I am a trucker.
I used to work for one of the biggest shipping companies in the world, but now I own my own rig and only take freelance jobs.
I won’t mention the company by name, because they don’t deserve any free publicity! It was a decent place to work, the pay was good and the benefits were tremendous. After enough years a man yearns for more freedom. Punching a clock and doing whatever runs were assigned to me got older, and I wanted to be able to pick and choose the jobs I took. I have no health benefits now, and the pay isn’t quite as good, but overall I am much happier with my life! I just returned from a huge run all the way across the country to secure a shipment of rebar wire ties, and several hundred coils of bar wire, rod wire, and lashing wire. I couldn’t tell you the difference between rod wire and bar wire, but to my customers it was valuable enough to pay me a premium. Hauling so much gear burned a lot more fuel than I am used to, because rebar rods and the various kinds of wire ties are extremely dense, which makes them heavy. It was a very profitable run, but what I learned was that the weight of rebar and wire ties is very strenuous on my truck for long hauls. In the future I will have to charge an even higher premium for hauling rebar and wire ties to offset the long term wear and tear to my rig.