Have I Got NEWS For YOU ! BAD Companies

Have some LTL Reefer loads ( 3 picks ) out of Florida into the Toronto area paying $4,600 to the truck

 

does the trucking industry have unions? sounds like it could really use them.
a lot of people think unions are bad but they keep companies from bending people over.

it's not the new people's fault. they/we are lured in by fast talking recruiters. they don't really cover the actual workings of driving they only tell you about the "potential" benefits. but thanks to this forum, I now see the real truth of what they are doing. and I'm not looking into getting in bed with these kinds of companies to start my driving career. I'm glad I've come to this forum now!
I don't want to be part of the problem unknowingly. and I sure the hell don't want to be bent over by them. I cannot afford to be done that way. I need a steady income. I have bills too.

 

Sygma, US Foods, all your food and beverage distributors are nothing but lumpers with wheels. BTW, I work for a food service distribution company so I know what I speak of.

 

Read "Sweatshops on Wheels" by Michael Belzer. It's a scholarly treatise (I think it may have started as a phd thesis) that will explain in some detail how we (the trucking industry) got where we are today.

Having a bunch of online talk-radio-quality discussions about the current state of affairs isn't going to change anything.

 

You are correct that many new to the industry do not stick around long. I think two reasons, 1st: Someone works at a factory, or 7/11 and finds out they can make all kinds of money as a truck driver, then realize that it takes time to gather the experience to make the big bucks. 2nd: They have such bad experiences in thier initial trials that they get left with a very bad taste about trucking. The big companies are responsible for giving out such phony information, and now, the Smaller companies, in truth, can't afford the insurance due to the accidents and inccidents that are a result of new & inexperienced drivers. It won't change for the better, because CSA 2010 will put many experienced drivers out of our industry, and the replacements won't be able to fill the void.
"Anyone can drive a truck...Not everyone can be a Truck Driver..."

 

Had a guy at a plant in ROME NY tell me the other day

" Gee your so lucky get to go where you want , when you want " I asked if he had been watching RERUNS of BJ & the BEAR or MOVIN ON.

 

I know that's right. Not only do they not pay squat for lease driver's but I've hauled 9 or 10 of them as a company driver and the miles were just plain ####. 100 to 250 at most is all I ever saw on those load's picking up and delievering them in the northeast.

 

Amen to that! Nailed right on the head but there are some other reason's behind it as well.

 

I think that anyone that has done a modicom of homework knows this is not an easy lifestyle, can be very difficult to make any money in, and for the newbies (that will continue to keep coming), a life of abuse as they make their bones.
Keeping that in mind, and knowing there are only about a half dozen companies that hire students out of school, which of the preditors would you deem least objectionable for:
1. A newbie willing to drive team for at least a year
and
2. A newbie wanting solo as soon as training is complete

 

We haven't pulled any of those loads for well over a year. It always was just a way to get out of MA without paying for the fuel on your dime.