Biggest Stressors In Trucking?

Howdy y'all!

It's been a while since my last post where I was inquiring about if trucking would be a good move for me. I mentioned that I would do some research about it and decide based off of that. Well, this is part of that!

The big million-dollar question of the day is: What are some of the biggest stressors in trucking? More importantly, are there any steps you take to eliminate (or at the very least mitigate) the stress that comes with them? I'm curious to know what y'all think.

I would say that my current stressor is sitting at shippers and receivers way past my appointment time to get loaded or unloaded. 24 hours at my last delivery. I get detention pay, but it rarely equals what I can earn when driving.

Other than that, every job has it’s stressful aspects. So we power through the tough parts and don’t look back.

Every quarter we have to do a one on one interview with someone from management. One of the questions is almost always "what is your biggest stress factor or obstacles on the road"

I always answer other drivers. It is truly amazing what other people do behind the wheel. And some truckers are just as bad or worse than 4 wheelers..

I used to not let them bother me, but lately it really has been getting under my skin. I have to go back to ignoring their crappy driving.

My biggest stresser is navigating tight neighborhoods and unforeseen problems getting out of said neighborhoods. I run local flatbed, 99% of my deliveries and pickups are residential houses and apartment complexes. I pull around a 43 footer all day and have to travel on roads a tractor trailer doesn’t belong on just about every stop. Even though I trip plan very carefully, you never really know what your getting into until your there.

Here are a few of my recent stops. The circles are smaller then they look on the satellite view

My biggest stress source is the freight market right now. Not having pre plans, not knowing when my next load is coming, if I'm going to be sitting for a couple days or going to be handed a hot load . It makes financial planning, scheduling and most other aspects of life difficult. I'm used to having multiple loads stacked on me so it's very frustrating to have so much uncertainty.

There are lots of causes, but most is due to the lack of available freight, our corporate response which is to spread the work around, even to underperforming drivers in hopes to eliminate favoritism and prevent loosing even more drivers, as well as loosing office staff in my terminal. I've been without a DM now for a while and one more just quit.

My office finds ways around the corporate push and still gives me as much work as they can as well as generous amounts of ancillary pay. I try to not concentrate on the erratic scheduling and just let go, trust that they're doing what they can to get me loads. Be patient and communicate.

As time has gone on, things that stressed me change. Most of the road and driving issues don't stress me as I have well oiled systems in place that eliminate and or mitigate the stress including route planning, weather, time, shut down and startup etc. As I've gained experience, these systems have become automatic habit as well as getting used to the process.

Tomorrow's delivery is a blindside street back into a covered dock in LA. I'm going to hit the recon on it tonight and see if I can come at it sight side. No stress.

More annoyances than stressors for me. I've never once found trucking stressful, but I also dealt with distracted drivers trying to kill me multiple times a day while towing cars and/or changing tires on the freeways of Seattle. So I always found trucking to be a more controlled environment in comparison as far as the situations I've been in personally.

But here is my list:

1: Extended layovers with no trip plan in sight.

2: Getting held up at multiple docks in one day with very little in the way of drive time thus not getting paid well.

3. Companies deliberately abusing policies to avoid paying you the extras like layover and breakdown which devalues your overall time out.

4.RV drivers and people who pull a $100,000 camper with a $1,100 beater they bought at an auction.

5.Wyoming

6.People who expect reefer haulers to find "alternative" parking when parking is already extremely limited.

7.Other truckers who have a holier-than-thou attitude about trivial things. Example: People who shove cameras in the faces of those who pull forward from fuel pumps who run inside for a quick restroom break or complain about people strategically taking 30s at fuel pumps. (Yes, you can do this without holding up the pumps with proper time management).

8.Swapping trailers with someone who stole the load locks and left enough broken wood and dirt in the back to build a greenhouse after you properly maintained yours.

Thats really all I can think of at the moment. Just basic run of the mill gripes you get at any job. What makes trucking somewhat unique is the losing of money through things that may be completely out of your control.

Here are a few of my recent stops. The circles are smaller then they look on the satellite view

Nope. I'm getting stressed just looking at the photos. Actually having to navigate through those areas would be nerve-wracking!

One of my biggest sources if stress is not being planned in advance. I like to know where I need to go for my next assignment after completing my current one. It doesn't seem like a big deal. However, I suffer from a kind of "analysis-paralysis" if I don't know which direction to go after I finish a load. I hate going in the wrong direction and having to backtrack.

I also don't like ending my shift and going to sleep without knowing where/when my next assignment is. Do I have several hours to kill before sleeping? I don't want to wake up after 8hrs only to realize I still have 5hrs until I need to hit the road. Should I try to get to sleep right away? I might need to leave as soon as I get my hrs back.

The way I try to alleviate that stress is to request a pre plan if possible. A fleet manager can't anticipate the needs of every one of their drivers. A polite message let's them know what you need.

Example of a recent request I sent to my FM:

ANY CHANCE OF A PLAN FOR AFTER I FINISH THIS LOAD? TRYING TO AVOID A REPEAT OF YESTERDAY SITTING UNCERTAIN FOR 15+ HRS. EVEN IF I HAVE TO WAIT. I'D PREFER TO KNOW FOR HOW LONG. THANKS

I had a load plan 20 minutes later. Good communication can help solve issues before they even become issues.

My number stressor is absolutely other drivers. But that is really just exacerbated by my “need” to get where I’m going—in other words I’m not as stressed if I’m not in a hurry. So my solution is taking my time when I’m driving and also not staying about finances and bills and all that stuff. Giving myself ample time to do my job really helps with my attitude while driving