Trucking trade organization American Trucking Association executives are warning that “the second quarter is going to be terrible.” They are warning that fleets will be forced to lay off drivers. Yet at the same time, many of the same megacarriers represented by the ATA are trying to make sure that new CDL drivers keep flooding into the industry. Their proposed solutions include allowing CDL students to drive without first obtaining even a permit.
“I would expect a lot of trucking failures,” said Bob Costello, Chief Economist for ATA, according to Freightwaves. “I hate going out and saying that, but I think you need to know that. Even with SBA loans, it’s federal help, but it’s not going to save the day.”
Costello was speaking during a webinar hosted by the National Shippers Strategic Transportation Council. He told attendees that an economic recession had begun. Because of that ATA expects freight volumes to drop significantly. And when freight volumes fall, trucking companies will have to lay off drivers.
Yet despite that, an open letter addressed to the National Governors Association was sent on Tuesday. In it, a coalition of carriers, CDL schools, and trucking industry groups urged the Governors of all 50 states to declare that CDL schools and State Driver’s License Agencies (SDLAs) are “essential services” that can remain open during the national emergency declaration.
Our nation desperately needs to continue training and testing new professional CDL drivers,” the letter states.
The coalition writes that the lack of new CDL students poses “a critical threat to our nation’s ability to move medical supplies, food, and other freight.”
The letter is signed by megacarriers including C.R. England, Knight-Swift, Roehl, Stevens, US Xpress, and more – many of whom are members of ATA.
“We offer the following ideas for additional action as a means of ensuring that all states do their part to aid our national need for truck drivers while also ensuring adherence to COVID-19 safety protocols:
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Open designated SDLA locations with limited hours so students may obtain their CDL permits;
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Establish a temporary online CDL permit test;
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Allow SDLA employees to administer the CLP test to students at the school’s location;
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Allow out of state students to take CDL skills exams in your state; or
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Issue temporary authority to accept a state licensed CDL school certificate in lieu of a CLP if state SDLAs are closed.”
Source: freightwaves, freightwaves, NGAletter
These mega company are really just try to screw this industry up and they just wanna keep pay them that 20 cents a mile
Don’t be surprised when older drivers take it out on the new drivers, that are enabling those mega carriers to act that way!
a lot of people are out of work and need a job too. So they are going to the places that are still operating and hiring which one of them happens to be the trucking industry. Personally, I’m tired of pulling 90+ hours a week to keep up with demands so I welcome all the relief I can get.
Um why/how are you legally working 90+ hours a week on a driving job?
Lol who do you work for?
Not sure what you mean but seems like you need to re-read the article again because it has NOTHING to do with what your implying.
Hey there, driver. Kindly, YOU need to read this article again, it I’ll open your eyes. 10-4
It’s obvious layoff experience drivers but circumvent qualifications for cheaper inexperienced drivers been driving 25 years ata group you are an embarrassing group of greedy individuals
Amen ,the only job out there that has more government controll than any other started driving at19 and one half cents a mile and now 36 years later lucky to make 50 cents a mile look at what a cup of coffee cost back then around 15 to 20 cents and now around 1.69 to1.99 a cup why does driver pay not reflect the cost of living maybe government controll
Blow me jeff
I agree 100% and it really posses me off to think some going kid with 0 experience will be hauling instead of me with 30 years experience simply because he works for one of these bigger trucking companies!!
Bigger companies suck they never last just like jb they go to hell don’t worry old experience drivers will work as long as they want too lol
Your right on that.hell most of them don’t know that company’s are keeping all the money.and what about prevailing wages.when pulling for government loads.reg load pay let’s say 3 dollers a mile.same load for the government 30 dollers a mile.this is why I retired
No because hes ignorant and can be conned into not getting paid what hes worth, to the $.35 it’s good coin!
One word “UNION”, yup good health care across the board, good start pay, and best of all, ” you’re time in would actually mean something.”
Teamsters are going out man look how they’re cutting pensions in half not worth working there anymore, i did years ago. Just my opinion
Union is not always the answer, ours sucks gave up our pension and went to 401K. Union is crappy with money and went to a different not as good health plan.
Home run…
I gotta say for me this is good while I have much respect for older and seasoned truckers , I was already in school for a month and had 3 days left until i tested now the school and dmv is closed and I have been paying all bills and childsupport and just waiting for them to re open the cost of the school had already taken my money I had saved I did allow enough for my bills while I went to school but it would be ridiculous to assune that I had enough money to pay bills and childsupport for months , and there is nothing saying that all you have to have is a permit , its says you have to have a permit and have done your road skills test which is no relief at all considering if the dmv examiner would have guven ne my road skills test anyone who knows anything about the process knows that the road test is given on the same day that you can get your cdl , therefore if tge dmv would have been ooenbto send their state examiner out the as soon as I done my road skills test I would have immediately that day went and got my cdl, there is no reason for them not to let me continue my constitutional right to a life of happiness and get my cdl open up the door for a hard working young man!!!!
Looks like you need double check your grammar 1st…then proceed to possibly driving, and safely driving at that…
lol exactly
Man I got dizzy reading that. Wow. What was he saying anyway.
I think he was saying “I spent all my money wanting to be a CDL driver but I don’t need to read the TEST or SPEAK”
To bad for you life sucks
Even if you had managed to take your road test and gotten your CDL, you still have to be on a truck with a trainer for a month or more. These megacarriers pay student drivers crap during that time and not much better after. If don’t have money for bills for at least a few months you are screwed!
The pursuit is the only thing guaranteed by the constitution son.
Exactly I’m with ya driver
Haven’t they always
Nailed it! 👍🏻
Put all these kids in trucks watch accidents increase tremendously.
I gotta say for me this is good while I have much respect for older and seasoned truckers , I was already in school for a month and had 3 days left until i tested now the school and dmv is closed and I have been paying all bills and childsupport and just waiting for them to re open the cost of the school had already taken my money I had saved I did allow enough for my bills while I went to school but it would be ridiculous to assune that I had enough money to pay bills and childsupport for months , and there is nothing saying that all you have to have is a permit , its says you have to have a permit and have done your road skills test which is no relief at all considering if the dmv examiner would have guven ne my road skills test anyone who knows anything about the process knows that the road test is given on the same day that you can get your cdl , therefore if tge dmv would have been ooenbto send their state examiner out the as soon as I done my road skills test I would have immediately that day went and got my cdl, there is no reason for them not to let me continue my constitutional right to a life of happiness and get my cdl open up the door for a hard working young man!!!! Im no kid in I will be 40 in july
I hope you get a trainer like me cause you don’t know dick about long haul trucking.We don’t drive for the money.We drive cause it’s in our blood.
Last time I checked its not a constutional right for you get a CDL or have a job….or Happy life, If so please show us all were in the constitution’s articles it states this! Im courious.
What people forget is the schools teach them to get a C.D.L. but a trainer teaches them to drive.
I started driving 34 years ago, my trainer watched me drive about 10 minutes then went to sleep and told me to wake him up when we got to our destination🤷♂️ That worked for me, but he didn’t teach me much in the two weeks that we drove together. I learned a lot of things the hard way when I got out on my own, and that’s how most will learn.
Definitely,, quite stupid
You are 100% correct my friend
I’m a o/o I could use a new truck
“a critical threat to our nation’s ability to move medical supplies, food, and other freight.”
Just another excuse. If drivers are going to be laid off, then maybe some of them would like to take up the jobs where more drivers are needed. Sounds like a scheme to pay drivers less over time.
Exactly
Check!
