Finally - My Book Is Available!

After much work, I have finished my first book about the trucking career. I worked hard on it, and had a lot of help from people who were beta readers and editors.  In the end I still wasn't satisfied with it. I took a rest from it for almost a year. I didn't look at it or hardly even thought about it during that break. Then I went back and read it through, making careful notes about parts of it that just didn't seem right. Maybe they seemed hurried, or just didn't seem to flow right, or feel right, as I was reading it. I made changes and I can say that I am happy with the whole project now. I did not resort to using AI while writing this book. It is all hammered out using my own thoughts.

I am sure there is room for improvement, but I finally decided that it would never get published if I waited until I thought it was perfect. Writing is tough for me. I want to make sure the material is interesting, informative, and compelling. I want to be helpful. I want to teach things in a way that people understand and enjoy learning. That is a tall order! Sometimes it is easy to think we are clear and entertaining. We tend to think our own work is good and pleasant. That is not true when writing. What appeals to some may not be so appealing to another.

I want to thank my beta readers for their great suggestions. Also, my editor was extremely helpful with so many things. I can never thank my wife enough for her willingness to let me wander all across this great country doing what I do. She prefers being at home, and probably prefers me being there too. Her forbearance is invaluable in our relationship.

The process is over for now. As of now the book is available as an e-book at the Kindle Store on Amazon. I will soon have a print copy available, but am not sure when that will be finalized. For now, if anyone is interested, you can find it by clicking this link. Happy reading!

Hit The Road

UPDATE 1/24/2025

A print version has been available for a little while now. I wanted to make a few changes to it, so I've waited until now to announce it. Please, if you prefer to have a physical copy of the book, it is available in its final version now. I made a few more changes to it, and then incorporated those same changes in the e-book version. It can be found at that same link above. Just click on the paperback version and you will see a book with a full color cover featuring my blue Volvo Million Miler Truck.

Thanks to all who purchase and/or read this book. I hope you find it helpful.

RISK VERSUS REWARD - THE ART OF PRIORITIZING

I was waiting on some repairs to my truck in our Olive Branch, MS terminal recently when I heard a very distressed driver raising his voice with his dispatcher on the phone. He was based out of another terminal, but was picking up an MT trailer in Olive Branch. This was his problem...

He had a hard deadline to be at the shipper in Memphis, TN. He was literally twenty minutes away from the shipper and he had to be there in one hour. He found an MT, but it had a flat tire that he wanted to get repaired before going to get loaded. He took it to the shop and they informed him it would be about two hours before they could get to it. They were busy, and that is understandable. They had tried to be kind and gentle with the driver, but he wasn't having it. He insisted that he needed priority over whatever it was they were doing - he had a hard appointment to meet. The first lesson here is...

As drivers, we cannot let our ego make us think we are more important than everyone else out here trying to get things accomplished on the road. We are all doing the same job with the same stress. We have to chill and figure out how to manage our careers without putting ourselves into cardiac arrest every time something seems to be hindering us. We have to be adaptive, flexible, and creative. In a nutshell, we have to be adults who can deal with our own problems while working within the parameters of this sometimes challenging career.

He was quite animated and loud on the phone. Occasionally he gave me an almost pleading look, as if he wanted me to help him convince his DM to make a phone call on his behalf. He was convinced it would only help his cause if the DM would call the shop manager and explain how his driver was under a tremendous amount of pressure, and needed them to drop everything and fix his tire. I swear, he would get off the phone with the DM, let out a deep sigh, and then call him right back again. (Three times in a row) All he was doing was repeating himself with heavy moans and groans. He sounded like a spoiled child demanding his way. He wasn't even trying to come up with a solution. He was just making ridiculous demands.

I hate to say this, but I was not sympathetic. I have never called my DM about a flat tire. What can he do about it? Nothing. Besides, he has a lot of drivers like this one, keeping him on the phone unnecessarily. Okay, he finally got me into a conversation, and here is what I found out. His tire wasn't even flat. It just had a nail in it. He didn't like that and wanted it changed before he went over to get loaded twenty minutes away. The second lesson here is...

Learn to evaluate risk and reward. We have a ton of grey areas in trucking. We have to make our own choices and decisions everyday. Many of those decisions affect our results. Those results affect our pay. We get paid for what we accomplish. Therefore, we need to make decisions that help us be efficient.

This driver was insistent that everyone drop what they are doing to serve his needs. That is very inefficient. First off, each of them is trying to do his job efficiently. Constant interruptions by a demanding driver breaks up their efficiency. The driver trying to force everyone to change to his plan is very inefficient for the driver too. If he doesn't realize by now that this approach doesn't work, he still has a lot to learn about how to succeed in this career.

I tried to explain to him what I would do in this situation. I would take the trailer and go get loaded. I've driven fully loaded trailers with nails in the tires before. I've done it a lot of times. I have pulled a lot of nails out of tires only to find they weren't even causing any air to leak out. I still remember finding a screw in a tire that I decided to back out with a nut driver. As I backed the screw out, I began to hear the familiar hiss of air leaking. I just screwed it back in, made my delivery, and then contacted "break down." They told me where to go to get the tire fixed. It was all very efficient, and I was not stranded somewhere stressing myself out.

His tire was holding pressure. He admitted that to me. Still, he seemed to have a need for the drama he was creating with the shop people and his DM. It is all so silly, but it made him feel important. I see a lot of us truck drivers behaving this way. It is so counter productive, but many of us will even brag about this type of behavior. Why are we like that?

We need to be problem solvers. This situation could have been easily resolved. Go get loaded and bring the trailer back to the terminal. The customer was twenty minutes away. I was bewildered as I returned to my truck. I couldn't help this driver see a simple solution. I get so frustrated witnessing cringe worthy episodes like this. Unfortunately they are all too common in this career.

Take charge of your careers my friends - prioritize safety and productivity.

CAN I MAKE MORE MONEY BY LEASING A TRUCK?

 This question finds its way into most new truck driver’s minds at one point or another. It's no wonder why it does. We work hard at this job. We make considerable sacrifices unheard of in most careers. When it comes to rookies just getting started, many of us seem a little disappointed with our pay. This lifestyle of being alone most of the time tends to limit our conversation to that of other truck drivers. We may end up parked at a terminal for a few days and hear our fellow road warriors complaining about their situation, or in some cases telling us how they have figured out some super secret way to beat the odds at trucking. That is typically when we hear these outlandish claims of making big money. I have actually heard guys claiming to make as much as eight thousand dollars per week!

Now that will get your attention! You just got a paycheck for $1,200.00. Here’s a guy, not particularly appearing as anything special, yet he just got a paycheck for $8,000.00. There’s something wrong with this picture! Yes there certainly is, so let’s talk a little about what is actually wrong. Hopefully I can help you out.

Lease operators don’t actually get a paycheck. That’s right. They are not even on the payroll of the company. Anybody leasing a truck who tells you how much his paycheck came to is “looney tunes.” The company never cuts him a paycheck. That is a very important fact for you to realize. A lease operator is a contractor. They get paid a contract price on each load. They do not receive a paycheck.

So, what are these big fat checks we hear about? You have to realize the propensity of these new lease operators to be unrealistically enamored with their new found way of making money. At first everything seems all shiny and new, much like a freshly minted penny. They have yet to get into the real give and take of the business. The checks they get are revenue checks. Their lease lays out all the parameters of how they get paid. It spells out their responsibilities and how they will be compensated. They are responsible for the expenses of running and maintaining the truck. It usually takes less than a year before those expenses take the shine off that new penny.

All that big money they brag about is to cover their expenses. They are now running a one truck operation. The dollars coming in to a lease operator are simply their share of the revenues they produce with the truck. It’s not even closely related to a paycheck. That’s how I knew the guy who foolishly thought I would believe he was making eight thousand dollars a week had no clue about what he was doing. Any driver claiming he is making that kind of money is not only lying to you, but sadly they are also lying to themselves.

The whole reason trucking companies lease their trucks is because it is profitable. In fact it is often more profitable than a company truck with a paid employee in the driver’s seat. So think about that for a minute. How does the driver make more money when it is likely the company is turning a better profit by leasing the truck to the driver? Can you conceive of any reason a business would encourage its employees to become private contractors just so they could pay them a lot more money? That goes against every common sense business principle there is. The whole ploy of leasing trucks to unsuspecting drivers is a gimmick. It's a way to lure people into a trap that seems to offer some really great bait. Those big numbers on those checks are the bait.

Businesses make decisions and choices to produce outcomes that are more profitable for them. Forcing the wildly unpredictable expense of running and maintaining their trucks onto private contractors gives them control over their costs. If they can control their expenses, they can accurately forecast their profits.  The lease operator sees some big checks coming his way, but he also has to maintain those big expenses he agreed to in his lease. Otherwise he won’t have a truck to run loads with. Those big checks are countered and consumed by big expenses. What’s left over becomes the driver’s pay.  He has no predictable paycheck and no employee benefits. Look at the things he gives up for this long shot chance of making a little extra money.

• No health insurance.

• No social security account being built up.

• No access to a company retirement account.

• No income tax payments withheld.

• No paid vacation.

• No seniority with load planners or dispatchers.

