Publicity...publicity...publicity...trucking companies need to be publicly exposed for the way they treat their drivers. If the driving public truly understood the CDL mills and how companies would rather continually hire unexperienced drivers than treat the experienced drivers they have with respect, pay them fairly, and allow them decent home time I believe the driving public would be outraged.

Well i actually talked to a usa truck recrutier today, what a crock of ##### 60 mph trucks at 34 cpm id rather work at mcdonalds, if you are a 10 yr driver, the min you should make is the 70/35 ratio pay meaning 70 mph truck at 35 cpm, if one goes down the other has to go up, other wise you are getting screwed, btw i hope trucking companies read this because im tired if them giving drivers the shaft and getting away with it,

No offense but who cares? I could care less about who reads my comments on who i deal with. If they are ripping u off or dishonest, let them know and quick. Too many people don't have the nads to stand up for themselves in our no fault nation.

Every trucker on the road today needs to be much more verbal about the abuses dished out by trucking companies. If just a few of the major trucking companies started seeing their name in print and the topic of discussion was their treatment of their drivers I believe a lot of eyes and ears would have to open up and a positive response would come about. Think about Walmart. I have read many articles about how Walmart did not offer insurance to its employees, and those who did have insurance had to wait a long period of time for it to go into effect. Today, Walmart is making insurance available to every employee and in a timely manner. Was it the government that caused the change of heart or the bad publicity Walmart was receiving in the newspaper? My guess would be the government offered an incentive but the bad publicity probably drove Walmart to the table to discuss the issue. Companies like USA Truck, US Express, FFE, Stevens, and others should all have their day in print so the public is made aware of how their employment practices effect their safety on the road. And USIS/DAC should go to the front page as a featured article.

Very good points TruckNGal.

It seems that there are a lot of very good companies who treat their drivers well. They pay them a fair wage and they don't charge their drivers for running APU's to keep warm or cool.

However there also seem to be a lot of very bad companies, ones who push their drivers beyond the legal limits, and as a reward for their loyalty they cheat them out of miles.

Hopefully most companies fall somewhere between these two poles.

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35 cents a mile at 100 mph is a slap in the face. It's amazing what folks will settle for.

The very fact that we drive or in my case used to drive doesn't preclude the fact companies have been using drivers and drivers have been using companies as scapegoats since trucking started. In my case I Leased from Prime a flat-bed tractor I worked there for almost 2yrs when my wife was involved in an auto accident. I got distracted and got careless. I didn't check the straps on my load well enough and lost a piece of steel on the highway. I left prime to be with my wife and now I am blacklisted cant find a driving job. So who's fault is it really the company or mine? my guess is both. I guess what I am trying to say is there is always 2 sides to every story.

in some cases thats true, however ill give you an example how it is not. i was talking to a recruiter for a company in alabama about 3 years ago he quoted me at .355 cpm plus bonuses, 1 day off for every week off no cap and 25 dollar single health coverage with a 20 dollar co pay, and a 70 mph truck....i got to orentation took the drug test then they told me it was .30cpm 34 dollars a week no copay til you met the 1000 deductable, 65 mph truck and max 4 days off....so i went off on the recrutier for lieing to me now on my dac it says let go and not elegible for rehire...

Shadowrider

Now just file a complaint with USIS or Hire Right DAC Trucking (hireright.com/) (or whatever they are calling themselve this week) and put in the complaint EXACTLY what was said! If you were in orientation then how the heck are you NOT REHIREABLE? You weren't even an employee but going through orientation to see IF you were to become an employee!
DO NOT LAY DOWN AND PLAY DEAD!
Heck it's DAC themselves! Have them look at their OWN records! And send them a pay stub from your last job and have them request a pay stub from this "company" you "drove for" that you aren't rehirable for now! It will come out in the wash that this company just filed the report for the money. And yes, DAC PAYS for companies to file on drivers! If they didn't not a single one of these companies would waste the "time" (remember TIME costs!) on filing a report with DAC as broke as most of them are becoming these days!

Now a little note to the rest of you:
Yes you are in orientation and what it's for is to find out EXACTLY what this company is. By now most of you know that a recruiter is a lying SOB! He's paid by the bodies he can get through the door! If things don't go well in orientation and you know that you've wasted a couple of days of your life don't RUN OFF AT THE MOUTH! Yes, you are pissed but read the above post and see if you think your BIG MOUTH will actually help you? Yes, you might think you're a bad ##### and yes you might be able to kick everyone's butt in that office but when you get your fat ##### out of jail see if you'll be driving a truck OTR or what ever you were in orienation for, or if you're going to be picking up cans off the side of the road as no one in the world will now hire your "bad self!" Not even MickeyD's will touch you if you think a loud mouth is your only defence! STAY CALM! Yes, you are pissed but being pissed is like peeing your pants in a dark suit. It feels good but no one notices! Untill they put it in writing on a DAC report! Keep your cool, get up and walk out or have them sign a peice of paper saying you willingly left orienation because, and put the reason down. Hopefully the hiring company will pay for the bus ticket back home! Thats why I drive my own car/bike there! I KNOW I'll get home and with everything I took with me!

Thanks so much for sharing such useful information