Industry in Canada is too far gone...

Discussion in 'Canadian Truckers Forum' started by Canadianhauler21, Dec 8, 2021.

  1. Canadianhauler21

    Canadianhauler21 Heavy Load Member

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    Since I switched to local driving in Toronto (Usually do deliveries in Brampton), I see so much crap on a daily basis it's sickening. Everyday I have to yell at these "New Canadians" because they are blocking dock doors or speed behind reversing trucks trying to squeeze passed.

    I go to work everyday and there hasn't been a day where I don't see something super stupid that someone (usually a new Canadian) is doing. I was talking to a driver for Georgia Pacific and he told me he gets $18 per hour for AZ shuttle (moving trailers between yards). I've talked to drivers running Toronto - Montreal corridor for $15 an hour on e-logs. This industry is done for, shoutout to all of you Canadian drivers that can still make a living while rates are being undercut by people who will do it for half the price you will.

    I'm not by any means an aggressive person, but I have absolutely run out of patience with these people, we all know who they are. Just this week I saw a guy pulling a trailer with his door open. I was going to tell this guy at security that 'hey your door is open", but I seen two flip floppers come out of the truck and I changed my mind. Turns out one guy was training the other. Ended up smashing his trailer door into the fence post as he entered. Same hour some guy from spartan transport asked me to back his daycab truck into a spot for him.

    Government turns a blind eye to this crap everyday. MTO doesn't do nearly enough enforcement.

    Lemme hear what you think of this industry.
     

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  3. aaronpeterbilt3787

    aaronpeterbilt3787 Medium Load Member

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    It’s not just new Canadians, although I do agree with you on the fact it’s poorly trained immigrants that began the ball rolling. Just last week, I had a white guy ask me what’s wrong as I was airing up a flat tire on a trailer. Told him my truck was low on air so I was stealing some. Looks at me, says really? Days later the same guy was going to take a load destined for brockville outta our Sudbury yard to Mississauga. We caught that one just in time, but the week prior the same guy took the wrong trailer from Mississauga to Sudbury.

    It’s no longer race specific, rather it’s idiot specific across all races. You’re more than correct though, that the industry is in need of an overhaul badly in Canada. More specifically, Ontario. All one has to do is look at the major wrecks on a daily to weekly basis from Thunder Bay to Manitoba border. How there aren’t more serious wrecks like this in the GTA is beyond me.
     
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  4. Canadianhauler21

    Canadianhauler21 Heavy Load Member

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    I agree, It's everyone from all walks of life. It's just the new canadians that get most of the attention. I also agree that the entire industry needs a complete overhaul.

    One of the drivers from my company had to renew his AZ, so he had to write his Z test again and I believe the A too. There is one guy who he paid $300 to, he gives you an ear piece to put in your ear, you cover your ears with your turban and he tells you the answers for the test.

    Just wish we had some kind of respect for each other. It's terrible out here.
     
  5. andrewsdad

    andrewsdad Light Load Member

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    A lot of it I think has to do with old school and new school thinking as well. It appears there used to be a comradery amongst all drivers almost a secret club of sorts, but now there is only 1 member in the club, it's all about me me me. Racing to get 1 spot ahead, hit the dock crooked, forget to open the doors, don't chock wheels or unchock when leaving, and perhaps the thing that drives me crazier than any other trait...ALWAYS on their phone. Who talks that much, and especially if shipper/receiver is trying to tell you something. Dragging wheels, no lights, no signal lights...really the list goes on and on. Oh, and don't forget the table runner hanging from the top of the windshield with dangly balls obstructing the view, and the fenders/fairings and just about anything else held on with with duct tape.

    New drivers/Canadians are also the problem, you can usually spot them 1.625 kms away. :)

    All in all I agree it does need an overhaul before there are more accidents and deaths, that really aren't accidents at the end of the day it's just poor skills. Schools get them in and out in as quick a time as possible.
     
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  6. aaronpeterbilt3787

    aaronpeterbilt3787 Medium Load Member

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    And it doesn’t matter what school it is……a friends kid, who has been around trucks his whole life, and who I worked for in the bush hauling wood, went through manitoulin’s school to get his license. I visited for drinks one day, and his kid asked me to look at his log book. Runs Ontario only, so paper log. For now. It was a mess, had no idea how to fill it out properly. I schooled him on it. Asked him, did manitoulin not teach you bout logs?? His reply, nope. Told us not to worry bout it cuz it’d all be elogs soon enough. That’s coming from the red army! Law is, you must have a paper log as back up while on elog. You must know how to fill it out properly!

