Every Driver at some point in his or her professional driving career ask themselves this very question that I recently asked of myself. “how long are you going to do this?” For some the answer comes easy, their life is trucking, they know nothing else, or don’t want to do anything else. For others, myself included, trucking was a way to a means, It was a way to pay the bills when going to college to achieve the same money was not feasible. I knew that when I started driving eleven years ago, that it was not going to be my last career. But what do you do after Trucking?

First let me give you a little background on myself so you can understand more clearly where I am coming from. I got out of the United States Army back in 1995. I bounced around through various factory jobs and then realized that there was no future in being in a factory trying to earn enough money to raise a family. So I looked into trucking. I was used to being gone all the time, the Army helped me with that. So I headed to the market for a newspaper. I had seen all the T.V. commercials about trucking schools and had always heard that truckers made lots of money. I was pumped up when I was accepted to a driving school in Arkansas, the only catch? I had to drive for them for a while. No problem right? Wrong, the pay was terrible and I was never home. Adapting to life on the road was a real challenge for myself, not to mention my wife. We got through the bumpy ride that was the first few years of trucking. Sooner or later you get to the part where you should be earning more money. You have to pay your dues you might say. Well, you ask yourself that question again, “how long do I want to do this?” and another question comes up too, ” will my over the road experience translate into a well paying driving job near home when I am ready to come off the road?”

Last July I came off the road. I had had enough of the open road, I had had enough of the lying load planners, the long days that I was supposed to try to log, the sorry compensation for being gone away from home too long, all of it piled up on top of me to a point where I was ready to go home. I think that I stayed too long anyway as my health was starting to be affected. Not to mention a really bad decision on my part to lease a truck (that’s another nightmare for another time). So, what do you do when its time to come off the road? I looked in the paper, I looked on the Internet, and I did the old fashioned thing, beating the street looking for a job driving where I could be home in my own bed at night. Did I have any luck? Sorta, but there was a big hang up that I didn’t realize was going to be a factor, I didn’t have Hazmat on my CDL anymore and most places like Wilson, Southeastern, UPS, and the rest of the night driving, doubles dragging gang needed you to have it on your CDL. After 911 background checks had to be done to get Hazmat on your CDL’s. Never mind that a terrorist was not going to get a hazmat license to use Hazmat as a weapon. That was such a “Make America Feel Good” move. Anyway I didn’t get it again because I didn’t need it where I was working and it cost a hundred dollars more. so without Hazmat I had to get a job driving a dump truck for a local construction and road building contractor.

Here is the point in this whole post. If you are deciding to get off the open road and you have some years under your belt, do it before your health starts to be effected and get all your endorsements back on your CDL’s. If you are planning on coming off the road to drive a dump truck, be prepared to make a lot less than what you may think it is going to pay. I have eleven years of driving experience and I am making poor money for the hours that I work. It is like I had to start all over again, right from the bottom. When winter is over, I will be getting the Hazmat back on my CDL’s and doubles too. I looked all over the Internet to try and find what a dump truck driver should make but I could not find anything on the subject. This may be just my area of the country but I doubt it. So, what do you do when Dump trucking doesn’t pay? I like my job, I like the work and being able to say ” I helped build that”. It’s cool work. It just doesn’t pay worth a dang! Is there really that big of a trade off between being payed for being gone all the time and the pay for being able to go home to your own bed every night? I am asking because I am getting the feeling that my over the road experience of eleven years doesn’t count for anything when you get off the long haul. At eleven years over the road without an accident, shouldn’t you be making at least $600 a week and still be in your own bed at night? I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news for those of you who are thinking about doing what I did, coming home off the endless white line, but a man can not live on these wages for long and still keep his sanity.

I feel like trucking has let me down in as that here I am after 11 years of over the road trucking and my dues mean squat. My advise for all of you out there that are debating this move in your mind, plan for it! Don’t just give up and come home without a real plan on what you want to do. Look into jobs on your time off. keep all of your endorsements on your CDL’s. Above all don’t wait until your health is being affected by all the long hours in the drivers seat. Maybe it is just the “Dump Trucking ” that pays so badly, maybe there is light at the end of this tunnel after all. Maybe spring will bring a whole new outlook for me on the trucking industry.

Stay tuned, I might have better answers for you when I find them myself. For now though, think things through really well before you decide to get off the road. put some money into savings so you can get by until things even out. It’s not easy, and I miss that White line every now and then, But I like my own bed better than any sleeper berth!

Peace