Where is everyone?

When my kid brother graduated high school, he came to talk to my older brother and me about working with us in our construction company. We recommended that he go to trade school. He went to trade school for 2 years, became an electrician, got a job with an electrical contractor buddy and eventually got his own licensing and what not. Now he works at the post office delivering mail, but he still wires up houses and whatnot.

lots of times kids want to go to the big universities or 4 year college because they want a job where they make money but don't have to work with their hands. I always recommend trade schools first just in case things don't work out in the white collar world, you always have something to fall back on where you can make enough money to support your family.

i was thinking that Pape's involvement would be good because there's such a severe shortage of specialized drivers. Drivers are getting thrown to the wild on one end of the business as company drivers, and on the other side of the spectrum, owner ops are getting loads off these load boards and have no idea what they're doing. It's hurting all of us. They're hitting stuff, getting wedged in at construction zones...etc. I figure eventually, the Feds will step in, and mandate a special endorsement for open trailers that cost a buttload, and a whole bunch of stupid ideas, which will hurt all of us. Like requiring escorts for 9 ft wide loads, and police escorts for anything 10 ft or more. You can get a 10 ft wide load anywheres you can get a van truck ( mirrors are 10 ft or better) but you will have to jump through hoops to pull it. I would like to stop that from happening.

 

Hasty MN. Got 15 miles and stopped. This snow is blowing pretty bad so I said screw it. Cant see a darn thing.
Triplesix, that would be a shame if that happened. Pulling OD to me atleast, is fun and also once you learn the provisions and routes its pretty easy and I have been doing so much OD latley its weird when I look in my mirrors and am legal. Like I've said before if I didnt have a kid, I would want to gradually work my way up to at a minimum what Passinthru does with a 3axle stretch. This stuff is to much fun!
Ill be back to it one day though.

 

They will cut it down for ya.... just have it 1 board cut in half (2 - 4x4)

 

I got a bachelors in criminal science from ASU, and took a year of welding training at the Pipefitters Union and got my certification.... and I'm still a truck driver lol

 

I used to run a bunch of Canadian freight years ago. Met a bunch of drivers coming into the company for orientation. They'd come from Swift and Western Express, Prime Mercer and Landstar and other places. We had a bunch come from Trism when they went under years ago. From what I've seen, the ex-Trism drivers are all excellent top level drivers. Some came from Arrow. The Arrow drivers were decent. The Swift drivers do well, Prime drivers do great on lease purchase here (don't ask), but Western.....we had a bunch come from Western that were old SMX hands, solid drivers. The others always seem to be bottom of the barrel drivers.

one of the problems we have is the company requires all company drivers to run Canada. Lots of drivers can't do Canada, so they wind up in a lease truck. They give you a gravy securement test, assign you a truck, and pat you on the back, "Good luck, driver!" It's like sending untrained soldiers to war...most are going to get shot down before they realize they're no longer in Kansas. It is horrific. You go to load somewheres and you see one of our drivers who has absolutely no idea what they're doing. How in the hell do you put a driver under a load if he has no idea what he's doing? And the guys that do know catch hell because of it.

Safety rating plummets. Safety men and upper management start calling wanting to talk. "Call me when you have your pen and notepad out and your ready to listen. I don't want to hear anything you say about safety. Your safety rating is not my fault. You're the one that puts drivers with no clue in your trucks so you don't have to pay the guys like me what we want."

i had someone in management ask me if I would refer drivers to them. 5 years ago, absolutely! Now? No. An experienced driver can make money here, but there are easier places to make money, where you don't have to compete with the inexperienced who will pull loads for $.10cpm profit.

 

Snow has stopped here in the Twin Cities. Another over hyped storm here.

 

Triplesix, I will agree with you 100% on your last post.
Yes I had an issue I was at fault with some, but them and the manufactor of machine as well.
I got thrown under the bus so to speak.
Wanna get them really wound up.
Ask about it in the yearly one on one meeting and see how fast you get shown the door or they go to another issue.

 

I guess oil pump was wishful thinking....I might have to turn back to a full time driver for the next month or so ... No more partial days and off days ....rebuild time ... bearings gone and crank damaged .... Yeah yeah yeah

 

Sorry to hear about that. Hopefully they will have it fixed in a timely manner

 

When I lost the oil pump, on my old Cummins, it took #2 cylinder and rod, crank and turbo.