• No help with layover or breakdown pay.

• No bonus money that company drivers get.

Typically those things the driver gives up for this hope of getting ahead in the game far outweigh any difference he could possibly make by leasing the truck. I did a little calculation based on my last twelve months of driving as a company driver.  Here’s some real numbers that I would give up so I could lease a truck.

• $3,500 - that’s what the company contributed to my 401K

• $6,800 - that was the total of my bonus money

• $2,875 - that was my total extra pay for various things like layover

• $5,478 - that is my three weeks paid time off

Let’s see… that totals $18,653.00 and that doesn’t even take into account the lack of deposits in my social security account, or the funds they contributed toward my family’s health insurance. That’s how much I am going to throw into the trash just so I can risk taking a long shot at making maybe about 3% more by leasing a truck.  You can’t make that math work in your favor. Numbers don’t lie.

Most trucking companies operate near a 97% operating ratio. That means their profits are somewhere in the 3% - 5%  range. That’s not impressive, but it sure tells us something. It tells us by leasing the truck you only have a small percentage range you could increase your actual take home money. If there is only a 3% - 5% profit, then where do you think you are going to find all this extra money? I just did the math on my last twelve months pay. If I could make another five percent by leasing a truck I would increase my total pay by $4,750.00. Why in the world would I give up almost $20,000.00 so that I could get $4,750.00?  That makes no sense. That is what I call Owner/Operator math. It has never made sense to me.

In my situation as a competent company driver, I honestly think I would be cutting my pay by around $16,000.00 were I leasing a truck. I could be proud of the fact that I am “my own boss,” and I could run around bragging about the big checks I am getting. I have heard and seen these lease/operators strutting around like peacocks among common barnyard animals while mingling with the lowly company drivers. I just have to laugh inside. I know the truth.

I think the challenges of being a trucker really push people to try figuring out a better way to increase their income from this job. I empathize with each of you who thinks he is putting in more effort than expected. We’d all like to see more income when we consider the sacrifices we make. The problem with this is the way we fall prey to these foolish gimmicks. Leasing really is a gimmick.

You aren’t going to make more money by leasing a truck. It may feel good when you see several thousand dollars on a check, but you have to realize it’s not a paycheck. It’s basically a way to keep you pushing and trying to figure out how to make those big dollars actually end up in your wallet. There is that bait hanging right there in front of your face each week. Life would be really grand if you could just figure out how to keep the bait and not get caught in the trap!

Truckers are experts at keeping myths alive. This decades old myth that claims some trucking companies are out to squeeze every little drop of blood out of their company drivers, and then throw them under the bus, is still alive and well. It’s dead wrong, and goes against every business principle of success. Unfortunately every new driver entering the business is convinced of it from his internet research. This myth claiming we can make a lot more money by leasing a truck from one of these big trucking companies is just as bogus as it is ridiculous. The whole concept of leasing trucks to drivers was a profit driven incentive for the corporations who started this practice. Don't be bamboozled by such nonsense!

Will Autonomous Trucks Be Taking Our Jobs Away?

 I am seeing a lot of people concerned about starting a trucking career lately because they think driver-less trucks will soon be taking over our interstates and consequently killing the job market. I’ve been hearing these same reports for twenty years now. I guess we will still be hearing them for the next 40 years. We are nowhere nearer today than we were 20 years ago.

About five years ago there were television programs declaring that driver-less trucks would be taking over truck driving jobs within two years. There is a big scam going on within the tech industries that is driven by greed. If you can convince people you are on the cusp of something really big, then you can get them to open their bank accounts and invest lots of money with you. That’s the scam. Everything about the autonomous truck craze is designed to raise money now for something nobody has a clue how to accomplish.

We actually have driver-less trucks already. They can work fairly well within a confined environment where we control the elements and factors they will be dealing with. That is the problem. We can’t control their environment nationwide. We could accomplish this task if we could afford an entirely new nationwide infrastructure designed solely for big trucks. It seems we can’t even come up with enough money to properly maintain the infamous pothole riddled George Washington Bridge. Everyone is focused on creating self driving trucks to work within our existing infrastructure. That approach will never work. It will always yield a vehicle that still needs a driver on board.

We currently have all kinds of crash mitigation technology in the trucks we are driving. Most of it is total garbage. It is so unreliable that it causes more problems than it does solutions. I’ve had my truck slam on the brakes because I passed under an overpass. Just a shadow in the road will sometimes trigger the forward crash mitigation system to activate the brakes as if there were an emergency. Sensors are only sensing possible dangers, they do not process thoughts and make judgments. Those are uniquely human qualities. Sensors covered in ice and snow basically shut down and stop working. I wish you could see some of the incredibly risky road conditions I have successfully navigated. We sometimes face nightmarish conditions. Humans can handle it, and actually do it safely. 

We have had self flying planes for years now. Even under the power of auto-pilot we still have two pilots on board our commercial airliners. We have trains that run on tracks and could not possibly get off course, yet they still have engineers on board. We can put a rover on far away planets like Mars, and have it operating a mission there without a human being present. The reason that’s possible is because it is a far easier task than what we are attempting with autonomous trucks.

The transportation industry is not confined to its own separate environment. We are side by side with minivans full of small children. We are facing ever changing conditions moment by moment. It is much easier to fly an aircraft on auto-pilot than it is to drive an 80,000 pound vehicle under similar technology. There are so many difficulties when on the ground surrounded by other vehicles and variables. It becomes exponentially more complicated.

I have been brief here, but I wanted to address this. Do not concern yourself over self-driving trucks taking your career away from you. It is not happening now, and will not be happening in any near future I can see. The complexities of the trucking world are proving to be a great challenge to technology. Even the autonomous trucks going through various levels of beta testing generally have two drivers on board, and a convoy of other vehicles escorting them. Ease your mind of this concern. You are still needed out here. That demand will continue on into days of incredible technology advances.

NEVER GIVE UP!

 With those three immortal words, Winston Churchill rallied his nation to a wartime victory during a time when their crushing demise seemed alarmingly imminent. What is it that causes one man to face his fears with bravery and ferocity while another caves into submission? Fear causes some of us to retreat to a fetal position of defeat before we’ve even entered the fray. Others seem to rise to conquer a challenge solely motivated by fear itself. Some people are amazingly resilient in the face of overwhelming odds and difficulty. Those folks who have this amazing resilience go on to do great things. They are our heroes. They aren’t necessarily known to the masses as national heroes, but somebody knows them as a hero.

I had a friend when I was growing up who considered his own mom to be a hero. Their family was very poor and his mom had to figure out how to make do with what she had. He would tell me his mom was the greatest cook in the world. He’d say, “My mom can make the most delicious soup using only a gallon of water and a single bean,” My point is she rose to the challenges before her. My young friend viewed her as his hero because of her resilience. Her bravery in adversity made her shine in his estimation. She could have collapsed in despair and said, “I just can’t handle this - we are going to starve.” Her resilience kept her in the game, and she accomplished things that kept her moving forward.

As a character trait, resilience is a person’s ability to recover quickly from unfortunate circumstances. It’s an admiral characteristic, and worthy of our aspirations. So, what does all this have to do with trucking? I think it has a lot to do with our career. Especially those of us who are just getting started. I was sorely disappointed once when I saw a discussion online where a new driver was claiming, “My career in trucking is over before it even started!” This poor fellow had been sent home from orientation, and was already retreating in defeat. Here’s one of his statements I pulled from his post.

“For now I'm done. There is no point in applying for other jobs and wasting time and money to just run into the same issues.”

I’m dumbfounded at this response. I’m wanting to encourage and motivate this fellow and say, “Come on man! Are you giving up this easily?” The phrase that really got me was when he stated, “There is no point in applying for other jobs.”

Getting started in a trucking career is challenging. I know that well. Trucking is not an ordinary job. It is an extraordinary career that requires extraordinary people. It is as much a lifestyle change as it is a career change. The training is hurried, and requires a person to process a lot of information in a short time. It requires learning new skills quickly and efficiently. It’s no walk in the park. It’s a big challenge. How we respond to those challenges helps formulate our future in this career. Truckers bear a lot of responsibility. Some people consider them heroes.

One of the biggest challenges facing new truckers is the disturbing reality that truck driving school’s don’t magically transform us into real truckers. They allow us to obtain a CDL, but getting that CDL in our pocket is really just a single step in the process of becoming a trucker. The process requires resilience. There are seemingly insurmountable challenges that upset many a newbie’s efforts. Those tenacious spirited folks who conquer the various challenges go on to become some of the most critical players in our nation's economic machine.

The gentleman who inspired these thoughts failed his backing test and got sent home from his very first orientation. That’s no reason to declare, “There is no point in applying for other jobs.” Plenty of new truckers get sent home from orientation. I got sent home from three different orientations. I never gave up. When you start this process of becoming a trucker you need to want it badly. You need to persevere.

