Choosing a Trucking Job Part

In part one of our series, Choosing a Trucking Job Part I: Factors Affecting All Companies, we talk about various factors and considerations that will affect your experience at the company where you work, including:

The Best Hard-to-Understand and Mythical Trucking Company "The Perfect Trucking Company"
Competition and politics in every freight company
Different Divisions Work Together, or at Time, Work Against Each Other
Competition in the Company

In the second part of our series, "Choosing a Trucking Job Part II: You and" Your People "Are the Most Important Factors", we talk about surrounding yourself with the right people, understanding the factors that influence the delivery of goods that are you will get, and the things you can do to put yourself in the best position to succeed, including:

Be patient
Communicate well with your company
Prove yourself as a driver first, ask for a second help
Learn to understand your company and the trucking industry in general
Surround yourself with the right people
Get to know the right people
and much more....

Now, in section III, let's start talking about how you should choose a truck driving job based on your personality and lifestyle choice.

First, let's start with your lifestyle. Are you married? Divorced? Do you have children? Do you like adventure? Do you want to travel widely and see the country, or do you already have the opportunity and would rather live near home?

Time at home is one of the most important considerations you must make when choosing a truck driving job. There is one thing that I cannot stress enough - if you have your own family, please, please, don't take over the job of driving a road truck where you go for weeks at a time. It has been done by thousands of truck drivers over the years, and is being done by thousands today, but the pressure placed on every family member is enormous and completely unnecessary. There are many opportunities in the transport industry to make good money and go home at least every weekend, and sometimes even every night. Countless families separated because of the time they spent apart. I certainly don't want to see that number increase.

Even for those who have families, the work of driving a regional truck can be stressful, but I think it can be done - at least for a while. But it will definitely test your relationship with your partner, and with your children. Ideally you want to be home with your family every day, but often your financial situation determines that you get a very good paid job, which you might not be able to find at a local company. However, be warned beforehand, even the work of regional trucks will be a BIG test for the strength of your family, not to mention the fact that you will lose so much of your family life.

What if you are married, or in a serious relationship, but you don't have children? There are many couples traveling together. In some cases, both are drivers and share driving tasks, and in other cases only one drive and others help in other ways such as by navigation, phone calls, documents and dump truck hino various other tasks. But again, be careful - the inside of your truck is the size of a walk-in closet and the two of you will be together almost non-stop 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I don't know if you have ever tried to share a small space with other people practically every minute of the day but that is not easy. At best it will require a lot of getting used to, and at worst you will be in each other's throats at times. Some couples can handle it, many cannot. Often the only way to find out is to try it. But if you decide to try it, don't leave your house or apartment right away. Wait a few months. If you can handle it for maybe three months then you should be ok. However, often both parties are happy that they can travel together sometimes, and at other times one person can stay at home to give themselves time to rest and to take care of other responsibilities. There are no easy answers for situations like this. It's a matter of trial and error.