These mega carriers care nothing about drivers. All they care about is getting their “pay” from the government when they get a driver his or her CDL. After that, they care nothing. Thus the huge law suits against them for putting 2 rookies in a truck and teaming them and killing other people on the roads. They control (pay off) FMCSA so they get what they want. They should be told “no new drivers unless all other drivers are being utilized in all other places”.
You folks have noticed that there are few Swift, US Express Enterprise, C.R. England, and others on the roads? I feel a lot safer knowing there are less of them out there.
Exactly!
Actually I’ve noticed a spike in US Express and Hartt rigs running slow and cautious on route 80 / 24 / 78 in NJ.
I was surprised to see the sudden surge of US Express.
Port Newark container haulers have dropped a lot.
I haul fuel out of Port Newark regularly but their volume seems to be trending down as well …
True
I agree with your statement 100%!!!
I was a trainer at one of these companies and I told them that the student could not back up a straight line and he had just come out of a truck driving school just four (4) days before he came to our company. The company put him with a trainer so I don’t know what happened after that. And you guys think you know it all but women can do this job also. I was a team a solo and a trainer so I think I have seen alot of improvement. I’m retired from driving over 10 years ago bc of my health and these drivers today still have a lot to learn about not tail gating even the ones who claim they have been out on the road for 50 years plus. If you have been out in this field that long just maybe it’s time for you retire also. Because you guys are the ones teaching these new people how to tail gate and get someone killed.
Wow,these new drivers scary as a tasmanian devil growling at you,ding dongs.
I have been driving a truck since 1964. I take care of my health and do not feel a need to retire. I do not tail gate and try to be the safest drive I can. I learned in life not to paint everyone with the same brush.
Amen,preach it!
What is needed is regulation to improve pay for drivers and brake up the Monopoly of the big companies.
Totally agree
Not going to happen! its the capitalist way. You all better get training in another industry unless your are out 7 years to retirement because they wont need you with the autonomous rigs running around.
There’s plenty of cdl holders in this country ! Why lay off experience & hire ignorance ! Makes no sense . how much money will these companies save on all these rookies tearing up the equipment and losing loads
Absolutely
Mega carriers don’t care about the equipment. They buy the trucks with extended warranties. They run them 3-5 years when the warranties run out and trade them back in on a new fleet. Notice the big move to automatic transmissions? Perfect model evolving right before our eyes. Newbie drivers, extended maintenance intervals, automatic transmissions, autonomous trucks all leading to moving freight with less personnel = lower overhead = larger profit margins. It’s brilliant!
Just pray that the remaining states don’t follow California and kick out all the lease operators, but on the plus side it might make more O/O get their own Authority and possibly bring down the price of doing so. Face it my fellow drivers and yes you women too, trucking is not what it once was. Greed from mega co’s is all but killed our once Freedom of LOVING a Honest living. As my father once told me, “If you love what you do you will never have a job” Well after 43yrs I now have a J O B!
This is just more evidence that when the ATA says “driver shorty” they mean “shortage of drivers who will work for next to nothing so executives can continue to run the company into the ground and receive bonuses for doing so”. ATA is just a shill for the mega-carriers who perpetuate the CDL mills ever since the government subsidized them – so indirectly you can blame the government for as usual not thinking about the unintended consequences of their actions and the PACs that ensure things don’t change.
Another topic that started trending a couple days ago was DOT allowing food trucks in rest areas during the crisis so drivers can eat and NATSO was all over that one, immediately calling state governors to try and block it because they see it as a threat to their monopoly.
American Trucking Association and National Association of Truck Stop Operators – trying to kill the American trucker with cheap wages and cheap hot dogs!
Bingo!!!
How can C R England make a driver
a trainer when they have only been with the company 90 days . To me that’s a death wish.
They can do it, because there isn’t any law against it, and they have allowed law to supplant judgement.
Good judgement would tell them that a driver doesn’t know enough to train another driver after only 90 days, but judgement only improves with practice – and like inexperienced trainers, they have not practiced the exercise of judgement sufficiently to be good at it.
By suckering them into a lease!
CR England makes every new driver talk to a lease rep or they will not pass them to next phase of training. if they sign they put a new student with them and scip the 2nd case of training. I know this because they tried with me and I quit.
Now CRE can have 2 students and a trainer (3) now in the truck. As long as there is a double bunk. All with the FMCSA blessings.
Actually, CRE is not the only carrier doing this. Most of the mega-carriers are. And just an update…CRE purchased trucks with triple bunks, so now the trainer can have 3 students at a time…all with government approval.
Dame that’s squeezing in a rat hole
It is still illegal to sleep in the upper bunk while the truck is moving down the road. The companies that have 2 students also have 3 beds in the trucks now not just 2.
It’s never been illegal to sleep top bunk while in motion. FMCSA only states top bunk must be equipped with restraints.
Gary,,It is not hard to do .It goes something like this. John , your trainer says your a quick learner and doing a great job so we want you to be a trainer. See ? Not hard at all.
I learned from a 3 week class…I’ve been driving HH side/belly dump since 97
3 weeks you didnt earn ur cdl you bought it enjoy dumps for life
Man some of them don’t know about that,I drove it too end dump,sidedump,bellydump,and the list piles up
Ask any shipper or brokerage company and none of them will tell you they are having a problem getting freight moved. There are no drivers who call brokers and the phone is always answered on the first ring. There are no drivers who are never put on hold. There is no produce or other perishables spoiling on any shippers’ docks. Megs Carriers need to stop promising drivers the world and buying so many trucks. That way they won’t have thousands of trucks sitting empty when new recruits figure out they’ve been lied to and they jump ship. Rates would not be this low if we had a driver shortage. What we have is a pay, benefit, and respect shortage.
Well said.
Absolutely…..
We need Reclassification from unskilled to skilled labor as we are tested as professionals.
Exactly 100% dead right !!!!
What we have is simply a PAY SHORTAGE for drivers who have the experience with these companies that dont want to pay for good drivers with no accidents etc …etc…. if these companies would stop worrying about their pocket books and pay drivers what they are worth just maybe there would be no driver shortages.
You’re right about it being a Shortage of Pay. The megacarriers struggle because they try to cut throat each other on rates, so they cut pay and hire cheap student drivers. How about this, have a minimum wage for truckers, say .50 cents a mile, all drivers including students. The companies would have to raise rates or go broke. It would make it more advantageous to keep the experienced drivers, making the roads safer. Problem solved.
What I don’t understand is if you are going to lay off drivers and still hire students and train them that don’t make sense you already got drivers out there with experience why lay them off what they are doing is putting new drivers out there with little to no experience and putting the public in more danger to me that don’t make any sense at all.
Cause they’ll work cheaper.
So your saying no one else needs to ever want to be a truck driver? Lolboy y’all got a lot to say about a man who is earning his right to hold his cdl but didnt have much to say about the driverless trucks that would end numerous jobs and whike say Hey reasons has shut down that program (thank God!! ) they still have plans for quadruple stacking trailers 4 high! That would limit the driver from going under bridges but think of how many routes they can eliminate bc of this if you want to talk about saving truckers jobs that would be one place to start to me thats dangerous! 4 high really?
It’s simple, lay off a .50cpm driver hire a .25cpm.
Bingo.
I think out of all the other comments.
You got it 👍 right
Its also stupid as you know what!!
The Anti-Truckdriver-Assins care about corporate profit and nothing more. They have the power to speak to congress and congress is ignorant to any other information. ATA has constantly pressed the false driver shortage in order to fire the $. 032/mi driver and replace them with a $0.23/mi rookie with a $8k school loan held over their heads insuring a Slave behind the wheel for 2yrs. Most default and never make 1yr but then face collections on loan. The cost to the company was less than $2k, paid dismal wages for that year and recovered far, far, far more than it cost to lure that person into their scam.
