what drew you to driving?

[oldslowchevy]

some thing made you say "humm.... i think i want to drive a truck for a living" what was it that preked you interest? (please for the love of god don't say smokey and the bandit) though as a child it might have sparked it. though for me i think i have a few reasons;
1. i want to see this country, and since i am broke i will let some one else pay for the fuel.

2. ain't nobody singing songs or making movies about carpenters.(joke)

3.i love to drive i mean i really love to drive and if i am putting 60k miles a year on the car and not get paid for it i know i can do that or more and get paid for it.

4. i don't mind hard work and low if as long as i am making my bills i don't complain.

5. though i may not have my cdl yet this is some thing that i have been saying that i want to get since i was 16 and at the moment, the fact i don't have it is my only one real regert this is somethis i should have done long ago

[stldude44]

I was working as a shipping/receiving clerk at a glue factory in 1976 making about $3.25 per hour....I would load/unload the trucks when they came in and the Teamster drivers were making $7.76 per hour back then. I knew I was on the wrong end of that equation. So I got a job driving a dump truck with a 2 stick 5x4 transmission just to learn the ins and outs of shifting and driving a bigger vehicle. I graduated to tractor trailers in less than a year and the rest is history. No driving school....all self taught and I still owe a great debt of gratitude to my first boss who gave me a chance at a tractor trailer. He was a lifer in the Marines but had a good heart. All I needed was a chance and he gave me one. Thanks Art.

[pro1driver]

just a complete change in career (job) path. i started at or about the age of 30.

wish i hadn't chosen driving though as that job change.

[Cerberus]

i like my freedom and being my own boss. don't like being all cooped up in a building. i love the open roads and most of the people i meet are nice.

[Apostolic]

I've only had a hand full of road runs,over my 44 years of truckdriving.
I learned how to drive a large farm tractor on the cow farm across from my house when I was 8.
I bought my first car when I was 13,off a guy that was going blind,who was one of my customers on my paper route.
I raced it around the back lots.
I started driving on the roads around my house when I was 15.
I didn't get my drivers license till I was 17.
That was right after I quit school with only 7 grades completed.
My first fultime job was working on a garbage truck.
The next job was receiving,and driving a small van doing routes in about a 90 mile radius,of Rochester.
$1.45 per hour in 1962,after one full year my raise was a nickle.
I quit,and started receiving at a plumbing,and heating warehouse.
After just one week,their driver came to work falling down drunk.
They asked if I knew how to drive their flat bed straight truck?
I told them how hard can it be.
I left grinding the gears,at the end of the route I was a pro.
I was old enough to get a Teamsters job by then,and after asking every Teamster driver I saw delivering I finally got my first Teamster LTL city driving job at Eazor Express in 1966.
I worked for them just short of two years.
Went to St.Johnsbury,got fired for a very bad accident.
Went to Halls Motor Transit the next day,and worked for them till they went bankrupt in 1986.
Worked as a casual getting day work for 11 different Teamster LTL's.
I was running into the old age thing back then,and had very little hope of getting on the fultime clock with any union companies doing city routes.

So then I hired on with Overnite in July of 1986.
The rest is history.
Back in the day when I first got into trucking,the only requirment was to know how to drive a truck,read ,and write the english language,as well as being able to count,add,and multiply numbers.

Trucking companies back in the day didn't care how long you went to school as long as you could do the job ,the way they wanted it done.

I worked with guys that were very good drivers that only had 4 years of schooling.

With CDL's now days 4 years of school would never work.

[BigChevy80]

I'm only 24 so can't say that I have a whole lot of experience...

I never really knew what I wanted to do with my life and bounced around from job to job after high school. I ended up working for a hog farm and after a few weeks of working as a hand, they asked me if I wanted to learn how to make and deliver feed in the feed trucks.

After driving for them for a couple months (without a CDL even!) I quit and went to college. After 3 months I realized that I wasn't the schooling type and came back home. After working a couple other dead end jobs, I finally bit the bullet and went to CDL school.

After graduating, I ended up back working for the same hog farm I started out as (under different ownership). I worked there pulling their 36' feed tanker for 3 months before I was laid off. Out of desperation I took a crappy job driving a lumber truck for a local lumberyard to make ends meet. While there my wife faxed a resume to a local LTL company as a shot in the dark. They responded and hired me on the spot. I've been here for 3 years now and am ready to move up in the world. I'm going to be picky this time though!

I can't imagine doing anything else for a living. I've always been a gearhead and loved driving and working on cars, so it's only natural that I'd end up behind the steering wheel I guess...