The Road Home From TruckingTruth

This is a story about a driver who let one tiny little problem in an ordinary day spiral out of control into a major ordeal that changed his career forever.

Owner operators like to talk about how much money they're making. The trick is they're trying to fool you (and themselves) by talking about revenues, not profits. You'll rarely hear the truth about the actual profits an owner operator is making, and for good reason; they're rather pitiful. Don't be fooled by what we call Owner Operator Math here at Trucking Truth. Learn the realities of owning a big rig and why you shouldn't waste your time considering buying your own truck.

You hear a ton of horror stories from Youtube and Facebook about how awful truck driving is or how awful a particular company is. As a new driver it's terrifying to hear so many people giving ominous warnings about life in the trucking industry. I'm here to tell you it's safe to ignore these people, and here's why.

For 25 years I've watched people sabotage their careers by worrying about all the wrong things instead of focusing on what it's going to take to make themselves more successful in this industry. It's time people stop worrying about whether their company is good enough for them, and start focusing on making themselves more productive drivers and better human beings. Your success or failure depends on you and you alone. It's time to own that fact, stop making excuses, and step up your game. In this podcast I'll talk about the mistakes people make and where your focus should lie if you want to be happy and successful in this industry.

Your time on the road with a trainer is always a very challenging time in your career because you're out on the road for the first time doing your job as a professional, and you're forced to share the truck with a complete stranger for an extended period of time. But it's also a very important and necessary stage of your training. Believe me, you would not want to come out of school with your CDL and run solo immediately. So here are twelve tips for surviving your time on the road with your trainer.

It's a common question we get, "Should I go to college or become a truck driver?" To some that seems like a rather naive and obvious choice. Who would choose trucking over college? Well it turns out I did, and so did a lot of incredibly happy truck drivers. But the road is far more difficult than you might imagine, and it does mean giving up a lot of great opportunities. Here I will share my personal life experiences and explain how I feel you should make that decision for yourself.

Truck driving is an incredibly demanding job that requires a lot of risk, sacrifice, stress, and often times being away from home and family for long periods. The pay is solid and the equipment nowadays is really nice, but is trucking really worth it in the end? We'll take a look at the upsides and downsides of trucking and I'll give you my personal opinion on whether it's worth it or not.

I started trucking back in 1993 when I was 21 years old and I had a grand adventure out there for about 15 years. Here's the story of how I wound up in school and how I landed my first job during a pizza party at the school!

Getting started in trucking is always challenging, and there are several common problems that many new drivers struggle with, especially in the beginning. These problems aren't always just inconveniences. Some of them can be devastating to you personally, and your career. Here are some of those common problems and what you can do to prepare yourself for the challenges that lie ahead.

One time I was fired from a company that I had worked at for five years with a flawless safety and service record, completely out of the blue, for showing up to a customer too early of all things. I was floored when I got the news. I had no idea what they were talking about and could not make any sense out of why I was being let go. This is my story about how this situation played out and what I did when I spoke with management about the situation.

New drivers coming into the industry have several options when it comes to the type of freight they'd like to haul, but the main contenders are dry van, refrigerated, and flatbed. There are some similarities between them, but some very significant differences that you'll want to understand before making a decision. So we'll discuss how each relate to each other when it comes to pay, home time, available miles, job duties, and the regions of the country you'll be running.

Terminal Rats are miserable drivers who tend to hang around in groups at trucking terminals and truck stops complaining the day away. The problem is that their conspiracy theories and embellished tales of mistreatment and abuse are poisoning the minds of incoming drivers. It's causing new drivers to take the wrong approach and have the wrong attitude toward their new career, derailing their chances of success and happiness in the industry. Let's see if we can understand this vicious cycle and break it before it derails your career.

It's common to hear drivers say you should start your career with one of the major companies but then move on as quickly as possible to better jobs with smaller companies. But is this really true? Are large carriers nothing more than starter companies? Are the best jobs found at smaller companies? We'll examine all different facets of life for a driver at a small company versus a large company, and we'll explore the economics of the industry to see if this notion of starter companies holds true.

Getting paid by the mile, or as a percentage of the gross revenues, has been the norm in the long haul portion of the trucking industry for decades. The normal laws that govern most hourly jobs, like mandatory overtime pay after 40 hours, simply don't apply to long haul truck drivers. Some drivers complain that at times they're being forced to work for free. Is this really the case? Are drivers being taken advantage of? We'll take a look at how mileage pay works and whether or not it's fair to the drivers.

It's inevitable as a commercial driver that you're going to be dealing with law enforcement from time to time. Your truck will get inspected at some point, you may have to cross the border into Canada, and you'll likely get pulled over a time or two along the way. Understanding how law enforcement officers think and knowing how to work with them will help keep the delays you'll experience and the number of tickets you receive to a minimum.

Anyone who considers a career in trucking will wonder if they have what it takes to survive and thrive out there as a trucker. So what does it take to make it in the trucking industry? We'll talk about some traits you should have, or should develop, if you hope to find happiness and success out there as a driver.

Truck driver training has always been done as quickly and inexpensively as possible. Unfortunately this often makes for inadequate training and a frustrating, exhausting experience for new drivers. So why is it done this way? We'll take a look at how training is done, why it's this way, and what you can expect as a new driver.

Sticking with your first company for one full year is one of the core concepts we teach new drivers coming into the industry. But why? What's the big deal? Why not jump around from company to company until you're happy? Well there's a long list of reasons, in fact, and in this podcast we'll go deep into why it's to your advantage as a driver to stick with your first company for at least one full year.

Managing risk is the most important part of the job for OTR truck drivers. Nothing matters more than safety. Knowing your limits means knowing when to shut it down and knowing when to push on. We'll take a look at some of the circumstances you'll face out there and help you understand where to draw the line on safety.

Dispatch will play a critical role in determining the level of happiness and success a driver will experience out on the road. But what exactly does a dispatcher do and why is this relationship so important to a driver? We'll take a look at the role your dispatcher will play and what you can do as a driver to make the most out of this critical relationship.

People rarely drop out of trucking because they can't drive the truck. They drop out because mentally and emotionally they weren't prepared for such a long and difficult road. Preparation is one of the keys to success in any endeavor so I want to make sure you go into it with a strong mindset and the right expectations.