Your so right, but they also get a $25,000 tax credit for each new unemployed employee trainee, this is the reason that they want so many new drivers, not counting the loans for training schools that new drivers owe! A thousand new students equals $25,000,000 tax credits out of taxpayer pockets!
The mega carriers are looking for cheap pay with big gains in their own pockets. That’s why they’re looking for CDL graduates because the experience drivers knows better. Good luck with that MEGA CARRIERS!!!!
Also, new drivers don’t complain or refuse to do dangerous or stupid things. They also come with clean driving records, because they haven’t done any driving yet, to make any mistakes. And the government pays the carrier for their on-the-job “training”, especially if they are former military.
None whatsoever
They can make more money by hiring a newbie versus an experienced driver. Pay a newbie, 25 cpm instead of an experienced driver 50 cpm. Do the math. It’s all about GREED and turning newbie drivers into SLAVES.
Many truckers, especially students fit the labor trafficking definition for modern day slavery. Next time you see a truckers against trafficking sign- think about the truckers actually being victims of trafficking themselves.
Exactly. Sooner or later all slaves revolt. Change is a-comin’.
You insulted dumpster drivers. Lol. I think most of them can drive better than some of the new drivers I’ve observed out there. So glad I retired this year.
It really is a simple thing. The govt subsidizes the mega carriers. They are reimbursed for what they pay the new driver in training. so that is one big expense they in actually don’t have any longer. FREE money. So when a student drivers is ” as part of his or her training “teaches” their pay is also reimbursed. Remember this. Werner owns the two largest truck driving schools in the country and several other mega carriers have many students in others so they have a sayso about what is taught today.
It’s all about money
They get a government check for every student they hire!😎
Driver it’s not supposed to make sense, It’s supposed to make MONEY
Sorry but it started going down hill when your king and his husband took office, open your eyes!!!
Agreed
Too dumb, I guess, to understand Orville’s seemingly homophobic remark.
As for “S”. Depends on what you mean by “trucking industry”. Profits for owners have gone up. Wages for workers have gone down. Consolidation of ownership by mega-carriers concentrates profit in fewer and fewer hands. This is economics 101.
Immigration is a red herring. The bosses love it when the little people fight amongst themselves. But ultimately, there’s a lot of truth to the analysis that the labour market and working class consciousness is becoming globalized, just as financial capital has. And just as capital consolidation gives one ever more powerful loud voice to fewer and fewer big bosses, so too must global labour solidarity defeat xenophobia to present a suitably powerful voice of millions singing “We Shall Overcome” from the same choir-book, in unison, in many beautiful languages.
Like most of the guys on this forum, I’m a fat old white man, descended from ancestors who dispossessed and decimated the original peoples of this lovely land. Human migration is hardly a new phenomenon.
My eyes are wide open and I think your dead wrong. I mean dead dead wrong.
What are you saying or implying because I’m not understanding what your comment or how your comment has anything to do with the trucking industry.
Yes I believe you have that backwards it’s more of the blue state. You are correct though there is no common sense to what they are asking. Yet is more of the here’s a trophy for everybody mentality
Bring in new drivers pay them peanuts get rid of experience drivers who are paid more. Because they are self insured they take the risk and say that we know X amount will screw up some will even due or kill others they look at it as collateral damage. It’s time the professional drivers take a stand. We keep this country moving. Where is our extra pay during these hazardous times. We hold the power button we’re to divided. Just as in politics. There’s a 2 party system for a reason. The other problems we face are drivers I hate to say but have low standards based on where they originate from. When you here foreign drivers bragging about taking home 1000 a week you know we’re screwed.
Stand together brothers and sisters and these ignorant politicians and there enablers don’t stand a chance.
Stay safe and blessed.
😎😇😎
There should be a hiring freeze right now… especially for new drivers. Mega carriers are being very irresponsible in their practices right now. This industry is going to crumble for everyone if the Megas keep up their practices. The FMCSA needs to step in and stop this immediately.
Just do away with drivers licenses all together, and while we’re at it, legalize impaired driving !!!
It made no difference which “king” was running the show, or what color a state was. This business is regulated by appointed representatives of those that are supposed to be regulated – not those that are supposed to be protected by that regulation. Policy is set by people who are both unqualified to, and incapable of, doing the work that they set policy for. Regulator and policy makers are accountable only to themselves, and there is no part of the industry that is not ruled by avarice/greed over any sort of ethics, moral compass, or semblance of justice or sense of fair play.
We never elected any of these people, and they ha e consistently been screwing us for literally generations, no matter who was in charge of what, with whatever political leanings. Enough with the political infighting.
This isn’t, and never has been, about politics.
These mega companies are looking for “Mile Mules”. They hype theses drivers up by telling them that they can make $1000.00 dollars a week (not telling them that after all the fees, their checks are $600.00 dollars or less). They allow them to drive these big shiny new vehicles and new students are dumb founded. I don’t understand how one respondent on this thread is trying to blame foreigners, this befuddles me. I believe we are suffering from a lack of unity, if ALL truckers united and shut down their trucks for three days we could really shut down an economy. Then shippers, receivers, brokers, stores will recognize how important WE really are. Everybody wants to earn a decent wage, we just need to work together; that’s Black, White, Hispanic, Muslim, Democrats, Republicans, etc. We will win this…
While you are right, few will listen to your common sense and intelligent comment. The industry and the country will continue to fragment. It pays to keep truckers apart and in-fighting because we can’t unionize or even stick to a single issue together.
WE once had a thing called Teamster Union…..What was that for again?
If we shut it all down for three days, they would put unlicensed drivers on the roads. They would import drivers from other countries. They would activate National Guard and Reservist military members to drive freight loads. They would move more freight by rail, sea, and air. They would fast-track automated and remote-piloted trucks, and retrofit vehicles accordingly.
Get it through your heads that we are not irreplaceable. We are not even valuable. We are – so far – cheaper than the available alternatives, and that is the only reason that we still have jobs. There is no shortage of ways to move freight adequately. We are simply the cheapest way to do so. If we quit, prices might go up, but a tiny virus has far more power to influence the economy.
Get a grip on reality.
This is a scam. This has been done before with the schools doing the testing and signing off on the driver’s license. C.R England. And there school in Indiana. Is just one off many that got in trouble. Theses so called schools are teaching these kids to drive truck like they are driving a car. That’s an accident waiting to happen. As little as too weeks and become a professional driver. These driving schools are a real joke. You look at these big companies Schneider hunt England Swift creep Prime they have the worst drivers in the United States they have the highest accident rates and they win all these Federal Awards who’s paying who off. It’s a shame what’s happened to the trucking industry.
I was trained and drove for Schneider National for the year required to payoff the promissory note of $4400 I signed for the training to obtain my CDL in 2006. I was impressed at the thoroughness and professionalism in their truck driving Academy. I found out they have been around since the 1930’s so they have a long history. I know those companies use new drivers but it’s a two way street once I got my CDL and finished my year I had experience and moved on. Everyone has to start somewhere, I can getting trained by Schneider was alot better than going thru some fly by night operation.
But we’ll keep whining here on the forum instead of having real balls to shut down…go figure.
D, You haven’t been in trucking long have you? Have you not noticed that in the last 20 or so years the new breed of truck drivers can not stick together, lack the ingredient to unify as a group with a like goal to improve?
It wasnt the “new breed” anything that let it get this bad…All the same keyboard warriors screaming Molon Labe on the gun rights websites make comments like that.
Shutting down buys us nothing. They already want to put unlicensed drivers in our trucks, next to automated vehicles.
