Truck driver, don't go to this industry

Your new CB handle is "Rubber Ducky"!

 

For the last 14 years I worked in supply chain roles for Fortune 200 companies: distribution center manager, supply chain analyst, inventory manager, buyer, others. If you want to get off the road I suggest a nice cushy office job. Here's what you can expect:

• Total lack of job security - especially in manufacturing (downsizing, 'headcount reduction' aka 'reduction in workforce', outsourcing, buyouts/mergers, etc.)
• Politics, drama, gossip, backstabbing, personal agendas, brown nosing... like you wouldn't believe
• The culture of being in a cubicle farm in a large office. No privacy - you can hear everyone else talk & whisper and they can hear you.
• Meetings galore - we actually once had a mandatory meeting about how to hold productive meetings because there were so many meetings being held every day
• Cost saving initiatives & company policies (Pay freezes, forced furloughs, every year there's a new & worse health plan)
• Don't like being tracked? The last 2 companies I worked for had electronic name badges. Every large company is doing this now. You swipe to get into the building and out of the building and it's all recorded. One of the 3rd shift union guys decided to steal a tray of cold cuts from the fridge that was meant for the entire shift. They used security camera video and his card swipes to prove he did it.
• Don't like being tracked, part II? Your computer usage is monitored.
• Depending where you work you may be wearing a suit & tie every day.
• Arbitrary goals & metrics set by corporate. They pull unrealistic, nice, round numbers out of their butts. "You need to grow sales by 10% and reduce your inventory by 15% this quarter." So you want us to produce and sell more product - which requires more inventory - but you want us to reduce inventory at the same time... got it.
• Union shops - that's a whole 'nother topic
• Customers and vendors always trying to hose you, no loyalty whatsoever (automotive industry is the worst)
• Lazy leeching coworkers. So many attitudes that focus on getting ahead by accumulating their 'papers' (MBA, APICS, Black Belt) and not actually becoming effective at their job. These are the clueless people who get promoted and become your boss.
• After all that it's nice to get home at the end of the day. So then you can plug in your company laptop and work a few more hours at home in peace.
• If you get a management position be prepared for the chronic whiners/crybabies and people who just can't get along with anyone. They will report to you.
• I don't know how the truck driving industry is but for supply chain office/management type positions they will do a complete and thorough background/reference check. No matter how much you hate your boss you better be on good terms because they will check and make sure your reference is who you directly reported to. And don't even think about fudging anything on your resume - the days of getting away with that are gone.
• #### truck drivers never showing up on time with your product (ha ha! ok I made that one up)

Yeah, so if you didn't get the point... it's about the color of the grass on the other side of the fence

 

With them titles you don't have to make the coffee. The highlight of your day is lunch time or if someone brings donuts in. If you don't wear suits you have a closet full of tan colored Dockers!

We know them things is why we truck! At least our seats have air ride!

 

Great comments.

Regarding the camping and attitude aspect, this in my opinion is one key area of why so many O/O truckers are lamenting they can't make money. These might be the same folks that are running at 70+ mph in order to get to the truck stop and idle their truck 24/7 so they can watch reruns of NCIS. I just can't believe the number of trucks that are idling in truckstops on weekends on perfect 60-65ºF days. At $4 per hour for idling that's a LOT of money they are throwing away. Even APU's will cost you over $200 per month the way they are using their idle to power their flat screen TV's and refrigerators. If more truckers approached this as CAMPING then they might be able to see their way to save money, stop eating truck stop food and eating healthier, and have a better attitude.

When I started out again with my trucking career recently I was spending over $200 per week for food and incidentals. I'm down to about $50-60 per week now that I've "wired" the concept of bringing food that doesn't need refrigeration, with hot ready to eat meals like oatmeal that can be done by filling a thermos with free hot water in the truck stops, etc. I eat better, feel better, and I'm bringing home at least $500 MORE PER MONTH. Anyone want a $6000 per year raise?

Your comment regarding ETA's and communication is another issue that is raised time and again. This is a BUSINESS and as such requires communication. Let your dispatcher or broker know how many hours you have left BEFORE you pick up that load. If you have only 20 hours left on your 70, and you are dispatched a hot load that requires 30 hours of driving.... well, COMMUNICATE. Even in mega carriers as a company driver you need to approach it as a problem solving situation TOGETHER with your dispatcher. Treat it like you are in business, because you are.

 

Sounds like law enforcement!

 

It does sound like law enforcement Scott 72! The brown nosing and politics are completely unbearable at times. I will be glad to get away from that aspect of the job.

 

Also c6basic, your statement is right on the money, well said!

 

E-logs aren't that big of a deal. If your company is geared for. My company was doing. He logs when I started here to an a half years ago and they dispatch accordingly. However, considering the type afraid I haul, it's easy to work with the E-logs. Most of my calling is during the daylight hours and within our 14 hour limit. There are times when we just get stuck, out of hours and no place to park. However, our dispatch and safety allows us some leeway, usually 15 to 20 minutes. I have run as much as an hour over on my logs due to unforeseen circumstances, but not very often. The way we operate makes E-logs a benefit rather than a hindrance.

 

Actually in response to your notes made in your quote. The reason why we are being over regulated is because of the general motoring public blaming their problems on us and despite there being enough regs ought there as is, the DOT adds more to please the rest of the folks out there with little regard to us drivers. That was also an article written by one of the Dot folk I can't remember the name of..that I had read in one of the against you could pick up at the pilots.

It has little to do with bad apples, whilst yes, a new law could emerge due to someone that makes a bad mistake that isn't exactly covered by any reg.

Now, this new 34 hour rule they came out with...what bad apple caused that? None. So called experts who have never driven before apparently has decided that getting two periods between 1 and 5 for a 34 to complete it's self was better. Many say that it's still only 34 hours. Wrong. This new law will easily stretch a 34 into 40-48 hours easily. you can't plan around it if you deliver early in the am and don't have enough hours to do anything else after delivery. So why do we need 48 hours off? Because the stupid idiot who ran underneath a trailer by fault of his own said so.
I remember a couple years ago a drunk had decided to pass a semi on an overpass that was in the left lane, on the shoulder. The driver did what he was suppose to. The drunk swerved and ran underneath the trailer. I guess they decided that the truck driver was too tired and completely ignored the fact the four Wheeler was drunk and passing on the shoulder. No, of course that fact wasn't ignored since a traffic can caught the whole event, but it's stuff like that that causes over regulations.

I'll ask what has been asked several times already...when will the dot start regulating the four Wheeler that has been driving two days straight without sleeping?

We are a slave to the government. Elogs is another tool to keep you inline. The 14 hour window is BS. If we could stop the clock we wouldn't have to worry about running out of hours while waiting to get loaded/unloaded, even after getting a 2 hour nap or longer.

Sent from your local FBI Surveillance Van