If you want to start a career as a truck driver, you are not alone! According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, over 3.5 million truck drivers roam the highways in the United States. They earn over $48,000 a year, a salary that puts them leagues above many white-collar workers trapped in their cubicles.
Over two million regional and nationwide trucking jobs existed in 2020, and analysts project that it will increase by more than 122,000 per year until 2030, making it a field with high job security for professionals with families to feed.
Keep reading as our Rapid Response experts detail five reasons professional drivers enjoy a trucking experience, even if they have to drive a truck with tons of cargo on never-ending highways and lonesome overnight routes.
Trucking Is an Essential Service
Trucking is a lucrative career path, but as more millennials and Gen Z members join the workforce, high salaries are becoming goalposts of the past. Future generations want to know that the tasks they do are essential and capable of leaving an impact on the world.
Research from McKinsey reveals that 85% of white-collar frontline employees and managers do not feel like they can live their purpose at work, which became one of the contributing factors to the Great Resignation of 2021.
A truck driver provides an essential service to the public by helping people and companies deliver and receive the goods they order remotely, which forms a massive section of the American economy.
Professional truck drivers were responsible for moving 49 tons of goods across the United States in 2020, with an assumed economic value of $53 billion per day. That figure totals over $19 trillion annually, which is over 25 times the budget of the US military.
Data from the American Trucking Associations reveal that more than 72% of American freight deliveries rely on land-based routes that truck drivers ply. If every truck driver in America relinquished their posts tomorrow, the nation would lose its economic lifeblood, and life as we know it would come to a standstill.
Trucking Offers a Broad Range of Career Growth Opportunities
While most truck drivers prefer to start and end their careers exploring the great outdoors from the comfort of their cabs, many career growth opportunities exist for people who want to move up in the world.
The logistics industry is vast, offering a broad range of jobs for professionals with a knack for management, training, and client retention. Driving a truck can be repetitive and lonely for people who want a fixed schedule that gives them enough time to spend with their families.
Here are some of the many career paths available to our truck drivers at Rapid Response.
Training Engineers
After spending some time on the road, you can sign up to become a training engineer, where you perform final checks on a new driver by riding with them for about a week before they sign a contract. Training engineers spend most of their time on the road, but they get more nine-to-five days in the office than the average truck driver.
Driver Instructors
Instructors work face-to-face with new drivers, teaching them to drive efficiently and defensively. Most of them work on private tracks, but they also take drivers out to the freeway to teach them troubleshooting skills and driving maneuvers.
Training Mentors and Team Leaders
Training team leaders manage the mentoring team as mentors join drivers on month-long training periods, where they gain the knowledge and experience necessary to beef up their confidence on the road.
Trucking Promises Adventure
Truck drivers enjoy a satisfying career with a daily change of scenery and the promise of adventure at every turn. Jobs that pay you to travel around the country are rare, but truckers cross state lines and cycle through cities almost weekly.
According to Teletrac Navman, most truck drivers in America cover more than 125,000 miles per year. The average career-long mileage of truck drivers exceeds 3 million miles. No two routes are the same, which means you will never be as bored as people in office buildings running the same circles daily.
Trucking Is Accessible to Everyone
While becoming an excellent truck driver takes years of training and professional experience, nearly everyone can start as an entry-level local driver with a Commercial Driver’s License. You do not need to get a college degree or a certification from a trade school to qualify for a trucking job. All you need is patience and discipline to send you on your way.
Trucking Companies Offer Flexible Hours
Unlike white-collar jobs with a fixed 9-to-5 schedule, most experienced truckers choose their work hours and vacation days. If you want to be a trailer-tractor driver, you might spend a few weeks away from your family every once in a while, especially if you sign up for long routes. However, most companies offer flexible hours where you do not have to force yourself to be a morning person when you’re a night owl and vice versa.
Many truck drivers live on short-term contracts where they spend only a few weeks on the road, so they can enjoy more time with loved ones or take advanced courses that let them fine-tune their careers. Some truckers start side hustles by joining the eBay Partner Network or Amazon FBA. Having control over your schedule offers a new world of benefits that white-collar work does not match.
Become a Truck Driver by Working with Rapid Response
As long as people use the mail, order stuff from half the world away, and haul construction materials from one city to another, commercial trucking will always exist as a career path.
As one of the nation’s most successful transportation companies, Rapid Response employs America’s best truck drivers. We operate everything heavy-duty, ranging from a constructor truck that can move earthwork to delivery vans that can drive through a seamless delivery route emitting as little carbon as possible.
Call our Rapid Response five-star customer service and truck driver recruitment hotline at 636-875-5040 for a free information session!