WHY TRUCKING JOB IS WORST JOB?

Truck driving used to be one of the best blue-collar jobs around. It was a golden ticket to the middle class. A strong union fought for high wages and good working conditions. But it didn’t last. The troubles that truck drivers have today really began in 1980 with deregulation.  

That’s when a new law called the Motor Carrier Act got rid of the fixed rates truckers used to charge. The trucking industry’s probably changed so much over the last 10, 15, 20 years. It is something that doesn’t get recognized as much as it should. According to American Transport Research Institute (PDF) there are roughly 3.5 million truck drivers now on America’s roads and according to FMCSA(PDF) 10,659,380 large trucks are registered in the United States. 

Following are the main problems that are making trucking job worse. 

Time 

Otr truckers drive around 70+ hours per week and they only get to go home every other weekend. That leaves almost no time for anything other than work there are plenty of local and regional jobs that come with more home time but they also come with more stress more risk and more housing expenses. 

Being Away From Home 

Truck driving over the road truck driving is not just a job it’s a lifestyle. All sorts of guys have a lot of trouble adjusting that that’s the simple truth you’re going days at a time sometimes weeks at a time. Not only do you have to adjust to this so does your family your kids your wife. It’s a terrible part of the job and you know you’re not really compensated anymore for that part of the job. 

Insufficient Pays Considering Risk + Hardships 

There is something else that’s difficult about being a truck driver. It’s the hours that you work versus the pay that you make at the end of the day when you look at your paycheck. When you’ve been putting in 70 80 hours a week gone for a couple weeks of time and you look at your paycheck and it doesn’t reflect it doesn’t come close to reflecting the number of hours you put into the job and into the work that’s a pretty tough pill to swallow. 

You know it’s okay for a single guy because you can kind of Slough it off. But if for a guy with a family I’d say that’s a hell of a thing. Yet you know sometimes there are no better jobs available in the area where you live and you just got to suck it up until something better comes along. That’s a pretty tough pill to swallow. 

Making Difficult Decisions 

One of the toughest things drivers have to face is deciding when to go and when not to go. You wake up in the morning and you’re in the truck stop. You’re supposed to be on a schedule you look at the windshield and you can’t see the parking lot across from you. Because it’s snowing so heavier the fogs so thick or it’s glare ice on the parking lot and the dispatchers just whipping you because you have to go. 

You got an appointment they can’t get you in them for another two weeks or whatever you know they always come up with some story and you’ve got to decide whether it’s safe to go or whether it’s not.  

Whether you’re better just to anchor the thing and ride out the storm or whatever you’re in and nobody. I mean nobody can drive in freezing rain it’s as simple as that and the dispatcher doesn’t know freeze and rain from squat. So don’t even listen to him when it comes to freezing rain or something like that the call is yours and if the ice is hanging off the mirror arms crawl on your hands and knees into the truck stop so you don’t wipe out and break your back