My dad used to tell me, “Quitters never win.” Some may think that’s a trite little saying, but it’s something that stuck with me all my life. I don’t quit. In high school I was a competitive tennis player. There were times when I’d find myself in a match with someone who was sure to beat me. That didn’t change my game or my approach. I’d hang in there and give it one hundred twenty percent no matter how badly they were humiliating me. I did the same thing as an adult in competitive skeet shooting. Anybody competing with me knew I was going to bring my “A” game. I wasn’t going to cave in to despair if I missed a target. The next 100 targets were sure to be crushed to dust - I’d make sure of it. In sport’s you have to be resilient. You aren’t going to win every game every season. It’s a contest. It’s a competition. Victory ebbs and flows, but resilience remains firm no matter the outcome.

Many folks don’t realize trucking is a competition. We compete against each other for loads and miles. As rookies we have the odds against us. We have to prove ourselves daily. We are going to have problems. We are going to struggle at times. Some of us are going to fall short and get sent home. It’s not the end of the world. We are going to feel very challenged. Resilience will be required.

I attended four orientations when trying to land my first trucking job. On that fourth attempt I finally made it to becoming an employee. I never looked back from that point. I always looked forward during those difficult times of being sent home. Determined to have my photo put in the dictionary, right there next to that word “resilience,” I never gave up.

Getting invited to an orientation does not guarantee rookie drivers a job. These orientations are basically like a job interview. If we get sent home it’s not the end of our careers. We failed an interview - that’s what it amounts to. We move on. We show our resilience. Never give up! That’s a trucker’s mantra. We face challenges daily. We rise to those challenges and conquer them.

A SIMPLE SOLUTION TO MAKING A GOOD START AS A TRUCKER

 Trucking is one of the most misunderstood careers I know of.  It’s our own fault.  For the most part, we truckers are to blame.  We continually post very misleading information all over the internet.  How is it that so many of us don’t really understand the vital dynamics of our own industry?

I really enjoy helping people understand the path to success as a trucker.  I find it really disturbing when I see people, genuinely interested in a trucking career, only confusing themselves further when trying to research making a start in our career.  It’s part of my nature to want to help others succeed.  I find that natural tendency of mine to be in high demand almost daily.

Let me give you an example…

Recently while doing some shopping at a Wal-Mart, I noticed the young couple, with two small children, waiting in line behind me as I was checking out.  They had this look on their faces as though they wanted to speak to me.  I was wearing one of the many shirts I’ve been given by my employer, Knight Transportation.  Of course, it was emblazoned with their logo, and apparently it had caught their attention.  

This young wife was curious enough to ask me if I drove for Knight.  Once I had confirmed their suspicions, she confided in me their concerns about her husband’s recent entrance into trucking.  He was struggling, and they were convinced it was because of the company that he started with.  They were feeling like they were being taken advantage of, being treated unfairly, and not getting paid enough.  Does that sound familiar?  I can’t escape this stuff.  It searches me out, even at my local Wal-Mart!

I gladly spoke with them for a few minutes, but I could tell I hadn’t convinced them they could do better right where they were.  They had started with Schneider, a well established company with many successful drivers.  They were focused on the fact that they weren’t getting enough miles.  For them that was the company’s fault.  They mostly wanted to know, “How many miles is Knight giving you?”  It’s just a complete misunderstanding about this career.  It’s not that one company can or will give you the miles you need while the others can’t or simply just refuse to.

Trucking is a performance based business.  That is a long and well established fact, yet very few people seem to understand the ramifications of that.  When discussing the problems with this career the current trend is to lay the blame at “big trucking companies” and their evil plans to take advantage of young ignorant rookies.  The predominant theory is that they do this with low wages and restricting their ability to turn the big miles.  Any serious minded person contemplating these issues would have to see the error of this idea.  It makes no sense.  The whole idea is based on the false notion that these companies don’t want to pay out a lot of wages to their employees.

The truth is that they want their drivers making good money.  What better way is there to keep great employees on board?  They understand that completely.  Trust me, they need to keep great people moving freight in those trucks.  Of course no business can afford to pay its employees more than they produce.  That brings us right back to this whole idea of the trucking business being “performance based.”  Drivers get paid based on how much they produce.  That’s why we get “paid by the mile.”  Trucking companies make money by how much freight they can move - the more the better!  This all flies in the face of these claims saying these trucking companies are keeping their driver’s miles low so they can keep their wages low.  Actually they want us turning all the miles we legally can.  That’s how they make money.

Almost daily I see people struggling with decisions on how and where to make their start in a new trucking career.  Some of them have been doing research for months.  They organize spreadsheets and lists of priorities that they keep changing and adjusting based on whatever random complaints or unique compliments they just happened to read online that week.  They don’t have a clue whether any of these people actually know what they are talking about, but they take their words with authority and make vain adjustments to their spreadsheets accordingly.

I recently watched a person show us his latest list of companies that he wanted to apply to.  He had them categorized as his “top choices” and then two other subcategories that indicated the less desirable choices that he might have to consider if the “best ones” didn’t work out for some reason.  It wasn’t long into the conversation before he decided to reshuffle his list because he heard how well someone in our forum was doing at one of his less desirable choices.  One simple comment gave him reason to analyze things again and make needful adjustments to his list of prioritized considerations.  That is tiring, wearisome, and confusing.  That’s no way to make a good start at this.

Would you allow me to offer you a better way to make a great start at your new trucking career?  I have actual experience at this struggle, and you might be able to consider me an expert when I tell you how I know this incredibly positive way to achieve success as a rookie truck driver.  I made all the same mistakes when I wanted to get into trucking.  I covered all the trucking forums and read all the nonsense.  I took in and digested all the trucking commentary as best I could.

I took all that worthless information and formulated my top choices of companies.  I was confident they could set me up for success.  Lo and behold, none of them would have me.  They all “had better applicants to choose from.”  What?  That’s right.  Me, an ideal candidate in my own mind, rejected by all the top companies I had researched for months.  What was wrong with these corporate nut jobs?  I was sure I was destined to be the perfect trucker.

I ended up starting my very successful trucking career at Western Express.  Everywhere I looked on the internet said, “Don’t just walk away from this company - you need to run!”  That just goes to show you how much bogus information we truckers put out.  It’s like a non-stop river that can’t be dammed up.  It is out of control.  I fight an information war almost daily.  That’s why you can just wear yourself out trying to gather helpful information on this career.  Most of it just doesn’t make sense.  Truckers succeed based on their own performance.  There’s that nagging word again - “performance.”  It will dog you for your entire trucking career.  You might as well embrace it.  

I determined that I would be the most productive driver Western Express had ever seen.  I did that by being committed to the actions that would serve their needs for revenues, and making sure I was proactive in giving my support staff in the office the communication they needed to keep me consistently planned with loads.  How do you do those things?  

• Make sure you are willing to run whatever loads they give you.

• Make sure you are easy to work with.

• Don’t argue and complain with your dispatcher.

• Figure out how to always be on time, or better yet be early.

• Don’t hit anything.

• Master the H.O.S rules and manage your clock efficiently.

• Provide accurate ETA’s (estimated time of arrival) and PTA’s (projected time of availability) to your dispatcher so they have plenty of time to get your next load scheduled.

There you have it.  That was my strategy, and it works at every trucking company out there.  It won’t matter what name is on the doors of your truck.  Any rookie driver who can master that list will come out on top,  There’s no ambiguity and no confusion when you attack the challenges in this career with that approach.  Throw your spreadsheet in the trash.  You don’t have to re-prioritize any lists again.  This is a master list that will see you through the conflict.  Each item on that list is on the driver.  There’s no reason to try and make sure you are at the “right company” to set yourself up for success.  It’s all “performance based.”  There’s that phrase again, you might as well get used to it!

Mediocrity Reaps No Rewards

 I have observed a lot of truck drivers during my trucking career.  With both empathy and agony, I have listened to their tales of woe at the truck stops, lunch counters, and driver lounges all across this great country.  Can I speak plainly with you?  Most truck drivers are unhappy.  They feel maligned, mistreated, and just plain dis-respected.  For most of them, the rewards received are simply not worth the sacrifices and risks required to execute the job.  I have never fallen into that camp, and I am convinced there’s a reason why.

Let me also make it clear that when I was a rookie driver I listened to other drivers complaints and would often feel myself being lured into their unfortunate outlook on this career.  It seemed everything they said resonated with me in some form or fashion.  After all, who really wants to be away from their families for weeks at a time?  Is it really a nomadic dream life to sleep in a truck each night?  I knew the frustrations of just trying to find some place to park at ten o’clock at night, and yes, I found those things very frustrating myself.

I still remember this time I was tarping a load of steel at about midnight.  I noticed the driver next to me who had just picked up his load before me.  As he was tarping, he was dragging his feet and his shoulders hung low as though he were completely dejected.  I still remember him raising his voice to speak to me.  “This job sucks the life out of you,” he declared.  He said it with authority, as if I should certainly know and agree with his assessment.  The absurdity of his statement struck me hard.  I was quite happy to be there at midnight.  The coolness of the evening was refreshing to me while laboring at my chosen profession.  As I was stretching my tarps tight, I was excitedly running calculations in my head as to how I was going to use the split sleeper berth provision to enable me to get my load delivered early.  That way I would be available for a really nice load early on Friday.  I knew once all that came together I was going to put an additional 400 dollars on my paycheck that week.

