For Real???

Surely, you wouldn’t look forward to driving any of those? Haha.

 

Agreed, it isn’t about the money. For whatever reason the mentality of today’s younger generation as they’re just not willing to do OTR work. You could offer them $250,000 a year and they would still balk at it. It’s always taken a certain kind of character who can do OTR work long-term. Today’s world just isn’t producing those types of characters for whatever reason. Even the company I just started working at. Top pay, best benefits, used to pick one out of every 15 applications they would get and never had to advertise. Even they have just started advertising. On social media and other places. Something they’ve never had to do before. I don’t understand it, it’s an honest good way to make a Decent living, just something I guess today’s youth isn’t much interested in.

 

Trucking has no one to blame but themselves. It was always a special breed to be a long term long haul driver. Between the companies and the government they've taken away most of the reasons those guys used to like that lifestyle. The young immigrants aren't as jaded about the industry so that's why you see as many of them as you do. But even most of them are family people so they're not running OTR long haul either.

 

I agree on the blame, but let's call a spade a spade, OTR trucking appealed to drivers that couldn't get along with anyone else, and usually had "vices" that got them through it. Drug testing took care of a lot of OTR drivers. It's pretty clear, being the most available trucking job, , it can't appeal to anyone. No other previous job could prepare them for it, and most quit. Car hauling used to be the cream of the crop. It was THE most preferred job to have, and usually a waiting list to get in. Years ago, most trucking had some sort of manual labor, and car hauling was trying, but the other accolades made up for it, top pay, 1 way freight that rolls off, no pallets or grocery warehouses, you rarely saw a young car hauler.
Today, it seems all trucking pays about the same, and our society has morphed into , do the least amount of work for the most pay, and I don't see things changing anytime soon. The fact that the industry generally pays 3 TIMES what I made, tells me, there isn't enough money, or interest, to make people do this anymore.

 

I wouldn’t trade my Pete for a GMC Brigadier but I put many miles on them. The Detroit with straight pipes is partially responsible for some of my hearing loss. They were definitely a screaming rig, but decent to drive back in the day.

 

Seeing how the article didn’t really say what kind of truck they were gonna use. I wonder if the wokeness of GM is gonna make them try a fleet of electric?

 

With ~50mi range, pushing all that wind? Haha.

 

Not to put on my GM cape because if they didn’t pay me what they do I wouldn’t care about them.
BUT.
3 years ago when they first started this project they told us what the end goal was. Everyone laughed. Nobody thought it would get off the ground. We were all “ dumb” for signing up. But it’s working. Not the way they thought it would, but they’ve adapted and made the changes.

I strongly believe if this works it’s going to change the drive away segment for the better. No more long term meaningless contracts for the brokers to double and triple book, no more cutting rates to secure a ramp you know you can’t service. We might be back to making great money again.

GM isn’t going anywhere. Hoping they fail is like hoping the president fails because you didn’t vote for him. Instead look at it as possible light at the end of the tunnel. We needed a good shake up this might be it. I know for a fact Ford is looking for a dedicated carrier, and Fiat’s dedicated has been around for years.

 

I personally believe they have more than enough money regardless of what it costs to make it work. What I also believe is that they won’t have the financial stomach to run a company owned fleet for long when they see how much more to ship their cars it will cost. They may have a dedicated carrier, but that is an entirely different animal than a private fleet. If they do have a private fleet and someone was looking for the best paid job in Carhaul, that would be it. If Ford starts a private fleet I will be calling in favors from a childhood friend who just happens to be near the top in that outfit. I can milk the clock when necessary, UPS trained me well.

 

The author of the post didn’t understand what they’re actually trying to do. They don’t intend on physically buying and staffing 400 units. What they do is more like an exclusive use contract. They’ll approach small to medium carriers already running and effectively “ buy the use” of their assets. These companies will have a GM liaison that communicates with dispatch , and will have somewhat of a say over the hiring and firing of drivers on the dedicated fleet. Similar to the Mega’s box box store accounts. These trucks will haul for GM exclusively, and will go where GM needs them. There isn’t enough equipment or drivers for a private fleet and they are well aware of this based on their initial experiment.
We are not a “ dedicated carrier “ we are exclusively run by GM. In fact our paperwork states “ GM Dedicated “