What Percentage Of The Time Do You "enjoy" Trucking?

In my opinion, how much a person enjoys trucking depends on what they want from trucking. Do you want to make good money for blue collar job? Do you want to be a super-trucker, maybe someday buying your own long-nose Pete? Are you tired of corporate politics and the office grind? Do you want to get paid to travel the country? Do want challenges in your job, such as the puzzle of securing a flatbed load?

I wanted to get away from office politics and the corporate grind. I achieved that goal with trucking. I did flatbed for two years and liked the fact that I actually got some exercise in securing the load. I lost 20 pounds my first two years of trucking. I transferred from flatbed to tanker because I ended up getting more of the loads that I didn’t like. While I didn’t mind the work generally, it got to the point where I was spending 4 to 6 hours of day in “ground time” (not driving) and then trying to get 9-10 hours of driving. So, I transferred to tanker.

In tanker, I do a lot less physical work. However, sometimes you do have to pump on or off the load, which first involves work and can be challenging if you have problems with the pump system or leaks. So, I would say that I enjoy trucking 80% of the time, which is about the amount of time that I’m driving down the interstate with the cruise on talking on the phone, listening to podcasts or audiobooks, or just pondering my philosophical musings. During my 10-hour break, I try to at least get out for exercise and explore the area if I’m near some place interesting like the Bonneville Salt Flats. I also run resets, so each weekend, I get out to explore the surrounding area. I visited Mount Rushmore during a 34-hour reset. To put my 80% number into perspective, that number would be the same for a vacation. Do I enjoy packing for vacation, going through airport security, finding a taxi at my destination, or unexpected aggravations while on vacation? No. But that’s only 20% of the time, or less.

The other thing that others have mentioned, involves using your “me” time effectively. If you’re going to a difficult shipper or receiver, you could obsess about the expected aggravation for 3 hours while driving there. Or you could accept the fact that it will be difficult and spend those 3 hours listening to a good audiobook. As others mentioned, the “terminal rats” are those who spend 80% of the time complaining about the 20% of the time that they have to deal with the aggravations of trucking. But, as others have mentioned, if you enjoy the challenge that the aggravations of trucking involve, your number may be 100%.

A solid 90% would be my simple answer, for many of the reasons mentioned above. Clearly there are enough benefits to this job to keep me doing it for 6 years now.

Chief Brody brings up a good point in that there will always be parts and pieces of anything that don't offer perfect enjoyment. A vacation in Tahiti may have a few unenjoyable hiccups, but you're still on vacation in Tahiti, and that's a good thing.

It isn't or shouldn't be just about the job, however. It should be pointed out that trucking can be an ancillary component of your greater enjoyment of life as a whole. That has real tangible benefits by itself that may not be fully realized or understood until you're out here a little while.

For example, I didn't realize the weight I carried around in my former career as a contractor/business owner until after I had left the business. Stress was a daily thing for me. Running the business, chasing down accounts, keeping up with licensing and certifications, making sure my employees were happy & fed, etc. all took a toll on my stress levels. There was never a day that I was completely worry free.

During a recent conversation with Chief Brody, I remarked to him that I have zero stress in my life now. There is nothing about my job or personal life that causes me worry or stress anymore. That's something that is hard to find for a lot of people. The move to this new career put me there.

What I enjoy most is being my own boss as a company employee. My fleet manager is very hands off. I do my thing and message him with problems. I like the guy and know him very well. He never treated me as an employee at all.

He has about 90 drivers, and over the years I have trained about 9 who remain on his fleet. The more awesome drivers I create for him, the easier his job and the more perks I get. He gives me plenty of freedom to do what I want. And I will never leave him. I recently found out he was almost forced to go to the lease fleet. That would have been an arduous decision for me.... to stay with him a d lease, or go with another FM and have to go back OTR. And I'm glad I don't have to make it.

I don't know that I can put a specific percentage on it as to how much I enjoy it. I do know that it's definitely well over 50%. The things that I don't enjoy are people living stupid around me while I am doing my best to keep myself and others safe. I enjoy the challenges of managing my clock, getting the load to it's destination within my clock, and then having future loads set up for success.

