The Decision: It's Not For Me.

Well, truth is, I don't know if it is for me but I have decided not to risk it. Given my sensitivity to sleep deprivation and the focus/concentration/distractibility issue with my ADD, I've decided to take a job with the frozen food delivery folks who drive much smaller trucks that do not require a CDL. I wasn't so sure that my creaky old brain could absorb all of that new information either. In the end, I backed off from the challenge. And I am OK with that.

As for the role Trucking Truth played in my decision, I will say that this site does a good job of promoting a sober-minded approach to the decision to be a trucker. I would describe your approach to be 20% promotion, 80% caution. Of course, I tend to take things a little too seriously sometimes, but over all, I was impressed with the brutal honesty of your presentations. It really brings home that, in the end, trucking is just another job but with more hazards and aggravations. You de-romanticize it very well.

Thanks again, friends, for being here to hold my hand through a difficult period in my life. Facing unemployment at age 60 was pretty scary. Let me take this opportunity, though, to toot the horn for my home town. Iowa City, Iowa is an amazing place! This town has managed to keep itself economically healthy enough to provide opportunities for anyone. We have an unemployment rate of about 2% and employment across a wide gamut of industries. If you are looking to start over, I would recommend our little town, Home of the Hawkeyes!

Well, truth is, I don't know if it is for me but I have decided not to risk it. Given my sensitivity to sleep deprivation and the focus/concentration/distractibility issue with my ADD, I've decided to take a job with the frozen food delivery folks who drive much smaller trucks that do not require a CDL. I wasn't so sure that my creaky old brain could absorb all of that new information either. In the end, I backed off from the challenge. And I am OK with that.

As for the role Trucking Truth played in my decision, I will say that this site does a good job of promoting a sober-minded approach to the decision to be a trucker. I would describe your approach to be 20% promotion, 80% caution. Of course, I tend to take things a little too seriously sometimes, but over all, I was impressed with the brutal honesty of your presentations. It really brings home that, in the end, trucking is just another job but with more hazards and aggravations. You de-romanticize it very well.

Thanks again, friends, for being here to hold my hand through a difficult period in my life. Facing unemployment at age 60 was pretty scary. Let me take this opportunity, though, to toot the horn for my home town. Iowa City, Iowa is an amazing place! This town has managed to keep itself economically healthy enough to provide opportunities for anyone. We have an unemployment rate of about 2% and employment across a wide gamut of industries. If you are looking to start over, I would recommend our little town, Home of the Hawkeyes!

There is nothing wrong with your decision at all. If there is a job that has to be done, someone has to do it. Even fast food workers need to perform a job function to benefit their company. Glad to see that you were able to find something that fits your needs. You are performing a service that a lot of people on the road thank you for. Now they don't have to try and get a 53' trailer into a 20' dock located in an alley somewhere in your town.

I have worked so many types of jobs from shoveling cow excrement to installing multi million dollar phone systems and have never been unhappy with my job. Sure there were times I was sick of it but overall I was satisfied with the job I was performing. Having pride in your work and giving it your best goes a long way in my book. Just knowing that you are doing it better than others around you is a big satisfaction.

Got an award on a job that took 6 months to complete and when it was all said and done, I had saved the company $67k in labor that was budgeted to be spent. It was my job to run and doing it with 3 greenhorns was a huge confidence booster to me. I just told them do it my way and it will work but if you figure out a faster way then show me before you change how we do things. These guys were great and worked hard. We put in a butt load of overtime and still got the job done under budget.