Truck Driving Job Hoppers – by a job hopper

Very well stated.

 

You know what? You're right. As I look back over my comments I have to ask myself, "Would I say these things to his face?"and truthfully for about half of it I would say no. I don't care for folks who feel they can say whatever they like because nobody knows who they are and here I am being all two faced about it. I wasted an opportunity to make some valid points by being sarcastic and inflammatory and for that I apologize. Maybe I'll do better next time. Sorry Subzero.

 

Apology accepted. I think everyone here will agree with me when I say I/we would like to hear whatever valid point you have to make on the topic at hand. That is what it is all about. I come here to gather a bunch of different opinions about what I need to know from a bunch of different drivers. It will in turn allow me to make a better decision and hopefully end up with the outcome I am looking for. I know I have made a lot of mistakes and have left some companies I wish I wouldn't have. The one that I cant go back to is the only one I really wish I could, but its like my signature says below "You cant see the future by looking at the past" So, you do what you have to do, to get to where you want to be... This forum and the advice I received here has allowed me to make the correct decision...

 

Thank you for that. You seem to be a very sincere and intelligent young man so I will now attempt to be a sincere and intelligent old timer instead of a cranky old fart. This is a real hot button topic for me and my previous comments were a knee jerk reaction due to my frustration and should never have been turned into a personal attack. Now that I'm thinking more clearly let me try to explain some of that frustration. I blame the companies for the level of driver turnover we see today. I've spent 18 of my 19 years on the road in the employ of one carrier and while that doesn't seem unique to me it does make me a bit of an oddball. My company is very special to me but not that unusual. I stand by my former assertion that most trucking companies are "good". By this I mean that they have a reasonable business plan, reasonable policies and competitive pay. I'm talking about the major carriers here not the mom & pop operations. They can vary wildly and go belly up quickly so let's leave them out of the equation. But people are the problem. The very best company is going to employ some pricks that you are going to butt heads with but that doesn't make them a bad company. I've been with my company long enough to develop some very powerful allies within the company and when I occasionally have a pissing contest with one of these pricks, if I'm in the right ( and sometimes I'm not), I'll generally get my way. Tenure is the source of real power for drivers. Not turnover. And believe it or not this is the source of my frustration. I read the quarterly financial reports from my company and like all the major players they are operating on very thin margins right now. Driver turnover is a huge expense and I think an unnecessary one. This is money better used for pay and benefits for current drivers. I tell them that great drivers are cheaper to develop than they are to recruit. I tell them that if they would just spend 1/10 the money on driver retention that they spend on driver recruiting we would soon have a very loyal and profitable driving force and we'd have a waiting list of great drivers who'd happily join our ranks without a sign on bonus. But I'm only one voice. About a month ago I started a blog for drivers at my company. I'm not a great writer nor do I possess any real organizational skills but I do hope that by brainstorming with my fellow drivers we can come up with solutions to make this a better and more profitable place for all us to work. My company pays a $1000 referral bonus but I won't be taking them up on it. I'm going to try to recruit some better drivers within our current ranks instead. I talk to a lot of drivers outside of my company also. My advice to them? Stay where your at. You can find a better job right there if you work at it.

 

Excellent post Pride. And I commend and respect your ability to apologize. It's not something you see much of anymore. Thanks for the informative post. You're exactly right.

 

Brother you have hit the nail on the head with this one, you have completely summarized my thinking about my current situation. I have come to learn exactly what you are talking about from the advice I have been given from other drivers on this forum. Thank you for the post and there are no hard feelings on this end whatsoever.

(For all you other drivers out there, this is how you resolve things, violence and bad words will get you nowhere)

 

Well with the economy the way it is and the last year i had 4 temp jobs that are on my reume. It makes me look like a job hopper when most of them have ended due to lack of work.

 

Should be somewhat understandable you would think seeing as how they are temp jobs anyway right?