Deregulation is a euphemism for no rules, or no laws, anything goes. Deregulation has shown it's self to be what it is, a colossal failure, causing disaster after disaster; the savings and loan crisis, Ivan Bosky/Michael Milken bond diabolical, 1990's bank failures, Enron/MCI failures, dot com bubble, and the housing bubble. All of these have enriched corporations and the criminals calling themselves businessmen.

On the the subject of the trucking industry truck drivers need to start writing your congressmen about the abuse's in the trucking industry. If just the people that complain here at this website complained it would be a great start to correcting the treatment and abuses of drivers. It is now easy to get your rep's email address and write them regularly.

You have a rep or senator that does the will of the people that he represents??? Then he is the only one. I am 44 and I have voted once(a lot of good that did),I will never vote again, until I am given the assurances that my vote means something. Everybody knows that no matter who you vote, especially pres, your vote means nothing. There is NO law that says that the electoral college actually has to vote for whom the constituents vote for. Also most of our elected officials are there because Wall Street put them there, not main street. Well that said, The real scoop on this will be the rep and senators that vote for this bailout bill, any that vote for that should be thrown out of office. Let the banks fail. All those who put their trust in Wall Street , let them suffer--they took the gamble and they lost--they really dont have my sympathy at all. The next time you go to Vegas and loose a few hundred try getting your govt to bail you out, you wioll be on your own. This Wall Street thing is no different. And these are the guys that you want us to write letters to and call, how old are you 15??

YuP!
Let 'em fail.
The wealthiest only pay around 50% of the taxes, the rest is up to the rest of us.
Who needs THEM?
And the money institutions that are floundering and/or sunk --- well,
SOMEbody with liquidity will bail 'em out.
Like Red China, ......... again.
At this rate, we might remember what they said back in the day.
Better Dead than Red.
Right now, we're already showin' the signs of a (rising) Sun burn.

Before we know it, China is gonna reposes this Country.
Ship it right outta here in one of their HUGE cargo ships, instead of
dead-headin' 'em back to China --- empty.
With the bang for the buck soon to follow.
Ya reckon.

I agree with you 100%, aftershock! Osama Bin Laden said that he would bring our country down, so did Kruchef, and Stalin. Here in 2008, they are getting their wish and they didnt have to lift a finger(well, Osama did, but 7 years ago), but they didnt need an army or soldiers, just a dollar bill, or several hundred billion of them anyhow. They are bringing us down economically and not militarily--because they are figuring that with an economical takedown, we will be fighting among ourselves and therefore they have to do Nothing and we will fail. And our great congress(that some people here actually think they care about us) is letting them do just that. There is no ticket to vote for-it is either the Bin Laden(Dem)ticket, or the Rich and Wealthy(Repub)ticket.
Congress is not gonna help this industry, the drivers themselves are. These companies all complain everytime the regulations are changed, but I have seen none of them at the hearings except for WalMart(the only reasson that they are is because they understand that any changes directly effect their profits). The other companies think that they can bully their drivers into doing what they say no matter what the law says and no matter what the consequences are, since they can always fire you and hire some guy that was riding a bicycle yesterday in Mexico or any other 3rd world crappost for that matter, and let him drive a big truck today--10 year background check? They dont even know where they were 10 minutes ago! To many drivers would rather leave everything for someone else, because they cant be bothered--you will see that everyday of the week no matter where you drive.

I don't drive much, Tim.
I ride a bicycle.
But I remember where I was 10 minutes ago.
You see, in the interest of conservation,
I've had my bike cut back to 15 mph, so on a good ride,
I can usually average 10 mph. Thangs aren't so blurry at that speed,
so I can study the landmarks longer.
And thanx to my GPS, I know where not to go when I go where I'm goin'. Then,
just ride backwards on the way back.

I'm with you on the voting, especially when the voters are left with two sets of clowns to vote for for president and vice-president, like the goomba's we got now.

It's a battle when you're fighting for "right" and the politicians want wrong, like the battle against the Mexican Invasion. What I'm getting at is that people fought the Mexican Invasion by writing and calling their representatives over and over again. Now the government is at least putting on a good show with "ICE" with raids on criminal corporations hiring criminal's. We still have a big problem with politicians trying to manipulate there way around this issue and try and figure out ways to allow the invasion to continue. So it's not going to be easy.

The citizens had big help from numbersusa who wrote up faxes and arranged phone call in's to rep's regularly. Something like this could be set up for truckers as a way to fight for truckers issues. In the mean time truckers should be writing their rep's about the problems in the industry and demand that trucking, truckers, be protect the same way other employee's are protected. I can't give any examples except for what I've read here. One complaint could be that truckers need to get compansated some way shape or form for 2 days off for every 5 days worked how ever that compensation presents it's self. Example: If a driver drivers 20 days he should get 8 days off. By contrast I'm reading companies giving 1 day for every 7 days worked. Now this is a load of ####. 2 days a week off were fought for and won decades ago.

Any way that's my take.

I understand your "take" --- but what about your give?

Example: The last company I drove for gave 1 1/2 days off for every 7 days out. I preferred to say out for 8 to 9 weeks at a time, giving me 12 to 14 days off in a row.

For the first 3 or 4 days, I didn't even want to look at the bobtail in my driveway. But around 5 days off I started washin' and polishin' -- and I knew I'd be itchin' for a load within the next day or so, meaning I usually only took around half of the days coming to me. Which sure helped the paychecks.

