why are guys willing to live in a truck for $40k or less?

[iceomatic]

so, after being laid off for several months I started the only job I could find with 2 actual days off..... a crappy truckload carrier. after meeting and talking to some of the guys I wonder what is wrong with most of them? why do they think that as a truck driver they aren't worth more than $40k a year? all the flaming hoops you have to jump through to become and remain a driver, countless hours and days away from home, tons of time that is work that you don't get paid for, I could go on....if you average out the hours for alot of these guys it's between $6 to $10 an hour. things I have been told by these drivers are; "don't you think if you made more you'd be ripping off the company?", "my wife has good benefits, I just do this for fun. the pay isn't important", "maybe you live where it's too expensive, you could move and your money would go farther", "I don't have a college education so I can't expect much", "$40k a year IS good money", "this is a lifestyle for me. I get paid to travel" all bs in my opinion.

my question I guess is when is enough enough? why are so many happy to make the rate guys were making 20 years ago? living in trucks for weeks at a time, making peanuts, and happy about it. I understand that sometimes you've got to do what you've got to do. but to work for these places for 5, 10, 12 years like some of these guys. I just don't understand?

remember without drivers there are no trucking companies.

[Stormchaser]

Really it's all just personal opinion, for some it is a lifestyle, you call it BS, but you don't know those people, really.

I will give you the pay is low, but unfortuneately not everyone is able to go to work for a LTL, You can't strike a large company, getting your own authority is not that easy.

So are You ready to start a trucking company, and pay the drivers what they are really worth?, and be able to be competitive in an environment of low rates from these large companies that can afford to cut the rates.

[CORNBINDER]

Well most of us started driving truck year's ago for many different reason's, for me it was at the time you were by yourself you had no one looking over your back every 1/2 hour,but now you've got satellite following you.

Some folk's still like the open road and going in diferent direction's every day in this still fine land we live.

[Gonfercoffee]

never work for a company that sends you a bus ticket

[kiwiray]

Originally Posted by Gonfercoffee

never work for a company that sends you a bus ticket

Jeez GFC your not back on to bus tickets again, man you gotta get a life. LOL

Your old buddy kiwiray down under.

[zorgen]

Originally Posted by iceomatic

so, after being laid off for several months I started the only job I could find with 2 actual days off..... a crappy truckload carrier. after meeting and talking to some of the guys I wonder what is wrong with most of them? why do they think that as a truck driver they aren't worth more than $40k a year? all the flaming hoops you have to jump through to become and remain a driver, countless hours and days away from home, tons of time that is work that you don't get paid for, I could go on....if you average out the hours for alot of these guys it's between $6 to $10 an hour. things I have been told by these drivers are; "don't you think if you made more you'd be ripping off the company?", "my wife has good benefits, I just do this for fun. the pay isn't important", "maybe you live where it's too expensive, you could move and your money would go farther", "I don't have a college education so I can't expect much", "$40k a year IS good money", "this is a lifestyle for me. I get paid to travel" all bs in my opinion.

my question I guess is when is enough enough? why are so many happy to make the rate guys were making 20 years ago? living in trucks for weeks at a time, making peanuts, and happy about it. I understand that sometimes you've got to do what you've got to do. but to work for these places for 5, 10, 12 years like some of these guys. I just don't understand?

remember without drivers there are no trucking companies.

Why? Isn't it obvious? The economy is in horrible shape and any job is better than living under a freeway overpass. Millions of Americans are making well under 30K a year and making 40K is a considerable step up. If I was reading between the lines I might think that seasoned drivers like yourself might hold a certain animosity or irritation toward drivers willing to work under 40K because possibly it affects their ability to make more with cheaper labor available...am I hitting a nerve?