What got you interested in Trucking?
“For the money, and for the glory... but mostly for the money.”
The million dollar question we’re asked anytime someone sees “two kids” in their twenties stepping out of a truck. I could tell you it was our dream… that we knew since we were kids that we wanted to drive a big truck… but then you would mention what a coincidence it was that we met each other. Well, sorry to burst your bubble but that would be a lie. Honestly, we don’t even remember the conversation that truly initiated it. Though we do remember just wanting something promising and consistent. We had relocated to Atlanta from Miami, and we ended up working dead end jobs for months before considering a complete career overhaul.
View of the truck parking area at Petro Truck Stop in Bordentown, New Jersey.
Trucking was brought up lightly in conversation some time before, and at that point, it came up again. Except this time we were genuinely ready to take the dive. Unfortunately for us, the internet held little to no information, only company review sites filled with complaints. We had no one in the industry to turn to, no family or friends that were in trucking. So then we thought, “What better way to find some real information than from the drivers themselves?” At that point in time, we had a close family member that happened to be working at a local truck stop and she was able to confirm hearing the same complaints on a daily basis. That intrigued us to drive over to the truck stop and question as many drivers as we could. We walked all over the truck stop, watching what the drivers would do, stopping people of different breeds, and asking them general advice and tips to getting started. I sought advice from a personal level, “What would you tell me if I was your daughter?” to try and get the most genuine answers possible from the drivers we came across. We got advice on both ends of the spectrum, “Stay away.” and “Do something else.” to “I wish I came out here sooner.” and “I got a PhD in Law but trucking turned out to be my passion.” When asked about income averages, drivers didn’t shy away to show us their paychecks and talk about their worst lows and highest highs. After taking all of it in, we started to look into trucking companies and training options. When we found that we could train together over the road, we were pretty much sold. We immediately saw the potential benefits of the industry. So our little trip to the truck stop worked quite well, and the information we obtained convinced us that we shouldn’t waste anymore time.