The Hidden Downsides of Being a Truck Driver: What You Need to Know

I wrote another article highlighting the advantages of being a truck driver and there are many and you can find it here. For the sake of this write-up though I am going to go into the not so rosy reasons why you may want to reconsider becoming or staying a truck driver. I have been in this industry since 2016 and have encountered many eye-opening experiences that many new drivers may be unaware of.

The Length of the Workday

As a truck driver you are going to work some crazy long hours. Up to 14 hours a day to be exact and if you are local this will not even count as your commute time to get back and forth to your truck. The reason for this is companies are in the business to make money and a truck that sits around is making nothing. In fact, the truck costs the company money when it is not moving. Because of this most trucking companies will want that truck rolling at the maximum allowable hours by the department of transportation for any single driver which equates to a 14-hour workday. There will not be a single day you drive that you will not have to push yourself the extra mile to accomplish this. This also eats into the quality of life for a trucker because the body simply is not designed to work that many hours up to 6 days a week.

The Rudeness of Shippers and Receivers

You will not find many hospitable and nice people in this industry, so if you are someone with soft skin you may want to find another profession. You will run across plenty of unhappy people working at warehouses who take out their frustrations on the poor truck driver just trying to do his job. They often will come across as aggressive and advertise their own power over the helpless trucker stuck at their warehouse. I am not saying all places are like this because they are not but just do not be surprised to see rudeness on an entirely other level in this industry.

Having No Time to Do Much of Anything

Here is another pet-peeve of mine about trucking. Most of us will be working up to a 70-hour work week, 6 days a week with only a single day off. This leaves little time or even energy to do the things you want to do on your day off. You will find that you will be pressed for time to spend with your family, visit your friends, do any house chores all while having to prepare for your next trip out over the road. Let us not even talk about trying to make a doctor’s or dentist’s appointment because these will be next to impossible, and your company could care less about them in most circumstances. They will be a challenge to make.

If you have hobbies, you can kiss these goodbye, if you have friends you want to hang out with well you simply will not have the time for this either anymore. It will not matter if you are local or over the road unless you run across one of the rare 8–10-hour workday 5 day a week trucking jobs which are a challenge to find. In other words, if you want a normal life do not even consider trucking. This is why many drivers call trucking a lifestyle instead of a job.

Being Stuck in Your Truck

This one may seem like a commonsense con, but it cannot be emphasized at how much this sucks after a period of time. You will be spending a lot of time in your truck. So much in fact that you will start to feel cutoff from the outside world unless you are lucky enough to have plenty of friends or family to talk to over the phone while driving. When I drove, my dad would keep me company quite often while on the road and this definitely helped with the isolation some. There will be many times that you will be parked somewhere for your 10 or 34-hour break but stuck at a truck Stop, rest area or warehouse. There will be nothing to do but hang out in your truck. Once you do spend any time at home you are going to have to force yourself mentally to climb back into your truck for the next week or month until you see the house again. We simply are not designed to live in such a confined space for an extended period of time.

It Is a Dangerous Profession

I cannot count how many semi-truck accidents I witnessed that looked disastrous for the driver of these trucks. Trucking is an inherently dangerous profession, and more drivers die than in another other single occupation in the US. You can do certain things to help minimize this risk and this is why truckers have a high level of training but in the end, it only takes one other idiot on the road to crash your rig or worse take your life. What good is a paycheck if you are no longer here? Many good truck drivers have perished, and it was not even their fault. Is any job really worth your life? You may want to think long and hard on this.

You Will Have Nowhere to Park Your Truck

After working an exceptionally long day fighting traffic you will find that safe parking will often be a challenge to find a spot for your truck and trailer. This causes many truckers to have to park on highway ramps or random parking lots that are often not as safe. To make matters worse there is a whole industry out there looking to give you a ticket or put a boot on your tire to try and extort you out of your hard-earned money. Most places do not want trucks parked there so you will find no truck parking signs about everywhere a truck can fit. This forces many truckers to pay to park and you can bet your company will not cover this bill most of the time.

The Pay Does Not Match the Work

In many trucking jobs you are paid by the mile and will work up to a 70-hour work week. If you do the math on your paycheck, you will often find out you were only being paid around $18 an hour. While this may sound good to some the fact that we are in a dangerous profession where you have to spend months training to obtain a license and where the work week is up to twice as long as most other jobs it really does not equate too much. Sure, you will often get a decent weekly paycheck but the amount of time, energy, and sacrifices for it are one of the reasons many people do not stick around in the profession.

