Apparently there’s been a bunch of drivers who retired recently.
Wouldn’t they need a commercial license? If so, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re being beaten out by commercial truck driving opportunities that would pay more for those with a license. Substantially different demands on time/life, but they’d pay a lot more than equivalent of $20/hr.
I’m sure you know more than me. Are truckers in short supply too?
Bus drivers require a CDL, different class from trucks, if the bus is over a certain size which is pretty much all the school and standard buses you see but maybe not the smaller ones out there, they sometimes pick up seniors or small groups of kids. I know. I was asked to drive one of the smaller ones, and I said heck no. They were lucky to get me to drive the full size van we had. Things might vary by state though.
Long-haul truck drivers are almost always needed. It’s relatively cheap schooling with too many schools teaching students how to drive down straight highways and not actual, you know, turns and in traffic. You have little to no life since you’re all over the place and often not home. The other drivers tend to hate you; the state patrol is eager to ticket you. So many people treat you like you’re scum, basically a ton of stereotypes, all why enjoying the things in their homes that trucks brought. Oh and every few months there’s news says you’re going to be replaced by automatic trucks. And there are a ton of health issues that will disqualify you from keeping your CDL which you will discover because you are required to go to see the physician fairly often.
Having said that, a single person, working for a company, dear god not for themselves, for a few years just raking it in while living in an apartment or just using like a parental address could could do well for as long as they could handle that kind of life and just stockpile cash. That’s the theory anyway. I’ve yet to see this work out for anyone, and I’ve known a number of truck driver, owner operator and employed.
Driving infractions are more serious for CDL holders too. I know in CA, the legal limit for alcohol consumption is 0.04% BAC if you have a CDL (vice 0.08% if you don’t.) And that applies no matter what you’re driving. A DUI results in a one-year suspension of your CDL, which means you will lose your job if it requires it.
Good lord. Walk past a tavern at lunchtime and you could blow a .04.
Every time there is a really nasty accident, and let’s face it, if it involves a semi and there are a lot of cars it’s usually going to be nasty by default, some form of government wants to throw in a new law. Whether it’s whether or not drivers can nap, they really can’t now, not allowing insulin, where they can idle or park, adding thousands of dollars in gas taxes, alcohol levels… you name it it’s probably regulated. It’s a hard job that leads to a hard life, but entry is relatively low cost and does not require a degree. They’ll likely always be hiring until they throw them all out on their asses with robo trucks. Not exactly a glowing review for a job is it? Then again, unlike bus drivers, they don’t have to deal with the general public as much. I’ve been told school bus drivers and public aren’t a terrible jobs either, especially for low skill-sets, and they are home everyday.
Short-haul or local truck drivers is a bit of a different animal. They’re usually home each night, have predictable routes, still long days but the work can be seasonal, might require extra unpaid work and the money can be worse but… hey you can see your family during the week, maybe go to a kid’s play or something.
Motherfucking God damn fraud on our old checking account that we’re so close to closing anyway. I wish there was any chance these assholes would get caught and the fucking book thrown at their useless skulls.
How did you find out?
Bank algorithm tripped and they called my wife. Easy to verify as we haven’t used that account for anything other than autopay bills as we’ve been transitioning off of it.
I’ve been using alerts on my phone to get notified of transactions on some of my accounts. I really need to set it up for all of them. Hope you get it cleared up quickly.
We caught it right away thanks to the bank algorithms, and we’ve already cancelled the affected debit card and gotten the less than $20 refunded - it was one charge at a shall we say low income tobacco shop in the area. Probably got skimmed at an ATM.
It’s just the principle of the thing. I have enough bullshit to deal with in my life. Thank goodness law enforcement is too busy jailing kids for nonviolent personal possession drug offenses.
I was on my way into work this morning, just zoning out driving in my lane travelling 70mph down the freeway. Some dude comes up from behind me on the driver’s side of my car and lightly sideswiped my car. Neither car stopped moving and we’re in the middle of traffic, so what can you do? I just drove the rest of the way to work. Turns out that there’s no visible damage to my car; the only evidence of the sideswipe is that my sideview mirror was collapsed backward.