Your outlook has a profound effect on your outcome.  The driver who is convinced “this job sucks the life out of you” will be plagued with poor results.  His paychecks will always seem insufficient, his efforts will invariably be extremely laborious, and his satisfaction with his job will be nonexistent.  I have always felt it very important that people should find satisfaction and fulfillment in their occupation.  It doesn’t matter to me if you are a simple laborer pushing a wheelbarrow through a muddy construction site.  If you are determined to be the best at commandeering a wheelbarrow, you will find yourself quite happy with your results.  There is simply no way to have a fulfilling career when you are miserable at it.  Your miserableness blinds you to the possibilities that lie waiting for you to capitalize on them.

Goals have a way of encouraging you to reach higher levels of performance and satisfaction.  I am very much a goal oriented person.  The truck driving career appealed to me because it followed a model that I had repeatedly taught to my employees during the years that I was a business operator.  That model is sometimes referred to as “performance based pay.”  Basically the employee gets to determine how much money he makes by producing effective results.  As a person reaches the initial goals they have set for themselves, they begin to see how much more potential they actually have.  I remember when I started to earn around a thousand dollars a week as a truck driver.  That seemed like pretty decent money for what I was doing.  Then it also opened my eyes to how much money I was leaving on the table through my own inefficiencies.

I had reached my goals, but there was still more that was almost begging to  be accomplished.  I could see it now.  There was no reason it had to stay beyond my reach.  It took me a few years, but soon enough I had almost doubled that income that I was content with before.  By reaching my goals, I could see the potential that was still out there.  I wasn’t bound by my own self declared delusions of how miserable this career was.  I was free to pursue excellence and prove I was capable of obtaining it.  There’s nothing so liberating as freeing yourself from “group think.”  

Truckers really limit their own satisfaction and income potential by commiserating with each other all the time.  When is the last time you heard a fellow driver tell you how he’s set a goal to increase his income this year by ten thousand dollars?  More than likely you heard something like, “I am looking for another company.  This one just doesn’t have the miles I need to make a living.  They treat me like I’m just a number, and they could care less whether I’m making it or not.”  Most truck drivers hamstring themselves with their own low aspirations.  They are mediocre performers who don’t recognize their own potential.  I can assure you that their employer has ample opportunity for them to succeed.  Very seldom is it actually the company’s fault when a driver is a low performer.  Does that bother you when I say that?  I am convinced that is a hard truth we all need to learn.  Mediocrity reaps no rewards.  Almost every truck driver I know has switched companies multiple times, only to switch again when they find they are still disillusioned.

You won’t catch me telling you how bad my company is.  They gave me  opportunity and I gave them results.  This is the formula for success at trucking.  The driver has to produce.  The burden is upon the driver, and it is a great opportunity for him to prove his mettle.  Drivers who settle for less get less.  Never settle on mediocrity.  Motivate yourself to excel.  I promise you, success at trucking is within your grasp.  Courage reaches out and takes hold of success.

What I Have Learned From This Pandemic

You don't need an army or even a weapon to bring a nation to it's knees.

People can be controlled by fear.

Fear is as serious a debilitating contagion as any virus.

You can be esteemed an expert, yet change your ideas on your expertise almost daily.  No one will notice.  You'll still be considered an expert.

During a disaster you can declare someone an "expert," parade them on national media, and fear will drive people to follow their suggestions in a cult like fashion.

When being questioned on live T.V. before an anxious nation, it's quite acceptable for an "expert" to answer most of the questions with something like, "We just don't know."

Vanity and fear do strange things to people.  A surgical face mask is neither a fashion statement or a reliable means of preventing a viral infection.  And when you wear it riding low so it's merely covering your chin, it's even less effective at either one of those objectives.


The millions of Chinese people you see on television wearing masks is not proof that masks help stop the transmission of the Corona virus.  They've been wearing masks in China for a couple of decades now.  The air pollution is so bad over there that they do that to protect their lungs.

I've discovered that every day I touch my face an average of 10,387 times.  It's miraculous that I'm still alive.

It's strange that "non essential workers" were forced to stay at home.  Among the groups of people who have still not returned to work are our members of the House of Representatives.  We've known for years how non essential they are to our well being, but somehow that awareness has finally caught up with them.

Trucking Will Survive This Pandemic

I know some of you are wondering if you should try to get into trucking at this point in time. Others may be concerned about their jobs. What's taking place in the country is crazy in my opinion. But, I want you to know that trucking will survive this madness.

The wrecking ball that has been unleashed on our economic system is destroying lives, families, legacies, and businesses. It's very sad to witness the incalculable destruction. Trucking will take some hits. We're going to see some smaller companies close up. We will also probably be surprised by a couple of the big companies suffering, and reducing their operations, or being absorbed into another large company. Cash reserves are going to prove that old adage about "cash being king."

Those things are normal adjustments during trying times. We will see them happen in the next few months. That does not indicate that trucking is a poor career choice at this juncture. Trucking jobs are available now, and still will be as the dust settles and things fall into realignment.

We are already witnessing supply chains being busted up, and that just compounds the negative effects on various suppliers. Closing restaurants is a great example of this. Food delivery is suffering and so are the vendors in that supply chain. They were specifically geared to supply restaurants, and their packaging is having to be completely re-tooled for grocery store distribution. What a mess!

There's a lot of volatility in the supply chains now. Prices are going to fluctuate wildly. If things stay on lockdown there will be too much truck capacity in comparison to demand and that's going to put tremendous downward pressure on freight rates. That always results in people selling trucks, and that results in the valuations of trucking assets decreasing. None of that is good for the industry.

The truth is that we are in a violent storm. We are also a necessity in times like these. This is not a time to be fearful. It's a time to show your resolve. It's a time to be a Top Tier Driver.

If you need or want a trucking job, I encourage you to be brave and jump into the fray. You will be rewarded.

If you're already employed as a driver I encourage you to be a top performer. Lead by example. Don't cower at what others fear. Lean into your profession with vigor and determination. Be effective. Be proficient. Be productive. Those are the drivers who stand the test of time. They also will survive this unforeseen test of our system of capitalism. Free markets demand efficiencies, and there's no better time to prove you're worth keeping on the payroll.

Keep trucking my brothers and sisters. Your time to shine has come upon you. Face it with determination and boldness. You will slay this dragon!

The Boogey Man Virus

Being on a dedicated account, I oftentimes go to repeat customers. Some of them I go to enough that they know me by name. Everybody has new procedures and protocols in place now to accommodate this whole "social distancing" experiment.


One of my customers had a sign up telling us to un-tarp and un-strap after driving into the building, and then lay our paperwork on the bed of the trailer. They would then unload it, sign the bills, and leave it on the trailer. It said, "Do not get out of your cab until the fork lift driver signals you with three short beeps on his horn." Then we were allowed to get out and grab our paperwork!


At the Hydro plant in Cressona, PA I headed for the guard shack just like I've done for the past five and a half years, and I find the door is locked. The guard comes to the glass door and shouts through the glass for me to stand back eight feet and he will bring my bills out and set them on the table just outside the door. Then I have to wait until I hear him lock the door back before I can advance to the table and sign my bills! He then waits for me to leave before gathering them up.


I'm about sick of this "Boogey Man" altering our everyday behavior. Before the guard closed the door behind him, as he returned to his protective lair, he looked back at me saying, "Geesh Dale, whoever thought it would get to this? I feel like I'm playing a part in a science fiction movie." He is right - that's kind of how it feels. I feel like I'm re-living an episode of "The Invasion Of The Body Snatchers."


I seriously question this whole approach to battling a virus. It seems most healthy people can deal with it successfully. If more of us could be exposed, then more of us would develop anti-bodies. That seems to me the fastest way to eliminate the threat. Why can't we concentrate on protecting our senior citizens and other highly vulnerable people while the vast numbers of healthy people develop a natural resistance to this? Avoiding a virus doesn't eliminate it. Developing an active defense mechanism kills it.


What do I know about fighting the "Boogey Man?" Nothing! I'm just a dumb truck driver who still has some modicum of common sense.


Once we have a significant part of our population with effective anti-bodies we could harvest their blood plasma and give it to the vulnerable folks. OMG, that's just too simple isn't it!


I'm not scared of the "Boogey Man," but these nut jobs in D.C. are literally frightening.

I'm Hearing Voices!

I ran through the night last night and around 0400 I parked my rig at the Harrisonburg Travel Center in Harrisonburg, VA. After sleeping for about six hours I got out of the truck to check my load and take a walk. As I was putting my foot down to the bottom step on my tractor I clearly heard a nearby and cheerful female voice say, "Good morning!"

I looked to my right - nobody in sight. My truck's open door is blocking my view in the other direction. I climb on down and close the door expecting to see the source of this voice, and there's nobody. I'm puzzling over this now and not sure I want to move out into the open. Where did this voice come from, and why haven't they revealed themselves to me? I know I heard someone greet me - where are they?

I pause for a moment, tuck my shirt into my pants, and turn around facing the side of the reefer trailer attached to the truck that parked "nose in" next to me. I'm still bewildered as to where this voice is coming from, when I hear it again saying, "Don't let me startle you." At this point I just blurt out with, "You might as well give up on that. I'm always startled when invisible people start a conversation with me." I figured that would bring them out of hiding!

