A Career In Over-The-Road Trucking

A Career In Over-The-Road Trucking

By Keith Birmingham

Once again I have been asked if I would recommend trucking as a career. So, I thought I would post a little of what I think about the industry that feeds me. I can only write about what it is like to be an over-the-road trucker.

I was a student, home on spring break, from Oklahoma State University when a man that had bought a truck off my brother-in-law drove the truck into the yard and up to the house. My brother-in-law and I were outside enjoying a cold beer. The man climbed out of the truck, tossed the keys to Keith (my brother-in-law and I had the same name). He said he could not pay for the truck, and turned around and walked off.

Keith turned to me, asked “Do you wanna drive a truck?”

We had just been talking about how rough it was trying to feed a family and go to school. I sipped on my beer and replied, “Might as well.” We climbed into the truck, drove out of town 6 or 8 miles. Keith drove out. I drove back. That night I studied the Oklahoma driver’s manual my sister had used to get her license. The next morning we drove to Elk City, the only town in western Oklahoma where I could take a test that day. Two hours later I had a commercial driver’s license. (No, CDL was not in effect at that time.) The next day we drove to Dallas, and signed on with B.F. Walker, Inc., a now out-of-business trucking outfit that specialized in oil field trucking.

Now, 33+ years later, I will say that with all of the bad, and all of the good, for me - trucking is a career that has always fit my personality, and there are only three (music, writing and photography) careers I know of that I would rather be doing. But, the promise of good money was there, and I went for it. Of course, I intended to return to college after I made the big money for a year. And, of course, the money was there “if” I put in the miles.

(To be continued.)

The major percentage of trucking jobs do not pay an hourly wage. You are paid by the mile, or by percentage of what the load pays the carrier that is you employer. So, where are the problems in this system? The problem with this system is the time you spend at the shippers and receivers dock, and the other necessary duties that the driver is required to perform, such as securing the load, truck maintenance, and taking care of yourself. It is not uncommon to spend several hours at docks for shippers and receivers who show no respect for the truck driver. And, if your employer does not collect detention pay you don’t get paid for those hours. Grocery warehouses are especially bad about this misuse and mistreatment of truck drivers. And, competition for freight keeps most companies from demanding detention pay. It is that simple. This is also one of the reasons I am with my current carrier. I seldom bump the docks of grocery warehouses.

In recent years carriers are finding that in order to keep a driver on their trucks they must offer incentives such as increased pay for extra partial load drops, higher tarp pay, detention (payment for being at a shipper or receiver longer than (usually) two hours. Many companies have perks such as insurance plans and 401k plans, and some have special employees whose job is to help you plan for the future for you and your family.

These perks are nice if you can get them. I have never seen them. I stopped pulling open container (flatbed) trailers because of low and no-pay tarp pay.
I have never seen a dime in detention pay. And, I don’t want the people I work for putting their nose into my family business.

Did I say that trucking fit my personality? Well, yes it does, in some perks that are very important to me. I do not have to deal with the boredom of repeating the same task, and going to the same place to work every day. And, I do not have anyone looking over my shoulder, or nagging at me while I am doing my job. And, if I ever start feeling like those things I have just mentioned are occurring, truck driving jobs are as easy to find as truck drivers.

Now, here are some personality traits that are very important to succeeding as a truck driver:
1.) You need to be self-reliant. There will be many times that you will be faced with taking care of business that should have been taken care of by other people.
2.) You need to be comfortable with being alone for very long periods of time. If you have a brain in your head you will not rely on that citizens band radio for company. The same goes for chat rooms on the computer. Essentially, they are the same other than one is typed, the other is spoken.
3.) You need to be good at managing your money, or you will end up broke long before payday.
4.) Good communication skills and a good attitude is the most important tributes a driver can bring to their career
5.) Probably most important, you need to be a self-starter. If you need a nanny to wake you up in the morning, do yourself a favor, stay at home with the nanny.

I have had a love/hate relationship with the trucking industry since 1974.I truly believe that the only difference between my company and the next is the physical address and the phone numbers. Many fleet owners would like to think that they will always treat their employees better that anyone else. The fact is that after a person invest large sums of money in equipment and in their drivers, many times it is the truck drivers that screws over their employers. The employers become bitter toward drivers, and drivers become bitter toward employers. And, that is just the way it is.

When a person ask me if I would recommend trucking as a career I ask: “Are you married?” If they answer yes I ask them one more question: “Do you want to stay married?” Your spouse, and your children need to fully understand that your career will require major, major, major sacrifices by them. You will miss holidays. You will miss birthdays. And, you will miss anniversaries. And, your social life will often seem like it is null and void.

And, other than spending time with my family, playing music, working on my photography, and writing - there is nothing I would rather do.

The End.
*************

Keith Birmingham is an Oklahoma based photographer, writer and webmaster with a growing catalog of industrial, lifestyle and nature photography. HKB Photo is the online portfolio he uses to attract professional photo buyers. This article may be re-published on your site or in your newsletter as long as this resource box is included. Please contact the author at maddadkeith@yahoo.com for other use.