Owlnotes.com

My official job title is truck driver.

I have been in the truck driving profession for a little over 20 years.

I haul refrigerated chickens from Adel, Iowa to Millsboro, Delaware. The chickens are already in boxes, so when I get to Delaware, I just push the boxes to the back of the truck. There is a crew there that unloads the boxes of chickens from my truck.

There is no typical day in the truck-driving industry. I get up early and drive for a long time. I leave Iowa late on Monday nights and arrive in Delaware Tuesday nights. Then I sleep for about eight or nine hours. The chickens are unloaded early Wednesday morning. After that, I leave Delaware and get back to Iowa sometime on Thursday. The exact time I get to Delaware or and Iowa varies depending on the weather and traffic.

I stop once going each direction to sleep. The regulated limit of driving time is 11 hours. Then you are supposed to take a 10-hour break before driving again.

The truck has a bed in the back, so I sleep in the truck.

It takes me about 18 and hours to get to Delaware. My route is 2,400 miles round-trip.

There are always difficult situations with traffic and the weather. The only thing you really can do in those situations is to be patient and keep driving.

I do the same work everyday. But completing each delivery is satisfying.

Currently, I drive by myself.

I have driven with other people in the past. Early in my career, I drove with a friend of mine that I knew from high school and from being in the military together. We drove all over the country, delivering one load, then picking up another and taking it to its destination. We carried general freight, so the type of cargo always varied.

I don't mind having someone in the truck with me, but I prefer to be the person driving.

You call someone. There are some truck stops that have people they will send out to help. Otherwise, you have to find a nearby shop, and it will send out a crew to look at the truck or help you take the truck to a place where it can be worked on.

After high school, I decided to join the Army. I served for 3 years. I drove all different types of trucks for an infantry unit. I was sent to Korea for about a year, where I drove a variety of trucks, hauling people and supplies. After I was done serving, truck driving seemed like the best option for a career, since I already had experience. So I applied for a job driving a semi-truck. I was with my first trucking company for 2 years. Since then, I have had several different driving jobs with different companies. I've done both local driving and over-the-road driving. When I drove locally, I drove a dump truck for a couple of companies that built roads and that sort of work. Over-the-road driving is the kind of work I do now. Neither type of work has set hours. Unlike over-the-road, however, you are home every night when you drive locally.

There were several things that factored into my decision. I did not have the study habits, grades, or money to go to college. Recruiters came to my high school and talked to students. The military was my best choice at the time. I knew I didn't want to be in the Marines, but I don't remember what made me choose the Army over the other branches of the military.

I had no idea, and that was part of my problem. I did not look into the future.

How did you become interested in driving trucks?
A: When I signed up for the military, I took a test to see what skills and interests I had and what type of work suited me best. I scored highest on driving, and the Army was currently recruiting for that area. So I started driving when I was in the Army, and made it my career after my term was up.

My responsibilities haven't really changed. A driver's responsibilities are basically the same throughout the industry. It is just the material he or she is carrying that changes.

You have to watch out for bad drivers on the road. I've learned the rules and regulations of the trucking industry. I've also learned more about the mechanics of the trucks From my over-the-road experience, I've seen and learned more about the United States.

I would like to find a local driving job. I'm always keeping an eye out for new opportunities. And eventually, I will retire.

I get up at 11:30 on Monday nights. I load the chickens until about 1:00 in the morning, and then I start driving to Delaware. My day doesn't have an official ending time because I stop to sleep. Traffic and weather also affect what time I get into Delaware. Usually, I arrive in Delaware somewhere between 7:45 and 8:30 Tuesday night.

The first thing I do is inspect the truck making sure my lights are working, check for flat tires, and that sort of thing. The last thing I do is another inspection of the truck.

There are weigh stations in every state. Most of the time, they just check your weight and let you go. Sometimes, they will have you pull around back to check your paper work and inspect your truck. If a truck is overweight, there is usually just a fine to pay. If a driver is really overweight, there can be other consequences, but that is rare.

The driver has to pay the fine, because he or she is the one that left the place of departure with the knowledge that the load was overweight. It is a driver's responsibility to make sure that his or her load is at a legal weight. Most places that drivers depart from do not have scales, so drivers have to go to the nearest truck stop and scale out the weight of their loads.

It depends on the company you work for and the route you have. There is very little variety in my current job. Basically, only the weather and traffic vary. In a previous job I had, it varied a lot. I drove all over the country, and carried a variety of general goods. I did not have a set route then. Personally, I prefer driving to the same place each time, like I do now, because then I know what time I am leaving, what time I should be home. I also know the highways I'm driving, so if it gets foggy or the roads get bad I know what to look for.

I work 4 days a work right now. I have weekends off.

Some drivers own their own trucks, but the majority of drivers use a truck that is provided for them. Many companies provide the opportunity for drivers to lease or buy trucks through them. Owning your own truck is very expensive, though. A lot of things change between drivers and employers when drivers lease or own their own trucks. For example, there are different pay packages that are worked out. If you lease or own your truck, you may be responsible for all of the maintenance fees and fueling costs. Some companies have gas surcharges that they will pay, but other times the drivers have to pay for all of their gas. I have never owned my own truck, and I do not desire to own one.