Then the phantom lady says, "I'm down here. I didn't want you to be surprised if you spotted me." So, I look down, and there she is. She's laying on the ground underneath the reefer! She's an owner/operator laying underneath her trailer repairing a leaking air line! I gave her a hand and was relieved to know that I wasn't "hearing voices."

It was funny to me. Just last week one of my son in laws asked me when I was going to retire. I told him, "When I start talking nonsense and soiling my pants, I believe I will go home and be as much trouble as I can to my kids!" Then all of a sudden I'm hearing voices in the truck stop parking lot. I thought, okay my time may be getting near. I'm happy and relieved to know I may have a few more years left in me to keep chasing that white line.

Keep trucking my friends, and just ignore those voices if you're hearing them.

How To Make More Money In Trucking

This is a favorite topic of mine. I have done very well in this career, and I like to help others see their way to success. One thing that stands out to me as I observe new drivers is their unwillingness to commit themselves to making themselves into a driver who is worth more money. They always seem to think the path to more money is switching companies or becoming a lease/operator or owner/operator.

Very seldom (more like never) do I see people trying to figure out how to be more effective in their job, or how to maximize the use of their time. It's always this idea that says I have to be looking elsewhere, and therefore they seldom ever obtain their goal which keeps them very disgruntled in their career. They are always considering their options, but never seem to see the one option that is helpful.

To make more money in trucking you simply focus on producing better results.

You can do that at any company. It takes time, commitment, and resolve. All of that is difficult to face head on because it makes us focus on the real issue. It's not nearly as easy as switching companies, and it requires us to accept the blame for our own shortcomings. Most of us prefer the path of least resistance, and the easiness of laying blame outside of our own responsibilities. Thus trucking has it's own culture of complaining malcontents - it's a non stop whine-fest of people who can't seem to make enough money.

For some strange reason people get their CDL and their head explodes with the idea that they are suddenly valuable. There is no such thing as instant value in trucking. Nobody becomes a valuable asset overnight or even during their first year or two. Experience breeds expertise, and value is built on the foundation of consistent execution of that expertise.

I'm pulling a quote from a conversation in the Trucking Truth forum to illustrate this. Listen as a relatively new driver says...

"The only reason I’d even consider owner operator is because I’m locked into a low mileage rate. I’d love to get .67 a mile. I’m not sure if the hassle is worth it though. I may have to switch companies though if I want a raise. I’m considering my options right now."

I have no idea what "low mileage rate" this driver thinks they are locked into. But, I started my career at 27 CPM, and managed to turn that into almost $50,000 my rookie year. I never once focused on my CPM rate. I never once "considered my options." I committed myself to executing my duties in a way that nobody else was even attempting. I focused on being the most productive driver that company had ever seen. All my thoughts and efforts were to improve my results - that is key to success at trucking. Everybody focuses on changing their circumstances and it's completely ineffective. The only way you become valuable in this business is to be valuable.

You can be a job hopper. You can be an owner/operator. You can be anything that you aren't right now, but it will never result in increasing your value like honestly and consistently evaluating and improving your results. Set goals for yourself and don't stop until you've reached them. Then set higher goals. Be realistic, be honest with yourself, examine each week's results and see if you can see what it is that would help you be more productive. That's the key to profit in trucking. You've got to fine tune your own strategies for productivity. We get paid based on our productivity. That's the key takeaway here.


Be hyper productive. Be successful. Be happy and content. Quit looking outside yourself for more money. You can measure out your own pay in this career. I made a killing starting at 27 CPM, while my companions complained and quit the company or even gave up on trucking altogether. Value is something we build ourselves. It doesn't come from the name on our truck doors, nor does it come from who actually owns the truck. Value in trucking comes from what the driver can actually accomplish with the truck.

Trust

I had a conversation recently with my dispatcher where he kept repeatedly using the word “trust.” It was a clear reference to the relationship we have with each other. The conversation started out with him apologizing to me for not getting in touch with me that morning concerning my back haul load. I told him it was no big deal to me, I already knew where I was supposed to pick up the load, so I just started driving that way, and since I was still about 300 miles away, I figured he would get with me whenever he had the time. I know he gets swamped on most days with problems his drivers are having, and I never concern myself if I can't get him on the phone. I just leave him a message and go on about taking care of my business. I know he will get back to me when he can. We have worked together enough to trust each other to be taking care of his share of the responsibilities we are working on. When a dispatcher has a driver that he can trust completely, it makes his job much less stressful. When a driver has a dispatcher that he trusts fully, it makes his job so much more productive.

Trust is an integral part of the trucking business. Think about it. There are investors who are trusting these publicly traded trucking companies to take care of their business by keeping their operating ratios at a reasonable level, and producing an acceptable level of profit in a very challenging business environment. There are literally millions of consumers who are trusting those same companies to make sure that what they want to purchase at the supermarkets or in the shopping malls across the country are readily available on the shelves.

It's funny, but most people never really think about how their favorite can of baked beans ever makes it to the grocery store shelf. Some farmer planted those beans, harvested them in his fields, and then loaded them onto an eighteen wheeler to sell them (in bulk) in the market place. Someone else purchased them, had them put into another eighteen wheeler and shipped to a food manufacturer such as “Van Camps.” There they cooked them, processed them, and packed them into the cans that were delivered by an eighteen wheeler. Oh yeah, and some flat-bed driver delivered some nice shiny coils of metal to that can manufacturing plant so that they could produce those food grade storage cans. I haven't even mentioned the distribution warehouse where the beans sat for a while after arriving there on an eighteen wheeler! Of course they left that warehouse on a big truck also. All of this takes place so that you can go to the store and purchase your favorite can of beans! There was a lot of trust taking place between many parties of people just to make sure that you and your kids could enjoy that seemingly insignificant little can of beans.

The whole trucking business gets all clogged up when people can't seem to get done what they are simply expected to do. There are drivers who cause problems for their dispatchers. My dispatcher refers to them as “needy” drivers. They can't seem to get anything done without him having to give them advice or encouragement several times per day. Successful drivers create a bond of trust with their support team.

A successful driver has his own motivation and drive. He gives it his all each and every day out here.We are people of action. Truck drivers are decisive, they are focused, they thrive on getting things accomplished. If we have three and a half days to get from Denver, CO over to Portland, Oregon, and then down to Los Angeles, CA in the dead of winter, the last thing on our mind is how much time we are going to have to enjoy ourselves doing something leisurely. We are going to bust our tail just to "git 'er done." We are not going to be wishing we could unionize ourselves and demand less stringent job requirements.

We love getting things accomplished, and if that requires sacrifices such as driving all night for three nights in the snow, we gladly take that bull by the horns and conquer it. We don't give excuses. We don't back down. "I can't," or "this is too hard" is not part of our conversation. We are doers. We leave the dreamers far behind us with each new sunrise. We don't back down, we don't give up, we are our own driving force, full of motivation and willingness. We are never satisfied until we've gotten the present task before us accomplished. At that point we are already eager for the next challenge. If we've worked seventy hours, we're wishing we could just get in another 15 to cap off a really nice week. We push all the limits, we are eager to get more done this week than we did the last. We are goal oriented. We create trust with our support staff by consistently getting things accomplished. That's how we roll!

Going Home

I often write about the enjoyment I get from this trucking career.  I really do enjoy my time on the road. I hope that those of you who read these things can tell how much I thrive on the challenges that this career offers.  It is one solid adventure day after day.  It has a new set of challenges that open up before you literally on a daily basis.  It is not an easy career, which is evidenced by the many who try it and fail, and by the current yammering by the media about the ever increasing driver shortage.  It really takes a special person to do this job.  It has demanding schedules where we constantly flip flop our nights and days, and it has demanding hours where we generally work the equivalent of two full time jobs just to get it all accomplished.  Then on top of all that we are having to work within a set of rules and regulations that are sometimes very awkward and cumbersome.  They are designed for "public safety," but they often fall short of their goals and intentions.  I love a good challenge, and trucking certainly provides that.

I have been running all over the place here lately, but this week I got assigned back to one of my favorite runs.  I ran a load up to Connecticut, and I am now being dispatched back to Louisiana on a deadhead run just so they can get me back in time to grab the next load back up to Connecticut.  I am covering a lot of ground this week.  It feels good, and it makes good money.

My dispatcher called me a few weeks ago to congratulate me on being the top producer last month.  I asked him about another driver in our fleet who is a lease/operator because I knew he had been burning up the roads also.  He told me that the lease/operators are not on this list because they are independent contractors, and this list just included the company drivers.  He then said, "Let me look up his mileage though, and I'll tell you how you guys compare."  Here's what he had to say in response to his search, "Oh, I can't believe this.  He beat you by six miles!  But here's the kicker.  His logs have red marks all over the place, and yours are perfectly clean!  You are killing it!"  What that means is that my friend is having to run illegally to keep up with me.  It is very important that we understand how to manage our time and work our logs so that we are not breaking the law.  I enjoy this job too much to risk it by damaging my reputation for safety and reliability.

