The future for trucking is sad

There is a simple explanation for that: MONEY

Do you think respectable drivers are going to work for poverty wages? You get what you pay for, plain and simple. Pay drivers on a wage scale from twenty years ago and you will only be able to get drivers who look like they've just left the nearest mental institution.

I had to start at the bottom again, a few years ago, in order to get my CDL back. I haven't paid ANY income taxes in three years and my kids qualify for free school lunch, if that tells you anything.

I was only going to hang at this company long enough to get my two years continuous experience and then move on to a better paying company. BUT, it looks like this industry is headed for the likes of the migrant farm worker... a "job Americans won't do".

 

Okay if what you say is true, report it to the state bears. Give them concrete evidence and see what happens. If they really know this is going on and are not doing anything about it, then same on them. If You know this is going on and you arn't doing anything about it, shame on you.

 

Im sorry , But where did I say they do nothing about it? They do all they CAN about it.

They tear the trucks apart and search every nook and cranny looking for even a simple receipt with a time on it.

These folks are professionals and not stupid hill billy's. They have it to a complete science all the way down to every truck having to Odometer "broken". No papers are kept with any sort of date or time stamp on them etc etc. They make their own BOL's and the whole nine yards. The trucks are so completely perfect mechanically that the DOT guys have all but given up on trying to catch them that way. Believe me if I call up and report them it will not be fresh news. The DOT are too dumb to even utilize the Pre Pass system and check times across different scales. And the ones that do are well known. Scales are few and far between now days and many keep regular hours. Easily avoided.

 

I stand corrected. Thanks!

 

your missing the point he should'nt have to waste his time to go to court just because the power tripping dot man feels a certain way about this or that company.it's people that makes up excuesses for mr dot man as to why they keep adding to the laws.no one regulates them so they will keep making up bs laws and such for the easy money.i don't know about you but i don't like having to take food out of my kids mouths because mr law man has a blank ck to write anything he feels like cause he woke up on the wrong side of the bed that morning.

 

I just left a company that for years had no reign on their drivers. EVERYONE was making LOTS of money so why worry, let it roll. Then the AXE fell. DOT came in and they had PLENTY of reasons to come in. They weren't "picking" on anyone, they had "just cause".

So now this company is FORCED to have e-logs and run legal. Problem was, and is, how to cover ALL the work that had been getting done illegally, legally. It was funny to me to watch them fall all over themselves trying to get this accomplished. They had , have such a bad reputation in this area as far as how they treat drivers they can't fill enough seats to keep it all going.

Personally I can run either way. I've always known the rules and made sure I fit under the radar when I was running hot. When faced with runs that on a good day you couldn't do legal I asked, give me a solution, tell me how to make it fit. When I was told we haven't got a solution, I cleaned out my truck.

I look at it this way. Legally I only have 11/14/ 70 to make a buck. If a company wants me to do it legal then they need to be in the game and make sure I DO make money.

CSA 2010 is NOT a one way street. It doesn't only fall into the drivers lap. Companies that can't take care of their end will show, and drivers can look up their stats.Good drivers looking for work will gravitate towards those companies that do take care of what needs to be taken care of.

Yes there are changes happening, some will fall by the wayside others will adapt.

 

well join the club,every company i have ever worked for books loads to where you have to run illegally.but if you don't run it they will not give you loads and have you sitting just to f with ya.so don't go thinking it's all peaches and cream somewhere else cause it's not.alot of it could be done legal but i blame that on bad dispatch.they let you sit for hours knowing you sitting there waiting on a load then last min they say hot potato your it .then expect you to get it there on time lmao.not all but alot do this.

 

The meat business is especially bad.

When all the CSA 2010 dust settles, the FMSCA will have to find new rules to implement. They have to justify their job somehow. But I agree, the industry needs cleaning up. Back in the good old days there wasn't near as many trucks or cars on the road. The population just keeps multiplying.

 

When a company gets slammed by the DOT for their past indiscretions and the DOT says we'll be back in here in 6 months to have another look. Then the company puts everyone on e-logs, the picture to me is real clear. The ball is in the companies court to make things fit. I for one am not standing in front of the train ( DOT) that is coming down that track for anyone. You can't "fudge" e-logs.

For a company to "request" you put everything on the line for them, it will all be OK doesn't wash with me. If you go ahead and run, you go over on your hours on e-logs, it doesn't go away, there's no "fixing" or "hiding" it. To me, ( maybe it only pertains to me) legal is a one way street. It doesn't have any shoulders or passing lane. If I'm told " it's a new day and we're going to do things by the book from now on". I can do that.

Maybe it's just me and my warped sense of what is my responsibility. "Poor planning on their part does not make it an emergency on my part". I have and continue to do the very best job I can and know how to do. What I won't do is throw all I've worked for
( my reputation - my record) away on some desk jockey who has nothing to lose and everything to gain.

 

When all the dust settles, you can actually take the time to look at the CSA2010 scores on carriers. I think you will be surprised who is in trouble with DOT and who is not.

Of course, when the top names come out and are publicized, some of you will claim the top companies bought off DOT because most of those companies will be the ones you refer to as "bottom feeders." It's always a conspiracy, isn't it?