On researching the prospect of commercial truck driving, I do find that the trucking industry business and training model seems awefully flawed in many cases, largely because of government regulations and hiring practice subsidy interference that drives business owners to churn through drivers and treat them like a cheap commodity rather than a valued asset that gets properly trained, gains experience over time and stays with a company. From what I can gather, most companies treat long haul drivers as cheap labor "contractors", not employees, per se. At least that's my perception.
Ok, where is this coming from that we are underpaid? Overall we are paid quite well. Often our hours suck, but the paychecks are very good with most companies. Most companies are trying to steal drivers from the other companies. They HAVE to pay well! $70 - 90k is not uncommon.
True, there are companies that live for “newby” drivers, they don’t worry about turnover and thus can pay poorly and treat their drivers poorly. These are basically the “training” companies, the ones that hire people right out of school and over the course of a year pay for the schooling costs which locks the drivers in for that year. Actually this is not a bad deal; and if you stay for longer than the year they may start treating you better.
The “other” OTR companies (often the smaller ones) try to keep their drivers happy and try to keep them on. Turnover is still terrible as most drivers don’t last a year. But those that do feel that particular company fits them often retire there. Once a driver puts in 5 yrs with a company he is usually a lifer. This applies to LTL also.
As far as “adventure” adventure? No, this is not “Smoky and the Bandit”, it is just driving for many hours and watching out for the idiots in the 4 wheelers that don’t know how to drive. And if you are OTR than trying to find some company in an area you have never been in before.
Ok, maybe you might get some “adventure” if you get sent to East Chicago or some areas in the NE. I’d prefer to avoid those “adventures”.
One thing to avoid is buying your own rig; be a company driver that way if you take time off work you won’t be LOSING money. You won’t have that big truck payment to make every month. Plus you won’t have to pay for repairs, fuel, tires, etc.
It is not a horrible way to make a living, and would be ideal for a 21 yr old who wants to just run around the country, not have any rent payments, stash money away and after 10 yrs or so buy a house for cash.
At 60, if you just want to run around the country and get paid for it, not a bad deal ether. Just don’t go into it with unrealistic ideas.