Just give them an excuse, why don’t you?
This would be the best time for truckers to form a union for better pay and benefits or strike. Their trying to replace us anyway with self driving trucks.
Driver….Union is an old relic now, and those self driving trucks might form their own Union lol
Once again… This is an industry without a future. It takes two weeks of training to put a driver behind the wheel. We like to think that experience counts for something, but if it did, the industry would not be trying so hard to replace experienced drivers with new ones. Your experience matters to you. Everyone else can take it or leave it. We’re not doctors – it doesn’t take 8 years to train up a replacement. We have nothing of particularly unique value to withhold from the economy, so strikes, shutdowns, and union negotiations for us are toothless.
If air traffic controllers, who require careful psychological profiling and extensive training, couldn’t pull it off in the 80’s, what makes anyone think that truckers can, now?
It’s all about the bottom dollar for there carriers, they don’t give a damn about the drivers. I drive a gas tanker for the largest tanker company in the country. I have 20+ years experience as a driver, I’ve been with this company for 12 years. I’m a trainer for them. Out of 40 drivers that drive out of our terminal I’m #4 in seniority, yet I was furloughed this week. Why? Because they can pay the new drivers, drivers that I trained, less than me. It all boils down to money for these carriers.
thats,why you have unions. that would not be,allowed at a union carrier shop.its last in,first out.
If your not a union driver, I would file a grievance with the National Labor Relations Board against them for laying you off, and working younger drivers.
I’m so sorry driver for what’s happened to you do to the greed and callousness of these carriers. I’m sure with your awesome skills and safety record you’ll be able to land on your feet soon .. hopefully drivers will start wising up and be more informed..Godspeed
Let me take a stab and guess you haul fuel for a company that starts with a M.
Driver you are a real man of the job sorry you got kicked out….pay attention drivers the next time you have a trainee FAIL them if you want to keep your JOB
So let’s just coordinate and shutdown, nationwide. Force their hands we have the ground…
This is brought to us by the Anti Trucker Association. These are the clowns that want the Owner Operators out of business. They must be in heaven that the economy tanked. This way as some expressed they can hire dangerous new drivers at the government expense. Of course the freight is screwed up the imports are on the delay right now with some exports. Everything is down we are under lockdown because of this virus. Things won’t get back to a normal sense until 2021 second quarter I’m sure. The ATA and the Megas always look to kill the Owner Operators.
Time to stop giving so much credit to the ATA. The ATA claims that they represent the trucker, but in actuality they represent the big corporations.
Well, duh. How could there possibly be any confusion on this obviosity?
That’s what I’ve been saying all along. The ATA does not represent the drivers only the corporations. They were pushing for a set speed limit for trucks at one time.
That’s all they have ever represented, “big industry”. They’re the ones that claimed there was a driver shortage the last time, when in reality there were to many drivers on the road, which in turn caused a drop in rates.
So when is Bob Costello going to start his new CEO position at one of the mega carriers? The ATA is nothing but a lobbying firm for the mega carriers and that’s how lobbyists are rewarded is by being handed lucrative jobs with the companies they lobby for. The ATA does not represent truck drivers. They represent trucking companies and need to change their name to the ATCA, American Trucking Company Association.
Deep within the bowels of the Legion of Doom ( I mean a member compsny of the ATA), a driver recruit is being questioned.
“You graduated driving school, but have no experience?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Well, you look mature enough.
Here, take this truck and run across The Rockies to Oregon.”
“Yes, sir!”
Later, at the Hall of Justice, (I mean FMCSA), a meeting is held between the Director and a random minion;
“Sir, we are seeing a troubling spike in commercial vehicle accidents. Fatalities are also up.”
The director looks troubled for a moment then declares “This is clearly the fault of drivers being too independent and reckless.
Take a memo. We need more regulations!!”
Well it’s simple you see any rookys tell them the truth spread the word give them options give them videos off the life show them it’s not easy that it’s work .send this link to your local PTA MADD and any other group that might be effected by the improperly trained drivers these MAGA companies are putting out there
This sounds very Foolish to me. It sounds stupid to even suggest laying off good drivers to make room for new drivers.
Trucking companies need to take care of there driver’s and stop hiring if needed.
The fact that alot of drivers are sitting waiting for loads to Express that new drivers will be sitting even more.
However I think it is more about money and to save money on new drivers.
It’s goin to be a lot of people get killed if they do that leave well enough along thanks
I have been a PROFESSIONAL truck driver for 30 years, I have been involved in trucking since birth ( father,uncle’s,cousins all were truck drivers.) It used to be that truck driving was a PROFESSION, not just a job. Drivers took pride in their appearance, their driving, their trucks and for the most part their profession. If you came across a woman and her kids or any motorist broke down on the side of the road and stopped ( which back then most truckers would stop) they would be overjoyed to have you stop and lend a hand, now they’ll lock their doors and call the police, and who could blame them ! The problem today is the driver mills that the mega carriers run turning out non trained inexperienced just plain dumb,so called truck drivers constantly. Hence the biggest problem is 3rd party testing. How can a company who has invested the money to hire and (train? Lol ) an individual be trusted to so called test a driver and issue said individual a CDL. Unless they can’t sit up straight it is in their best interest to pass this individual and hand them a license to operate an 80,000 pound missile driving it down OUR highways and streets, which by the way they share with your families…. Another big problem, I don’t CARE if this is politically correct or not, is the influx of foreign drivers who can’t speak, read, write or understand English. They have no morals, no manners, and no respect. I spent 4 years in the US Navy visiting foreign countries and not the resorts that you tourists visit. People of certain countries just are different, they are raised different they have different values etc. It’s just the way it is. Not all foreign drivers are this way but I would say the majority of them are. Even the younger generation of our own country have no respect, it’s a different world they are being raised in. So these situations and many others add up to why drivers and the trucking industry is a joke. To all you REAL drivers out there continue your great work and please be safe in this very bad situation out there. God bless…..
I know you are correct but when you are in the foreign countries, I am sure they wondered who you were bringing in your foreign book of moral s and ethics.Yet they let you in didn’t they. Now you want to stop any foreigners coming to the US ? That is a double standard amigo. It is not a good look.
Most other countries don’t just let anyone in, either. You’re welcome to visit and spend money, but bring something to the table if you want to stay. And they don’t let you bring the Bill of Rights with you.
They probably didn’t let the US military in for fun. We were either defending their national interests, or paying to stay, in foreign aid.
blaming foreign drivers for taking advantage of what American politicians dolled out for a fast buck n payola is like blaming starving people for eating a smorgasbord you put out there…We damn well dont blame the people who made it all possible….and the derlicts who voted em in over n over who told em these damn foreigners were the culprit yet theyve all banked on em over n over
I started driveimg in 1997 I started whit a great small company.mega company brought them out.when to their orientation out two to a room.that Wright there show you they do not give a fan about you.whit a total stresanger..that when I should left this industry a long time ago
I drive for a “mid sized” carrier. They trained me, got me on the road, passed my CDL exam with no deductions on backing and a full pretrip, and only 6 points on the drive test. Their previous best was 7 points on the drive test. I’ve been out here since January on my own, with zero accidents, zero service failures, and zero issues. I make .44 cpm with an additional .1-.3 cpm on fuel bonuses. I average 2400 miles per week for a healthy paycheck.
I don’t think it’s fair to bunch all of us rookies together, because although I’m a rookie, I have guided veteran drivers in to tight spots that I was able to do myself and been passed on slick roads by veteran drivers only to see them flipped in a ditch the next morning.
So you have not made a mistake in three or four months ? No one will give you a medal and your bosses don’t care. At some point you will make a mistake or have an experience in which you find out no one has your back.
