Shambles

Opus · Mar 28, 2020

Hint, hint........LOL

MACK E-6 · Mar 28, 2020

Flashdrive7 said: ↑

Most of the other drivers in our small crew like the arrangement of the last six months because they are family men.
I'm not, which is why I love long haul so much. The boss turns that subject on me when I have told him I don't like local work "The other drivers don't complain. They are grateful for work" He reminds me of my mother. I loved her, but I grew tired of her method of assigning guilt.
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Do the other drivers have to do it? It’s easy to not complain about something one doesn’t have to do but maybe once a year.

BackwoodsGA · Mar 28, 2020

Flashdrive7 said: ↑

It's awful. I've been working for a small company for a year and ten months. It was good for a while. Regular runs from Southern California to Texas. Occasional trips to the south and Midwest. Good pay. Home for a few days every ten days or so. The owner was nice. I counted him as a friend. His business partner was superb. He would always thank me and offer praise at the end of the assignment. Firmly but tactfully give criticism when it was necessary. I had never been happier in my nine years as a driver.

Six months ago, it changed overnight. The partner left. I sense it was an acrimonious split. I didn't pry because it was not my business. He was the one who really ran things. The owner brought in his girlfriend (so called fiancee he's still married) she took over the office operation. I welcomed her and said that I was looking forward to working with her. Shortly after that the big change came. They said that they would not have long haul loads for a while. Myself and the other drivers would be doing local container runs. Just for a little while, they said. Day after day, the same stretch of highway. The same half dozen sites. In consistent work. Some weeks only two days of work. Major city traffic at rush hours every day. The boss complained that I took too long on runs. Other drivers went faster. I told him that I drive at the speed limit. 55 mph for trucks in our state. If the other guys wanted to go faster that was their risk.
He pressured me to put in extra hours off the e log. Some days amounted to eighteen hours. He Still expected me to work the next day ten hours after I had technically gone off duty. Pay is laughable. Less than a third of what I was bringing in going otr. On rest time I was continually bombarded with phone calls and messages. My health is suffering. I've narrowly missed having a bad wreck more than once.

Today he was angry that I ran short of drive time an hour away from the delivery. He accused me of sleeping all day in his truck and basically goofing off on the runs. I've been looking for a new job but haven't had any luck. I hope that being off for a few days and able to job search full time will pay off. I can't continue on this path.

I still love being a trucker. I just don't like the current job.
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Jobs are plentiful..walk.

MACK E-6 · Mar 28, 2020

bryan21384 said: ↑

I am a family man, but I will take OTR anyday over local. I love the weekly challenge of seeing how many miles I can put down
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There are some who say things like “if you don’t like the short runs, then you don’t like to work”. Of course, the term “short runs” is subject to interpretation. Staying within 5-10 miles of the terminal for example, as opposed to my run 2 1/2 hours away, would send me to the funny farm. I guess I don’t like to work either.

Ridgeline · Mar 28, 2020

Flashdrive7 said: ↑

It's awful.
He pressured me to put in extra hours off the e log. Some days amounted to eighteen hours. He Still expected me to work the next day ten hours after I had technically gone off duty. Pay is laughable. Less than a third of what I was bringing in going otr. On rest time I was continually bombarded with phone calls and messages. My health is suffering. I've narrowly missed having a bad wreck more than once.
Click to expand...

Sorry but you're not a trucker, you became a slave.

The second you were told to work outside the legal limit, you should have walked out.

No excuse for you doing this.

Chinatown · Mar 28, 2020

One company I worked with had trucks governed at 68.
They got rid of my truck and put me in one that was governed at 62.
All the trucks were leased trucks and the leasing company wouldn't change the speed limit.
I ran 48 states and my paychecks stayed the same at 62 mph.
Sounds like a BS story, I know, but it's fact.
I discovered that at the end of a driving day, I was much less stressed because I didn't spend all my driving time fighting other trucks.

LTL Bull · Mar 28, 2020

Flashdrive7 said: ↑

It's awful. I've been working for a small company for a year and ten months. It was good for a while. Regular runs from Southern California to Texas. Occasional trips to the south and Midwest. Good pay. Home for a few days every ten days or so. The owner was nice. I counted him as a friend. His business partner was superb. He would always thank me and offer praise at the end of the assignment. Firmly but tactfully give criticism when it was necessary. I had never been happier in my nine years as a driver.

Six months ago, it changed overnight. The partner left. I sense it was an acrimonious split. I didn't pry because it was not my business. He was the one who really ran things. The owner brought in his girlfriend (so called fiancee he's still married) she took over the office operation. I welcomed her and said that I was looking forward to working with her. Shortly after that the big change came. They said that they would not have long haul loads for a while. Myself and the other drivers would be doing local container runs. Just for a little while, they said. Day after day, the same stretch of highway. The same half dozen sites. In consistent work. Some weeks only two days of work. Major city traffic at rush hours every day. The boss complained that I took too long on runs. Other drivers went faster. I told him that I drive at the speed limit. 55 mph for trucks in our state. If the other guys wanted to go faster that was their risk.
He pressured me to put in extra hours off the e log. Some days amounted to eighteen hours. He Still expected me to work the next day ten hours after I had technically gone off duty. Pay is laughable. Less than a third of what I was bringing in going otr. On rest time I was continually bombarded with phone calls and messages. My health is suffering. I've narrowly missed having a bad wreck more than once.

Today he was angry that I ran short of drive time an hour away from the delivery. He accused me of sleeping all day in his truck and basically goofing off on the runs. I've been looking for a new job but haven't had any luck. I hope that being off for a few days and able to job search full time will pay off. I can't continue on this path.

I still love being a trucker. I just don't like the current job.
Click to expand...

The big LTLs have openings for drivers that run their systems. I'm with R&L and their usually looking for guys to run out west . Good money for a lot of them. Any LTL is good as far as I'm concerned. Terminal to terminal so no worries about parking. A little slow now due to silliness over Wuhan Flu, but that'll change soon. PM if you want. We get nothing for recruiting people, just being neighborly in an internet kind of way.

Western flyer · Mar 28, 2020

As soon as the said were going to start
Pulling containers, you should have cleaned
Out the truck.

tarmadilo · Mar 28, 2020

Have you reached out to the partner that left?

Flashdrive7 · Mar 28, 2020

tarmadilo said: ↑

Have you reached out to the partner that left?
Click to expand...

I got in touch with him in November, two months after the container pull started. Actually he messaged me to say hello. I told him the situation and I was not happy. I said sincerely that I missed working with him
He was working at a nearby flatbed outfit. I know nothing about flats. Pulled them pre loaded a few times is all. He said they would teach me .
I tried calling him yesterday, left a message. No call back. He may be busy. As I said he was industrious. Keeps busy.

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