While I cannot say this is actually a job, I can say it can be a decent living. I say it is not a job because it's more of a lifestyle rather than a job. When you have a job, you go home after your shift. But being a truck driver means you really don't know when you'll be back home after you hit the road.
The work is not that hard and can be downright enjoyable, and the pay is decent compared to some other blue collar careers, but there is something that must change in this industry if things are going to improve for everyone. I say everyone because everyone is suffering due to certain issues plaguing the industry. When I say everyone, I mean everyone.
The turnover in the Transportation Industry is enormous, but this is not due to the overwhelming labor or the horrible conditions. The truth is that most trucking companies are largely the same, regardless of the name on the side of the truck. The bigger cause of the turnover is a large percentage of drivers seeking a company or environment where they won't be treated like the world's doormat or two-footed sled dogs. If there is a unique aspect to this industry I have found that surely must be leaking from the edges of the Twilight Zone, it is that so many people despise truck drivers. This is particularly true within the industry itself. If one is in Transportation but in a non-driving position, the driver is so beneath their contempt that one would wonder how they stand coming to work everyday.
I can say some drivers lend to the problem. Many can be intentionally ignorant and combative, and many demonstrate no patience with anything. But then, these two issues are likely causing one another. Another thing is that the driver does come across as someone who does what he does because he fits into nothing else, although this is truly a fallacy.
Most drivers come into this from other industries, lured by the notion of a free and adventurous lifestyle. Many grew up in it and know little else while some are shanghaied by the foolish ads placed by some companies, often indicating this is so much fun, respected, and pays a mint. How ironic that many of these same companies gladly treat drivers like, well, sled dogs and are more than happy to ensure of their misery.
The turnover causes extraordinary costs within Transportation, and these costs are past on to the consumers via greater hikes in freight expense. Further, the quality of the driver is diminishing because good and decent, intelligent people escape from the industry regularly after recognizing that the potential to be treated like something other than a moronic criminal is akin to winning the lottery.
It isn't that there are no jobs where one can find decent treatment and not be leered at with a tinge of disgust, but they're becoming increasingly rare. One way to go, if one can afford it, is to become an Owner/Operator (O/O) and drive for a company at their discretion, or to drive for themselves and operate the truck like a small business. But to obtain a tractor can cost near to six figures, and if one is going to drive for themselves, the trailer is also a significant expense, not to mention all the costs and fees like insurance and on and on. Some companies come well recommended by drivers because of the environment and conditions, but getting in there requires some patience on a long waiting list.
Hey, if they're constantly hiring drivers, they likely suck to work for, and it's usually just that simple.
The problem isn't just directly within the industry, either. I have seen countless drivers express a loss of patience with the way they're treated at shipping and receiving locations. It seems the policy of numerous well-known companies that arriving drivers are to be treated rudely and as though they're there on some prison work-release program for dumbass sub-human freaks. First of all, this is simply unnecessary, and it lends only to creating greater difficulty.
It isn't everyone, though, and there are shippers and receivers I have enjoyed returning to time and again because the people there are decent and actually enjoyable to be around. But every driver has a place they refuse to return to because of unacceptable BS on the part of some jerk who is a jerk just to be a jerk.
I have been to these places and often talked to people who used to be drivers but got out of trucking because of the issues I have mentioned. They have stated, time and again, that because they are not retarded criminals, they won't work in an industry where everyone in the so-called entry-level position is treated as such.
I completely understand, although Driver is not an entry-level position. There is no ladder of opportunity other than lead driver or driver/trainer. There are two sorts of positions- Driver and Driver Support. Within Driver Support there may be an aspect of potential in promotion, but those in Driver Support are completely foreign to those in Driver positions. The division between these two positions is vast.
Do I have any potential recommendations or possible solutions? None that are realistic. Unfortunately, this is likely an issue of human limitation, not unlike other ignorances and evils. We know Human Trafficking is a heinous crime, but most of humanity is directly involved and those that aren't just don't care. Those that do are so limited in their ability to help that their efforts are almost pointless. So, to see improvements in this industry and an environment where drivers are treated like someone valid doing a valid job on a broad scale is simply is too fantastic to brood upon.
If you drive for a profession, recognize within yourself who and what you are; don't concern yourself with the opinions of those who will not and have never done your job. Hey, that asinine office drone who sneers at your kind couldn't negotiate the truck out of the lot, and they likely couldn't tell you what to do with that big yellow button. Dismiss them and enjoy your life for the sake of it. There is nothing wrong with any honest job, even the jobs done by those who look down on you. The issue isn't job-related; it's just a poor limitation of our kind.
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