Stereotyping all drivers is the art of those who look for easy digestible answers and dont wish to look any further…Sure there are plenty of good well meaning drivers caught in the web of deceits and some wriggle free to become very capable drivers.. But as ROB comments to your comment ..Its a sickening truth and one most learn the hard way and depending on that level of mistake is how brutal that realization will be. Lets hope it comes in small increments. Some of the best stories from the very best drivers are about their mistakes and how they used em to improve their skills..but there are many other stories of mistakes that slaughtered drivers futures.
You are one of the few rookies who process the thought of common sense to drive responsibly. My drivers are required to run 2400 miles per wk and they are paid salary and if they run their 2400 in 4 days they get a 3 day wkn and their take home is $1200.00
Greed will destroy are country
Let me help you, Greed will destroy OUR country, not “are”.
Time to shut down is NOW
Smh yea that’s it
Time to shut down was 20 years ago.
Not my company, they won’t lay us off, they will just starve us out until we quit so we don’t get that greasy unemployment check. After all what sort of precident would it set if they suddenly started treating us decent?
I’ve over 25 years in the rigged trucking business. It’s real simple. The whole industry is chocked full of cut throat devious liars. They get away with it because the trucking industry under Jimmy Hoffa was a legitimate threat to the United States Of America. The federal govt. will never allow the industry to achieve power again. If the truckers unionized and actually organized, they could wield so much control over the country as to be another power thst would have to be answered to. Congress, the Senate, and even the President would have to do what the trucker’s union says, or a union of that size and power could easily disrupt the entire economy and infrastructure if the nation. So, the ATA, and all the large trucking companies are flagrantly allowing unsafe, and inexperienced drivers who pose and significant safety risk to other truck drivers and the general public to work for them for cheap. Companies like Starsky Robotics and TuSimple are allowed to test their unproven driverless trucks on public roads under the FMCSA and with DOT approval. All because the federal govt is and has been behind the decentralisation of the industry since the Teamsters and their connection to organized crime. The trucking union used to have billions of dollars and hundereds of thousands of foot soldiers. Ever since the union’s goals didn’t align with the USA’s goals, the industry was targeted and It’s teeth pulled. Keeping uneducated and inexperienced people flowing into and out of this industry is exactly what the mega carriers and the ATA are doing and It’s exactly how the federal govt likes it. The drivers are kept poor, powerless, and forced to live and work in a hostile environment that most people want out of as soon as they experience how it really is. And this is how it’s been since the unions were busted.
I started in the industry in 1975. I remember the strength the industry had in the old days. When Jimmy Carter deregulated the industry, that began the downfall of the American Trucking industry, and the American Trucker. As long as there are owner operators that don’t even know the true cost of running a tractor trailer down the road, not counting wages, cargo insurance or permits, “approx. 1.20 pulling a van,” “ref NTRI,” and are able to get 100% financing to enter a industry they know nothing about, the industry will continue to decline to where no-one will have any respect for the industry, nor workers involved in the industry.
Damn. Preach the truth.! 👍
Absolutely! There is no organization to protect drivers, there needs to be a trucker union..why hasn’t Teamsters stepped up yet?? Mega carriers are deliberately hiring lower intelligence drivers, ones they can control, convincing them Unions are the enemy..USxpress actually shows a video portraying union reps as shady criminal types and instruct new hires to report any talk of unions. Trucking is out of control, and it didn’t start 4 years ago, it goes back alot farther. ATA is the Mega carriers controlling the industry to their advantage while abusing and mistreating their drivers. As long as they keep the union out drivers will continue to live and work under horrible circumstancea, and the mega carriers continue to get richer. I was a trainer for years including at USxpress, the companies don’t care about safety, they are pushing drivers to drive before they are adequately trained or fully qualified. It’s worse than a cattle call, it’s herding them to the slaughterhouse… Ask the mega carriers how many more millions and billions do you need, especially when your profits come at the cost of innocent lives lost on the highways…Mega Carriers greed is killing people on these highways
You can thank Ronnie Reagan for that. He broke the unions
Bobby Kennedy got his licks in fifteen years before that. The really disgusting thing about Reagan was that he got his start as a corrupt union official (Screen Actors Guild).
Amen Brother,that was well said!!!
There was organized Union and then there was organized crime. The crime broke the union and then there’s was the birth of government crime to the truckers back in the mid to late 70’s and we have been Prisoners since.
“Nice” way to get cheap warm bodies to drive. They should feel ashamed of themselves… but of course, they don’t.
I get tired of hearing about this kind of stuff. Expert this and expert that. No one is truly an expert. Things happen and when they do you figure out your next move. We are a very resourceful society. I am really tired of turmoil and articles portraying bad things. What about the good things in life. We hear almost nothing. Our world is constantly hearing all the bad and nothing but the bad. I am sick of it. And organizations are profiting from it. Not always financial gain but votes or views or likes. What happened to the way it used too oil be. Go to work spend time with family and enjoy life. Now we live in fear. That is horrible.
Sorry for my rant. But I wanted to voice my concern not just for me but others who feel the same.
Thank you
I’m a Teamster, and I’m in complete agreement with Wally. Trucker pay and protections started the decline with the Carter admin, and have continued with every admin since. Red or blue, it doesn’t matter, as they only care about their campaign donors and satisfying corporate/shareholder earnings.
We, as truckers, need to find a way to organize. Without organization and cohesion we will never be able to regain what was lost under corrupt corporate/government robbery.
After this virus is over and we get back on our feet…would be a prime time to force our demands as truckers to regain our self worth. We need back our FREEDOM, RUN when we want SLEEP when we want And most of all Get a DECENT RATE this industry ran fine since the wheel was invented why put handcuffs on us now. We are not kids and we know are own bodies.
All this is is another attempt by the ATA and mega carriers to push out the smaller companies. Same thing they tried to do with the elog mandate that didn’t work. The freight is still there. Yess it has slowed but that is mostly due to the brokers cutting freight rates by half to try and capitalize on a situation. Smaller companies have their trucks sitting because they can’t afford to haul the freight for a $1.00/ mile. Mega carriers are able to absorb the cost speed out across their fleet. How ever I wonder just how many of the mega carriers are going to still be in business when their fuel bill comes in and repair bills start adding up. When they finally realize that the $1.00/mile freight didn’t bring in enough revenue to cover the Bill’s let alone the cheap wages that they are paying for drivers. Will the government bail them out for causing their own problems like they did in 2008 when the banks did it?
Atlanta has been a hot spot for a good while until now. I unloaded Wednesday morning in Atlanta with my regular Cincy to Atlanta load, to find my regular backhaul, “chicken,” had cancelled. With three of us watch the load boards, setting them for 250 mile radius, nothing worth hauling came up, “super cheap,”. I ended up running home empty. Same scenario for another one of our trucks that was sitting in Charleston, SC.. Way to many trucks, and not enough freight, along with brokers taking advantage of the situation also. Next week looking the same, so we are just parking the truck. Why run and loose money when operating cost for truck and refer average 1.35 per mile before wages, cargo ins., and permits expense, “per National Transportation Research Institute”.
Bingo again. Listen to this person. Every human organization is subject to corruption and I’m sure the Teamsters were (are) no exception. But, flawed as it was, it served its members and working people better than the alternative that emerged after it was so thoroughly busted to smithereens, e.g. nuthin’.
