Canadian good and bad trucking companies

While at driving school, an SGT recruiter visited our class. The pay for the first year was horrendous. Please do not get me wrong. As a newbie I fully realise that I will not get top pay but it has to be more than what EI pays. It seemed far less than minimum wage when all was said and done. I am not greedy or delusional but I do have kids to feed.

I have no idea what things are like there for experienced drivers.

I got lucky and found a job with a local company that pays OK and I am gaining invaluable experience. They are treating me well so far.

 

I just read this thread, good stuff, one thing a lot of people dont realize is that the people who put us in this mess, (supposed driver shortage) are the superstars who came up after deregulation.
I read a comment from canuck in da truck, on page 6 of this thread.

"sorry to be racist but that is exactely what i meant
anybody cutting rates that low--paying that low
running junk across north america
making it monoply so that they only deal with east indian companys----from parts companys to autobody shops to wrecker companies
yes basically i do have a problem with that be it east indian--west indian---white ###### --what ever--they have half assed destroyed the canadian trucking industry from coast to coast"

Well our superstars did just that in the 80's after deregulation.

They are getting the same treatment they gave to established companies after deregulation when they showed up with their new style of business who was supposed to revolutionize trucking.

They were called "gypsies" "pirates" whatever, operating with drivers agencies to be able to bypass unions and lower wages.

Even today, some are proud to still call themselves "gypsies" and proudly states that this is how they started their magnificient business,
Just ask challenger's owner..

It did revolutionized things allright huh?
Look at where we are today?????
Working and beeing treated for less than sweat shop employees and then they ask why nobody wants to drive for them!

By the way, I was with challenger for 15 years, at first, it was a good company to work for, but with time, things got real sour.

Of course the more you point out problems the more you will be shut down.

At this place you "cant' express anything they consider negative toward them, and surprise surprise they consider that everything IS negative.

Hell, just the fact that you refuse a load because you cant make the apointment in time "legaly" and you end up beeing put out of service until you have a meeting with mr safety.

Not because you refused to do the load but because you used the word "illegal" on the satelite.
This is considered a "negative" way of expressing yourself!
You will be explained that you can say it on the phone but not write it on the satellite.

Ask me how I know?

This is just one example of many and this is not counting all the dirty little tricks used by driver managers to cut your pay.

I cant talk about others since I havnt been or worked there, but my guess is that it's all the same, since most of them belong to the same union... The OTA.

 

One more thing, I also read, "if you dont like it where you work, just leave"

Well thats also what a lot of drivers did and the result was.... our superstars were complaining in trucking magazines (they have a lot of influence because of the amount of publicity they buy) that "drivers were irresponsible and immature" for jumping from companies to another.

At one point, every magazine were doing articles telling drivers how damaging and costly it was for those poor trucking companies to have drivers constantly leaving.

Of course since they are gods of trucking, it wasnt their fault if they couldnt hold on to drivers huh?
It had to be drivers lack of judgement or maturity huh?

My opinion is that the high turnover rate was serving companies.
If lets say 90% of your staff is replaced in a year, who will remember the pay cuts?

older drivers remember little things, like what was paid a few years ago, like border crossings for example or break down time etc.
newbies dont care because they didnt see the salary cuts.

To them, well this is the way it pays and companies make sure to let them know not to listen to older drivers.

they are tired and frustrated, probably been doing this job for too long blablabla.

 

Hello johnday, can I assume from the St. Andrews flag that you have a Scottish background, I am currently in the UK and having my paperwork processed to hopefully come and work in Canada, I have some Questions would it be ok to fire them your way, take care Heno.

