Any trucking job "experience" w/poor economy?

I'm starting with a company next week that hauls furniture. they have all the loads they can handle and just bought several new trucks. I tried to get a gig hauling fuel and they said they were "dead in the water," in other words, slow. I would imagine if gas nears $4/gal this summer, which it probably will, things will slow down fuel hauling wise. NO sector is recession proof.

notice how many times "union" and "laid off" went together in heyns57's post. I though unions were supposed to "protect" jobs? hmmmm.....

 

everything is subject to slow downs. Even food when you consider that the cost of fertilizer has gone up something like 400% this year. Farmers are simply not planting because they can not afford the fertilizer. What do you think THAT is going to do to our economy. This is so wide spread and most people don't even know it yet.
If you want somethign that is recesion proof you get into something that services the rich people. High end cars etc. Them people will nevr suffer like the rest of us

Another thing for the "new" guys who responded. COmpanies are laying off. Werner was laying of drivers. ALL companies have if not stoped hiring they have certainly become much mre picky about who they hire. Companies have done away with there schools and resorted to hiring licensed drivers already because the need for drivers isn't there enough to be worth there while to train them.
There is no driver shortage, this is a myth always had been but is more certainly a myth now then ever. There is only a shortage of drivers when companies factor in there 150% turnover rates but those dirvers are going to other companies to be in there 150% turnover rates. It's a story the companies come up with to get federal aid. You new guys better get your jobs now and keep them.

 

First off CONGRATULATIONS to your 30 years of service

I went to Western Pacific Truck School, I thought the price was kinda high but seems much better than the other schools in the area. All the instructions seemed really good, I'm glad I went.

I leave for orientation on Sunday.

 

Before You start going to trucking school please consider this,
in the next year and a half or so to get your class A cdl, it will be required that you attend a fully accredited school. As of today there are only 5 in the country. I would imagine that large mills like Werner and Swift will have to comply with comimg standards or get out of the school business.
Anyway, just a heads up.

 

Chief posted: "notice how many times "union" and "laid off" went together in heyns57's post. I thought unions were supposed to "protect" jobs? hmmmm....."

Actually, the union protected my job many times. Through all of the recessions, strikes and mergers, the union was often instrumental in finding other employment. However, there is the theory that a non-union company will not hire a laid-off union member because that worker will return to the union job when called back.

During a recession when individuals and families face tough times, it is difficult to realize this is the way our beloved free enterprise economy is supposed to function. Layoffs are designed to protect the financial health of employers so that they can hit the ground running when the recession ends, as they always do. The mobility of the workforce in our economy goes into high gear during a recession. If you look at the bright side, workers are moving from layoff to other industries that are hiring. Workers are encouraged to re-train. This means nothing to an individual who was born to drive trucks.

 

"Farmers are simply not planting because they can not afford the fertilizer."

around here, all the farms are gone - they've been bought by developers who have built a bunch of houses that no one can afford. people will still buy them anyway, of course.

but we don't need factories or farms, we need particle board/plastic houses and shopping malls full of chinese junk.

 

I totally agree with you. I'm a newbie. Applied to SNI (which I consider the biggest co. in the US) but they said no with no specific reason. My former CDL instructor told me today that SNI is not hiring recent CDL graduates who live in GA. Their recruiters cancelled presentations at the school. I read a post of another newbie saying he was denied by SNI because of too many applicants in Washington area...