On my mind today is one of my favorite things about this job, and that is going home to be with my wife.  I have discovered that absence truly does make the heart grow fonder.  It is a great sacrifice to be separated from one another, but it is also a great joy to be reunited for a brief few days each month.  I actually took a whole week off this month and it was thoroughly refreshing.  My dispatcher never disturbs me when I am at home, and he always tells me, "You take as much time as you need.  Just let me know when you are ready to get back to work."

I always tell my wife to not schedule things around me.  When I come home I want her to keep up with whatever things she has already scheduled.  The timing of my comings and goings are never completely accurate, and I don't expect her to jump through hoops just because of my presence.  It just so happened while I was at home she and our daughter Sarah had something planned where they were going to be gone all day, and I encouraged them to keep their commitment.  I don't think I hardly got up off of our very comfortable couch that whole day.  It sounds lazy, but it was actually pure pleasure just being home resting and taking in the sensory rewards that the familiar and secure surroundings of home provide.

I got to see my friends from church, I took care of several medical appointments I had set for that week while I was at home, and we even got to have a very nice dinner at our house to celebrate Sarah's birthday.  I love to cook, and I got to spend some time in our kitchen.  There are few things more rewarding to me than preparing a nice meal for my family and/or friends.

Here I am in the kitchen laboring over a new recipe I had found to be interesting.  It was shrimp boiled in butter, broth, and beer with a custom blend of Cajun seasonings.

We all enjoyed being together.  We had some fresh bread with garlic, butter, and Parmesan cheese.

My lovely wife prepared us a wonderful Caesar Salad.

It just doesn't get any better than this!  Fresh Salad, Fresh Bread, a Steaming Hot Pot of Shrimp, a beautiful woman, and your children to share it all with!  I had a great time at home with my family.

We ate the shrimp right from the pot and dipped our bread into the spicy broth.  It was all good.  I think I prefer my traditional boiled shrimp which we cool before eating, but it is always fun to try some new culinary adventure.  We finished it all off with the one thing that Sarah requested for her Birthday - a Cherry Pie!

Oh man, I have got to stop posting this information. I'm wanting to go home again, and I am starting to get really hungry!

This life on the road is very rewarding, but there is nothing that compares to the love and fellowship I enjoy with my wife and children.  Going home is probably my favorite thing about this job.  I love to provide for my family's needs, but even more enjoyable is being there with them and sharing the fond affection we all have for one another.

An Unexpected Kindness

A little more than a month ago my first grandchild came into the world screaming and crying for something to eat. During a brief conversation with my dispatcher I happened to mention it. He asked me where my oldest daughter, the mother of this little grandson, lived. I told him Dayton, Ohio, and never thought about that conversation again.

Just a few weeks ago I was in Miami, Florida and my dispatcher called to see when I would be finished with my current load. I was at my final stop and told him when I'd be back to our dedicated customer's plant in Louisiana. He said he had a loaded trailer sitting there waiting on me. What? It will be two days before I'm back. We never have loads sitting around like that. When they load a trailer, they want it on the road. I asked him, "What are they going to say about that load sitting there for two days before we move it out?"

His response was, "That's my problem, not yours. I told them this load has your name all over it, and they are just going to have to wait until you can get here to get it on the road." I didn't even think to ask about the load, I just assumed it went up to the Northeast since I seem to be the only driver here who is willing to do those loads. To my surprise it was a load to Dayton, Ohio. My dispatcher told me to take a few days off up there and introduce myself to this new little guy. So... I emptied out in Dayton, and spent a three day weekend with my oldest daughter, her husband Andrew, and their new little baby boy, Timothy James. Oh, and there's a bonus - my wife was there too - she was there helping out the new Mom.

That's how you make this career rewarding and enjoyable. You keep the team that's dispatching you happy, and they'll keep you happy. At times they even surprise you with an unexpected kindness.

Here I am with my new little buddy...

Mr. Levelheaded Goes To Truck Driving School

I apologize concerning my absence in here.  I'm certainly not gone, I've just been concentrating on some other things lately.  I've been really busy driving this truck across the country, but I've also been doing some writing.  I am just popping in to say thanks to those of you who are still reading in here and checking in on me.  I'll get back to this project in time, but for now I am going to leave you with a little short story I recently wrote which is an attempt to introduce you to the many different characters you will come across as you pursue the trucking career.  Yes, I met all of these and more when I was attempting to get started in trucking...

                  Mr. Levelheaded Goes To Truck Driving School

Mr. Levelheaded had grown weary of his dead-end job and dreamed of making his way into the rewarding career of a Professional Truck Driver. While he had some vague ideas of what the truck driving career might be like, his main motivation was his desire to be rewarded for his own personal results and accomplishments. You see, he was a hard working responsible individual, but had never been compensated any better than his fellow employees who only produced maybe half of what they were capable of. He found his current work environment to be so demoralizing that he saw no real reason to continue being productive and efficient. Slowly, yet progressively, he began conducting himself just like everyone else on the job. This action left him feeling more disillusioned and disappointed in himself, and those feelings weighed heavily on him.

After some lengthy discussions with his wife and family concerning the idea of quitting his current job and going to truck driving school, they decided to give a one year commitment to testing the waters of this new career. Knowing how he struggled at work with feelings of guilt and disappointment over his willful lack of productivity, they felt he might find more satisfaction in a career that recognizes and rewards it's more productive members. So, with their blessing, he began making plans to set himself in a new career direction.

Once he made his plans known to his parents and siblings, they each began to discourage him with comments based on their misconceptions of the career. They crushed his enthusiasm with remarks like these:

“Truck drivers have no room for advancement.”

“It's a dead beat's job - people go into truck driving because they are too dumb to do anything else.”

“Truckers are smelly unkempt vagrants of society whom no one wants to be around.”

Their hostility to his new career choice definitely took the wind out of his sails, but the chance of commandeering one of those big shiny rigs across the country still held enough appeal that he resolved to continue his pursuit of it. Little did he know, this would only be the first of many obstacles he would encounter on this new journey.

Before he turned in his two weeks notice at his current job, he began to do some research about the truck driving career. The discouragement he felt from his parents was only multiplied as he searched online for information on truck driving. While looking into the career, he found websites that seemed completely devoted to making it clear just how bad trucking was, and that it should be avoided if at all possible. It really struck him as odd that these websites were all frequented by truck drivers, and the most discouraging and inflammatory remarks seemed to come from the truck drivers themselves. He thought about posing a few questions of his own in a couple of the forums that he came across, but was afraid he might be fiercely attacked and scorned for his stupidity and ignorance in asking such dumb questions. It was unsettling how the experienced truck drivers participating in the discussions had such disdain for their profession. They seemed to find a sort of twisted pleasure in letting the newbies know just how stupid they were for becoming “steering wheel holders” with nothing but a training certificate, and a shiny new license in their wallet. By carefully posing a question, then dodging for cover with a few snide remarks about “starter companies,” he managed to get a few questions answered without feeling he had completely blown his cover of being a total greenhorn.

He felt discouraged when he learned the only companies who were willing to give the inexperienced drivers a shot were known as “bottom feeders” and “starter companies” among experienced drivers. From what his research kept turning up, most of these “starter companies” had no respect for their drivers. He saw repeatedly where these same companies were often accused of treating their drivers like slaves. His original impressions of the industry's demand for drivers had him thinking that recruiters would be knocking his door down with generously competitive offers for employment, but that scenario now seemed completely unrealistic.

Despite the discouraging things he learned in his research, he determined that he was going to give this his best effort and see it through. The lure of the open road, and being able to make his own decisions and choices about how he conducted himself in the workplace only served to bolster his resolve. Against most of the advice he could find online, he decided to do his schooling through one of the Company Sponsored Training Programs he had read about. Not having the extra funds to pay for school, this appeared to him as his best option.

He had endured many years at his present job while not really enjoying it, so he reasoned with himself that surely he could endure one short year as a truck driver. If it didn't work out, at least he would not be out any money for school, and he would have kept his commitment with the company who sponsored him, all while earning a paycheck to support his family during that time. Convincing himself that he had now overcome all the obstacles he could possibly encounter while getting this new career started, he spoke with a recruiter, and put the whole thing into motion. As soon as his final two weeks at his job had passed, his recruiter quickly provided a free ticket for a dismally long bus ride to the training facility. Shortly after finishing his bus ride, he discovered a whole new set of difficulties that he would ultimately need to conquer in this new quest.

In an effort to minimize their expenses, this particular Company Sponsored Training Program housed their students, four to a room, in a local hotel. While this was a little uncomfortable at first, Mr. Levelheaded understood the economics of it, and did his best to fit in well with his roommates. After all, it was a very temporary situation, and it would just be a short week or two until each of them were off in a truck with his own trainer. At this point, he was really excited about the idea of getting out there on the road with a trainer and learning the finer things of truck driving.

