Is it really easy?

Glad some one around here has some sense.. I guess I can kind of see where they are coming from.. If I did something all my life, the last thing I would want to here that anyone can do it.. or thats its really not that difficult.

 

you are right. It's not that hard of a job. heck, a trained monkey could do it.

Physically.

But there are days you are going to crawl into the bunk and die from mental fatigue long before physical.

Today's trucks are rather nice to ride it. My first truck in 1991 was a '85 Mack superliner, 36" sleeper with camel back suspension, rubber blocks on the cab and spring ride flats.

You WOULD get beat to death for 10 hours. You would hold on to the steering wheel on some roads just to stay in the seat. As to physically demanding, try doing an aerobic work-out the entire time you are driving the entire day. You'd make Jane Fonda look like a (wait....skip that thought)

The 09 Cascadia I am riding in now is more like a Cadillac than a truck any day of the week.

So today's trucks make driving a helluva lot easier than it did 20+ years ago.

 

I cant stand those stickers, exp "Pimpin aint easy!" so stupid.

 

its easy until something bad happens.

 

free somethingorother-
25-15=10, unless you were on a farm, we call that child labor, not saying you didnt do it, just want you to examine when you thought you really started contributing to society

Hard workers are an asset to any company, Smart workers are a goldmine

trucking may not be demanding, and you may have a low opinion of the industry, but if thats so, go get back to your more satisfying ironworking job

not discounting that you have in the past worked hard, but certainly questioning your wisdom, I'm not that old, but I will always remember the following few phrases:
-If only I knew now what I knew then
-I'll never be dumber than I was (fill in the blank) years ago
and my favorite
-I can't believe I actually said and meant that

apply the last statement to any sentence before it goes public, you'll have less opportunity to repeat the first two

oh, almost forgot, one troll to another, good job on this one, you werent quite aggressive enough

 

to the op's point, its more a lack of mutual understanding that slightly vexes most drivers while the minority of mule-headed egotistic drivers make you bat guano crazy/mad

the world would be a better place if everyone actually thought about and tried to understand what the other side is going through or hearing

 

You call it child labor, I call it being raised right. Although, back then I called it my dad being unfair. The reason I don't go back to that more satisfying job is because it's 8 months of work, because of living in Ohio. I would rather work all year. Plus, once I get a couple years in, I can make close to the same kind of money, for no work. lol. Would you go back? I just keep myself satisfied by working all night in the yard when I get home.

 

Well hell, first post on the site, might as well make it a good one. Yes, Dispatching can be an insanely metally stressful job, i did it for 5 years for a dedicated carrier here in ohio then transfered to a new start up terminal in DC. 12-14 hr shifts are the norm, managing 50- 100 trucks is a light day, and then i cant tell you how many 24-36 hr shifts i had to pull when #### went south. Think about all the different opinions and attitudes on this forum, then imagine dealing with them and then some on a daily basis, all the while trying to route loads and figure out what freight has to be on what trailer, tracking HOS and figuring out who can do what, payroll, dot ####, and about 40 million other things, all at the same time. And thats with a dedicated shipper. i cant begin to imagine the hell that LTL DM's go through lol.

As to driving, Well ive done a bit of that too, now nowhere near what yall have done, but ive had some moments. Ive been around steel haulin since i was young, and spent many weeks out on the road with my stepdad. while driving is normally fairly easy, there will be those pucker moments. thr first time a trailer steps out in the snow, splattering a deer at 70mph at 2am when your windshiled goes from clear to red and you cant see ####. then dont forget jonny drunkashell driving down the wrong side of the highway.

Everyjob has its ups and downs, hard times and easy times. while high iron certainly has its danger factors, so does driving. and while driving may not seem physically demanding, waith 20 yrs and tell everyone how your clutch leg feels, or your back for that matter.

 

Being a louse dispatcher is easy,you just show up to work don't care and have a do what I say attitude, I'm the boss.

A good dispatcher can't get a good night rest because he or she is thinking about tomorrow and 3 days form now.

It's an incredibly stressful job if it's done right. Some drivers as we all know are compete idiots, lets say you have 20 drivers, 25% couldn't find their ars with both hands, 25% are serious complainers, and 50% have at least a vague idea of what they're doing. The 50% that know what they're doing get messed around because the other half take up all of the DM's time.

Then there's the higher ups, they come up with all these loads and ya it's a great idea how in hell are we going to cover this? Well that's what I pay you for, and it rolls down hill from there.

I use to pull into the yard grab a couple of log books and a cup of coffee, hit the trip pack box and get the hell out of the yard before some moron tried to talk to me. You know the type, Hasn't taken a shower in two weeks, been driving for 2 years and knows more about driving then I ever wanted to.

What kind of mood would you be in if you had to deal with that guy EVERY DAY?

The best thing you can do to turn your bad dispatcher into one you can deal with is have a very short, and very specific conversation of what your expectations are. I emphasize short, they don't have time and whiners go to the back of the line. It may take more then one conversation, and sometimes a reminder is good. But this will only work if your the 50% that have a clue, and if you take a shower. Stinky, disheveled drivers, with bad breath are not taken seriously, always give a good impression if you want to be taken seriously.

Ok and yes most Dm's are idiots, but that's truck driving we deal with idiots all the time, it's how you deal with them that gets you what you want.

 

i wonder how being a DM compares to being a customer service rep in a call center. i've done that. its not physically demanding but just listening to some of the whining and demanding from customers and then the higher ups who don't listen to the information they ask you to provide them, well it sure provided a reason to have a few beers at the end of the day or more at the end of the week.


as for Freeword, i'm 28. i have gray hair. guess i'm and old person? also my current job at a warehouse offers me a bit of interaction with some of those who maybe only have a driving job because of how 'easy' its gotten. these are the guys who couldn't find our warehouse with a GPS as well as turn by turn directions FROM a former truck driver who has had to give those same directions to at least three drivers a week when they call to figure out how to get to the warehouse. the guy with the GPS called FOUR TIMES before he actually got there. its maybe three miles from the highway to our warehouse and its all on marked roads.