I have a credit card from the company that I use to pay for gas. That way the bill goes directly to my employer rather than having to pay for the gas myself and being reimbursed by the company later.

There is not a typical salary; it varies quite a bit. Some local companies pay very little, while others pay well. The same goes for over-the-road companies. Local companies do tend to pay better than over-the-road jobs, though.

Drivers are paid based on the distance they drive. But different companies decide salaries by different methods. Some employers base pay on experience, while others pay the same across the board, no matter whether a driver is a first-time driver or has had several years of experience. I make 36 cents per mile.

Some companies will have trainees go through a learning program, and then they will drive with a trainer for awhile. It can also depend on the customer. Some customers are very picky, so companies will put their most experienced drivers on those accounts to ensure that the deliveries are on time every time.

The company I'm with now allows drivers to determine their own routes. Some employers require drivers to take specific routes, and they send out the routes and maps over their computer boards. Companies usually allow drivers to go about 10 percent over the mileage they have calculated for the routes. If drivers go over that limit, though, they are fined.

My career does make things harder. I enjoy going hunting and fishing, and I don't have as much time to do those things. I also like to see all of my daughters' sporting events, but because I work nights during the week, I miss out on a lot of those things.

It is very easy to find a job within the industry, because truck drivers are in high demand. There is a lot of stability in that sense. On the other hand, there is very little stability in terms of individual routes. The customer you specifically deliver to could cancel a contract with your employer at any time. And your route disappears with that contract.

I get 2 weeks of vacation time a year. I don't receive a specific amount of sick time. If I need a day off I can take it, but I don't get paid when I don't do my route.

I can get health insurance through my company, but that is it.

Bad weather can cause very long, hazardous drives. We are allowed to pull over if the weather is too bad. Even though the birds are expensive and could be ruined if they aren't delivered on time, the company wants the drivers to be safe. But I personally have never had to stop because of the weather.

We do change our schedule a little bit sometimes to accommodate holidays. We do also have to drive on some holidays, depending on what days it is. For example, I usually leave on Monday nights, but this year Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve were both on Mondays. So, we pushed back deliveries by one day. I had both Mondays off and left late on Tuesday night instead; that way I could spend Christmas and New Year's Day with my family.

Actually, it is the customer you deliver to that determines whether or not you drive on holidays. If our customer in Delaware had wanted/needed the chickens on Tuesday like usual, I would have had to leave on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.

Knowing that I can do my job safely, and get to my destination on time and accident-free is satisfying. At one point in my career, I worked for a company that poured asphalt. It was rewarding to help with projects from start to finish, such as building a highway, and then see people driving on it.

The most frustrating part of my job is bad drivers on the roads.

Technology has helped the truck-driving profession, but it has not changed it very much; it is still just driving. Companies are able to track where loads and drivers are now. Cell phones make it a lot easier when there is a problem or a truck breaks down. A lot of companies are now putting GPS systems into their trucks.

The field is growing because of the economy and the demand for shipping goods. People want things right away. They want it shipped yesterday, and they want it to have arrived yesterday. The industry is constantly growing, which can be a bad thing because companies become lax in their hiring expectations. Also, the more employees a company, has the lower the pay rate is. Drivers are in such high demand that employers do not have to pay you well. And there are so many people to hire that it keeps average wages down.

The economy has a big effect on our industry. When the economy suffers from a recession or slows down, the trucking industry suffers from it. If you think about it, everything that you have has been on a truck of some kind at one point or another. So, when the economy slows down, shipping slows down, and there is less freight to haul. A fall in the economy can also lead to lay-offs. A lot of companies laid off workers in the past year because of the high fuel prices.

Yes, shipping goods by truck is more cost effective because it costs less to ship by truck than by air. Time-wise, shipping by air is obviously faster. But the cost of fuel for a truck is much less than the cost of fuel for a jet.

I wish I had known that this occupation could be a dead-end job. There really is no ladder to climb in truck driving. The job is always the same. Some companies hire you on as a driver for awhile, and then you can work your way into an office job as a dispatcher. That is about the only advancing you can do, though.

Drivers have to have patience to deal with the traffic and weather. They also need patience because some people you meet are thankless and think of you as just another bad-reputation truck-driver. Common sense is important.

Someone who cannot read a map or follow directions would not be well-suited for truck-driving. If a person has road rage at all, he or she will not do well in the industry.

New employees go through some sort of training program. Driving programs are offered at some community colleges, and some trucking companies offer their own training. To drive within the state, a person has to be 18 years old. To cross state lines, federal regulations state a driver must be 21 years old, but most insurance companies set higher regulations at 23 or 25 years of age. You also must have an up-to-date driver's license. Different trucks require different licenses and endorsements.

I would encourage young workers to stay local, and try to get as much experience as they can. New drivers should try to get on with the freight companies rather than do over-the-road trucking because the pay is a lot better. Local drivers also usually have weekends and holidays off, are home every night, and receive full health benefits. There are also some opportunities to advance within freight companies.