big rig just because I wanted to. This was about 15 years ago. Thought I might use it as a 2nd gig if I ever needed it. I loved it and even passed my Class A Commerical Mississippi License. I drove briefly for Howard Industries down in Ellisville hauling transformers and associated equipment up north. And on the way back would bring steel rolls from Pittsburg for use in making new transformers. That type of over the road driving is certainly not easy. Local driving would be better suited for most if you like being home on a normal schedule, but it doesn't pay as much. Been years since I drove any at all. If I had to get back into a big rig, think I'd have to sit there and think a few minutes about all the procedures, etc. required. It would come back to me though. The biggest change I have seen in the industry is there are a lot more automatic transmissions being used. Primarily, helps for the women truck drivers who wouldn't want to learn to drive a 9 or 10 speed manual. Some women do drive manuals, but the automatics have helped with recruiting drivers to the industry.
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Sounds like it may be fun to be an Ole Miss Dad.
Of son or daughter? That’s a two edged sword that has no redeeming qualities
Repairing gear such as tents, saddles, atv’s. Gotta get gear/camp equipment including horses and what not to and from the area you setup in, likely with no road access to some of it. I guess some of this depends on your level of responsibility with the outfit. Some guides do just show up and “guide”, but I don’t think that’s the normal situation.
Looking around at used fleet day cabs I’ve noticed the trend is more automatic transmissions (which I want no part of). It’s becoming harder to find newer used day cabs with 10 speeds in them.
I wonder if this is tied to anything with EPA. I know a lot of big rig changes are coming due to EPA requirements.
Automatic transmissions aren't just for the females, not many drivers under 40 have driven a manual transmission ever. I've been driving off and on since 1997, the last 9 years i've been running my own truck generally within a 200-mile radius of Memphis. I prefer a manual transmission over automatic just for cost alone. Less maintenance and a clutch replacement is way cheaper than a rebuild. Rates are all over the place right now, I made an offer last night on a load to ship today deliver today in south central Tn. They wanted to pay $450 for the load and but I couldn't find a back haul to memphis area so I offered $700 but was countered for $525. I declined. I checked it through the night and no one took the load and they up'd the rate to $600 at 7am but it had to be picked up by 8am. I still would't do it for $600 though. Too much risk pulling loads at a small profit but it would have been doable if I had a back haul. Can't do one way loads for same rate as round trip.
I run a day cab 10sp. No need to purchase one, I'm here. Whatcha need hauled?
Being an Ole Miss dad to a daughter has to be the worst feeling in the world
I work in management at a large Mississippi based trucking company. The life of an Over the Road truck driver is HE!!. It is a difficult life-style, but you can make a good salary with minimal education.
We have only purchased automatic transmissions for at least the last 10 years.
We have only purchased automatic transmissions for at least the last 10 years.
Our experience is primarily pros - easier to train new entrants to the industry & improved fuel economy.
Initially there was some resistance from long-term drivers about driving an automatic because they felt they lost the appearance of some masculinity.
Initially there was some resistance from long-term drivers about driving an automatic because they felt they lost the appearance of some masculinity.
If you’re affiliated with that school, you are so morally bankrupt you probably don’t care if your daughter is a hoar
I can understand the "easier to train new entrants and improved fuel economy" but the masculinity thing??? Really? How was this determined? Survey? Just curious. If I wasn't worried about the cost of something going wrong I'd take one in a heartbeat.
We have always stayed away from them because we use them coming out of the field as grain trucks. I’ve heard they don’t like heavy loads especially off pavement and we haul 88k to the elevator. Also have heard that once they get about 400-500 thousand miles you can guarantee that the auto shift transmission is going to have to be rebuilt.
No I think it’s just easier to get drivers if it’s an auto shift.
Most of our hopper bottoms are the short side ones that can only hold about 90 but we do have one tall side super hopper that you can get a 17 around and find out weight if you aren’t paying attention.