Are You Sure You Want to Be a Long-Haul Trucker?

There are numerous kinds of trucking jobs. In this post I am going to emphasize long-haul trucking opportunities. Talking about the way of life of an long-haul driver and the many unique qualities of the career are too broad for a single article. For this reason we intend to analyze three features involving this kind of job initially. We will glimpse at the schedule, pay, and the pros and cons for long haul truckers. For the purpose of this article, when I reference OTR drivers, I mean company drivers.



Schedule

Long-haul careers are the most common kind of drivers wanted position. The majority of new truckers start in one of these kinds of jobs. To be a profitable over the road truck driver it requires a willingness to be absent from family. Schedules will vary by company, but in most over the road positions, a trucker should expect to be separated from family for several weeks and home for two or three days and back to work once more. Generally, OTR drivers get one day at home for each week worked. While traveling a driver may commit 18-23 hours per day inside of the truck. The routine can certainly be a boring schedule of driving, getting loaded / unloaded, waiting on a load, and once in a while stopping at a truck stop. Not everyone can get accustomed to a lifestyle like this and for anybody contemplating becoming a truck driver this ought to be considered.



Pay

Wages for over the road truck drivers contrast by company. Over the road truckers are generally compensated by the mile. Typical pay for an seasoned driver is around 35 cents per mile with new truck drivers making a little less. But the amount of pay per mile is just part of the story. Hours of service rules are released through the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration at http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/rules-regulations/topics/hos/index.htm. There are several guidelines but drivers can have about 70hrs driving per week (actually in 8 days). In a perfect world a driver could conservatively average fifty miles per hr for 70 hrs, he could get 3500 miles each week. 3500 miles times 35 cents would be $1225 a week before taxes. But we realize that life on the road is far from perfect. Time squandered getting through traffic congestion, getting loaded / unloaded, and awaiting another load seriously cuts into the amount of pay a trucker may make. One of the unfortunate details of driving over the road is the fact that drivers are not paid for time wasted on the road when they are not driving. By law, drivers can drive for 11hrs in one day. If the truck driver gets delayed for 6 hrs, he merely gets paid for 5 hrs. As you can understand there are several other variables related to the pay of an OTR driver. It is critical to do some research when looking at beginning a new job. In a coming post, we are going to look at the best way for you to do research on a specific company, but for right now we are going to examine a few of the pros & cons of OTR driving.

Advantages & Disadvantages



Pros

• Plenty of Availabilities

• Get to discover the Great outdoors

• Flexibility

• Respectable Compensation with no College degree



Cons

• Being Absent from Home

• Dealing with Dangerous Drivers

• Navigating an Tractor-Trailer in Traffic

• Bad Weather conditions

• Solitude / Loneliness

• Driving Related Activities in which the Driver is Not Paid

• Truck Malfunctions

• Staying Fit / Weight Control



It has been said of careers, discover a vocation that you enjoy and you will never work a day in your life. Many of the drivers that make their living with long-haul trucking, love their jobs and get addicted to the lifestyle. But due to the requirements of this job, it takes a certain type of person to be successful. Are you one of those people?



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