Tony Barkley (owner operator 10 years)

by Tony Barkley
(Sierra Vista, Az)

This is most definitely true. The company i lease to right now has reduced the fleet by about 100 trucks, but did so without firing anybody. Turnover rates in trucking are so high that you can simply wait for drivers to quit, then you can get rid of the trucks that you don't need. Many companies have done this.

While i won't say that trucking is recession proof, there are tons of jobs in this industry that go unfilled even in bad times. There are many reasons. Obtaining a CDL is burdensome and expensive. Keeping a clean CDL can often be even more burdensome than obtaining one in the first place (due to tickets, drug testing, passing a yearly or bi-yearly physical). The lifestyle is relationship prohibitive because of the hours and travel needed to deliver freight. It's certainly not the best job for married people although you can make it work....difficult as it is. It's a career field that tends to weed out people who aren't suited to the job very quickly.

Of course, i have my complaints about trucking. Simply put, it doesn't pay well enough for my taste. However, the realization that having a job during a recession as bad as the one we're presently in makes one happy to have work AT ALL!!!