How many times have you switched jobs

I worked for 13 different carriers my first 13 years as a driver. In the 10 years that have passed since then, I've been with the same company the whole time.

 

Oh there's got to be a story behind this.

 

They had a new contract with Dell Computers in Austin to shuttle their parts from warehouse to warehouse for $11 an hour with a lot of hanging out on the dock waiting for parts to be ready. I was asked if I wanted to be a supervisor of the other drivers after I had been there about an hour.

Fifty three foot trailers shuttling a couple boxes or pallets around and then waiting an hour for the next "load" is not my specialty.

I politely quit and the job didn't show up on my DAC. It's like I never worked there.

 

Trainer from hell. I had money and could afford to go home.

Actually, it was 14 days including six in orientation, and a two day bus ride from Mississippi to meet trainer in OKC. And then trainer was mad it took so long for me to get there.

 

I have been working since I was 15, 61 now. I am on my 8th different employer.

 

What a joke. I don't blame you for walking away from that, not one bit.

 

A bunch of times the last few years. Some Chicagoland work, which was a mistake. I don't tolerate junk equipment, or people lying to me. But trucking has become such a dirty business you have to expect it now. If you find one that works hang on to them. I dream of finding a good company to finish out my career. But I'm at the point I just don't think it's going to happen. Going to get what I can out of it for as long as I can. Planning things outside of trucking a lot more now.

 

Wow, reading this thread brings back some memories... I once knew a guy (now deceased) who spent his entire adult life working for ONE employer. He didn't have one JOB, he started by sweeping floors at an old school printing business, then worked his way up to be senior pressman. I always respected that guy for sticking with one employer, but I was completely the opposite... despite a solid work ethic and willingness to do stuff that others didn't want to do, I had a temper, so I wound up going through 100 employers over the decades, lol. Well, maybe not 100, but at least 50, and probably a dozen or more in the trucking industry alone. The irony is that they'd all praise me for being a hard runner, but then some d!ck would come along in dispatch or management and ruin a good thing, go figure. And I freely admit, it didn't take too much to p!ss me off in those days, especially when I was busting ### and haulin' mondo freight...

I developed a hypothesis regarding this "revolving door" BS in the trucking industry: those mega carriers don't really WANT drivers to stick around, that way they don't have to pay any long-term benefits. I always had better luck with smaller outfits which ran long, out and back from San Diego to the Midwest, or big ol' 6000-mile triangles from coast to coast. I also had a nice regular run from Dago to Western Pa, hauling that lead solder waste to a registered treatment facility (think foundry) in Altoona... I'd run out of hours on the way home and pull a restart at my brother's house near Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri, so we'd have a blast while boating, shooting our bows on the primo 3-D archery course we set up in his yard, and BBQing like nobody's business, lol. And the only reason that job ended was because the company decided to cram two team drivers into every truck... and I was an experienced solo hand.

Like one other site member already said, I'd find a job that worked great for me, and things would run smoothly (like Swiss clockwork) for awhile, then some wanker would F/U in some other department and the friction would develop. And being a bachelor, I didn't put up with their BS, I'd drop-kick 'em like I was STARRIN' in the NFL, then get on the phone and find another job within 15 minutes. That was the weird part, I never really lost a job due to poor performance, I usually made my mark in short order and the company would trust me with time-sensitive loads, high-dollar loads, the whole nine yards... it was always the human element which caused problems. Dealing with some ignorant weekend dispatcher, or with some rude broker, who would then catch some serious verbal abuse, lol. I wasn't the model employee in that respect, I'd call 'em on their BS and f#%ng unload, lol...

So there are those pitfalls in the trucking industry... I used to consider that part of the job to be "a Zen exercise in patience." I won't even get started on the reefer industry, and all the time wasted on the docks because some wanker's wife just left him, his dog done died, and I was the first person he saw while he was in his F/U frame of mind. That's why I eventually refused to take reefer truck jobs, WAY too much time wasted while loading & unloading. Ironically, it was the hazardous waste-hauling outfit that had the shortest dock times: there'd be a crew waiting to fork palletized drums & boxes off my wagon in Guinness World Record time, and I'd often be wholly unloaded in 10 or 15 minutes, no lie. We'd hook loaded wagons in the yard too, so no time wasted there... oddly enough, that private carrier had some loophole with their insurance, their trucks were ungoverned and went 90 m.p.h., go figure.

Anyway, I still have no regrets over my "trucking career"---I'm just glad I had other irons in the fire as far as retirement went. I got to see the country before it REALLY started going downhill, courtesy of scumbag politicians and their dirty globalist swine-f#% masters. I didn't do trucking the way many other drivers do, I was fully committed and kept all kinds of gear aboard my truck for having a good time during restarts away from home. That's another thing, I'd willingly stay out for a month at a time when I first started, since I was eating it up and learning the whole time, and a lot of drivers didn't want to do that, since they were family men or whatever. So those companies who f#%d up lost not only a hard runner, but a hand willing to stay out for weeks at a time... I always made that clear in parting messages or discussions, so the company would know that the person who originally caused the problem was COSTING them.

Oh, well, that's enough rambling for now, and I never even touched upon DAC reports, pffffft. Works of fiction, usually... but no longer my problem. I will wind this up with some advice to younger hands just starting out in the trucking industry, particularly with regard to dock workers, shippers, receivers, et al: NOTHING you say can speed 'em up, but it can SURE slow 'em down, lol. So be careful and polite whenever possible, no matter how annoying or aggravating others can be. Think of it as a Zen exercise in patience, and just deal with it. Funny thing, every now and then some wanker would gloat when he told me it would be HOURS before my wagon got loaded, and I'd use reverse psychology on him... I'd tell him, "Great, I can grab a nap!" And 20 minutes later, that douchebag would be pounding on the side of my sleeper, lol. Worked like a charm! Maybe it'll work for you as well, lol... CHEERS!!!

 

sadly too many to count, but usually try to stick to 6 months. I've been through two or 3 mergers and one closing. the closing was most recent and the worst cause I actually liked that job. Been trying to replicate it ever since but not happening. but yeah only a few say there concerned about job hoppers. In the long run if your dry van or refer its the same job just a different name on the door

 

Started in 1987 and have had alot of jobs .
I job jumped for a few years and most of the rest were out of business, buyouts and mergers .
Fired from 1 too .
One i will always regret quitting and the rest are long gone .