Does anyone live with a truck driver??

[gris gris]

What is the life like? Is he/she gone a lot?? Is it hard to get into the industry as a driver? I read something recently where a lot of the long haul drivers are older and will retire leaving a big need for new younger drivers. What is the hourly wage? Benefits? Risks?

 

[Cindy B]

My dad was a truck driver for many years. He owned his own rig, as well as working for various companies including a beer distributor, local trucking companies and lastly the post office.

As far as owner operator it was a long lean time for us then. My dad was gone a lot and we never saw him when he was an owner operator. When he did the local jobs (ie the beer job, local and post office) he was on shift work and they were lousy shifts.. such as nights and swing shift. He was technically home but he was sleeping more than being awake.

My dad is now an instructor at a local community college as a CDL instructor. He has since retired as a truck driver but he enjoys doing this teaching assignment with his students. He just retired last year, so this is pretty new for him.

I don't know about wage and benefits per se, but I can tell you we were always struggling growing up. The benefits were decent when he worked for the post office, and the beer place and the local trucking place were both part of the Teamsters union, so he did have Teamsters benefits.

The risks are fairly high. Think of it, you have a heavy based truck moving at high speed. The risk of accidents are high. Couple the fast driving of your truck with others driving like a maniac on the road you will have a high stress environment.

If you can handle that, it is for you.

 

[wdwmom2]

DH is a truck driver. He drives for a large chain grocery store, delivering groceries from the warehouse to the stores. He loves his job and has been doing it for 20+ years. A big plus is that he is home every night . He is very family oriented and would never do an over the road unless there was no other choice. His company treats him very well, benefits are good, the trucks are exceedingly well maintained. His company is known for their safety for driving. There are GPS computers in every truck, so they know exactly were everyone is. The drivers use these computers to log all their driving, no paper log books. This computer also moniters speed, over 65mph and you get an overspeed warning. Too many or to high and you can get fired. The company is VERY strict about this. He makes good money, we live very comfortably, but could make more money if he did over the road. Again, over the road is not an option, money isn't everything, family is. He doesn't load or unload his truck. His responsibility is to get it there safely. If you have any other questions, please ask!!!

 

[gris gris]

DH & I are thinking long term - I'm going to be losing my job in September and would like to stay home for a while (especially with the new baby coming!). I've been the money maker in our family for years and would really welcome a chance to settle into the mom role a little bit more. We were trying to think of careers for him in which he could support us a little more and I could work part time.

I'm really concerned about safety. I'd like him to be in a local driving job like wdwmom's DH. How do you investigate whether or not the company has a good safety record and takes care of their stuff? DH used to drive a wrecker and he was very meticulous about it, but we couldn't survive off of that wage. He loved it though.

 

[grinningghost]

My DH isn't a truck driver, but he is a railroad conductor, which I would think is much the same as far as lifestyle is concerned. On the road almost all the time, away from the family.

The money and benefits are very good, but it does take some getting used to. Maybe it's something to look into? PM me if you'd like further info.

 

[CEDmom]

I don't have any personal experience with trucking but one of my friend's DH is a trucker for UPS. He drives a tracter trailer from the airport to various distribution centers in our area. He works nights which is a drawback but he makes much better $ than when he drove one of their delivery trucks.

You could also check out FEDEX, DHL or other courier companies.

 

[jen0610]

Not married to a trucker, but I do work in the industry. We are a common carrier, doing both long and short hauls, as well as a cartage agent. We have three different divisions. Open road board, cartage board, and dedicated board. Each division is paid differently, with the dedicated board the highest paid (I would love to have some of their pay checks).

Open board you start out at 31 cents a running mile. $10.00 for a p/u or delivery. Delay pay at a stop is $10.00 an hour after the first 2 hrs. 75% of the loads are out and back in 1 day. We have some that are to the East coast and back the following day.

Cartage board is an hourly pay starting out $13.00 an hour. These guys work 45+ hrs a week. They make 20-40 p/u's and deliveries a day. They may have to pallet jack frt off/on the trailer.

Dedicated board you make 34 cents a running mile. I don't figure their pay, so I'm not 100% sure on their stop or delay pay. It's higher than open, but not by much. Some of these are out and back the same day, the same shipper and receiver every day. Some are overnight runs and others the guys pull out Sunday afternoon and don't get back home until Friday evening.

Hiring guidelines here are a minimum of 3 yrs driving experience, no accidents in the past year and they also look at the number of points against your license. We have been hiring more and more former independant owner/operators lately. They just can't make a living. The truck pymts, cost of fuel, permits, insurance's, tolls, then money for home life.

It would be a big decision to make and a lot of information to sort thru. If you have any questions, just let me.

 

[dadto1]

My ex-BIL lost his job and became an OTR truck driver several years back. He would leave Sunday night and get back Friday night running NC to Calif. and back. He and my SIL divorced about 1 year later as they saw each other about 1/2 day a week!

