Rookie Considering A Lease

So here you go, I'll answer your one question to the best of my ability.

Ready?

Get your year in, protect your license. Find a company within a reasonable commute from home with a Dedicated Account or contract, many of them will slip-seat part-timers. Or to the extreme, buy a truck, and proceed to flush your savings and holdings down the drain cause running a leased truck 3-4 days per week will create seriously negative cash flow. Lazy people don't mix well with being a L/O or O/O. You'll lose your a**.

Good luck.

Get my year in, don't screw up, then go drive for someone else. Dedicated account or contract. Ask if they'll slipseat a part-timer.

Did I read you right?

When I go looking around for a part-time job like that, is slip seat the key word to use on the job search engines?

Thanks for the advice! That is definitely something to go on :)

New Englander keeps piling it on:

But. Here's an experiment: go sit on a spike. it hurts right? now go sit on a mat of hundreds of spikes. notice how it doesn't hurt and you float?

Like I said you are on a different planet. Like they say in Shark Tank, "I'm out".

it's a lot easier to deal with an ongoing interview by taking it a day at a time than for me to deal with one make-or-break interview and hafta put on a suit and tie and pretend to be someone I'm not.

This seems to be the crux of your reasons for loving this job. Trucking is far more "real" than most white collar jobs. You really can't "fake it to make it" as a driver. You're judged predominantly on your raw performance, not on a bunch of petty details or false perceptions.

That I will agree with 100%. I much prefer that also.

However, if you do want to turn top miles and make top pay you have to raise your standards above and beyond what most people are doing. You have to be more committed to the job, more savvy in your decision making, and more professional with your business relationships.

You mentioned the 20/80 thing. That applies to almost any challenging endeavor. Right now after only a few months on the road you're probably about 20% of the quality of a veteran Top Tier Driver at this stage of your career but you're certainly not making 80% of what they are. Probably closer to 60%.

At this point the job seems pretty easy overall because the problems you dread with white collar jobs don't exist and the standards you're setting for yourself in this industry are very low to say the least. You said yourself:

I don't have the best driving practices and my navigation seriously sucks....I'm late a lot but the loads *do* get there and my company is happy I haven't hit anything or gotten any tickets! Also they're glad I stuck around this long... for some reason most trainees don't last more than a week out of training. I guess I'm lazy *and* stubborn :p

So you don't drive very hard, your skills are seriously lacking, you're late on a regular basis, but you haven't hit anything or quit yet. Basically you've done about as well as I would expect my dog to do. To be fair, I do have a very smart dog.

Your performance is why most of us are presenting you with a rather cool reception to your glee. For you to perform at such a low level for a few months and then declare how easy trucking is, well it's quite off-putting because you have no clue what it takes to do this job at a high level.

Basically what you've done to this point is the equivalent of having a few beers and then slowly snow plowing down the bunny slope and declaring that ski racing in the Olympics is easy.

If your boss decided that he wanted to see if you have what it takes to perform at the level of a Top Tier Driver and assigned you to be under the watchful eye of one of our moderators here on the website you would find that performing to those standards is far more difficult than you had imagined. Not to mention, you've been out there a whopping 6 months. Try performing at the highest level first, and then try maintaining that level consistently for many, many years.

Then talk to us about how easy trucking is.

Believe me, no one enjoys trucking more than I did. It was an incredible adventure. I do enjoy your enthusiasm and I do share your love for trucking. I do not, however, appreciate you implying that what we do is easy. What you do is easy. You've haven't done what we do.

New Englander keeps piling it on:

But. Here's an experiment: go sit on a spike. it hurts right? now go sit on a mat of hundreds of spikes. notice how it doesn't hurt and you float?

Like I said you are on a different planet. Like they say in Shark Tank, "I'm out".

Nothing wrong with being on a different planet so long as you're making money and are happy and no one is getting hurt.

I guess I have Rosy colored sunglasses because I see everyone else my age doing a lot worse than me. I see no reason to get down when things are all looking up!

But again thanks for the advice. I'll stay away with owning or Leasing anyting because I just want to work part-time not go broke.

Ok we get it. Thanks.

You're right, trucking is less politically sensitive than most professions. Of course, you make one tiny mistake in trucking and you might be dead or you've killed innocent people, which probably doesn't happen often in a classroom.

We're glad you're enjoying trucking. Most of us enjoy it very much ourselves.

Thanks yeah. You're right about the deadly aspect of it and I thought about that. It reminds me of when I was a little younger and I asked an army guy I knew why in the hell he does a job where he could die tomorrow and how can he put up with that and he said you get used to it or something.

I didn't understand it back then but I think I'm starting to understand that. This is a dangerous job but you're not focused on the dangerousness of it. You're focused on just doing the job.

At least I think that's what he meant.

what you do is easy. You've haven't done what we do.

that's true. I'm happy squeaking by with eight or nine hundred dollars a week right now. I'm sure I wouldn't last a week in your shoes. But then again even eight or nine hundred a week is more than I need.

I guess I'm gleeful because I finally found a job I like where I don't have to totally bust my butt to make enough money to live on.

I'm sure in the future I want to make more money but for now I just need $700 a week.

my name question is, can you make $700 a week as a part-time truck driver?

After driving 6 months I'm starting to get the sense that I don't need to drive 5 days a week to make that kind of money. Many days I make $170 or more.

I would rather run really hard 3 or 4 days a week to make what I need and then take the rest of the week off.

I'm asking about it here. That's all.

I'll admit I am really bad about getting sidetracked and I posed the question while asking about a lease. That's why everybody jumped on me I think cuz I did not ask my question clearly. I apologize for that.

my name question is, can you make $700 a week as a part-time truck driver?

I would imagine so, somewhere. Part time gigs aren't very common. I wouldn't know where to begin to look, especially if you want to be in NH. There are very few trucking jobs available up that way.

I'm sure I wouldn't last a week in your shoes.

I wouldn't say that. You might be as capable as any of us when it comes to performing at the highest levels.

I would rather run really hard 3 or 4 days a week to make what I need and then take the rest of the week off.

First off, stay with your current company for a minimum of 1 year to get more experience. If you feel that way, you could always do local food/beverage delivery. I must warn you though your skills would be tested on a daily basis. However, with your current attitude you would not last. Your required to hustle quite a bit. My average day is atleast 10 stops (sometimes 22 stops) 500 cases (sometimes as high as 700) and weight of 15k to 19k All driver physically unload. Honestly, i work typically 4 days, put in between 48 and 50 hours a week and make 1200 on average YOUR BODY WILL TAKE A BEATING, and ultimately many days I feel the pay isn't worth it, but it provides for my family and that's what matters at end of the day.

If you were to follow that path your "laziness" would definitely need to change.

I just have to say, this whole thread is a summation of what makes me so mad at my whole generation.

I've been late once, and I still think about what I could have done differently. That was 3 months ago.

I don't understand the mindset of only wanting to do "enough to get by" and nothing more.

I probably shouldn't even be making this comment. My whole mindset is just so completely different, I can't resist.

I just have to say, this whole thread is a summation of what makes me so mad at my whole generation.

I've been late once, and I still think about what I could have done differently. That was 3 months ago.

I don't understand the mindset of only wanting to do "enough to get by" and nothing more.

I probably shouldn't even be making this comment. My whole mindset is just so completely different, I can't resist.

Same here. I only have 1 friend who is near my age. All my other friends are much older than me. In fact, even the church I attend weekly is full of elderly people.

Just how I like it. I can't get along with folks my age.