Not every Big truck truck driver is the same.
Different strokes for different folks.
One size does NOT fit ALL.
The truckin' industry offers flexibility. I like that.

The truckin' industry is what it is --- and one thing OTR truckin' has never been is family friendly. Why, knowing that, do drivers continually try to change what amounts to the most efficient way to git 'er done?
Consistant, weekly home time probably costs in productivity, as the truckin' companies try to accomodate the home time wishes of all their drivers. That's mileage pay the drivers won't see because of the additional costs associated with trying to route drivers home ASAP, rather than taylor a load to that general area.

If y'all want dependable, quality home time, and y'all's present company ain't gittin' 'er done --- move onto another company that CLAIMS they will.
Better yet, DON'T get into the truckin' industry at all.
Y'all WILL be headed for a heartache, or even a heart attack.

The truckin' industry IS what it is, and some drivers like it the way it is. Are your demands considering them?
MAYbe, y'all don't hear as many complaints about current conditions beCAUSE there ARE happy drivers doin' what they do the way the truckin' companies are geared to doin' it.
Ya reckon.

No one has to worry about the give. The give is all there big time.

1 1/2 days for every 7 days worked is not 2 days for every 5 days worked. I don't care about the happy guys. I care about the ones that are in pain. If the happy guys are happy so be it. Why even bring them up.

Please lets don't split hairs. The idea is you should be able to gather time or get credit for the days in over time, etc. If a guy worked straight through without taking time off and not taking into consideration overtime, a driver would accumulate about 96 days of time off not considering holidays. With large amounts of time off like this you can really do something or not such as the case might be. Or go back to driving if you don't hate your truck anymore and you get tired of polishing it.

If know one wants to write the rep's that's just fine.

You suggest there are people who are just fine with everything the way it is. I'm sure there is according to the stuff I've read on this website.

I'm sure there were happy slave's during slavery.

I'm sure there were happy guy's and kid's working in the coal mines in the 1800's & 1900's too.

I'm sure there was happy kids working in the sweat shops, factories in the 1800 & 1900's.

These times were great for productivity when running people 16-18 hours a day and 6-7 days a week.

These times were great for efficiency too.

How about putting those big giant wood blocks on the clutch, break, and the gas pedals so that companies can put the whole family to work including the little kids. Then you don't have to concern yourself about hometime. Then YA'LL can have real productive and efficient company. Oh, and to make it even more productive when ya change drivers put on the cruise control and just jump over one another. Tell the kids it's like a Disney ride. LOLOLOLOLOL

Actually, I have heard that Werner is a very military/faith based (Christian) ownership. Like most good Christians (in my book) they screw you 6 days a week and go to church for forgiveness on the 7th day.

__________________
Support the FairTax Plan
NO MORE IRS
NO MORE FED. INCOME TAXES

Give it to me.

And Y'all can't make a dollar outta 99 cents.
What's your point? Really?
Then why should they care about you?
They're happy, ---- you're not. And some of those will ALWAYS be in "pain".
But there's a solution.
Get out of an industry that gives y'all "pain".
Scheese!
Would y'all beat yourself in the head with a claw hammer ---
and complain that it hurts? WhY?
Because I'm happy.

You don't want me to "split hairs"?
Ok.
Let's get right down to the scalp.

You list yourself as a "wannaBee".
You haven't even reached trainee, newBee, ........ or rookie, ......... yet.
And ALREADY you're carrying on about not enough off time?
Hmmmmmmmmm

In my experience, those with that mindset were the same ones who are NEVER happy, ...... always complaining, and hated their job.
Yet they knew what they were gittin' into.
And did it anyway.
As least that's what signin' the dotted line indicates.
An agreement.

If you're so intent on always having guaranteed home time WHEN you want it, ...... you're setting yourself up for some severe disappointment. Especially if you want that right off the bat.
Sure, there are dedicated accounts, but they come and go.
It could happen that you find the dream dedicated run, only for the company to loose the contract three or four years later.
Now, you're used to a pattern, and may have to make a choice.
Run irregular OTR routes --- of find another company that meets your limited expectations.

Knowing that the industry is what it is and has been for years, WhY are you even considering driving a Big truck?
You already don't like it.

I wouldn't go so far as to suggest that there are people satisfied with EVERYthing the way it is. But I know there are those who can and do accept the way things are, and, as a result, seem to be much happier.

Will those happy people support change?
I think it depends on what those changes are.
Two days off for every five worked?
Good Grief!
That's a desk job.
MANY of us DON'T want or need that many days off.
We'd prefer to keep the wheels rollin'.
And the money rollin' in --- hopefully.

Those who want overtime pay, ...... that would be nice.
But until then, what do you suggest they do?
Go on strike for those who want something they don't want?


Here's my best advice based on those last statements and points you were trying to make.

Instead of tryin' to change the truckin' industry before you attempt to enter it, consider NOT (entering it, at all)
Fight for truckers' rights while employed at a 9 to 5 job somewhere else doin' anything other than Big truck truckin'.

But if you decide to fight the industry from within, ......
mark my words,...... you're gonna be miserable most, if not all, of the time. Probably stressed out over the injustices.
Best ask yourself right now if that's what you REALLY want.