The trucking industry

I loaded skidded coils the other day at a place I’ve never been to. I checked the reviews and the five stars talked about how easy and fast they were, the one stars talked about how rude the shipping clerk was. I was checking in and a guy came in that couldn’t even communicate his pick up number. He kept trying to hand his phone to the shipping clerk. He got made when the guy wouldn’t take it and the clerk said if he couldn’t tell him the number he wasn’t getting loaded. I’m pretty sure that’s where the one star reviews come from.

 

Let's not kid ourselves. Drivers being their own worst enemy, it's always been like that.

 

A lot of guys I run into are 34, have had 16 careers, each lasting 1-2 years and they were allegedly the best in their field before learning a new trade because they were so good the field didn't deserve them. They want to spend 3 hours telling you everything that is wrong with the world and their company. Maybe, just maybe....it's them.

 

Yes, I am certain that getting cussed out in Romanian or Urdu just broke some clerk's heart. The company may never recover from that

 

Last year I went to pick up at a Ken’s warehouse and a driver came in not knowing what “24” in the pickup date went. His English was so garbled he was difficult to understand. And he stunk so bad the people behind the glass were pulling their shirts over their noses.

 

First off one needs to really think whats inportant to one self.
Take in the fact if you have no home no bills nothing holding you down then this might be the perfect place for you.
But if you have a home or a apartment or spouse or younger children i would say no.

you will make good money yes But the trade off is you will visit your house six days out of a month see your spouse six days out of a month paying rent or morgage for a month to only visit may be two days aweek if you are lucky .

What companies are really looking for when you think about it is homeless people

 

A lot of people just show up in the industry expecting to put their hands on a steering wheel and make easy money and just have everything they want after all of their other ventures failed miserably. Some of it's them, some of it isn't but you have to be realistic and you have to start off at the bottom when you're new and if you pull the "I know it all crap" and give them all a list of your demands, you're going to be in for a really rough time. A lot of it is how you work with people. Even when you run into ########, most of them can be handled one way or another. Going to battle stations over every little thing will make you age really quickly.

 

"What companies are really looking for when you think about it is homeless people". ......And people that the UN just dropped off in the country 13 minutes ago

 

It really depends on the people individually. I do have a family at home, but my wife is understanding, and embraces it. Sure, sometimes she longs for a more traditional arrangement, but if the couple is made up of 2 strong minded people, OTR won't be a deterrent. She understands that I'm out here grinding for her and the kids. I've been lucky. People think the more hometime, the better. I think it's more about the quality of hometime. Gotta maximize your minutes.

 

True but it’s gotten worse. Way worse.