Working World

Thomas Hancik has been in the transportation field for more than 20 years. Regional sales manager of Rich Doss, Inc., a trucking transport company that serves California, Arizona, Nevada and the Pacific Northwest territories, Thomas has an MBA as well as a master’s degree in logistics and transportation. In the two-plus decades he’s been in the industry, he’s seen strong periods of growth, but the current economic downturn is having a direct impact on his company and others.

The current state of the trucking industry is, like many industries in this recession, a little slow. “I don’t think we’ll see a totally healthy transportation industry for one to two years from now unless a major carrier goes under,” Thomas said. “We’re seeing the numbers of independent truckers with owner-operated businesses shrink to about 15 percent. The majority of stable trucking jobs today are to be found as employees of solid carrier businesses.” While fuel costs have been low the past nine months, insurance costs are rising, and that is squeezing the owner-operated trucking businesses out, too.

Still, many are called to freedom of the open road and the relatively stress-free life that professional truck driving offers. There are two types of jobs out there: One is referred to as P&D (pickup and delivery), which is mostly local driving. This type of driving is best suited to extroverts who are good at conversation, like to work with people, and have an outgoing personality, because there is interaction with the clients. The other is called line driving, and that refers to driving a big rig from point A to point B over longer distances. If you have a more introverted personality and like being alone for long stretches of time, then this is the way to go.

It takes five to seven years to become an experienced, stable driver, and of course those with more than seven years are at the top of their game. A salaried truck driver starts at $13-$18 hourly, depending on experience and the company. Union truck drivers earn $50K-60K annually while non-union truckers earn between $30K-40K after all expenses.

To be gainfully employed in the state of California, you need a Class A driver’s license and you have to pass qualifying tests called “endorsements” for specialties. The more endorsements you have, the more employable you are. No two companies have the same requirements and there are additional requirements and rules governing nationally licensed drivers.

To drive doubles (a truck cab plus two containers attached to it), you need a doubles endorsement. Tankers also require an endorsement. Since the enactment of the Homeland Security Act after 9/11, if you want to carry hazardous materials you need to get both a hazardous materials Endorsement as well as a Homeland Security endorsement. The latter requires a background check that can take an additional three to six months to clear. For driving only in California, license and endorsements can be earned at the DMV.

A typical workday for most truckers starts between 5am and 8am when they pick up their preloaded truck and make a delivery, then do it all over again. Workdays for P&D drivers usually last between eight and 12 hours, and for P&D and line drivers there are legal limits in place countrywide that prevent truckers from driving more than 11 hours per day, working a total of no more than 14 hours a day with 10 hours of rest, and 34 hours of continual time off between 60-hour work weeks of driving time. Most drivers are soloists, some companies have relay driving systems, and still others sometimes use team drivers.

In a strong economy, many employers like FedEx or UPS will offer in-house training programs or send their employees to driving school, giving students a license after six months. In a down economy, a potential trucker will put likely put themselves through a school such as Dootson School of Trucking. After school, the graduate will need one to two years of driving experience before most transportation companies will consider their application.

Philip Malloy, a certified instructor with Dootson, said, “To be a truck driver you need patience, defensive driving skills, coordination and rhythm. Along with common sense and an understanding of the capabilities of the equipment, a good trucker needs logistical knowledge and, most importantly, defensive driving skills. You need to be prepared for the other guy to do something stupid.”

If you think you want to claim a bit of the open road, training runs between $900-1,200, depending on the learning curve of the student. Courses usually include the fundamentals of shifting, double clutching, down shifting and controlled breaking, as well as how to back in an articulated vehicle, road driving and extensive training in defensive driving skills.

Thomas’s advice is, “Do your homework up front, stick with it and persevere. Research companies to make sure you hire on with a company that matches your own set of life values so you’ll be a good fit. It’s best to stick with one company rather than bounce around. A good trucker can work for one company for most of their career.”

Resources

Dootson School of Trucking
Western Truck School
California Truck Driving School Directory
Center for Employment Training
The United States Truck Driving School