Trucking isn’t for everyone – but if you can handle it and if you need a job right now, then maybe it will work for you at least for awhile. Moving freight is vital to the nation and to do that trucking needs drivers – lots of drivers. Right now many experienced drivers are getting older and older to the point that they are retiring. Others develop the typical health problems that come along with age and are unable to pass their physicals anymore – so they are involuntarily retired. So many drivers are continuously leaving the industry – and everyone that leaves leaves another empty seat that needs to be filled.
At the same time fewer younger drivers are entering the trucking industry. Some just don’t realize it even exists – others simply aren’t willing to pay the price of days and weeks on the road and away from home. Yet for those who are willing to endure what is required there are many potential and immediate benefits from day one. The first is housing that is provided by the sleeper of the truck. Think of it as a company supplied RV or tiny home on wheels. A home complete with heat and air conditioning and a bed, dc power and plenty of storage for essentials. Plenty of course being a relative term – anyone that has hoarding tendencies may feel otherwise but for anything that is truly needed to live comfortable there is more than enough room. It also comes with a paycheck.
Not much to start – but enough to cover your food and essential items. Then over time as you become more efficient and as the company increases your pay it will go up to very good pay. Some people disagree – but some people will bitch about anything too. Hand them a bar of gold and tell them its theirs for free and they will complain that it isn’t big enough, or gold enough, or it is shaped the wrong way… I have no tolerance for lazy people or fools, so nothing I can do to help them either.
But for anyone willing to work, and who has the common sense to realize life doesn’t owe you shit – and you are only entitled to what you get up off your ass and go earn, well then trucking can be a very good opportunity if you are willing to do some hard work. It can also be a stepping stone on to many other opportunities both in and outside of trucking. Eliminate your debt quickly because you will be able to drop your living costs to almost nothing if you live in your truck full time, so you can use all your financial resources and specific tactics which I discuss extensively here in this blog and elsewhere to kill off every debt you have until you are debt free.
You can also save up enough cash very quickly to buy a piece of dirt to call home – dirt you can use as a home base and over time build a little paid for home on it. Then save up and buy your own truck and become an owner operator or even start your own trucking company and build a fleet of trucks. You might also decide to start a freight brokerage – or even save up enough cash to allow you to comfortably get out of trucking to pursue other business ventures if you want. The point is it is one path among many that can help you get from where you are to where you want to be if you are willing to work hard and work smart to get there.
It is not for everybody – and in fact nothing else is either. There is no one thing that is the right thing for everyone. The question is though, is trucking right for you?