:shock:

I ran across an intersesting article that discusses the worst jobs with the best pay and found this piece.
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06...y/index_01.htm

Long-Haul Trucker
Average pay: $43,200 (Salary.com)

With long hours behind the wheel, frequent stretches away from home, and constant pressure to make deliveries on time, life on the open road can be lonely and stressful. Throw in the dangers of highway accidents, irregular sleep patterns, and fatty truck-stop grub, and it’s perhaps no surprise that the trucking lifestyle can shave 15 years off a driver’s life expectancy. While the average American male lives to be 76, the typical male truck driver can expect to live to age 61. Job security is good, though, as is the pay. First-year company drivers can earn $30,000 to $45,000; salaries for experienced drivers with good safety records can push $85,000.

 

This is good news...I had been informed that the avg lifespan of a driver

was about 57...

 

ya but i'd bet if you didn't smoke your expectancy would be like 70 and i don't think it took into account all the exercise you get walking to the buffet and running to the bathroom when the buffet is ready to leave

 

not to mention all that rest you receive waiting to get unloaded! :lol:

 

Well... my doc says if I dont change my "lifestyle" I'd either have a heart attack or a stroke before I'm 50 (37 now). If your self motivated and can eat healthy and get out of the truck and exercise, you'll be fine.... people do it everyday and love it... but, if your a lazy f*** like me... you'll get fat(ter) and die. :wink:

Now I drive a 14 mile roundtrip "run" for BASF a few times a day and drive a forklift the rest of the time. I'm broke but still alive. :lol:

 

OTR is stressful? All you do is hold a steering wheel. How stressful can that be?

I'd think being the President of the United States would have to be alot more stressful any day than driving a rig OTR...

Or being a senior 3 months behind on your mortgage and being on a fixed income.

Eat right, take in less calories than you burn, get some exercise (just walking around while your sitting on your fat ass waiting for a load is good) and cut out the cancer sticks and you'll age gracefully.

 

Only way I thought it was stressful was my awful trainer, I woulda like to take a lot more than 15 years off his life a couple of times. Other than that I thought driving was peaceful, the paperwork was allright, the sleeping in confined space was no problem. All in all it's pretty laid back.

 

After years being self-destructive, I got into trucking to help improve my well being. Later I found out that this may be worse on me than the things that I was doing to begin with! I kill me! :lol:

 

So staying awake 48 hours at a time, living on cigarettes and red bull, eating Snickers bars for breakfast then pigging out at the buffet when you finally get a break is unhealthy? Maybe going legitimate has more merits than I considered.

 

I believe talk radio will kill me before trucking does. Unfortunately I cant drive without my XM. I was less informed 2 years ago, but less stressed. ;-)