Poor pay

We all should expect and demand living wages, period. And it's up to us to make it known, and enacted.

 

As a non-driver I expect this confession from you. No, they don't receive a write-off, they receive actual money. So do the CDL schools, I know this because I worked at one for about 6 months. Your tax money goes to pay for people to train to drive a truck, usually around $4000 per student. When the student is out of the industry within a year, that money is never paid back. It's not anti-government propaganda. I believe there is a need for regulation but as a non-driver you have no idea what you are thinking about getting into. And yes, Mexico has it's high points as far as driving goes. The cops are corrupt but they are easily paid off with fifty bucks. Here in the states, the law itself is corrupt and often times a ticket (many times unwarranted) will cause you to miss a day of work for court and the fines for a commercial ticket often run in the thousands before it's all said and done.

 

[QUOTE="Hang - Man";3696690]I am sorry Blacky --you just don't know.
Fuzzymateo has it right -- you will be choked to OTR poverty by the "new" log book requirements --not to mention if DOT fines you the driver for some ridiculous minor violation like tears in the reflective tape at the top of a container. Can the top efficient drivers work around the hours of service --yes but a long learning process --but by then most drivers are gone from being paid poorly.
You also have it right --walmartization --yep.
From what i can tell by these posts on this site, The big trucking companies receive monies from your tax dollars under the guise of "not enough Truck Drivers" so they promise to train Americans to work -- meanwhile flooding America with drivers --which they can use in return for very small pay checks. Since they now flooded trucking with drivers they can also cutback on the real professional drivers pay (lifers) since they can be replaced at the drop of a hat for less pay.
Here is where it gets ugly, So now you have a ton of new drivers working for peanuts, who in turn will quit soon, so now the company can go back to the Government and show that they need to train more drivers --and will need more money to go with it --ya feel me.
Your comment - "Would driving improve if all regulation from the roads was removed" -- Is a bit ridiculous --but go OTR, and then we will see if you change your tune.
Do you think that someone needs 34 hours (Rest) to reset their driving clock, and not just 34 hours in a row --but 34 hours with 2 periods between 1am and 5am involved with that 34 ? Oh yeh and only once a week --cause what, taking 2 -34 hour resets would not rest you enough to be legal again.
Shoot forgot to "Reply with qoute"[/QUOTE]

The problem is, it isn't regulation that's killing the industry: it's the "free money" the companies are getting from the governent in the guise of "economic stimulus via employment", that's allowed them to cut their labor costs to nothing for EVERYONE, by making everyone expendable. And those hours of service rules are designed to make it harder for people trying to make a living by either cutting the number of hours or miles they're driving overall (again, so the companies can make more money for their execs at the top), or making it insanely difficult for the drivers to deal with the hours, to the point they quit (especially the older, more experienced, most highly-paid ones).

Welcome to the impoverishment of America...

 

Thank you for seeing this, I've been preaching this for years.

Oh, it's not "us competing with the slaves in China": it's "them making obscene amounts of money thru every illegal and immoral way possible, and one of those ways is by turning us all into slaves on the level with the Chinese et al."

 

Exactly. This is why I plan on those "slave wages" and hours for at least the first couple of years. Just as long as they pay the bills better than the previous job did.

 

There have been any number of threads on beginner pay and mega carrier abuses.

What hasn't happened to date is a serious effort to educate the public, those at risk because of truck driver long hours, poverty pay and 2nd class citizen status.

The public does not know. Drivers are their own worst enemy, fighting the very changes that would bring them into a 'normal' work life, like better equipment, shorter hours, hometime.

It's the Grapes of Wrath stage before Steinbeck.

 

That makes having a lawyer or a legal plan on tap a darned good idea...

 

The flip side of the coin... One side is "The Impoverishment of America"; the other is "Corporate Welfare".

Something's gotta give...

 

A legal plan is a waste of money. In 17 years of driving I've gotten into trouble one time. It cost me around $1000.00 (with the attorney) when it was all said and done. Many legal plans cost hundreds of dollars per year so you do the math. If you're a driver that is in constant need of legal representation you won't be in the industry very long.