A Practical Guide to the Day-to-Day Lifestyle
I need to make a note early on that a carrier is a trucking company.
The Fantasy vs The Reality
Being a truck driver is fantastic for some. Sure, you get to see the country including mountains, deserts, the great plains, and more. You get paid to drive some incredible equipment and take a bed with you. Rather, the bed comes with a truck that has a sleeper berth. But you don’t have to pay for a hotel or campsite every night.
While those things are true, there are other things that go with it. Depending on who you are and what you’re willing to do they can cause you to decide that trucking is not for you, or that a career in trucking will still work.
Every year many people get their CDL and drive a truck only to find out after a few months (sometimes earlier, sometimes longer), that they don’t want to continue in this path. And that’s okay, but when you’re going into a new career you want to be as prepared for it as you reasonably can.
A quick note: In this piece a carrier is a trucking company.
Let’s go on and see what trucking is really like.
The Daily Rhythm (A Typical Day on the Road)
After you get up and get ready for the day you’ll go on duty and do a pre-trip inspection of your truck and trailer. If you’re pulling a flatbed, it also includes making sure your cargo is secured.
Once you and your truck are good to go you’ll hit the road. Driving can be enjoyable. It can also be very boring. If you’re driving down a road that doesn’t interest you, your mind could wander. You may think ‘I need to listen to something.’
There was a time when you could only listen to the radio. And then there were CDs. But these days you can also listen to audiobooks and podcasts. And talk on the phone with a Bluetooth. Is it bluetooth?
Listening to things and talking on the phone are great. Personally, I do those things, but sometimes I just like to have some quiet and think about some things. While keeping a watchful eye on the road, of course.
Some people have a CB radio in their truck. With one they can chat with others on the road. While I understand there are fewer trucks on the road with a CB there are still drivers who like to have one. Drivers like to use it not only for talking but also to relay information like where a cop is parked, if the scale house is open, road conditions, etc.
And if you do want to have a CB radio, there are still truck stops that carry them. In some places they’ll install the CB radio for you.
Managing HOS (subsection heading)
As a truck driver you will have a federally regulated clock. This clock limits how many hours you can work in an 8 day period. You can work 70 hours over 8 days. It seems like a lot of time, and it is, but some people think it’s not enough time.
Things that use your 70 hours include driving, getting fuel, pre and post-trip inspections, checking in and out at a customer (shipper or receiver), and inspections by a law enforcement officer.
No, you shouldn’t get inspected by a law enforcement every week, but when you do you need to be on duty. Otherwise you could get a ticket for falsification of logs.
When you stop for the day you need to have 10 hours off before going back on duty.
To learn more, check out HOS.
When you are driving you generally want to make the most of your time. If you have an appointment for your next stop and don’t have much time to spare, then you certainly want to keep going so you can make it there on time.
But let’s say you have 1,000 miles to go and basically two and a half days to get there. You have a comfortable time frame to get there. To make the most of your time you want to try and hit cities when there isn’t rush hour traffic.
Sometimes you’ll be driving and doing just fine on time, but then up ahead there will be an accident and you could be stopped in traffic for 10 minutes or a few hours.
Some things you really don’t know, but if you are ever delayed to your next stop, let your dispatcher know. That way the dispatcher can let the customer know.
The Logistics Dance (Dispatch, Loading, and Waiting) (have an alternate name for this section? I’m not a big fan of the word dance in this context.)
Speaking of dispatch, that person is your contact with the carrier. This person gives you the details for loads, including where to pick up, deliver, the route to take, how many paid miles it is, time for pickup and delivery, and more.
If you get to a shipper and you don’t have the correct pick up number, you reach out to your dispatcher to get the right info. As mentioned earlier, if you are delayed and won’t make on-time delivery or pickup, let your dispatcher know.
Need to schedule the next time you get home? Let your dispatcher know or use the company’s preferred way of letting them know.
When you get to a customer to pick up a load you go to the shipping office. In some places it is called shipping/receiving because their office handles both incoming and outgoing loads.
After checking in they will tell you where to go. It usually is a dock door, but sometimes it is a staging, or waiting, area. Once you’re backed up to a dock door you’ll just wait in your truck. A few places want you to be in a certain area while they’re loading or unloading your truck.
Once you’re loaded they’ll have you sign for the bill of lading (BOL). This BOL is a paper trail of the load. Among other things it has the shipper’s info, the name and address of the receiver, and how many pounds the load is.