Oh dear Lord!! Allow a student to drive with a completion certificate? Talk about the fox and the henhouse. There is a plethora of driver’s available at Walmart, Home Depot, 7-11, etc who gave quit the industry because there were lied to, cheated, and generally screwed over. Train more drivers without an independent agency (state DMVs) checking competence? Simply a wonderful idea. NOT
Once again the ATA is showing it’s colors. AND ignorance about truck drivers. I mean DRIVERS! Not steering wheel holders. Started this in 1974, when drivers had respect. A brokediwn 4 wheeler was glad to see a trucker stop, to help. Now, they just call 911. All truckers painted with the same brush. Arrogant, selfish and unsafe. All because of the “new” driver mentality. It is all about them. Noone else counts, not even another driver. This is all due to the lack of training, pay and value the mega carriers display for their drivers. All supported by the ATA. This organization has NEVER had any driver’s best interest in mind, OR in action. Their purpose is to advance the mega carriers and woukd be very happy to see the small guys and owner operators go away. Do not support them in any way. All the comments say it’s all about the dollar, are exactly right. “Buy”cheap drivers, with no experience and little training. Get supplemented buy the Gov’t. Lay off the higher paid, experienced drivers, and your profit margin is higher. Ofcourse, you accidents, liability, late and missed appointments are higher, also! Well, the insurance will cover that, right!
Give it a rest, ATA. We, the “real” drivers do NOT need or want you, or your “help”! Y’all have a great day.
They call me “Cutter”. Give me a shout out there! Yeah, I still have a CB, always on!! Later!
I can only speak about CR England.. it’s the only ATA carrier I worked at. This carrier does so much double dealing and will make – ALL- decisions on how it will benefit the CR England immediate family members who still run every department and “VP position.! They actually do new-student training well, BUT, to stay there over 1 year is ridiculous; you’re cheating yourself of better pay and a better living experience elsewhere.! –~ 7 yrs ago, for several years, I was employed at CRE in a few , mid-level operations positions. I witnessed 1st hand how their lease to own trucking opportunities failed. Yes, I was involved 1st hand.👎😒 We would tell EVERY driver coming out of training, ” if you want to make $$ immediately, and be “a real” owner-operator, and control your dispatches, lease our new truck today from Horizon Leasing. Those trucks over there”, pointing to a lot full of zero mileage Frtliners.. then turning to the new driver & said, ” if you don’t lease a truck today we’re not sure when you will get a company truck assigned to you. You might be sitting here several days for us to find you a company truck and load..!”so they, 90 percent signed up. Took ’em to the leasing Dept and had them sign ALL that paperwork. And then got all the phone calls about all the deductios coming out of the payroll leaving them barely able to send $$ home, OR even afford to take time off to GO Home.!! — I CHALLENGE anybody who refutes this. That was day-to-day operations for many years.!!! In the o.t.r. department, I witnessed how upper management picked by (“theFamily”) rebuffed constant requests from driver managers to compensate drivers who encountered adverse load issues. I often asked for $50 to compensate drivers for one day’s layover because warehouses wouldn’t unload them..or a breakdown at a T/A. Yes even a measly $50 was rejected constantly, with a few exceptions. If these policies have changed, well good for them finally. I left there in 2015. Lastly, what put me over the top to quit, was on a Sunday when I was driving by the yard, I saw a car hauler parked next to the VP offices entrance doors. I pulled around to the employee parking lot off in the distance to see what he was doing. He only had one car on the whole trader and it was a brand new Ferrari. Yes a 2014 NEW Ferrari. He unloaded it and gave the keys to a waiting “family” member. oh and there’s just so much more… Thanks for reading. I just love it when they keep saying our trucking company is just like family. Drive safe drivers
Is CRE still running? I was under the impression that they took bankruptcy and was shutting down immediately. Just wondering. Thank you.
Oh they are running just fine.. on the back of student drivers being paid $0.24/mile.
CRE goal and others in the rat pack is to remove that option you have of GOING elsewhere to do better. Ultimately if they had it their way and have been pushing to meet this goal you wouldnt have other companies to turn too and youd spend your career enhancing their fortunes. Greed breeds more greed and with it a psychology thats allows a disturbing amount of indifference to the damage it causes. The art of blind ambition is nothing new. It never leads to any good but its history is never learned instead merely repeated which each new tycoon thinking somehow magically their formula is different more socially conscious aka a better deception.
Hmm. Lay off experienced drivers who are well worth what they are earning and probably deserve far more . . Combined with flooding the market with new inexperienced drivers even at the expense of Public Safety?
There’s either great ignorance or great malevolence at work.
I’m not against experienced drivers. Just their unwillingness to organize. So many have so foolishly bought into the “rugged individualist” myth, which is a bill of goods sold to them by the dominant culture (e.g. Hollywood Westerns, Rambo, On The Waterfront, and on and on and on) promulgated by the boss class (Hollywood Producers are no brothers to Truckers, in case there’s any confusion on this elementary truism) to keep them from trusting one another, from uniting in support of their shared interests, e.g. better pay (including say, seniority premiums), better training (including long and demanding apprenticeships), better home time, safer equipment, widespread facilities for over-the-road drivers to properly rest and recreate, (not miserable Flying J and Love’s ghettos), etc., etc., etc. etc., etc., etc. etc., etc., etc. add your demands here…
These things are there for the demanding. But not if people demand one-by-one. That’ll just get you laughed at then fired.
never let good crisis go to waste- it is intentional
I haul retail fuel regionally for a mega-carrier. Laid-off two weeks ago. First time in 20 years of driving that I’ve been unemployed. Hoping that work picks up when spring seeding starts, but I’m not holding my breath. Sites that would take two loads a day before, are down to one load a week now. Empty streets, no cars=no job…
It’s the insurance companies that are Strangling the trucking industry as they will not insure new drivers. And as a new driver that does not want to work for a mega carrier for less than minimum wage enforces you into a tough situation which schools are not warning students about instead they paint a Rosy picture of how great things are. on top of that some mega carriers are requiring students attend three days of orientation without pay. If ABF freight is standard for Union I wouldn’t step within a million miles of that again to end up working on a dock freezing cold conditions driving a forklift with your CDL license hell no.
mega carriers motivation is cheap labor. Period!
mega carriers see this as the best opportunity in years to close down the o/o segment of the industry
i will write the letter for them “Dear Governors. There are currently still too many drivers that can read and speak English and exect to make a living driving a truck, please help us resolve this by making it even easier to import more people form around the world” Sincerely- the ATA
I’m assuming les_gvt is a clever play on an ideological position you hold that government, ipso facto, is a bad thing. The usual problem with those who hold this positions is that they have a very narrow definition of what gov’t is and does, and if pressed are actually very pro-gov’t, when it comes to many, perhaps most, gov’t functions, at least in principle, even when quibbling with actual practice. For example, I’m assuming you approve of gov’t funded roads. Cops to patrol those, keeping the drunks to a minimum. You probably like the Coast Guard. (After all, who doesn’t like the Coast Guard?). I’m assuming you approve of Border Services, Customs, Immigration, ICE. I’ll bet you’re a big fan of the military. And on and on…
Tell us, specifically, what government departments and services you’d do away with. Curbside garbage collection? Fire departments? Public schools?