 

[gris gris]

So it's not as glamourous as CMT's "Trick My Truck" ?? LOL!

I think he's more interested in driving like a dump truck or something that hauls loads of something, not necessarily pick up & delivery. I'm probably not explaining this right.

Jen0610, can you explain to me what type of truck belongs with open, cartage or dedicated? Are these all tractor trailer types?

CEDmom, I'd actually like to work for FedEx or DHL!! I bet it's hard to get in there. But it seems like a fun job, especially if you get to go to the same places every day. I love chatting with our delivery folks! They always seem happy.

 

[kimmikayb]

I've been in the industry for years, as a daughter and wife of truckers. My Dad trucked when I was growing up and was gone quite often. He owned his own truck. We lived comfortably. My Mom did not have an outside job.

My husband drove for a organic grocery store and he was gone half the week, over the road. He had one of the better runs. He brought home around $600 a week. He had great benefits. He was gone too much and through out most of the weekend. We both hated it. The kids hated it.

Now he works in my family's business...he is gone sometimes, not on a regular basis. We own our truck. I still hate it when he's gone. It's hard. But I work full time too. It might be easier if I was home. I'd still miss him and the kids miss him. I think that's the hardest part.

 

[budbeerlady]

We have teamsters here, you need a CDL and a back x-ray. They get paid cents per case. So they get 25 cents a case for thier route. They make good money, especially in the summer. They start at 5am and work usually untill 3pmish. It is hard work, I wouldnt want to heft around cases of beer on a hot summer day. But i know the pay is good.

 

[2sweetangels]

im married to a truck driver. DH does long distance moves, he is actually gone now. It can hard around the house when he is gone. We have to DD's one who is in her terrible 2's and an 8 month old who is going through seperation anxiety and when its just me home, I want to rip my hair out of my head at times, LOL

 

[Castlebound]

My dad owned a long haul trucking company for a few years when I was around 10. He made pretty good money but it wants worth the price. This was before GPS, so they had paper log books. He wasn't suppose to drive any of the trucks but he always ended up driving. He would be gone for a week sometimes a week and a half at a time and would only be home a day or two. It was hard on us. I am on only child and for so long it was just the three of us. I hated it.

Every driver that he hired had to go through training and have a drug test. My dad had to pay $500 for every drive he sent for the training and drug testing. You would not believe how many guys failed the drug test. We had one guy who had his wife and two kids living in the truck with him. That is a BIG no-no! Some of the guys were great, but others were just nasty! To earn some extra money I was suppose to help my mom clean out the trucks when someone left or got fired. Some of the trucks were so bad that my mom would not let me help. A ten year old should not have to clean up porn and condoms!

You asked what the dangers were. Well I can tell you that there were two accidents that I remember well. In one of them a husband and wife team were driving in a storm down a highway in one of the trucks. On the other side of the highway a teenage boy who had just gotten his first paycheck lost control of his car and crossed over the median. His car drove straight under the truck. The truck driver and his wife were not hurt but the teen died on impact. They were the first to find the teen. They quit within a week and months later the husband told my dad that he still had nightmares.

The second accident happened because a driver wanted to spend just a little more time with his family. Because they had paper logs back then you could "fudge the numbers". Drivers were only suppose to drive so many hours a day and were suppose to take so many two hour breaks. At weight stations this was one of the things they checked. If you were over your hours you would have to stop driving for the day. Some drivers would write in their logs that they left hours earlier than they really did and just drive straight through. That is what this driver decided to do. Instead of leaving Sunday morning for his run he left much later that evening. Around 2:00 a.m. he fell asleep at the wheel of the truck pulling a full load. He drove off a bridge and it took dental records to identify him. After that my dad sold the company. He just couldn't do it any more.

 

[Stitchfans]

DH is a truck driver. He delivers liquor for a large company to bars, stores, and restaurants. He also is family oriented and wouldn't consider OTR. I prefer him to be home in the evenings.

 

[MissKIA]

My husband, Dad, and Brother are all truck drivers and I am a dispatcher for a trucking company. All of this is short haul though so they are all at home every night. They make good money but they hours are long and it can be hard work. They haul fuel so it can be dangerous. There is alot of training involved in hauling fuel and they should be paid more than a general merchandise driver, but they aren't unfortunately. Maybe a little but considering the training and danger involved they are pretty underpaid. That being said, we are hardly starving. lol We have a nice home, 2 vehicles, a Harley and take trips every year so the pay can't be that bad. Hard work and long hours though!

 

[DVC-Don]

One BiL was a trucker for a few years. At first he was a OTR driver for about 3 years but quit that as he was never home. Then he got a driving job where he was home most nights. He had to go on disablilty due to heart and lung problems, not related to the job but from his past career of working in auto body shops.