The weight of the load is important to you as a driver. Generally speaking, if the load is over 30,000 pounds, it’s not a bad idea to scale it to make sure it’s legal. If it’s under 30,000 pounds you generally don’t need to scale it.
As a disclaimer, sometimes the weight on the BOL is incorrect and a load may be heavier than it says. It doesn’t happen often but I’ve seen it happen in my career.
Let’s back up a moment. When you get to a customer to pick up a load and the customer has you put the trailer in a dock door, that is a live. Either live load or live unload.
When you get to a customer and they have you drop your trailer and pick up another one, that’s a drop and hook. You save time with drop and hooks because the next trailer is already ready to go.
Dropping a loaded trailer at a receiver and then picking up an empty one reduces the amount of time you spend at a customer and more time on the road making money.
But what if you get to a customer, it’s a live load, and you end up being there for hours because they are taking forever to load your trailer? You should get paid detention.
It does vary somewhat from carrier to carrier, but in general you don’t get detention until after you have been there for 2 hours. After that, it is an hourly rate. In 2026, detention could be $15 or $20 an hour. It’s not as much as you could be making on the road, but it’s more than nothing.
But waiting before detention pay starts is unpaid.
The Mobile Household (Showers, Sleep, and Meals)
When you are home you have access to your own bed, a fridge to store food, and a place where you can conveniently get a shower. When you’re on the road, you can get all of those things. You just might have to make some adjustments.
There are showers available at many truck stops, but maybe you just want to get in front of a mirror and sink to floss, brush your teeth, and wash your face. There’s no shame in doing that. I’ve done it at truck stops and rest areas alike.
Not every truck stop has showers, but all of the major truck stops do. Do you have to pay for them? Not if you do it right.
When you buy 50 gallons a truck stop will give you a shower credit on their rewards card. Getting a rewards card is free and easy–I saw one small truck stop chain have a rewards card but they wanted to charge you for it.
And is 50 gallons a lot of fuel? When you’re used to driving a “four-wheeler” it is a whole lot. That might be how many gallons you buy in a whole month, but in a semi-truck it really isn’t a whole lot. If you average 7 miles to the gallon, that’s only 350 miles. As a new driver you should be able to average 500 miles or more a day. Trucks can hold anywhere between 150 and 200 gallons.
So, that’s for a shower credit. If you want to do laundry on the road, most major truck stops have laundry facilities. There are no laundry credits when you get diesel. You’ll have to pay either with coin or card.
Some drivers, including me, take enough laundry to fill their neesd on the road. Then when home do laundry there. But if you don’t want to use your precious time at home on laundry, then do it on the road. You have options.
In a truck with a sleeper berth you get a mattress. When you get assigned your own truck, you should have a brand new mattress. You will need to either take a sleeping bag or sheets. If you take a sleeping bag, think about how you would get it cleaned since some are affected in a washing machine.
Personally, I like the sheets because they’re comfortable and easy to wash.
You will need to provide your own pillow.
As a company driver you should be given a truck that has an APU (Auxiliary Power Unit). It keeps the inside of the truck at a comfortable temperature without the main diesel engine running. When you’re parked and it’s hot outside, the APU will keep it cool. When it is cold outside, it will keep it warm. APU’s are an investment by the carrier, but they save on fuel costs.
There are a number of food options. Truck stops sell food, though if that is all you eat, you’re spending too much money. On occaision, I’ll be at a place where I can go get some groceries. When I am home I will pick up some groceries there.
Some drivers have an air fryer in their truck (just be sure the truck has an inverter strong enough to handle the load). Some have a microwave. Other drivers have an electric cooler or fridge. It’s not as big as a fridge at home, but it can still hold a decent amount of food. There are various brands of electric coolers on the market.
How you decide to eat on the road depends on how much you want to spend and what you want to eat. Some drivers buy truck stop food twice a day and complain about how expensive it is while others get something to store food in and count how much money they have left for other things.
The Elements and the Obstacles (Traffic and Weather)
You don’t have control over other drivers or the weather, but you do have control over how you react to them.
When driving through a major city there is a lot of traffic. It is a fact of life. Of course, there’s more traffic on the road when people are going to work or home. Sometimes you can plan on getting through a city outside of those busy hours, but for some cities it stays bad all day.
That’s when you just have to get through no matter what the traffic is doing, unless you have the time to wait it out, but that’s for you to decide.
You’ll be driving along just minding your own business and someone will cut in front of you. That person could either be going very fast, close to your speed, or even slower than you are going causing you to press on the brakes.
Yes, if someone cuts in front of you and brake checks you, and there ends up being a collision, then there’s a chance the driver in front of you is liable for the accident. Many carriers have forward facing cameras to see what happened.
