Anybody Left A Higher Paying Job In Corporate America For Trucking? How Did It Work Out For You?

And use proper punctuation

Really Yawn? That's some funny stuff. Since it's Thanksgiving I will not call you on your rude and unnecessary reply to the OP.

Any other day this would be my response to your reply:

Very unimpressive lecture. To add to Tractor's point, could your sentence structure be any worse? Perhaps you should take a page out of your own rulebook and have someone proof your work before making a fool of yourself.

In "our world" we have a difficult time dealing with glass house, my sh** don't stink attitudes. Like the one you seem to have.

Yawn

I'm leaving in 2 days to start company CDL school monday the 28th so can't tell you how it ended for me but I am taking a pretty big pay cut. I've been a travel RN off and on for 24 years and enjoyed it for the most part but the manufactured stress level steadily increases every year. I'm at the point that doing something I like is more important than the money. I will miss the money a lot but looking forward to actually doing something I like.

I worked for the USPS with a base salary of $55k but night differential, weekend pay, and overtime usually put me around $70k or so. However where you live makes a big difference. $70k in NJ sucked and wasn't much...down south it is living like royalty in some places.

I'm single no kids and live on the truck. Getting rid of housing expenses actually gives me more spending money than I had at the USPS. The problem with this job is that one mistake can kill someone. You have to be vigilant at all times.

Do I miss the post office.? No I miss the people. Believe it or not, my hours are not that such different except I have no real boss. And I felt respected. Never had that before.

Having a family would be much different but I was engaged to an infantry solider so I'm used to the LDR.

First off....Happy Thanksgiving to all!!!

Here I am again (as I seem to re-appear every 6-12 months), the man infinitely on the trucking fence.

So I moved back to the corporate office for the mortgage company I work at after working from home and starting a family in beautiful northern WI 5 years ago. I took a higher paying position with salary, commissions, and bonuses of around $70k, benefits are average. My colleague who pulled for me and got me the position back here died of cancer this fall, I report directly to the president who yesterday basically gave me a performance review 2 hours before the Thanksgiving holiday. When he started out "I'm don't want to distress before the holiday BUT.." I know that wasn't good. My job is not on the rocks but I lately am stressed to the point where it is affecting me physically (sleep and appetite). Problem is my deceased boss left no notes and I have a boss now who doesn't really mentor me much but is happy at any time to tell me how I have disappointing the company that I've worked for for 9 years. No mentor, no real training, and made some honest mistakes in the 7 months I've been down here.

Anyways, the wife keeps saying she gives me her blessing to go truck driving. She hates it down here and wants to move back up north. The company approved me moving back next year , but since I have dropped the ball on a couple things without any real supervision, I can see their tone changing and frankly it has me worried. I'll shovel Sh*t in the furnaces of hell to provide for my family and taking a $20k paycut ($40k first year) is not practical on the surface, but I ask myself what the long term cost is to my health and sanity? I realize trucking is no vacation, but a long term , long distance career which would present me with a whole new set of stresses an challenges. At least I would answer to one person the dispatcher , have one core function and getting trained at Roehl or Schneider after CDL school would put my in a position to be successful. I just need to be showed how, the will is there. Roehl and Schneider offer regional which would get me home every week and after year one would hopefully yield $50-55k a year.

Things could get better at my current job, they hired another Manager for my dept, but I was told he will be focusing on growing the company and I shouldn't distract him too much (wonderful, considering I had less thean 45 days training with my old boss before he went down, and I have been in the new area of Business Development for 7 months). If I continue to grope in the dark and keep getting pulled into senior manager's offices for making errors, this will not look promising for me to move back up north and work from home next fall.

I know the quality of character of most of the members in here and many will disclaim "Only you know you". I realize I assume full responsibility for my decisions. Just wanted some input from some industry professionals who are walking the walk and may have left a higher paying job or anyone that wishes to share their thoughts.

Thank you!

Stay where you are for as long as you can and let the company call your bluff. Prior to that day occurring, put all your money into your 401K. Let them lay you off and collect unemployment for as long as you can while you plan for your next move. If you can't find a job equal to your current - declare bankruptcy. Discharge all your debt, keep your house and then go into trucking.

Make the law work for YOU!!

Want to thank everyone for the replies. Please keep them coming, very useful perspectives all around.

Yawn's reply is fairly accurate picture of corporate America. What I should also mention is that I have inherited some of the key responsibilities of my old boss being the central contact when a branch has issues and have taken on the responsibility of on-boarding new branches for half the salary they were paying him. My base salary s $66k (the other $4k or so I make on personal loan production which corporate makes double that for loans I write). So to be assigned six figure salary responsibilities I would expect a little patience and the opportunity to talk through the issues so I can learn the most from them. And regardless, giving someone a performance review and turning a miscommunication within an email with a branch into me recklessly taking executive authority 2 hours before the Thanksgiving holiday is very poor.

If I didn't have a 4 1/2 year old daughter this would be a no-brainer. And I still plan to put my best foot forward and tighten the screws with the hopes of taking a secure job I can be successful at with me back up north. And it is yet to be fully determined if I am a good fit for the job, that will depend on how I do moving forward and how they view my progress and value. I am just weighing options at this point in case something goes south down the road. Thanks again!

Really Yawn? That's some funny stuff. Since it's Thanksgiving I will not call you on your rude and unnecessary reply to the OP.

Any other day this would be my response to your reply:

Very unimpressive lecture. To add to Tractor's point, could your sentence structure be any worse? Perhaps you should take a page out of your own rulebook and have someone proof your work before making a fool of yourself.

In "our world" we have a difficult time dealing with glass house, my sh** don't stink attitudes. Like the one you seem to have.

Yawn

Thank you sir.....

No.matter where you go or what field you enter you are going to find good and bad. You will find great management and morons who don't know their jobs let alone yours. You will find micromanagement and laid back managers.

I had bosses who were arrested and walked out of the building in shame, only to have them return and get promoted. I've been harassed to the point of being prepared to start my day with an argument and actually telling my boss "I haven't clocked in yet...I'm not getting paid to listen to you right now. Wait five minutes and tell me".

One thing to consider is the holidays. In an office job you are probably 9 to 5 and weekends and holidays off. That is not going to happen in trucking.. But didn't happen with the govt either. Tractor man made fun of me once saying my postal Job sounded like Nazis ran it. And that is how it felt. So going g fro. tHAT to this was nothing.

Even my worst day out here is better than my best day with the federal govt hahaha. But that is relative. As you said...only you can make that decision.

Thanks Rainy D!!