It was here in the hotel room that he realized the many difficulties he had not even considered yet. As he was introduced to his three roommates, he discovered he was rooming with Mr. Naysayer, Mr. Overconfidence, and Mr. Misinformed. As they fell into conversation, it became apparent that Mr. Naysayer had little confidence any of them could land a trucking job. Let's listen in on their conversation as they became acquainted with each other:

Mr. Naysayer: I'm convinced they're purposely setting us up for failure by making it very difficult to pass the written tests. They do this just to get rid of the kind of people they don't really want in their organization. I've heard reports of them sending people home after just a few days. I also heard they keep us in class for ten or twelve hours and then expect us to study at night in our room. Some students from the previous class told me there were questions on the tests they never even covered in the classroom. I'm telling you, it's all rigged just to weed us out and keep us from getting a job. I've even heard reports saying three fourths of us will be dismissed without getting the job they promised us when they put us on that bus.

Mr. Levelheaded: I can't see why they would go to all the trouble of sending us here on the bus, and putting us up in this hotel if their only plan and purpose was to kick us out and send us back home.

Mr. Naysayer: Send you back home! What are you talking about? They just kick you to the curb, and you've got to figure out your own way to get back home. I'm telling you man, these corporations are ruthless. If you don't fit the mold of who they want working for them, then it's hopeless. They will figure out how to can you and never give it a second thought. Did you notice all those homeless people hanging out around the bus station when you got off the bus? I can guarantee you that at least half of those people came here in hopes of landing a trucking job. Look at them now – they can't even afford a bus ticket home. Their cell phones got cut off while they were here going to school because they couldn't pay their bill, and now they have no way of contacting their families to let them know they need some help. They're out here begging for loose change now, just to try and get a little something to eat.

Mr. Levelheaded: Come on now, that makes no sense. Why in the world would... (at this point Mr. Misinformed speaks up boldly and butts into the conversation, eager to share his knowledge of all things trucking with his ill-informed companions...)

Mr. Misinformed: I can tell you why they do that, and if you guys had bothered to do a little research before you came here you would already know the answer to this. It's all over the internet – these huge corporations get a check from the government for each student they bring to their training facility. That's right, you can look it up yourselves, they talk about it on a bunch of different web-sites. It's a super secret government program where they get ten thousand dollars for each student they can bus to their facility. Didn't you notice how eager that recruiter was to get you on the bus? It's all a big scam just to make money off of us. That's right – just off of our room alone they are getting forty thousand big ones from Uncle Sam. If they can figure out how to boot us out tomorrow they will do it. It's kind of like that song says, “Go on, take the money and run!”

Mr. Overconfidence: They aren't getting rid of me that quickly. I came here to get a job, and I guarantee I can pass any test they put to me. As long as they show us what to study, I can make sure that I pass that thing. I've been driving cars for a good many years, and it can't be all that different to drive a big truck – I mean the only difference is that it's bigger – right? I've driven all kinds of machinery over the years, including a combine in the wheat fields, and a back-hoe on construction projects. I've got this.

Mr. Levelheaded: Now, wait just a minute. I've got my laptop here. Mr. Misinformed, could you show me some of those websites where you saw this information? I'm not trying to be skeptical, but I've been doing some research myself, and I haven't seen anything like what you're talking about.

Mr. Misinformed: Well sure, I mean I could if I had my list of websites where I was doing my research, but I left it at home. I had them all written down on a piece of paper, but that was several months ago. I'm sorry, I just can't remember them anymore.

Mr. Naysayer: Well, what you've said is enough for me to believe it. I mean if it's all over the internet like that, then it's got to be true. I knew it was kind of odd the way that recruiter got me signed up so quickly. I've never had anybody tripping all over themselves like that just to offer me a job. Now I know it's just because they're making a profit off of me. It's all coming clear to me now. It's not like me to be so gullible. I can't believe I signed up for this. I should have known it wouldn't work.

Just at this point their conversation was interrupted abruptly by loud knocking on the door. When they opened it, they met one of their instructors, Mr. Sounds Like a Drill Sergeant, who quickly let them know they were expected in the lobby of the hotel at 5:30 a.m. He stressed the importance of being punctual, (with a heavy emphasis on the “p” sound) as there would be a bus waiting to shuttle them to the training facilities. With that, he turned on his heels and went to knock on the next door down the hall.

After closing the door, the first to speak was Mr. Naysayer.

Mr. Naysayer: Do any of you guys know what it means to be Punctual? Is that some way that we are supposed to dress or something?

Mr. Levelheaded: No man, that just means that we need to be on time, and from the way he put it, I'm thinking it would be best for us to be just a few minutes early. Seeing it's already getting late, I'm thinking we should probably all hit the rack and get ourselves a decent night's rest.

Mr. Overconfidence: Well, I've never had any problems getting up early. I'm going to turn on the television and watch the game. I've got a little money riding on this game, and I need to keep an eye on my team. I'll bed down after the game.

Once the television was cranked up and the game was playing, Mr. Levelheaded and Mr. Naysayer got in their beds and made futile attempts at sleep while Mr. Overconfidence and Mr. Misinformed shouted and cheered at the game. At some point nearing one in the morning, everyone had settled into their beds and the room fell silent except for the rhythmic snoring coming from two of the room's sleeping occupants. That snoring was really the only sound heard until close to five in the morning when Mr. Levelheaded's alarm sounded long and loud.

Somehow three of them managed to get downstairs in time to catch the shuttle bus, and to say that Mr. Sounds Like a Drill Sergeant was happy that he had to go drag Mr. Overconfidence out of bed would be very much an overstatement. In fact it would be more like a sick joke. He appeared to enjoy having one slacker give him the chance to show that he was serious about the way they were expected to do things. He shamed Mr. Overconfidence in front of the others, making it abundantly clear that he fully expected everyone to be on the same page by tomorrow morning.

During that first day of class, they mostly filled out a bunch of paperwork and provided urine specimens for their drug tests. But at one point in the day they had a short lecture from Mr. Sounds Like a Drill Sergeant which was designed to brief them on the various things they would be doing that week. That is when they became acquainted with Mr. Know it All. He spoke up and interrupted Mr. Sounds Like a Drill Sergeant several times, challenging him on the veracity of some of the things he was telling them. Mr. Know It All seemed quite unaffected when the instructor asked him, “Son, would you like to get up here and give this lecture? It certainly appears you know way more about this than I do.”

Later in the day, while taking a little break, they met a fellow student known as Mr. Never Do Well. He told them he was a little nervous about the drug testing. It seemed he had smoked a joint on the trip to the training facility during a layover at one of the bus stations. Feeling a little stressed about his parents forcing him to actually report to truck driving school and get a job, he thought smoking just one innocent joint might help him relax and enjoy the bus ride. He had no idea they would do the drug testing so quickly after he got there. Mistakenly he had been under the impression it would be a few months before they got around to the drug tests.

At the end of that eleven hour day, Mr. Levelheaded returned to the hotel room, got out the materials they were supposed to study that night, and got right down to work. About the time he felt prepared and ready to retire for the evening, his roommates showed up and made a raucous group effort at half-way reviewing the materials, and quickly covered what they could before the movie they were wanting to watch got started. They were feeling quite confident and were convinced this was looking like it was going to be a lot easier than they had heard. They stayed up later than they should have in front of the television, while Mr. Levelheaded tried in vain to sleep with his head buried underneath his pillow. The alarm went off at close to five in the morning, and once again only three of them made it to the lobby in time to catch the shuttle. When Mr. Sounds Like a Drill Sergeant counted heads and realized who was missing, he allowed a sly little grin to appear on his face, but made no effort at rousing the offender this time.

When the group returned to their hotel room after that second day, they had plenty to work on. They had been assigned several chapters of material which they would be tested on the very next morning, and Mr. Naysayer was going to need to cover that plus the material from the test that he had failed earlier that same day. They noticed Mr. Overconfidence was nowhere to be seen, and neither were his bags. They never saw him again. Mr. Levelheaded made a joke about him possibly joining the community of homeless persons hanging about at the bus station, but Mr. Naysayer said it wasn't funny. After failing that first test Mr. Naysayer's demeanor had turned more serious, and he seemed a little concerned that he might be hanging out at the bus station himself.

That evening after a fairly successful night of studying and reviewing all the materials together, the following conversation took place among the three truck driver wannabes:

Mr. Levelheaded: You know guys, I think we can do this. If we stick together and help each other like we did tonight, I think we can get past all these written tests and move on to getting our permits. At that point we can start driving those trucks. Then it will just be a few short weeks until we test out for our CDL.

Mr. Misinformed: I don't know man, I noticed there were more people than just Mr. Overconfidence missing from class today. I'm not sure how many, but I am sure there were a few extra empty seats in there today. It seems that people are dropping like flies, and nobody's saying anything about where they are or why they are missing.

Mr. Levelheaded: I guess I really didn't think about it, but now that you mention it there did seem to be a few more empty chairs in there today. I guess I was just kind of focused on the materials they were going over and taking some notes.

Mr. Naysayer: Yeah, I'm with Mr. Misinformed, it seems like they're just setting us up for failure so they can get all that government money for bringing us to their school. Think about it, they get a big check from the government, and then they just figure out a way to keep from having to put us on the payroll. It's a big scam, and we're just pawns in their little game. They're going to get rid of us slowly and make it look like we just couldn't cut the mustard. I mean if they sent us all home on the first day of the week, the government would get suspicious about this whole thing, but if they keep sending home just a few people each day, it makes it look like they're serious about trying to help us get a job.