No, someone brake checking you doesn’t happen often, but there are crazy drivers on the road. Just don’t do stupid stuff on the road when you do see a crazy driver.
When there is snow or ice on the road, it’s time to get to a safe location and wait until road conditions improve. If you are approaching an area where trucks are required to chain up to go up or down a mountain, then find a safe place to park until the roads are cleared of ice and snow.
Some companies may require you to chain up. Some do have chains on their trucks but also tell you they are only there for regulatory reasons. If you need to chain up, then just park in a safe location.
If your company expects you to chain up so the freight can keep moving and you’re not comfortable doing so (which is perfectly fine), then tell them you’re not comfortable doing so. If they still insist, tell them you’ll be on the road when the roads are cleared.
(Gemini, is this following statement accurate?) Each state has a website where you can access road conditions and traffic cameras. If it’s winter time and I’m going through the mountains I’ll check the weather forecast and the road conditions.
What if the state doesn’t require you to have chains but there is winter weather and you want to shut it down before sliding off the highway? Find a safe place to park. No load is worth your life. Besides, if you are involved in an accident, it goes on your record. Be safe out there, because if you decide to make a career out of trucking, you need to develop a safety mindset.
The Human Element (Communication and Isolation)
Once upon a time you had to stop somewhere that had a phone to make a call. Okay, it wasn’t like that when I started in 2010. There was even Bluetooth prior to 2010. I think it came out around 2005.
Anyhow, these days it’s easy to talk on the phone with a Bluetooth. Please don’t be one of the drivers that talks on speaker phone while holding the phone. It’s illegal. If you don’t have a Bluetooth, just get one.
You may find yourself calling home regularly. It could be once a day or a few times each day. When you’re parked, you can legally make video calls.
As a driver there is a lot of isolation. Sure, you can find other drivers at truck stops and you can talk to them. Who knows, you may even find someone whom you want to stay in contact with.
But feelings of isolation can be real. Just know that if you need something from your dispatcher, you can reach out.
You don’t need to watch or listen to videos when you’re going down the road. If you don’t think you can drive without a video playing, this career isn’t for you. We need safe drivers on the road.
Being on the road is stressful. And when you park for a 10 hour break, sometimes the stress takes a while to go away. Each person is a little different. Sometimes it takes watching a few videos, playing a game, going for a walk, or something else to ease up on your stress.
And after being off duty (or in the sleeper berth) for 10 hours, does that mean you have to go back on duty the very next minute? No.
What if you park for the day at 5 pm? That would mean going back on duty at 3 am. The only reason I’d get up at 3 am is if I had an appointment to keep and needed to leave that early.
The Physical & Financial Reality (Money and Health)
Yes, you can make good money as a truck driver. When you’re brand new you will typically go with a trainer for a period of time. This is because a CDL school will teach you what you need to know to get your CDL. The trainer will teach you how to thrive in this industry. To learn more about being with a trainer, check out this page.
You’ll get paid when you’re with a trainer, but it won’t be as much as you can earn when you’re assigned your own truck. Once you’re in your own truck you should get paid, in 2026, close to 52 cents per mile (CPM). And if you do 2,500 miles a week, that comes out to about $1,300 gross.
For a particular company, check with them how much they pay per mile. Keep in mind that while some companies may advertise a higher CPM, their actual miles per week may be less than the industry standard.
But know that as a CDL driver you’ll get paid by the mile. Some positions pay hourly but the majority are by the mile.
Money keeps the bills paid, but your health allows you to keep earning that money. It is hard to do exercise on the road. Unless you’re a person that doesn’t mind the weather (rain, too hot, etc) or the area you’re in (rest area, country road, etc) there aren’t a lot of options for exercise.
Some drivers have memberships at gyms where there is enough room in the parking lot for a big rig. They go inside and workout. Then get a shower at the gym. It’s a great deal.
In order to thrive in this industry you need to put in some effort to maintain your health, watch how much you spend on the road, be okay with sitting for many hours every day, and be determined to make your pickups and deliveries on time.
Conclusion: Is This Life Right for You?
There is a lot to consider when thinking about being a truck driver. If something about it really bothers you, that is good to know.
Yes, a person can make a decent living in this career, but if you don’t think you would enjoy it based on what you learned in this post, then reconsider.
Some things you don’t really know until you try them. I get that. This article was written to help you make a more informed decision, because ultimately you get to decide your future.
If you do want to proceed, check out this article on what to look for when picking a CDL school to attend.
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