Good and bad companies

Some of them are, I agree. They're usually the ones who never get anywhere in this business. They're riding on the bottom of somebody's seniority board and doesn't stay around long enough for his DM and the rest of the staff to trust him.
So, after they look at his job-hopping record he gets the crappy truck and the crappy trailer and the crappy loads because he won't be around very long anyway so why bother trying to please him? Pretty soon he gets pissed and quits and gets another job just like the one he left and the cycle repeats itself.
He won't hang on anywhere long enough to work his way up the system and get better equipment and better loads. He wants all the best stuff...and he wants it right now.
He thinks the company is like Mommy and Daddy, they should nurture and protect him, ease his way, overlook his marginal performance, and excuse his bad behavior.
He's never been happy and until he changes his view he never will be. Most DMs and managers can spot him a mile away.

 

You want to gain some big brownie points in this industry? Do what I did.

Tell your dispatcher and fleet manager that you are their rescue boat. Any driver breaks down, needs to get home for a family emergency, etc and I'm in the area.....you know who to call. I'm a phone call away and me and my truck are ready to help at any time that I can legally drive.

I told them that, and within 3 weeks I was in a brand new truck. I didn't want it, and would like my old truck back, but that's another story.

 

I've been the go-to guy every where I've ever worked. Sooner or later they realize that I'm dependable and can get the job done without crying about it. I don't volunteer for it it just happens.
And it sucks.
It's always the same, crap work that the other guy won't or can't do for the same pay or less because of how we are paid.
At this point I prefer to be invisible. Dispatch me my work and I'll get it done with as little drama as possible. For me the perfect week is when I don't need to talk to anyone in the office for anything, and I actually have a good dispatcher.

 

What about those who would like to stay where they are, but the old marginal "inflation" raise of 1cent a year won't cut it anymore?

Inflation is really high this past year, so if you don't get at least a 10% raise, you might be losing money staying at the same spot.

Which company is really going to give you a 10% raise? That's probably unheard of. The only option is to "job hop".

It is just the way life is now. I wish we still lived in a time where you worked somewhere forever and got your pension lol

 

Nah, the way it works is either you got work or you don't. Seniority doesn't mean a thing unless you work union, I had seniority at a company and got $1,200 extra in perdiem a month, the new guys I was training didn't. I already knew what was coming and still trained them, they had all the right in the world to take it away and I just said bye.

But you keep thinking that seniority means something, lots of guys in my old company had seniority over me and it didn't mean a thing. The only thing that mattered to my bosses is that I was willing to work whenever and drive under any weather conditions while not refusing crude oil loads because they were less than perfect.

The only thing that trumps that is being friends with the bosses and that's basically the only guys that were appreciated over me even if they weren't worth a ####, so yeah you can keep that seniority and keep working for peanuts.

 

We're not union but we have a pretty strict seniority system. We use it mainly for assigning new equipment and steady runs that become available. The drivers all make about the same money and most of them are topped out until we give the annual raise in June. We pay by the hour.
If management has the backbone and is committed to making it work it's a good system.
We also pay a longevity bonus...so much per year of employment. It adds up.
Our drivers stay with us. Most of them stay until retirement. I've never heard any complaints about the seniority system.
The way we do things might not work for everybody but they work for us. Driver longevity means a low turnover. Low turnover results in fewer rookie mistakes that cost us money.
The biggest problem we have, and I can see it becoming worse, is that the available driver pool is aging. Right now we're okay but I wonder where we'll find drivers like we have now in ten years.

 

I heard SRT went under.

Also a year is more than enough time for a company to understand what kind of a worker you are, and do what it takes to keep you around, if your worth it.

Too many sycophants in this industry happy to get a pat on the head.

 

Not sure why folks are so triggered by OPs job hopping.
One positive thing is that job hoppers are the only ones that get to see so many different companies and compare them.
If you work 10 years for one company you might not have as much perspective as someone who had 9 jobs in that time.
I got to this thread looking for info on Detmar and I have to say it was very helpful

 

--Lual