Driver Facing Cams

Many companies now want to babysit their drivers with technology. I am adamantly opposed to this. We are living in a dystopian world now because these companies use artificial intelligence to watch your every move while you are driving. Then there are the privacy concerns. Do you like to sing while you drive? Talk to yourself? Do you want your company to hear everything you say over the phone? You get the point. There simply is no reason for these cameras to be in the cab of a semi-truck for an experienced driver. We are professionals after all.

Over-Priced Food and Supplies

If you require anything while over the road in a truck, you are stuck with shopping for your food at truck stops for the most part. You will find about everything at a truck stop costs twice as much as at a regular store. They are taking advantage of the fact a trucker has few options on where to buy a meal or anything else they may need while out on the road. It is awful these truck stops who make billions of dollars on the backs of the hard-working American trucker. Fair pricing should be demanded for their goods and services.

Shady Trucking Companies

I have had the unfortunate experience of being hired by one of these companies a couple of years ago and they wanted me to run illegally. What do I mean by that? Well, I stopped to take my 10-hour break, woke up and noticed my logs were reset. I also received a call shortly thereafter informing me to run as much as I want. It did not matter. In other words, they wanted me to run 20 hours a day or something crazy. I was opposed to this and quit as soon as possible and reported them to the DOT. How these companies are getting away with this is beyond me, but the Department of Transportation does not seem to care. How do I know this? Well, just last week I applied for another trucking job, and they called and asked if I could run 4500 miles a week. Seriously? This is a common thing in the industry now. I can tell you from experience the human body is not designed to drive a big rig safely for more than 10 or 11 hours a day without serious fatigue setting in. The same company that wanted me to run illegally also withheld a sizeable amount of pay that I earned. Truckers are really getting the short end of the stick these days.

Traffic and Congestion

Your biggest stressor everyday as a truck driver will be traffic. There is simply no question about it. This is why personally I like driving at night or away from the east coast because there is a lot less of it. Controlling a big rig on a busy 8-lane highway going 70 MPH for hours on end will wear out anyone. Also, expect to run across accidents where you will simply be stopped for hours while the authorities clear out the accident area. To make matters worse you will not be paid anything for waiting because most of us get paid by the mile. I happened to have the luxury of driving during the covid lockdowns and let me tell you it was a great stressless experience with virtually no one else on the road. Everyone is back on the road again and traffic seems worse than ever now. Fighting traffic is not fun in a car and in a semi-truck it is a lot less fun.

Sleeping In a Loud Environment

Often you will be in your bunk ready to catch some ZZZs but the other trucks close to you are humming along loudly and it will interrupt the quality of your sleep. There is not much you can do except to try and find another place to park or invest in a good pair of quality ear plugs. Do not ever park next to a refrigerated trailer because they are very loud, and I was never able to get a good night’s rest next to one. Expect random drivers to bang on their truck in the middle of the night or some jerk to cruise through the parking lot with their jake brake howling at 3AM. Yes, regrettably stuff like this happens. A peaceful night of rest for a trucker is always a godsend whenever you are lucky enough to be parked somewhere quiet.

Breathing Fumes

If you value your lungs and overall health trucking may not be the best choice because you are going to be breathing lots of nasty fumes. Fumes from your truck and the fifty other trucks parked next to you and also fumes from the traffic on the highway. The best you can do is to replace your truck’s cab filter regularly and use a HEPA air filter device that plugs in for your cabin. Even then you will still be breathing nasty diesel fumes but at least the air will be a little cleaner. If you are parked in the middle of a truck stop forget about breathing any clean air for the night. It simply is not going to happen. It is always best to park on the edge upwind if any of those spots are available.

The Highway Patrol

Depending what state you are in, you are going to have to keep an eye out getting pulled over for anything. As truck drivers we are heavily watched to make sure we are operating within compliance. As a driver you are going to have a lot of responsibility to make sure your truck and trailer are running legally. If they are not, you had better get it into the shop as soon as possible before you get a citation or even worse cause an accident.

Having to Stop at Every Inspection and Weigh station

As truck drivers we are required to stop quite frequently to weigh our trucks or have them inspected. It just comes with the job. It is your responsibility to make sure your equipment is running legally; you have all of your paperwork up to date and your truck is not overweight. If not prepare to be put out service and receive a ticket that will come out of your paycheck. The trucking industry has a lot of regulations and truck drivers are held responsible to act in compliance with them.

Being Away from Family and Friends

Expect to kiss your social life goodbye. Because you will be living in your truck the vast majority of the time. And when you are home you will be so tired from working 70 hours a week you will not have much energy to do anything or at least enjoy it like you normally would. Oh, and just forget about having any type of dating life. Most people do not want to date a truck driver due to them being gone the majority of the time.