    I’ll say this about elogs, some hate them, some love them. I’ve been on them for 4 years now cuz I run state side. They definitely take the guess work out of it, and to be perfectly honest, I thought I knew how to work a paper log to look legal for years. Boy, did I get lucky! Once you’re on elogs, if you pay attention to what it does, you really learn what’s legal and what’s not. I thought I knew HOS before, I really know them now.
     
  7. skipgears

    skipgears Medium Load Member

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    ... "NEW CANADIANS" .. heh, nice politically correct label, we used to call them immigrants. They should start a hockey team. The NEW Canadians, brown and yellow and black all over, can't skate, drive, pass, back, park, nothing. Just here for the good times and socialism.

    As for logs, I don't think I ever met one driver who could really nail them down. Even office monkeys back at base would argue over them. Nobody really knows how to set a proper log since they convoluted the whole thing you need a PhD in calculus. I suppose elogs fix that, but now you can't cheat. Hmm.

    Anywho, the whole thing is a dumpster fire, and it's been like that for at least 20 years, and looks to only be getting worse. Bring on the autobots.
     
  8. classicxl

    classicxl Medium Load Member

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    100% agree on paper logs thing ,when i went to schneider in 2008 they told us never leave a log blank if it doesn’t apply to u ie no co driver because you don’t run team put NA .When i came to kriska they said the opposite leave it blank if it doesn’t apply to u .I felt like a idiot when the training guy said i filled it out wrong when it’s just a different opinion on how it should be done
     
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  9. skipgears

    skipgears Medium Load Member

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    There is no standardization when it comes paper logs, that's why. There are only HOS rules, and those are convoluted to all hell full of loop holes and special exceptions. And on top add on the fact that Canada has their own HOS rules. For years I've been a proponent of standardizing rules and protocols across NAFTA nations, but no. As soon as you cross the border into Canada you get 2 more hours of driving, but if you plan to head back to the US on that log you're now illegal. So any cross-border driver has to follow Yankee rules, by default. So why not just standardize all the rules under one system? Because America has the bigger dick, and they won't budge on assimilating Canook 13-hr drive rule. In turn Canada can't comply to the US 11-hr drive rule as the distances between our cities are so great we need all the time we can get to deliver to them and on time. Van to CowTown in example is a joyous ~11hr run in the summer, but come winter I was out there maxing out the 13th hour. Otherwise in the bunk around Golden, and some days with the weather so bad it was necessary anyway. So a trip to Calgary took 2 bloody days of battling that snow n' ice n' shti 4-wheelers, wild animals, and whatever else tried to kill you. In between dodging the scales and makin' sure your rig is well up and the load not over and balanced right. That's truckin'. Trucking means managing a multitude of situations, aspects, and elements that are out there to either kill you, ticket you, or put you in some other form of detriment.

    Another paper log anomaly. I once knew a team of family drivers - father and son. Same last name, and very similar albeit different first names however still starting with the exact same initial. As they wrote out their logs they've only used their first initial and full last name. This presented a joy of a situation for the coopers to try and attempt to figure who's log was who's. Long story short they both got ticketed.
     
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  10. Pamela1990

    Pamela1990 Road Train Member

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    The dozen or so times my log book was looked at, they didn't study it hard, and they never once complained about how it was filled out.
    I believe the more you fill it out, the more BS they could potentially catch you in. Just fill it out as basic as possible, and roll.
    Woman at a scale shack commented to me once, that she was glad to see that I didn't fall into the trap of writing so much, there was more for a grumpy guy to catch me with someday.
    She fliiped back only as far as my last day off, it was a Sunday, then looked at the 3 days up to that day, handed it back to me, and warned me verbally to leave that last log off the truck, I want to squeeze on from now on, because I was 3000 kgs heavy, and she only likes to give us loggers up to 2500 kgs leeway. I thanked her, and left.
    My next load that day, she hit park and bring in papers again. I walked in the door, she smiled and said much better. I said thanks, and left. Being polite also goes a long way.
     
  11. '88K100

    '88K100 Road Train Member

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    I have had my log examined once since ‘95….i get waved the odd time scale is open…Company truck, Vintage WASP at the wheel:D
     
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