I have been told for various reasons throughout my trucking career that trucking is often classified as a “transient industry” because of a truck’s ability to be somewhere new every day and harder to track for that very reason. This tends to lead to things like higher interest rates on mobile equipment purchases like trailers and trucks, since it is more difficult for the lienholders to recover their assets in the event of a default by the borrower. On the other hand, being a transient industry has its advantages rooted in the same ability to be mobile.
Being that I just completed a move of my home and home office based operation, the ability to be mobile and adaptable was a major decision factor in leaving the city for a slower paced environment to raise my family. I have always had great luck in being able to research freight lanes wherever they may take me and moving to just about the mid-point between Las Vegas and Los Angeles has allowed me to change lanes for my own truck that I operate, while still maintaining the local Los Angeles freight with my other truck that prefers to operate there. The fact that I put myself through college running Los Angeles to Salt Lake City and started my own independent authority running Los Angeles to Las Vegas gave me a good feel for running up and down the I-15 corridor here in the West. Researching running Los Angeles to Las Vegas from my new home prior to our decision to move means that I can still be home every night and make a comfortable profit doing so.
Being a transient industry has been a good thing for me throughout the years, allowing me to move anywhere I like and still be able to adapt to different lanes of freight to accommodate my new location. Whether you are a local driver, regional, or over-the-road, you can usually find lanes of freight that run by the house often enough to get you there when you need. The same cannot be said for a vast majority of industries other than trucking, as you are usually tied to a warehouse or office and have an increased commute the farther you move away. Being able to “change lanes” in this industry and with a little homework take your income with you, is an advantage not often shared by many others!