![]() ![]() It's not glamorous, but you make it your own. We bought a crockpot to cook food on the go, and we had a really nice set-up. ![]() When my boyfriend and I started team driving together, we decided to buy a new memory foam mattress for our truck, because the mattresses that come in the trucks are like summer camp cots. The trucks have sleeper berths behind the cab, with bunk beds and cabinets and a few shelves, and that basically becomes your home for weeks at a time. You sleep in your truck, you eat in your truck, you spend every minute in your truck. I listened to audiobooks all day long - series are the best, like Harry Potter or Stephen King novels - because it made the day go by a lot faster.ħ. 1 thing truck drivers listen to, but it's tricky, since you're constantly passing through new airwaves and can't listen to the same radio station for very long. ![]() You should learn to like audiobooks if you don't already. You have to develop a thick skin and shrug it off.Ħ. But that doesn't make it any less sexist when people act like a fish is riding a bicycle when they see a woman behind the wheel! I had to get used to people constantly gawking at me or going out of their way to tell me they'd never seen a woman driving a long haul before. Women only make up about 5 percent of the truck driving industry, according to the American Trucking Association. Everyone is shocked to see a woman driving a truck, and they'll let you know it. Teams are paid for the total miles they drive together (you split the pay down the middle) so you can make a lot more money this way.ĥ. We could cover a lot more ground that way, because we each drove half the distance to the drop-off destination and didn't have to stop. When I was driving, my boyfriend would sleep, and vice versa. This is pretty common, especially for women truck drivers, who feel more comfortable having someone with them. Later, I convinced my boyfriend to get his commercial driver's license and join me in the truck, and we started to team truck drive. I drove by myself for the first 10 months, which was fine but a little lonely. The job can be super lonely, but you can also choose to drive with a partner. Play icon The triangle icon that indicates to playĤ. Pay raises are regular, and your rate goes up if you hit goals each quarter, like making on-time deliveries, driving without accidents, staying under the speed limit, and having more years of experience under your belt. But by the time I quit three years later, I was making $55,000 a year. When I first started driving, I was making 27 cents for every mile that I drove, which equated to around $35,000 a year - so, not great. The starting pay isn't great, but you can move up the pay scale pretty quickly. ![]() Some companies will even pre-hire you and pay for your training, which makes it really easy to break into the industry.ģ. It's a 10-week program to get the certification, and by the time mine was over, I had a job lined up with a company. There's a huge shortage of truck drivers, so getting hired is basically as easy as getting your commercial driver's license. Even on the days off, when you want to spend time with your family or your friends, you have to sleep and do your laundry and go to the grocery store to get snacks for the road and then, before you know it, you leave again. It's impossible to have a real life because you're always on the road. You stay out, driving shipments back and forth, for weeks at a time, and then you get a couple days off back home. This is not the kind of job where you'll be home for dinner every night. Driving trucks is more like a lifestyle choice than a regular job. ![]()
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