Profile For Blue Hotel

I had a friend who worked for FedEx. He says routes tend to dry up quickly. You have to really investigate if it will last as long as you want/need. That's really the extent of my knowledge on this matter. I have an aversion to anything temporary, but maybe you know how to make it worth your while.

I'm telling you right now, the ruthless pursuit of the dollar is the only thing in life that makes sense.

How sure of that are you?

I'm exaggerating, of course, but I think my point is clear. Try finding love and respect when you can't make ends meet.

Thanks guys, great advice. I will look into everything suggested here further.

Mechanical Engineering sounds like a good major. Opportunities for people who are excellent at math and science will always be there. Keep in mind that any type of engineering or STEM degree is performing a lot better on the job market than sociology or history, not that sociology and history aren't important things to learn about. If I were you, I'd become a mechanical engineer. The average trucker is around 50 years old, and the turnover rate is high, so the opportunity to switch careers and drive will be there for you for a long time. Unless, of course, robots and computers take over trucking. Then they'll probably need a mechanical engineer.

Also, if the job market gets tough, a mechanical engineer could become a teacher without going back to school simply because so many schools struggle to find people qualified to teach math and science to teenagers. Or so my friend who teaches at Richmond Public Schools says. I don't think she'd lie to me.

Everyone who has advised you here has spoken from their life experiences. Those experiences are valuable and insightful, and though I may contradict them in what I say, everything said here is worth considering.

What do you value? If it's money, get your degree and you'll have a bigger long-term payoff. Uber isn't working to automate mechanical engineers. Job opportunities of all sorts will be open to you, at least on paper.

If you want freedom, do both. Drive a truck, save your money, and pay for your college that way if you can. Have both experience driving and get your degree. Then your likelihood of being unemployed in the next recession will decrease. I was your age when the recession hit in 2008-2009. My only option was to go to college because nobody was hiring people my age and sitting around at home is a bad idea. I'm grateful that I did what I did at school, met the people I met, and so on. If I didn't go to college, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to do some of the things I did there.

But things didn't work out the way I wanted them to. I think for everyone in the world, life doesn't go according to plan. You might get in that truck one day, thinking about all the money you're making, and then find Ms. Right, get married, and buy a farm somewhere instead. Or you might be like me. I got my degree, got my "dream job," then got fired unfairly within three weeks. Afterwards, I couldn't get hired elsewhere. So I went to trucking school. That might be you. Plans and schemes hardly work how you want them to.

Think about what will bring in the most money and job opportunities in the long run. Don't do something just because it makes you happy. Happy won't pay the bills in a recession, happy won't always put food on the table. Do what will make you money for the longest stretch of your life possible. Anyone who thinks money can't buy happiness has clearly never had to sleep in a house with no heat in the winter, had to take a cold bath, and had no chances at finding love because women don't date men who are broke (even if they are good men), and wives leave otherwise good husbands who are down on their luck. I'm telling you right now, the ruthless pursuit of the dollar is the only thing in life that makes sense.

Do both if you can, you'll make more money. If not, then pursue the degree.

That sounded so toxic. I'm sorry, I guess I'm not good at expressing my thoughts.

So I'll just start off by saying I'm asking this because I'm looking into buying stock somewhere in something. If this thread doesn't belong here or something, I'm sorry and I don't intend to start a trend of out of left-field threads. I just thought this would be a good place to ask.

So who do you think are the quickest growing companies right now? I've heard XPO and Celadon. Prime seemed pretty popular last year too. Or if you already invested in a trucking company, please enlighten me because I don't really know what I'm doing.

How about Greyhound? With all the trouble around the airlines lately, they should be gaining business.

Blue, I have no idea of why you are here.

Trucking like any business is about profit, the basis of free enterprise and capitalism. If you don't like that system, this is not the place for your soap box. Just isn't.

Regardless of anything you say, or believe or don't believe, in this business your success is based purely on your own ability, skill, desire and dedication, not a manager or an investor or a consultant. It's all on you, period. No excuses or someone or something to blame failure on. All you.

If you want us to help you succeed, great we are of like minds and happy to help. If not then find another place to preach your opinions cause there is no interest here. You are tearing down a business you know nothing about, arguing with people far more knowledgable than you, who can actually help you succeed in it. Up to you...

The thing is, you guys are mostly preaching about how good things are if you just work for it. I never said putting in the effort won't get you far, just that there are more factors than that. The bad side needs to be addressed too, but it's taboo to talk about the bad side of anything these days. How can you prepare people, and tell them the truth, if you keep repeating the same old, one-sided Horatio Alger stories?