People you need to go back and look at the history of the truck drivers in this country and the way things were with the drivers and their attitudes,before you say anything about how these companies and this government works now days,it’s mostly the attitude of the drivers that brought this business to where it’s at today,recklessness,out of controlled people,are mainly the soul reason behind the rules and laws put out here and the Insurance Companies have contributed most if not all the reasons behind the shit that we have to put up with today,they do not want the drivers to have the controls over these companies,sit down and figure it out,this government and insurance companies want this trucking industries under their thumb to control you,drivers will never get control this business because you can’t control yourselves and that’s exactly what they like knowing this,drivers refuse to stick together because no one wants to,it’s everyone for themselves today,I’ve been a driver for 44 years and I’ve seen it coming since the 80s,and so long as no one sticks together they will always be in control,
there is much truth in this..Drivers refuse to self regulate. You see it daily. Defiance is the drive. Breaking rules and its endless. Some is brought on by the onslaught of rules forcing behaviors, that are a product of surviving the industry. Rules that created unnecessary risk but it started with a people that piled up on the dope to keep their eyes open so they could drive another 5 hrs past the 24 they’d already driven and drove themselves n others into an early coffin. Often now you wont see drivers proceed with caution where caution is called for UNLESS there is an enforcement officer somewhere in the picture threatening to FINE them n cause a myriad of fiscal nightmares. Drivers wouldnt take it upon themselves to make reasonable judgement n proceed safely on their own accord. They see safety as some bogus ill intent meant to hold back their need to express their macho authority over the road n machinery they drive. So they seethe to defy. That defines your average neanderthal driver and they number in the tens of thousands. Your basic caveman behind the wheel. I saw these growing up BUT i also saw another level of driver that was a complete opposite. Drivers that went far n wide to look out for their fellow drivers on the road creating behaviors like clearance signaling to allow drivers some relief from straining their judgement of safe distances in tight n dangerous traffic situations. Behaviors that complimented each other and created a spirit of camaraderie. You were never sitting on the side of the road alone with an offer of help. You didnt have to worry about a break down drawing vultures that would clean out your weeks income either. And at home these drivers had the nicest homes in the community and were community icons n leaders often investing their modest profits in small businesses. I will say though the trend towards the industries demise fell hand in hand with political machines taking more control over the candidates for office and the slow starting corruption of buying laws to manipulate any industry. Regulations meant knocking your competition out but it also meant a lifetime commitment of payola to corrupt officials and a gamble of your team loosing positions of power and the backlashes that accompanied this. What is now a vicious cycle of “If you want something done in Washington know which palms to grease” and like old mafia. Once in there is no out. So if Washington leadership wont control itself, politicians et al then the trickle down affect is a mess thats simply will not end until we have done so much damage we go broke and even that isnt enough. Seems we need not only go broke but we need a blood bath to ensue to cap it off. We just can not manage ourselves to act n be reasonable without diving off that slippery slope of easy money which has overwhelmed every sector of every industry.Instead of creating goods that compliment one another we create scams that rob one another and its a vicious cycle. Many of us are just trying to survive it with least amount of harm to ourselves n loved ones..
Imagine if we were all in a really strong UNION, hmm.
Imagine if all the trucks were driven by robots that don’t stop to sleep, shower, eat, use the bathroom, get sick, or go home…
A strong union sure would be a big help, then…
I’m gonna lay off for a bit while I ponder Christ’s death on the Cross this day so long ago, and hope and for the redemption of my sins, as he would wish, I believe. I won’t presume to pray for the rest of you knuckleheads. For all I know you’re blemish free.
Doh! Another sin. Pray for me, fellas. Happy Easter, if we make ’til Sunday.
This from the ATA that represents the megas but feigns to represent us all? THAT scumbag ATA?
Strike. If you want respect. Truckers have been screwed for over 40 years.
Trying to get folks killed out here with no experience drivers in flip flops fett on the dash and no responsibility
This is one of the biggest lies i have heard. In about 20 Year of driving they have no new drivers because. All trucking schools are closed for over a month guy needs to check his story first. No need to apply dont listen to BS
Like they really need to saturate the industry with new/more drivers. We have all seen it. There are more trucks and drivers out there currently than there is freight. I will never understand why the Mega Carriers feel adding more to an already packed industry will help. Just sounds like piss pore stupidity.
I will never drive on the interstate again if they allow people with zero knowledge of driving an 80,000 lbs vehicle 70 mph down the rd. It is what it is. Big carriers trying to keep open,etc. What I see happening is trains carrying goods everywhere and short haul box truck drivers and national guard delivering food. There is no quick fix to all this. And letting trucking companies influence the governing process is absurd. Sounds like they really want to put people in harm’s way to make a buck. Casting Pearl’s before swine…
We cant fix it because of one word HATE that’s why we cant do anything because its still about Black and White
REALLY?😳
A lot of people are out of work and need a job too. So they are going to the places that are still operating and hiring which one of them happens to be the trucking industry. Personally, I’m tired of pulling 90+ hours a week to keep up with demands so I welcome all the relief I can get.
The roads are about to get really unsafe if they allow all these new drivers to come out without even as much as a CDL.
This will play into the Feds mantra that truck drivers are unsafe. Accidents will go through the roof.
The exact same things were said about new drivers when I started 38 years ago…Believe me these kids can go to war at 18 just like we did and learn to drive trucks just like we did…the world will continue long after you special drivers are long gone…
I recently went through cr england to get recruited and they offering a 10day class to get cdl A liscense they putting people in motels and travel expense to get to their school in utah. I believe they trying to bombard the market with new truckers and for themselves.
Ya this is all we need on Americans hwys.more new drivers to wreck.. truck driving school don’t teach new drivers anything NOR do company driver trainers. Driver trainers are still inexperienced them selves. I been driving OTR since Jan 83. But I was taught by an owner op.he took me under his wing in 1980 and taught me the right way..I wasn’t allowed to sit in the driver for 1yr. I had to watch everything he did.. knowing when to shift at the right RPM’S double clutching turning backing. After a yr then he let me drive in parking lots. If I paid attention to what he did I should be able to do it to.. driving shifting turning & backing. And I did. This is the right way to be taught..as I said schools and trainers don’t teach crap this is why new drivers wreck. So what we don’t need is new drivers. And to all u mega companies out there QUIT BUYING MORE TRUCKS AND HIRING INEXPERIENCED DRIVERS
How many new drivers have you trained? How many are still on the road?
Putting students out alone with just a CDL permit is just asking for more accidents and shows lack of responsibility on the ATA!
This must be another Democratic move to destroy our country!
The ata is a joke we as drivers can make them all change shut down they can’t fire us all at the same time the organization has allowed mega carriers to flourish at the expense of the employees
More casualties on the highways…good job mega carriers….dollars then death
If truckers are laid off WHY put INEXPERIENCED drivers on the road? Experienced drivers can better deliver the goods that are needed without killing someone.
So the experienced drivers even the lease operators and owner operators are losing loads, money, and just freight because of all of this, now the big boys to supplement are gonna just throw every azz in the seat they can….because somebody’s got to dlv this freight …
You notice how they carefully avoided talking about a pay raise per mile. Freight rates per mile are up now and mega carriers are keeping our base pay at pre covid levels. I believe truckers are taking a higher risk out here and better incentives will keep a larger work pool ready to drive for them.
The new drivers are not trained very well to begin with and now they want to relax the testing. Mist DOT officers agree with me that drivers are being trained by bad driver trainers.
While myself and others seasoned drivers suffer pay cuts to endanger ourselves on the road. The trucking industry has become a joke.
We all need to go on strike to increase our pay to match inflation and let the county know we are tired of being treated like second rate citizens. Once we shut the county down, maybe we will finally hey the pay and respect we deserve
America runs on the backs of truckers, even though most now are just steering wheel holders who would be lost without a GPS and could never drive a big hood with an 18 speed transmission.
If experienced drivers won’t train (and many won’t), then where do new drivers come from, if not the school of hard knocks?
How many have you trained? How many of those are still driving trucks?
It’s a tough time to be a owner, and compete with mega carriers, there will be failure. As far as newbies getting permits and in state cdl after completion is a hard time, due to the virus, it would be good for carriers to be able to get the student a online permit and a exemption to get the new cdl…as far as the ones already with a license, all states are allowing you to use the expiring or expired cdl till they can get a date opened for is to go in and renew endorsements and get new picture cdl licenses…good luck to you all and stay safe, use masks and wash hands and keep social distances, even at truck stops! Later!
