Should I Be a Truck Driver?

Have you ever watched a police officer in a difficult situation and thought to yourself, “There is no way I could do that job”? Some of us may feel the same way about farmers, librarians, dentists, accountants, and the list goes on. Well, there are good aspects with every job. Artists get to create wonders, doctors get to save lives, teachers get to shape the future. So if you’re asking, “Should I be a truck driver?”, we need to talk about the positive aspects, because there are plenty.

First we want to acknowledge that trucking isn’t for everyone. Depending on the assignment or company they are working with, truckers can spend considerable time away from home, doing an often thankless work, and enduring a lot of road time. (Not to distract, but at Eagle Logistics, we make driver home time and working conditions a priority. You should work with us.) So trucking isn’t for everyone. Not everyone can do it, and that’s exactly why it’s a great challenge. Truckers are a hearty breed. They are professional, all-weather workhorses who carry the country on their backs.

There are plenty of similar blogs out there all saying the same thing: if you do trucking, the pay and benefits are good, and you get to see the country. Those are often true, but let’s talk about the perks that are good for the mind and soul:

You Get To Be Essential

While your guidance counselor in high school did the best she could, she likely didn’t foresee that half the country was going to college to get degrees that wouldn’t procure them an “essential” job, which became a blaring problem in the Covid-19 crisis. Hard times forced everyone to evaluate what’s essential, and in the end truck drivers were left standing. Even now check any job posting website and about one-third of the jobs will be for truck drivers. With more and more business shifting online, the demand has never been higher. More people buying more products that need to be shipped means more jobs for truck drivers and higher wages for the foreseeable future.  

Your Country Needs You

It seems the same as the previous paragraph, but here’s the difference. To be essential is great for job security, but some professions, like truck driving, transcend the immediate needs and get at the more intangibles, in this case like literally maintaining the survival of the country. Trucking is the life-blood of our nation. It’s not outrageous to see our endeavors as patriotic and a calling. Without truckers, the U.S. comes to a screeching stop. People don’t have jobs, hospitals don’t get life-saving supplies, we become vulnerable to foreign nations who are waiting for us to falter. It’s a job worth getting out of bed for. In life we have to look for meaning, but it’s easy for truckers if they internalize their true value and purpose. 

You Get To Be What Others Can’t

The truth is most of the people in the country couldn’t be a truck driver if they wanted to. Getting out of the house when it’s frigid or sweltering or raining is just too hard for many people. The number of people that could even back up a trailer is incredibly small. Someone has to stand in the gap. There is a certain nobility to knowing you are sacrificing time and comfort to maintain the very lifestyle of the drivers who are passing you like you’re a personal burden to them. You are doing this for them and they don’t even know it. Much like a young military recruit, sometimes you have to be the only person in the class who signs up to do something no one else wants to, or could. 

If you’re still asking “Should I be a truck driver?”, consider this: it’s pretty rare to find a job with security, purpose, and significance that allows you the opportunity to sacrifice for others. There is something in us that needs to fight for a greater cause, something transcendent. Being a truck driver can offer that opportunity. 

And, one perk we haven’t mentioned yet is you get to play with big toys for a living! 

We get these things here at Eagle Logistics. We see the value and dignity in truck driving. We thrive on creating a life-giving workplace that puts you, the driver, first. If this is appealing, you should consider being a truck driver with us. 

Contact Eagle Logistics and join our family!