Call to action! Raise the bar !!

I wouldn't be too despondent about the replies on this thread, Chalupa. There are several ways to raise your personal bar, and one of them is to find a niche within the industry that takes experience. In my case it's off-road deck work. It's not the kind of thing that most people want to do, and more importantly, it's not the kind of thing that inexperienced drivers can do. My boss is lucky to have a core of drivers that he can send into any situation, and pretty well KNOW that they will come back for more. He also knows how lucky he is and treats us accordingly. Now, when I retire or die (which is more likely), the company is going to lose an asset that they are not gearing up for. All of my colleagues are about the same age, so even if we stay with the company for the rest of our working lives, we will all leave together. Where is the new blood that WE need to be training now? This is part of what I meant earlier when I said the industry needs to grow up.

You are right. The bar MUST be raised, but it must be raised by drivers realizing just how good they are at what they do. There IS a difference between experienced drivers and newbies. Sometimes that difference is difficult to see, but it still exists.

Perhaps among the bigger carriers where people tend to become numbers, programs could be put in place for rewarding safe drivers, million-milers, damage-free drivers, etc. If the truck advertised the caliber of the driver by means of it's decal-work on the drivers door, maybe shippers, dispatchers, enforcement authorities and the general public might see that they are dealing with professionals, and react accordingly.

This is just a stopgap suggestion. Ultimately, I believe the industry has to take it's training inhouse, and make driving a real apprenticeship, taking about 5 years to train a driver to the point where he can be let loose with a heavy vehicle. Companies cannot afford to do too much of that, since a guy would have no reason to stick around once his training was finished. Less scrupulous companies can offer a couple of cents a mile more to attract those that others have paid to train. One reason I believe drivers should be employed by their professional body, and hired out to companies.

We are sent up the road every day with a massive potential for problems. In Canada, trucks weigh in at 63 tons. Even at the interstate limit of 80,000 pounds, the potential for disaster is always there. For the most part, we are invisible. When things go wrong, we are VERY visible. We need to make the good, experienced and professional driver show up and become the "Knights of the road" that we were once called.

I'm fully supportive of your call to raise the bar. I guess I've just been around long enough to know just how difficult that is going to be.

 

chalupa, you have been in this industry as long as i have been.......how many times have drivers "tried" to raise the bar, whether it be by mailings, email, tv ads, printed ads, truck stop meetings, etc,etc......??

and the (always) ending result...??? nothing, nada, zilch.

your attempt to "raise the bar" is a novel one that has been tried so many times, and you really should have known that going into this site posting such a thread.

it wasn't wrong what you were asking/requesting, but done so many times before you.

for me, i will simply not be a part of any such "raising the bar" on a national level but more of a personal level instead. just like what YOU are doing at YOUR employer.

all we can do is be good each and every day and try our best. that's all any ONE person can do. for the rest, we have trucking associations/organizations we can join and support to do our bidding for us, as in THOSE numbers we are legion.

but as individuals, you very well darned know, we just DO NOT stand together. we let "the other guy do it" because we all know from past attempts, its no more than one trucker (or a few) that speak up and then slowly disappear into the horizon after all the talking is done.

 

And this is why we will never. Because our Ranks are filled with the "Oh well thats how it is" People. Rerun if you want to stand there and screw your fellow drivers then fine fdo it. But When your sitting at the Fuel Island andcant get to it BC other drivers take 1 hr to fuel. Or Break Down and Nobody helps you Then you will realize. If your not with us your with the Companys. And if we do all lose our jobs and get replaced by low wage noobs then when your driving for .22 cpm you will be able to tell us you were right.

 

like i haven't been able to fuel up because some knuckle head was already blocking the fuel island..???

like i ain't never been broke down before and other drivers zipped by me...??

no, i ain't with YOU......so what are you saying company's are going to get richer and richer, like that hasn't been happening for decades already...???

you got what, 3 years to my 22, and YOU KNOW BETTER...???

 

3 years Driving 38 living in the Industry. My Father was there when the last REAL strike happened. Why do you think Jimmy Hoffa dissapeared. The Goverment is scared to death Truckers would do something and stand together.

 

the "guberment" has NO FEAR, as it will NOT happen again. there are just way too many out of work drivers that WILL take jobs during any "unorganized" strike. at the most only the union shops would shut down, but with flexibility written into many contracts, substitute drivers would be hired. also with things that are written into contracts, a "NO STRIKE CLAUS" exists, and if anyone goes out on strike, they can and WILL BE fired. so your off base here with a strike......

and you may have been in the industry 38 years, but you still don't have too much driving experience. you could have been a dock worker all those years.....(or whatever).

and please do not bring up Hoffa, you know NOT of what you speak, as ALL talk about Hoffa is conjecture, not actual proof.

 

Based on how I read what the OP said at the begining, it would seem to me he wasnt's to do what is called "price fixing" and as I understand it, that is illegal. As for what a newbe should be paid, I get it I understand. I have only 2 years OTR I was making 35cpm, I have been unempolyed for a year and 5 mo now. I just got a new job working for a O/O driving his truck, and I have no problem working for .32cpm because based on what he said I will go up in pay. I love driving, it is what I want to do. Am I good at it? no beccause I only have the 2 years, am I safe you bet your ### I am, I want to go home like everybody else does, and not in a body bag. My driver trainer at the school I went to told me that I am a nautral driver that in all his years training new drivers I was 1 of a hand full that "got it" right off the bat. I did not let that go to my head at all, I knew that if I did I would kill people. Even the trainer I rolled with for a month was blown away by how careful I was, he swore up and down I drove before, almost like I was a plant from the school to see if he was foing his job training. Again it didnt go to my head. As for asking a question, why would a new driver? Listen to the CB and how they talk to new drivers,Me I have no problem asking about anything if I am not sure, I will walk right up to a driver and ask because I want to know what the hell. And I will answer a question if asked if I know the answer. It is not so much how a company treats a new driver it is how some older drivers treat them. All these so called "super truckers" need to get the stick out of their ### and help a new guy out. Isnt the best teacher some one that has been down that road a bunch? If so then then help them out.

 

Good idea.Have heard it for the past 25yrs.The first thing needed is to have the FED'S state that driving a truck is a "skilled Labor".If that is not done,this industry goes no where.

 

I Second that.