TRUCKERS complained unions won’t help,now drivers with experience are kick out and replace with training newbies with no permit, Truckers have no say at the table because their’s no representation UNION and mega carriers will shut down small carriers & owner operators ,ALL REPLACE WITH TRAINING SCHOOL NEWBIES,,,,,,,,DRIVERS UNIONIZE TIME TO MAKE SOME NOISE
Last week I rescued a new generation driver: I ask him get your flash light he pull his cell phone?? No tools what so ever could not identified the water leak… I was thinking and this guys suppose to replace me? Been doing this for 25+ years. Those mega carriers are the ones the market is so screw up making penny’s moving ship freight.
Its just like I keep saying that the American Truckers need to strike and strike soon. There never be another time in history that the people will stand up and listen to our needs. I’m a retired driver with 32 years experience as a Driver.
For a strike to be effective, you have to be able to deny a sufficient supply of whatever you have to offer to your employer, for long enough that it is more economical to accede to your demands, than it is to replace you. You can be replaced overnight with other modes of transportation, and a shiny new driver in two weeks.
The difference in costs is not significant. Striking buys you nothing, and likely costs you the best or only work that you are both qualified to get, and capable of doing.
Funny huh ! ATAs want to lay-off experienced drivers and replace them with inexperienced drivers. ?. I don’t believe this story though but good luck ATA’s. My grandma and grandpa can no longer drive their jaguar. Go ahead get them LTKM ( license to kill many) not CDL. Just watch, FMCSA may grant their wishes.
Mega carriers need a fresh crop of “suckers” every week to keep up with their 100 percent plus turnover rate…..this is the year 2020…to work a person 14 hours a day and one day 16 hours is slave labor. It ought to be illegal. To abandon safety measures even in a time of crises is sinful!
The government needs to stop insurance companies from controlling all the trucking. companies on how they run their business. Quit using blackmail. Example (you do as we tell you or we’ll cancel your policy).
There is enough work out here for everyone which means there is plenty money to be made. Together our industry can continue to grow if we can share the industry. New drivers need supervision because without it the road gets dangerous. Quit trying to control the market train drivers properly work together but most importantly talk to the every day working driver with time on the job and stop trying to control something you know nothing about.
That has to be the longest sentence I’ve ever read.
Doesnt take a rocket scientist to get this one…They say layoffs are inevitable BUT a demand for new drivers is a MUST? Why lay off your already semi capable experienced drivers n replace em with no experience? Drivers who THINK know the answers n have been addressed many times over. The endless schemes n tactics to mar n mangle the industries different facades in an attempt to take over n monopolize freight rates n freight lanes is a battle thats been on going for years when the crooks swamped the industry n government. Hand in hand theyve played a game of crafting a social responsible image while dealing dirty hands to the heart of the industry. YOU..the truck driver.
There’s clearly always been a need for a central organization. Like the Teamsters, but more to modern standards. The 1970s are gone and most of the drivers that were around back then are also gone. This industry would welcome a new union. Pay your dues and have someone watching out for you. You drive your truck and do your job, while there’s an actual watchdog keeping shippers and recievers and the govt from abusing you at the same time. And for those drivers who are unsafe, goodbye. Pay professionals to be professional. Get rid of the abuse. Have some actual competent workers who care and look out for each other. Give drivers some actual acknowledgement for their safe years of driving that can’t be taken away as if it never happened just because they had to take a year off for their families. Put a stop to companies testing their technological driverless trucks around the public. Yes, there are evil people stopping all of this oversight and unionizing from happening. There is certainly a malevolent presence watching over the trucking Industry right now. All drivers have to do is join hands and look each other in the eye and realize we are all in this together. Short of that happening, this is the USA, so someone simply needs a way to get rich off of us to be motivated enough to make this happen. That’s the reality.
Well, all, I know is that you could save 15% by switching to GEICO,😛
Needed drivers will drop off considerably as computers will be come the new drivers. Driverless trucks already run from Inland empire to Phoenix and back again without a driver needing to do anything. Mega’s will have an employee to fuel @ truckstops and an employee to help with docking at the shippers & receivers so all you drivers can go find something else to complain about real soon. Hope all of you like cracking books and thinking.
There aren’t enough of those jobs left in the United States. Many of us left those industries to become truck drivers, when we realized that McDonald’s was never going to pay enough to cover our student loans. If we couldn’t make use of advanced education in our 20’s, good luck getting those jobs without a degree in your 50’s.
My opinion, the megacarriers are trying to run the smaller carriers out of business. Smaller companies care more about their drivers. A lot of experienced drivers will not touch them due to low pay, non respect and inexperienced operations. They are more or less trying to limit choices for the experienced drivers at the same time flooding the industry with non experienced drivers. Overall they can cut the pay along with the freight rates. Drivers that are experienced will just have to settle for peanuts to survive.
Without even needing to have a permit to drive a tractor trailer the highways will soon begin looking like the next film in the Mad Max series.
MAD MAX: Beyong the Trucking School!
They figure experience drivers have big savings accounts to survive a major Lay-Off.
Remember one thing; we all signed an APPLICATION AGREEING TO AT-WILL EMPLOYMENT.
Shame on them doing the same thing they did back in the 70s when owner operators went on strike they went in and gobbled up their freight and those guys and ladies lost their rigs remember now they want to fill those empty trucks they got and try once and for all take over
Shame on the greedy ……… want to fill their empty truck and to hell with safety and everybody else how much money does one family or board members need when will it ever end
They just want to take over trucking they tried in the 70s wen the independents went on strike remember a lot of people lost their Riggs they don’t care about safety just want to fill their empty trucks gobble up all the freight greedy greedy greedy
No I’ll quit before I work for nothing
Screw the ATA. They are made up of big trucking company executives. They couldnt care less about drivers. It amazes me when I hear drivers talking about the ATA like they are the last word on the trucking industry. STOP SUPPORTING THE ATA THEY ARE YOUR WORST ENEMY. They fight to make sure the driver is the lowest payed person in their organization and none of them would exist without the men and women who come out here and do the work. Support OOIDA they are the ones fighting for YOU!! Read the official statements from the ATA on the class action lawsuit against England where they fought to keep from paying their drivers while they’re sitting for hours at the dock. The lawsuit was thrown out and the ATA “Applauded the courts decision” because they are in favor of using your time for free while they put your money in their pockets. Company guys should really wake up and learn something about the industry they work in. They’ve been getting screwed for way too long. This industry generates hundreds of billions of dollars per year but still pays company guys the same as they did 20yrs ago. I had a Swift guy tell me just a week ago his take home pay was $400 for the week. But nobody seems to be able to figure out why trucking is always starved for drivers and has the highest turnover of any indistry? When you have a turnover above 80% its not the workers its the slave driver mentality in big trucking companies. Screw the ATA and all “mega carriers” its time the drivers to let em know that without us you’re in the unemployment line. We can literally starve this country to death but we allow these people to treat us like slaves. Its time trucker stand together and show these idiots who the essential personnel are and how much power WE hold.
I’ve only had my CDL for 4 months and even though I’m learning a lot out here, I still don’t think I’m a pro at this. Getting rid of all the experienced truck drivers and replacing them with fresh grads out of school would be a terrible idea. All I can imagine is wreck after wreck… after wreck. Before I came into this industry I was warned that Mega Carriers are greedy and don’t care about the drivers who make them money. This article is a great showing of their true colors and their interests.