 

Below is Based on Carrier tours i went thru with Mckinnon schnieder, sgt, kriska, tst, and trimac. ( via my school) Mostly everything here is from a 40 year vertern "Road Knight instructor at my school, not my opinions, im still a newb what do i know. This guy was incredibly helpfull in taking the time to give us the realistic low-down after each tour. Also this is all Southern Ontario. Toronto-Guelph to Niagra Falls area

mckinnon is a little bit in transition, but for the better so aparently its a good time to look at their flatbed world, (all they are hiring for atm) pay is good

Schieders seems like something id be carefull with they pulled out all the bells and whistles for our tour, my question is why did they feel it nessecary, ive heard good and bad. ur a # not a name, however never lacking a load, sometimes to the extreme. be sure to stick to ur guns on ur hometime plan. pay is fair, good if u have no life

Sgt was... well i dont like to speak badly but one of the managment threw up his hands in disgust and was like wtf are u interupting me for while eating his lunch when our guide stopped in to ask him a question she couldnt answer. and they hire new drivers... great first impression there....., by far the dirtiest terminal we saw, very outdated. Oh and no night driving to they feel ur allowed, and ur chains are for show, if u use them expect to be printing resume's. rules that feel directed for a whole fleet of drivers fresh out of school, probly not advisable for a 5 year plus driver. pay is meh

Kriska was pretty good, no beating around the bush, they have a very low turnover but if u want long haul u wont get it there, more short to medium east coast only, be lucky to go as far as carolina. pay is good

tst... owner operator only, however some very interesting financing deal via Selectrucks. If ur anywhere near ontario and want to start as an OO with no real money behind u and have the best chances of making it, they are the way to go. never be without a load as they a partnered with a billion carriers. as o.0 pay is great if u know ur ####. "their numbers" 160k gross single OO

Trimac. Now this one was interesting, they dont hire rookies... yet they are in the middle of designing a training process and plan on hiring rookies asap. They were the only people to extensivly go thru every detail of their operation especially ur responsibilities as a driver. they are a bulk/liquid/gas etc hauler. the other tours lasted 10-25 min, these guys took 2 and a half hours out of their day, (the main dispatcher and the saftey/training bloke) and this was just at a little branch in port huron, not even a main base like the other carriers, however the work isnt for everyone. pay is good, lots of hazmat decent hourly for unloading

 

So was Day & Ross but it doesn't mean squat. They didn't seem to very well managed when i was there and they had received that honor the year before.

Day&Ross. I give them a thumbs down. They are crying for drivers but have an obscene amount of trucks sitting in the yard. I was there for a short period and seen enough. My uncle bugged me for years to come back and now he's crying to get out after decades he finally had enough. You may have a better experience than i did.

Midland (Irving). Seems like a good outfit but better suited for senior drivers in my opinion. I personally will never work for them. Some always had some stupid comment to say about me when i had to go to the same places they did usually about my size.

I've seen a lot of SDS in the Maritimes in the past couple of years. Their equipment seems to be up to date. Never spoke to any of them so can't comment.

Keltic. Know a couple that couldn't do US and were let go after driving for many years doing Canadian miles only.

Armour/Pole Star. If you start out doing some US miles you will have a hard time getting Canadian miles only in the future. They grew very fast in the past decade but for the most i've heard a lot of positive feedback.

As far as the discussion for how much is good pay for a driver out there in my opinion 60k+/year is not bad pay for someone that doesn't have much or any education. And for OT pay, labor law clearly indicated the company is only required to time and a half of minimum wage. Ask me how i know. I love my Trucking job even though its only seasonal. When i started i only got paid $8/hr and that was only 9 years ago. My hourly pay now is not much higher almost 3% more but i get paid from the time i leave the yard to the time i get back even if it takes over a day. My company encourages us to keep a regular work day routine, work during the day and sleep at night. I am happy and my bills are paid, that is what counts!

As for keeping up with my health i have lost almost 30lbs and have kept it off for 5 years thanks to trucking. It doesn't seem like much but i am now in a healthy weight as opposed to before always being in the overweight category for the majority of my life.

 

Am I reading this right or am I missing something here....$8 an hour is not even minimum wage...and your happy!!

 

WOW !!!! 3% more so he got a 24 cent an hour raise ???????????

 

By the way, deregulation took effect January 1, 1990 under the Motor Vehicle Transport Act (Canada) 1989.

 

What about US?