If you wanna stay home over the weekends, look into hauling dirt or maybe trees. Even those companies usually want 2yrs verifyable OTR experience. You may also look into CCC. They have depts which guarantee weekends off(in writing). They're located in Auburndale, FL.

Oh, Alachua is that city "Big Orange" is apparently in now. Beware, Werner is also there. Honestly, I don't understand a point to any company setting up shop there, anywhere in the county, anymore. The taxes are astounding.

Lay off, jr.

He didn't offend me in the least, but you have come close. I, and you(if you're actually a trucker), know exactly what he's talking about with the descriptions. Those folks are out there 'en masse' in our industry. You wanna get rid of the poor stereotype comments, become a roadside personal trainer or something.

What he needs is advice from someone who isn't so uptight about what someone may think of them in general. Besides, at your age, surely you still have your teeth!

Tell a guy who ran his own business for 12yrs all you want about what customer service means. He's probably forgotten more than you have learned to this point. Sheesh... Like you're some kind of expert on the matter. You asked if he thinks this industry is for him. If he's new to it, he may not be decided yet. But is it for you? I mean, most of us are pretty "thick-skinned" ... You seem a bit thin there. What I'm getting at is, he merely pointed out some obvious issues within trucking. Here you come, ACTING as if nothing could be further from the truth. Fact is, he's got valid points to go along with his perspective. He's clearly seen what he described. I know... We've all seen the same things. So why whine to him about what we know exists.

The problem seems to be, he went to work for WERNER ENTERPRISES!!! This was a good company at some point, but those days seem to be over since C.L. is no longer running things and his "make us money" son/s took over. And sadly enough, they are hardly alone in the category of "bad companies."

Apparently the point was missed.

He is generalizing that companies like mine only hire "thugs," which would imply that I am a thug.

I do take offense to the way in which he stated it. Yes, there are some disgusting people driving truck, I have seen them, I am not blind. However, that same could be said for any industry. Walk into a McDonald's and you'll see what I am talking about. Or try spending a day in an office with someone who truly isn't aware how bad they smell.

What he said was along the lines of this: Construction workers are filthy and have no self respect. Or this: Union people only join a union so they can sit on their lazy cans all day and do nothing.

Both comments can be true, but it can not be said for everyone who is a construction worker, or a union guy.. Get my point now?

As for customer service. I have found that a person's general attitude is reflected in how they will treat a customer. If someone walked into my business for an interview, with statements like that, I could never hire them. In my business, I had to go into a person's home! You'll never see anything quite like you do when you get inside their house. So I needed to make sure they could keep their cool if the customer looked like a "gangster."

One customer I had the displeasure of serving had 8 cats, 2 dogs, and a bird of some sort... Smelled AWFUL! Didn't look much better. The computer I had to fix looked rather spiffy though! I had to keep my mouth shut about the smell, the mess, and everything else. I have also been to places to deliver a load, where I wanted to rip their head off! I had to keep my cool. Does that mean all of my customers are crazy cat people with no desire to clean? No.

You can make all the snide remarks you want about a person, if it rings true, I don't care. Comments like that, directed towards an industry as a whole are not constructive in any way. Here's an idea.. Next time you see a driver who hasn't showered in a month, give them a shower point off your card! I have done this, and it may piss them off, they get cleaned up.

Basically he said: "All the drivers for the big companies get treated like crap, because they all deserve it."

Most of us don't deserve it.

Want to change our image? Do something about it. Sitting here and perpetrating an image of Schneider, Werner, Swift, JB, whoever, as filthy disgusting "thugs" is just gonna piss me off. There are owner opperators I have seen that fit that description, but you don't see me saying things like "All O/O deserve to lose their trucks, they're all drug using, overweight morons who drive until they crash." I know plenty of drivers for Schneider who are very professional, in appearance AND attitude. In fact, it's a very VERY small percentage who aren't! Do they exist? Yes. Is it all of us? Not by a long shot.

RobW: How did I offend you? It wasn't directed at you in any way. And YES, I am a driver. Or did you assume that I sounded too intelligent to be a driver?

FYI: I am 5'10" and weigh 152lbs - I shower every day unless I absolutely can't (it does happen) - I have excellent clothing - And I don't take myself too seriously, I know I have some issues. I am the first to point them out: I do have bad teeth, but they're there. I have some acne, but I have spent more on prevention and control products than I did on my first two cars, so I gave up, none of them worked. Does it look like my face is going to explode? No.

Yet I still get comments like: "You're a truck driver?" "You don't look like one." "Do you work in the office?"

I get offended by the sweeping generalizations that we are all disgusting pigs with no self-respect. So should you..

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Unfortunately out of the 18 or so people there 4 of them looked like they bathed the night before and combed their hair when they woke up. By thug I mean pick in the hair and pants hanging low enough to show off their ##### if it weren't for the stained boxers they've been wearing for the second strait week. Two of the guys that dressed proper and looked like they bathed were black and a few of the guys with the pants hanging around their ankles were white so it's in no way a racial thing, it's a taking a lil pride in how you present yourself thing.

If you get all those guys standing around at let's say a medical center to get their physicals, anyone walking by is gonna see a bunch of derelicts and the people that tried to be professional about it are gonna get grouped in with them, not the other way around where the derelicts all of a sudden look professional because there are 4 people there that bathed and got properly dressed.

Individually you would think that the guys that dressed right should get better treatment but after after these companies constantly get bombarded with these people that don't care they get a permanent attitude towards everyone and group everyone together.

How do you compete with these people when the companies are like "Well if you don't take this pay I'll get Jose, Tyrone, or Bubba to do it. They'll do it just so we don't kick them out the truck. Doesn't take rocket science to get this load from point A to point B." ???