Mr. Levelheaded: Come on guys, we don't even know if that business about the government paying them to train us is true. I've never heard of such a program except from you guys, and you still can't provide me any evidence to support your claims.

Mr. Misinformed: Oh, it's true alright. It's all over the internet.

Mr. Levelheaded: Look man, I've seen reports of three headed babies being born in Indonesia on the internet, but that doesn't mean it's true.

Mr. Misinformed: What? Wait a minute, can you show me where you saw that? I love looking at stuff like that.

Mr. Levelheaded: That's my point man, you will believe anything you see on a computer. You need to learn how to use your own head. Think about it. This company has been spending money on us just because they need some good drivers. They provided transportation to get here, they've been putting us up in this hotel, and they've handed out all kinds of study materials to us. They've even been feeding us pretty well while we're here on their dime. That doesn't look like a scam to me. I think they're doing this so they can find some good drivers. They're throwing out a large net in hopes they might catch a few decent guys and gals who will eventually develop into professional drivers. I'm going to stick with it until I see something that tells me differently. I think being a truck driver is going to be a pretty cool way to make a living, and If I can figure out how to be good at this it seems to have the potential to yield a pretty decent payday also.

After only about three weeks, each of them had obtained their Commercial Driver's License and were waiting to have a trainer assigned to them. They had witnessed many of their new acquaintances disappear from class during that time, including Mr. Never Do Well. It was true that people disappeared all the time, and they would never hear about what happened to them or why they had to leave. It was all done in private, and Mr Misinformed was still convinced that there was something sinister behind the disappearances. He came up with all sorts of conspiracy theories attempting to satisfy his insatiable appetite for misinformation, but the other two understood it. Those people who kept disappearing had almost always provided good reasons for their removal from the program. There were quite a few folks who started the program thinking the company would just take their word when they told them they had no background issues that should concern the company. But when those background checks and drug tests started coming back, you might just say “the chickens came home to roost.”

The three of them had one more noteworthy conversation together before they parted and went out on the road with their trainers. After that they just sort of lost contact with each other, and Mr. Levelheaded never really knew what became of his truck driving school companions. He hoped he had been helpful to them while together at school, but after their last conversation he just wasn't sure how they were going to fare. He knew what he wanted out of his new career and he was committed to making it happen. Listen in on their last conversation, and I think you'll understand why he wasn't real confident about their futures.

Mr. Misinformed: Hey guys, I'm not too sure about this company we've been training with. I've discovered a bunch of YouTube videos that make it pretty clear that this is not the kind of place we want to be working.

Mr. Levelheaded: Here you go again! You just can't make career decisions based on videos and comments posted online by random people that you have no way of validating or confirming as legitimate.

Mr. Naysayer: I don't know why we need to confirm anything. You know what they say, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” When you've got the kind of evidence that Mr. Misinformed is digging up on the internet it makes it overwhelmingly obvious that this company does not care about their drivers. I mean he showed me one video where a guy claims our company refuses to let him take home time. They also refused to pay him detention pay on a load where he had to sit for twelve hours. What more evidence do we need? It seems these guys are only willing to help us get our licenses so they can then start taking advantage of us. Why else would they make us commit to staying here for one year?

Mr. Levelheaded: Look guys, none of that really gives you any type of valuable information that is worth basing a career decision on. We don't know the particulars on that driver who is complaining. As far as we know he may be a total greenhorn rookie who forgot to send the proper macro in so that his detention pay gets processed correctly. Do you guys really think the company is not going to allow you to take your home time? Do you think they would even have any employees left if that were true? There is just way too much useless information online for you to even think you can base your career decisions on it. Most of it seems to be from people who are trying to make YouTube and Facebook a platform for their own personal grudges and grievances. When we have 100 posts telling us that company X is great, and 100 posts declaring that the same company is so worthless we shouldn't just walk, but run away from it, then what have we learned? I say absolutely nothing! If you can explain to me how you decipher all that information and come up with an accurate assessment I'll begin to hear what you have to say. The information you're trying to base your decisions on is so contradictory it's useless.

Mr. Misinformed: Well, what do you have to say about all these videos that show our company's trucks hitting low bridges and not even being able to back into a simple parking spot at a truck stop? Doesn't that show how poorly they're training new drivers?

Mr. Levelheaded: How can you come to that conclusion? Just a few weeks ago you couldn't shift a big rig, or even come close to backing into a parking spot. Today you can do both of those things pretty well, and you are just a beginner. Don't you feel that your training has gone pretty well so far? They're still going to continue training you and will make sure that you're somewhat proficient before they turn you loose in your own truck. The reason you see so many videos on a company like this one is simple math. This is a very large company. They train more drivers in one month than many companies train all year. There's going to be a lot more opportunities to shoot a video catching one of their brand new rookie drivers making a mistake. Potentially they could even have a much smaller percentage of accidents in their fleet compared to the smaller companies, yet still have considerably more exposure on YouTube. It provides no realistic evidence of any fault on the company's part. It merely shows us they have a lot of drivers, and therefore a lot of exposure to the many liabilities that are common among all trucking companies.

Mr. Naysayer: I wish you well Mr. Levelheaded. I'm glad we ended up rooming together. Because of your help, I honestly think I did better in truck driving school than I would have without you. But I simply cannot deny all the evidence online that you are so willing to ignore. I think I'm going to start looking for a new company right away.

Mr. Levelheaded: What about the contract you signed with these guys? Aren't you going to honor that agreement? They provided you with a start to your new career, and now you're just going to bale on them?

Mr. Misinformed: I found a guy online who says he quit during his first month and they never came after him. I mean this is a really large corporation with much bigger fish to fry than chasing me down for a few thousand bucks. They write off these types of things all the time, it's just another tax write-off for them.

Mr. Naysayer: I'm with you man, I think now that we have our CDL we are in big demand. We should be able to have our choice of any trucking company we want to work for. There's a lot of companies out there that pay much better than these guys do. It seems to me that everything they do around here is calculated to make money off of us.

Mr. Levelheaded: I can't believe the stuff I'm hearing from you guys! Here's a company that gave you a chance to start a new career, and once you got that silly license in your hip pocket, you all of a sudden became so important in your own eyes that you're not only going to turn your backs on them, but you're going to throw them under the bus as well. You can't be serious with me! I'm going to give my best efforts at learning this trade, and from what I've seen I'll still be learning how to be proficient at this even after my one year contract is fulfilled. There are no shortcuts to success at this stuff. It takes commitment, resolve, and a willingness to see things through. You guys are letting a bunch of internet knuckleheads that you don't know, and can't even confirm as legitimate, influence your career decisions simply because they're on the internet. There is no additional authority gained by a person just because they have posted a video or a comment online. They may be entertaining, they may even be amusing, but that doesn't give them any authority or influence that should have any effect on your decisions. You need to listen to people who have verifiable history and experience at trucking when trying to make important career decisions. I'm going to try and learn as much as I can from my trainer, then I'll learn from my experiences, my dispatcher, and my fellow drivers. I'm not going to allow the flood of questionable materials that I find online to easily influence me when I have access to people who I know are here to help me advance my new career. This company will provide me with additional training as I need or request it. From what I have seen, they seem committed to doing whatever is needed to keep good drivers on their team. Farewell my friends, I enjoyed going through school with you and also enjoyed our time together talking to each other in our hotel room. I wish you the best, but I hope you'll realize the value of sticking it out for your first year right here where you got your start. I'm convinced that you're going to be sorely disappointed if you follow your current ideas on how to get your trucking careers started.

Nine Months Later..

Mr. Misinformed can be found on his YouTube channel ranting about why he quit trucking after his first three months. It seems that one of his videos about refusing to allow his dispatcher to force him to drive while sleepy has gone viral. Even the ten hour break he admits to in the video didn't satisfy his need for sleep. His work on YouTube is now providing him with a small amount of money each month that will basically afford him a few groceries each week. It's a good thing he's got that minuscule income, because no trucking company wants to touch him these days. It's also nice and convenient that his Mom had some spare room in her basement where he could live rent free.

Mr. Naysayer fell for his trainer's hype about leasing a truck and started right in as a Lease/Operator when he upgraded to solo. After seeing those huge paychecks his trainer was receiving, it seemed like only a fool would be a company driver. Reality slapped him almost into bankruptcy, and he quickly baled out of trucking altogether. He began attending a trade school to obtain his HVAC license about three months ago. He once thought if he had a Commercial Driver's License he could parlay that into a good income. After going broke as a truck driver, he is now convinced the real money is in Heating and Air Conditioning repair. Once again he is foolishly thinking it is the license itself that produces the income.

Mr. Levelheaded is still going strong. He continues enjoying his new-found passion of driving big rigs. He's making good solid money and continuing to learn and develop ways of being more efficient at truck driving. He loves his new career and is discovering that he can make more money than the average driver just by hustling and getting more accomplished than his fellow employees. He's often been approached by his dispatcher about special things he can do which earn him extra money, and receives offers of special accounts that he can work on if he wants to. For now he's sticking with what he's doing and working on honing both his truck driving skills and his time management practices. He keeps his options open and hopes to one day find a special niche that will really work well for him here at the company that gave him his first shot at success.