Tearing down a business? No, I'm just asking for both sides of the coin. This argument stopped being about trucking a long time ago, now it's about life and work in general. You guys think life is fair, people are fair, and everything boils down to one's own dedication. I think there are more factors at play than that, and life can often get ugly. And I know, deep down, you agree with that statement. Maybe not entirely, but enough to "get it." But you aren't going to admit it for whatever reason. Denial is just a river in Egypt to you "positive" Horatio Alger people.

I think you guys are only telling half of the truth. You're obviously trying to sell people the dream. You're the Shia Labeoufs of trucking. Go ahead, sell that dream. People will find out the bad side on their own, whether you like it or not.

Blue Hotel,

I’m not judging you, but I feel sad for the way you view the world. We all get to choose, and you have obviously made a lousy choice. But it’s your right to choose. And at this point….that’s OK.

If you read what Old School wrote and all you can say is you're wrong, then you plain refuse to believe the truth son. And actually, I consider you being down right disrespectful to someone who has earned your respect.

The folks I read in this forum are trying help people out by telling them the truth.

No matter what, you’ll never hear it. If you took that same determination and applied it positively to your life, the sky would be the limit. You are blinded and there ain’t anything any of us can do about that.

In my opinion, your not worth the risk of negatively affecting anyone else in here.

I don’t hate ya Dude, its worse…I don’t respect you.

I’m done with you, and it's your fault.

I don't need your respect. I'm an internet person who you don't know, "respect" outside of common courtesy is irrelevant here. Expressing a disagreeing opinion, no matter how negative, isn't disrespect. It's just a differing opinion. I've been through hell and back in my life, so I feel I have the right to weigh in on the realities of work and life in America. Will I always be right? No. And neither will anyone else. The opinions I expressed were polite. You, on the other hand, are a bit rude (just a bit).

If blindly agreeing with whatever someone says is respect, then I want nothing to do with it. That isn't respect, that is thoughtlessness. I don't even want anyone to blindly agree with me.

A lot of times there will be things, places, people, jobs, situations, etc that are just bad. Is it like this all the time? No, but we'd be stupid to act like bad stuff never happens. It's tough kid, but it's life.

If you can't stand "negativity" then you won't make it in any job anywhere doing anything. Toughen up. Grow up. If other people on this board are going to be drastically impacted by anything anyone here has to say, then you have to wonder about their mental state. We're forum posters, not gods. Nobody even really knows us that well. I could be the unibomber and you could be some inmate somewhere using a smuggled smartphone to post. Take everything everyone online says with a grain of salt or ten. It's so impersonal, "respect" barely comes into play.

If you don't acknowledge the bad, you won't be prepared to handle it when it comes. And it does come, it's part of life.

But I apologize, let's get back on topic out of "respect" for the original poster.

How much is a permit in Alabama? In Virginia it's $3, and you have to take a few multiple choice tests at the DMV. They give you a book to study for free at DMV too. Alabama can't be that different.

$15.00 for permit, $100 for DOT physical. If you read what I wrote, I have no money due to being unemployed. I don't have help. I'm doing this all on my own.

I apologize, I forgot all about the physical. I figured you'd be able to scrape up $15 somewhere, but $100 is harder, you're right. Worse case scenario, hang in there and hopefully a regular job or something will come soon and you can save up the $115 to get a permit and physical. As an unemployed person myself, I understand that isn't easy.

How much is a permit in Alabama? In Virginia it's $3, and you have to take a few multiple choice tests at the DMV. They give you a book to study for free at DMV too. Alabama can't be that different.

If this is illegal, then it doesn't happen.

Firstly, companies do illegal stuff all the time. You can just Google this, look up "employer labor law violations." Do you honestly believe companies are managed in the most squeaky clean way? Illegal stuff happens, even in trucking. I don't know how often trucking companies do try to pressure people into lease-purchase, but enough people are saying they try. Of course, they can't force you to do anything. All they can do is treat you differently for not accepting a lease-purchase offer, or fire you for a made up reason. This happens across the world in every industry and every field of work all the time.

This is corporate America we're talking about, the law doesn't matter to them. They have company lawyers and contracted law firms on retainer and politicians in their pockets.

As far as contradicting myself goes, I don't see the contradiction at all. There are bad workplaces in the world, plenty of them. But instead of blaming management, which often plays an active role in making workplaces bad, too many people blame the workers for being "bad workers." And, in your mind, the company and management are squeaky clean.