MORE AND MORE COMPANIES HAVE THE NEWBIE WAIT FOR A TRUCK, AS THEY ARE SCALING BACK. THIS IS A TOUGH TIME IN THE OTR INDUSTRY. SOUNDS LIKE YOU NEED TO LOOK INTO THE BUSINESS A LITTLE BIT DEEPER AND SEE IF IT IS REALLY SOMETHING YOU WANT TO BE DOING. MANY LOCAL COMPANIES WILL GIVE YOU A TRY, BUT MOST OF THOSE PAY LOWER AND DON'T HAVE BENIFITS........THE IDEA THAT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO GET HOME OFFTEN DEPENDS ON THE COMPANY,THE RUNS, THE AVAILABLE LOADS AND YOUR BOSS.MANY OF US SPEND 6,8,10 WEEKS OUT BEFORE WE GO HOME...GOOD LUCK

The generalizations are merely that. You didn't really offend me, but it was offensive the way you lashed out toward him for adding opinion to facts. As we all know, many truck drivers are just plain nasty. Many more are fairly clean cut folks whom we can all tell care about themselves. But to get offended over someone elses viewpoint and make belligerent comments because of that... childish. Just as you saw his comments, yours weren't helpful in that respect. Sometimes... you need to know when to shut up. Like when arguing that truths aren't so much truths. Reality is, truth and fact may make us mad, but it doesn't change.

I'd guess, thanks to your self-description, you're questioned about being a driver because you look like a kid. Ultra thin and pimples... Reminds me of my twin(I was never thin) brother... when we were 15. At 25... different. We looked older.

And don't say, "Basically he said," and follow that with quotations... It makes the inference that he really did say... In this case, he didn't.

Your intelligence is only beaten into submission by your ignorance. It had nothing to do with me wondering whether or not you're a driver. The thin-skinned and nearly hateful comments did, as well as the idea that you're in practical denial of the fact we have some really nasty folks behind the wheel of a big truck. Your grammar, I will say, is fairly refreshing... Not for being a trucker... For being a youngster. Good onya for that!

GoToSleep... So, was it WERNER? Sounds like them.

Simple: You speak to them in language they can understand. "If looks have nothing to do with this business, then why did I spend 4 months having 98% of my loads be for one account after they commented on how well I looked? I am not a dedicated driver, obviously it was worth it to keep me doing it despite getting more pay for it."

You have to negotiate for yourself, even in a large company. Once I figured that out, Schneider became a pretty darn good company for me. Miles went up, and the treatment improved as well.

Let me put it this way. If the rest of the industry looks so bad, then why should you have a problem standing out as a better employee?

Ok, so I over-reacted. It happens. The point I was trying to make is still a very valid one. All changes need to start with someone, why not you? Pretty quickly, we are going to see this market change to be more like the regular job markets were in the 90's. People who don't present themselves (physically, verbally, and mentally) as professionals will be pushed out. There's no driver shortage, there's a frieght shortage, so the people who don't measure up will be losing their jobs. It is taking longer than you would expect because companies like Schneider know not to fire these people. Why pay them unemployment? We can simply cut their miles until they quit.

Justifying the big companies for their tactics isn't going to win you points with me. No matter how you do it.

RobW: Ignorant is not something I am accustomed to being called. Interesting interperetation.

I am not in denial. I just simply do not believe that the bad ones make up the majority. They're simply noticed more because they are offensive. I got offensive, and you sure noticed me faster. That can change though. Just like I stated above, make the image of a professional more appealing to the company than the derelicts.

I lash out because that's how I was taught growing up. "Don't take crap from anyone." It was a philosophy which pervades my every action. Call me an A-Hole if you need to. I will still defend what I believe is right. I may have gone above the call of duty on it, but it got your attention, and his.

A-Hole lesson 1: Stop closing doors to yourself simply because you feel things are stupid, or horrible. Instead of complaining about the competition, use their faults for your own gains. This is the base thinking of anyone who gets ahead in the "office world." That thought can help in any job market.

There was a better way I could have gone about it, yes. There was also a better way he could have asked for help as well. Bitterness begets bitterness in return. I know two wrongs don't make a right, but I sure feel better after letting go on a good rant, because I know mine was for a good purpose, and seriously, you can't expect to act like that and not get it back in spades at some point.

The image isn't going to be changed by itself, or by thinking a small company will be better. It starts by portraying a more positive light on the decent ones, and exploiting the bad ones' faults until they have no job left to be "bad" at.

Yes, I'm a cynical A-Hole. At least I still ask people if they need help when they're broke down, and believe that MOST people are not indecent excuses for rocks. Welcome to my world, it's a beautiful place.

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My advice to you, is BAIL now!! If you wait 3-4 weeks, then you will NOT be able to bail. As most companies want you to do a refresher after 30-60 of graduating, if you did not take a job straight out of school.

You have become another victim of the industry. The recruiters are reeling guys like you in as fast as they can toss the lines out. Just like the guys on TV that promise to make you rich with rel-estate or investing in the "crock market".

In the future: Get what you want, before you even sign the application !!! If you want local or region, it is a complete waste of time to fill out an application for an OTR position.

Companies DO NOT lose a dime if you sit. They do not lose a dime if you quit. Otherwise JBH, Swift, and Werner, would have been out of business years ago.

Many "trades" do the same thing. Make their money off the "training" aspect of the industry. Hair Styling schools and trucker schools are the same, when you put it in that light. And many schools are owned/subsidized by trucking companies. Recruiters come in every week, and foam at the mouth for those "bonuses" they receive for reeling you in.

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