Funny thing though. When the accident happened, I was startled, let out a huge “FUCK!” and slammed my fist into the steering column. A few miles down the road, when I was off the freeway and close to work, my horn started to beep intermittently: stuttering, sometimes coming on for seconds at a time, which is awesome at 6am. So now, even though the accident itself caused no obvious damage, my lunkhead reaction to it means I’ve got to get my car repaired. :P
The guy didn’t even stop… I mean did it seem like he even noticed what he did?
Also, glad you are okay. The horn think is truly unfortunate.
Something similar happened to me a couple of years ago. I was driving to pick up my son from school, and was right near the school, going school speed limit speed, and had a few cars behind me because it was school pickup time and they are clear about how you are supposed to drive around the school.
A guy in a silver Infinity crossed the double yellow line–it was one lane in either direction–and sped up from the back of the line. Somebody was coming the opposite direction and he cut in at the last second, clipping the front driver’s side panel of my car. My dad was visiting at the time and he was shocked. The guy in the Infinity sped off into the distance, blowing through two stop signs. I considered chasing him but then thought, “What do you hope is going to happen. Also you’ll never catch that Infinity in your RAV4, dork.”
It was minor damage, but it was scary. And we were too shocked to catch the plates. A woman behind me stopped and said, “I saw that. Can I do anything?” But she didn’t catch the plates either, so…no.
-xtien
This probably isn’t overly interesting to anyone, but…
For my birthday my wife and son got me 2 disc golf disc sets so my son (12) and I have something to do together. We have trouble finding things to do. I tend to like sports and he doesn’t. We try to keep his screen time to a reasonable amount, so we don’t play a ton of video games together. In any case, we finally found something we both like in disc golf. There is a course 15 minutes away too. Hopefully he doesn’t get tired of it.
Also for my birthday we got to do an escape room - first time. It was a ton of fun and each of the 3 of us contributed to getting out. My son did get stressed a couple times and started yelling at us to be faster, but overall it was a lot of fun.
A week or so ago I noticed out hot water heater was leaking. It was about 15 years old so we got a new one for about $1700. Tonight my garage door broke, which will probably be another $1500 or so dollars (maybe more). Yea… Not a fun way to watch the bank account go down. I guess it’s better happening now instead of the middle of winter! Wondering what else will decide to break :-)
Disc golf is fun. I’ve only played it a few times when I was working because at one building there were a few out there. I never did find a course near my house.
On the breaking things, I think 2019 is going to go down as the broken year for me as well. My truck had a ton of things break / need replacing this year (granted it’s a 2004, but still over 2K in repairs at 3 different times), my fridge went out, but luckily was fairly cheap repair, my tractor mounted mower threw a pin which allowed the 3 point arm to come loose, causing me to get a new 3pt connector, my son’s 2011 vintage 2700K died, resulting in a new computer build, and this week our lift that we’re using to sand / stain our house broke. And we have so much of the year left!
That’s cool. I’ve never played but there are a few courses around here. I am glad you guys found something fun to do together.
I’ve been tempted to do this. I fear it will challenge a few friendships though. Great you had fun!
That’s the spirit!
It’s definitely something you can become an enthusiast about: “Yeah, for this hole I’ve got a beat-up understable Devastator Destroyer that I can overthrow but with a slight hyzer to fade around those bushes.”
I recommend that if you’re just starting out, own two discs: an Innova Beast, which is a great understable disc with relatively low speed, perfect for beginners to practice driving until you can get your speed up. And grab a good putter. I really like Gateway’s Supersoft Wizard and have three of them. (It can be useful to have two putters so you don’t have to use a marker near the hole, but it’s definitely not necessary.) Make sure your discs are not green or black or you will spend most of your golf time hunting for them in the grass. Just as with ball golf, putting is 70% of the game. If you’re gonna practice something, practice putting.
Also, this video of Paul McBeth throwing in slow motion reveals tons about proper form for driving:
Disc golf is great! It’s pretty much taking a walk through the woods with buddies. Huge fan.