I enjoy sharing with family and friends the places that I am able to see, as a result of being a truck driver. I enjoy the fact that my job has a tangible and necessary purpose. I enjoy encouraging others who are thinking about entering this field to tale the time to learn about what being a truck driver is. I enjoy proving people wrong each and every day, people who said that I would never be able to do what I am doing for a living because of my background. I enjoy having a sufficient income to be able to support my wife and baby daughter. I enjoy being able to create my own working hours (within reason) every day. I will never miss the says of working a job where every day I commit in at a certain time and leave at a certain time. I get the flexibility of deciding what my start time and end time is. The trade off is that I am away from home 3-4 weeks at a time and sometimes the workday is really long. I will enjoy it until life decides that it's time for something different. I may decide it for myself or it could be decided for me. There is so much outside of my control that I have learned to embrace what is now, put myself in a position for future success, and always be prepared for sudden changes.

I enjoy the vast majority of my job. In the beginning there was a lot to dislike: Plans changing on short notice, stressing out about where to park, trying to figure out where to enter a customer's shipping/receiving area, deciding on whether or not to drive in certain weather conditions, etc.

Over time you learn to adapt and deal with these things. They become somewhat routine as you learn a little more everyday.

It's the only job I've ever had that I've grown to like more and more over time.

Like Rob, I started out local for the same reasons he did. My commute is 15 minutes most of the year and about 25 when the tourists are here.

I love what I do. I enjoy the challenges that arise and the sense of accomplishment from overcoming them. I even like the people I work with. Being on the road at night being a gossiping hen on a group call is fun. I never get tired of seeing the sunrise or the sun go down. I like that I'm not micromanaged. I get a call with options and if I'm able to, I can just stay home. I never hear from management and I prefer it that way.

What I don't like is the uncertainty. With what I do being so tied in to the economy, I have no idea how much I'll be making next week or the week after. A driver pulling reefer will always have work and won't necessarily feel the effects of the economy. I also don't like having to trust other drivers on the road. With experience, you get better at predicting what people are going to do and you adjust accordingly, but you still never know for certain.

I also don't like the physicals. I know they're important and necessary, but for some reason it's when I'm the most anxious and nervous. I'm more anxious and nervous for the physicals than I was for my road test. It may just be me, but it's how I feel about it.

Zen not sure if anyone has replied with this link:

Becoming A Truck Driver: The Raw Truth About Truck Driving

I think it will help you to better align your expectations with reality.

Trucking is a lifestyle.

Driving is only a part of it. So for starters; if you enjoy driving your personal vehicle, it’s likely you’ll enjoy driving a truck. I’d start with that basic fact…if driving is not something you enjoy now, no way would I suggest doing this. I can all but guarantee that the experienced drivers on this forum enjoy driving.

If you enjoy solitude now, you’ll enjoy it as a trucker. If you can perform like your “own boss” now, no reason why that won’t be the case as a truck driver. If you like problem solving… same thing.

I think you get where I’m coming from. Read Brett’s book. It will help you develop your own sense of what you’ll like and dislike.

Good luck!

A few more thoughts on the family aspect:

Do you have a support network nearby such as family or close friends? That could help alleviate some of the worry of things being ok on the home front. In my situation we do have very friendly neighbors we could ask for assistance if needed, but closest family member is 45 minutes away and they're very unreliable. Otherwise next closest family member is over 3 hours away. This career makes it difficult to drop everything to help with a sick/injured kid or spouse. For example last year my wife was using some power tools while I was 2 hours away from where we park our trucks, plus the 45 minute commute home. The tool slipped and she ended up cutting her hand to the point she was taken by ambulance to the hospital. Thankfully one of the volunteer paramedics for our town called his wife who is a licensed daycare provider to stay with our kids until my mother in law could get to our home. By the time I got back to the yard and in route to the hospital she was being discharged with several stitches. While all this is happening all my wife told me was she needs me home NOW she really F'd up and is being taken by ambulance. My minds racing wondering wtf happened, are the kids ok, where are the kids etc. I still need to be 100% focused to be able to safely drive back. Another time my son broke his wrist at school. Thankfully I was almost done for the day just needed to drive the last 15 minutes to the yard when I got the call. Numerous times kids or wife have been sick and needed to go to urgent care. Something unexpected happened on the road and I was unable to make it back home that day now my wife has to take all 3 kids to the doctor with her. If you have a strong support system around you this may be a non issue just throwing real life examples of possibilities. How would you handle being told something happened to your family but you're 1500 miles away? These things don't happen frequently but something you should consider.

