Becoming a Truck Driver


Book Description

www.truckingtruth.com Trucking schools can teach you to drive, but nobody's there to teach you everything else.This book is a no-holds-barred, call 'em as I see 'em account of what I went through when I decided to become a truck driver. I hope to shed some light on what the trucking industry is REALLY like, with no hidden agendas and no regrets.I have absolutely loved my years on the road. The experiences, the friends, the money, the challenges, and the freedom. "There are so many things to know if you want to be successful on the road and they take years to learn.I'm talking about things they don't teach in truck driving schools and things companies don't talk about..at least not honestly. There are "grey areas" and "unwritten rules" in the trucking industry that have a major impact on your life and your career - and only time on the road will reveal the reailtiesof becoming a truck driver......"- Brett Aquila, Author - "Becoming A Truck Driver:The Raw Truth About Trucking"




The Big Rig


Book Description

Long-haul trucks have been described as sweatshops on wheels. The typical long-haul trucker works the equivalent of two full-time jobs, often for little more than minimum wage. But it wasn’t always this way. Trucking used to be one of the best working-class jobs in the United States. The Big Rig explains how this massive degradation in the quality of work has occurred, and how companies achieve a compliant and dedicated workforce despite it. Drawing on more than 100 in-depth interviews and years of extensive observation, including six months training and working as a long-haul trucker, Viscelli explains in detail how labor is recruited, trained, and used in the industry. He then shows how inexperienced workers are convinced to lease a truck and to work as independent contractors. He explains how deregulation and collective action by employers transformed trucking’s labor markets--once dominated by the largest and most powerful union in US history--into an important example of the costs of contemporary labor markets for workers and the general public.




The Long Haul: A Trucker's Tales of Life on the Road


Book Description

“There’s nothing semi about Finn Murphy’s trucking tales of The Long Haul.”—Sloane Crosley, Vanity Fair More than thirty years ago, Finn Murphy dropped out of college to become a long-haul trucker. Since then he’s covered more than a million miles as a mover, packing, loading, hauling people’s belongings all over America. In The Long Haul, Murphy recounts with wit, candor, and charm the America he has seen change over the decades and the poignant, funny, and often haunting stories of the people he encounters on the job.




Truck Drivers


Book Description

In Truck Drivers, beginning readers will learn about the work truck drivers do to move goods around the country. Vibrant, full-color photos and carefully leveled text will engage young readers as they discover where truck drivers work and how they spend their days.




The Late Truck Driver


Book Description

The Late Truck Driver isn’t about a deceased truck driver or someone who arrives late to pick up or deliver a load. It’s about becoming a truck driver later in life. David Longanecker always dreamed of driving a big rig, but his life took a different path, leading him to enjoy a career as a higher education administrator and in policy analysis. When he retired, however, he chased his dream. In this book, he shares how he made the leap, what it was like prepping for and taking the test to earn his commercial driver’s license, and how he earned real-world experience on the road. He also pays tribute to the beauty of big rigs and the pure joy that comes along with looking at them and driving them. There really is nothing like admiring the beauty of a landscape while sitting in the elevated cab of a big rig tractor. Whether you’ve wondered what it is like to drive a big rig, want to make a career change, or simply crave to know more about truck driving culture, you’ll get an accurate picture of what the life is all about with this book.




With Any Luck, I'll Drive a Truck


Book Description

A little boy has a grand time pretending to drive every big vehicle he can imagine.




A Trucker's Tale


Book Description

Wit, wisdom, adventure, and revelations from sixty years on the road. They say that only truck drivers experience the true grandeur and landscape of America: the winding mountainsides at sunrise, the first frosts of winter descending on apple orchards, the call of the rising roosters. In A Trucker's Tale, Ed Miller gives an inside look at the allure of the work and the colorful characters who haul our goods on the open road. He shares what it was like to grow up in a boisterous trucking family, his experience as an equipment officer in Vietnam, the wide range of vehicles he's mounted, and the daily trials, tribulations, risks, and exploits that define life as a trucker. Ed's vibrant, no-holds-barred tales are hilarious and heartwarming, sometimes cringeworthy or unbelievable—recollections of heroic feels as well as the “fishing stories” that have stretched and shifted from CB radio to CB radio. Many are the results of what he calls, “just plain stupidity.” Others bring to light the small acts of kindness and grand gestures that these Knights of the Highway perform each day, as well as the safety risks and continual danger that these essential workers endure. Together they paint a compelling portrait of one of the most important, but least-known industries, and reveal why Ed, and so many like him, just kept on truckin’.




Latino Truck Driver Trade


Book Description

Latino Truck Driver Trade: Sex and HIV In Central America uncovers the incredible danger that truck drivers put themselves in by risking HIV infection and why Latin sexual culture does not always define men who participate in sexual acts with other men as "homosexual." Exploring the concept of "machismo" and why truck drivers act very "manly" (to avoid being teased or being made fun of) through interviews with truck drivers, this detailed account gives insight into how friends pressure others to perform sexual acts, drink alcohol, and take drugs in order to "fit in""--Jacket.




Tractor-Trailer Truck Driver Training


Book Description

When students need to learn from the resource even the pros trust, look no further than Delmar’s Tractor-Trailer Truck Driver Training, 4E. Delmar is the only official education partner of the Professional Truck Driver Institute (PTDI). Our goal is to ensure that students are armed with the information needed to excel in their truck driver careers. The all-new fourth edition incorporates both customer and industry feedback to bring enhancements that truly capture the learning needs of the industry. One key improvement: the book’s approach has been broadened to include all of North America, in an effort to provide accurate, effective content that is relevant to all drivers, whether they drive within or beyond the border of the United States. Additional updates include a detailed chapter devoted to CSA 2010, references to the latest tractor-trailer and driving technologies, as well as “day in the life” stories written by truck drivers and industry leaders that illustrate how truck driving experiences can shape both lives and careers. The end result is a valuable resource that will instill an up-to-date, comprehensive foundational knowledge that will help drivers in any stage of their career development. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.




What You Didn't Learn in Trucking School


Book Description

WHAT YOU DIDN'T LEARN IN TRUCKING SCHOOL is a refreshingly frank and delightful pocket guide that offers practical advice and etiquette tips for truck drivers. Being a truck driver is not easy. Truckers' challenges include working long hours, being hundreds of miles from home and constantly trying to avoid or prevent hazards on the roadway. The biggest complaint truck drivers have? Other truck drivers! Especially the ones with toilet habits you wouldn't tolerate from kindergartners. Janet Walker shares with readers the opinions, gripes and peeves she has collected from drivers during her 12 years in the trucking industry. To help remedy these problems, she offers solutions that, if implemented, can help make the trucking lifestyle more enjoyable and more respectful for the men and women who are the heroes of our country's highways. This little book of etiquette is a valuable guide for anyone who wants to be a truck driver in America-and who wants to know which habits to avoid as they travel the road to truck-driving success.