Are your wife and kids supportive of this decision? Starting out your paychecks may vary ALOT. If you get one short check is it going to become a point of contention? Unfortunately trucking is very hard on everybody in the family not just the one that's gone. If your family isn't all on board and ready to be supportive and help you stick with it when you want to give up (which you will want to quit many times your first year) this may not be a good decision. Often times those at home don't understand why we're so tired. They think all you do is sit there and drive. Getting home weekends is nice and all, but is 36 hours really a weekend? Let's just say you get home at 10pm Friday night. You just put in a long day (and week) so you go straight to bed (and family may already be asleep). You sleep really good and get 10 hours. You've just worked close to 70 hours all you want to do is kick back and watch some TV. Well your wife has a to do list of things shes unable to do during the week, or she has friends/ family coming over but all you want to do is relax. You also need to get your laundry done and your truck restocked for the week. Next thing you know it's 10pm and you need to get some sleep. You wake up and eat breakfast with the family maybe relax for an hour or 2 and you're back on the road at 10am Sunday morning. We've had a few members that tried regional/home weekends and actually switched back to OTR where they were only home a few days a month so they felt like they actually had QUALITY time with their loved ones. With OTR/Regional YOU WILL miss some birthdays, holidays, anniversaries etc. Even requesting the time off they may have difficulties getting you home in time. Whether it's no loads going that way, equipment breakdowns or even weather delays.

I absolutely love my career but there are downsides and sacrifices that must be made by both you and your family. As Banks mentioned you'll never get the time back that you miss with your kids growing up. Is regional/OTR a stepping stone to something that would suit you/your family better? Are you choosing trucking just because you're fed up with your current career? Financial reasons? What is the long term goal with getting your CDL? All that is specific to each individual person. For many younger drivers getting started often times how supportive their spouse is of their decision plays a HUGE role on if they stick with it. If they're able to understand that you being gone so much for a year to gain experience will help you get a job that better aligns with your families it would help keep resentment out of it. If you're gone all week but your wife has to work her job and do all the housework, take care of kids and all their needs, handle finances etc. it's easy to get frustrated and feel like she has no help.

All very valid points Rob, thanks for sharing all of this. I am currently unemployed and am not eligible for unemployment since my last job was 1099'd and the prior one was a voluntary resignation so my total household income is ZERO. As a 20-year veteran of the mortgage industry, the job market has vapored and I am seeking employment in other fields for possible remote/at-home work. In February/March I will run out of retirement funds to live off of and will need to make some hard decisions. In the absence of another remote job, A regional trucking job at Roehl would be the most logical choice as the income potential in year 2+ is $55-$60k which would meet our minimum budget requirements. Plus I could always stay out for 2-3 weeks if I needed more income. My wife homeschools our 10 yr old daughter and has some physical limitations and we have only one car. THE MOTIVATION is to save our home and the dream we have built here with our homestead. The local feed mill said I can park the truck there which is 7 miles from our house from late afternoon Friday to Sunday early afternoon.

My wife and daughter are on board as much as they need to accept that we can't afford to be a one-income household and have my wife and daughter at home in any other scenario in the absence of a stay-at-home job for me. The local job market pays $16-19 per hour and is 30 minutes away.

On a side note, I do enjoy driving and don't mind solitude. We do have good neighbors and friends in the community that could help us in a pinch and family is 2 1/2 hours away. I hear what you are saying on the whole regional thing and is likely the path I would pursue. Have no idea whether or not this would be permanent if I end up going forward. I am expecting year one to be a trial by fire if I end up on that path.

Thanks again for your comments!

A few more thoughts on the family aspect:

I absolutely love my career but there are downsides and sacrifices that must be made by both you and your family. As Banks mentioned you'll never get the time back that you miss with your kids growing up. Is regional/OTR a stepping stone to something that would suit you/your family better? Are you choosing trucking just because you're fed up with your current career? Financial reasons? What is the long term goal with getting your CDL? All that is specific to each individual person. For many younger drivers getting started often times how supportive their spouse is of their decision plays a HUGE role on if they stick with it. If they're able to understand that you being gone so much for a year to gain experience will help you get a job that better aligns with your families it would help keep resentment out of it. If you're gone all week but your wife has to work her job and do all the housework, take care of kids and all their needs, handle finances etc. it's easy to get frustrated and feel like she has no help.

Most of time. I don't like being cold and wet. I've had days where it seems I'm in and out of the truck all day in freezing rain. Turn the heat on full blast and start getting dry just to get out and get wet again.