The Other Side of the Coin

Let's get something straight here. One thing I've never liked is the perception that doing things a different way is simply a matter of luck. Luck is always involved, but, to simply say it's luck is beyond false.

The company I'm now leased to is also the one that I learned from. Originally I couldn't work for them because of insurance, but, I didn't give up, and even eventually wound up driving for his brother, and one of his former drivers (who had to take off from heavy haul due to age, not competence).

I worked my ##### off learning from these guys, came in whenever I could to help, whether it was loading an 800 Hitachi excavator or sweeping up the shop. I worked my ##### of running for his brother and the former driver of his. All the while still in college. I'd get done with classes on Friday afternoons, drive down to town, pick up the truck, and run to Iowa and back over the weekends, deliver Monday mornings, and haul ##### back up to college for classes. In the middle of finals week, I finished a final, drove down the hour back to town, picked up the truck, and loaded rail wheel and axle assemblies all afternoon, drove back up, and did another final in the morning.

To say that the position I'm in is simply a matter of luck and having the right "hookup" is beyond false. The position I'm in is a matter of hard-work.

And that's one of the biggest problems. So many drivers complain and whine about not making money, never getting ahead, of working for horrible companies. They never get up and do something to change it. It's easier to complain than it is to work.

When it comes down to it, what a lot of people forget is that you can't always wait for opportunity to happen, you have to work at it and make it happen. And when the opportunity presents itself, you have to jump on it.

Yes, I'm well aware that the "old days" are gone, but, years ago, the industry managed to fill the seats with far fewer truck driving schools. And yes, there was less freight moving around, but, there was also a smaller population, so, did the ratio of trucks vs. population really change all that much?

Standardization and certification carry a cost, and it's a cost that not only the insurance companies are ignoring, but, a great deal of this industry is ignoring. Part of what helped the old system, being much, much more challenging and complex a way to learn to drive a truck is it would help weed out the drivers who wouldn't last.

The way I learned isn't for everyone. For some, it's overwhelming. Some don't have the time to dedicate to it.

But, so often I see some of the younger guys come on here, 18, 19 years old, and they ask, "how do I get into this industry?"

And everyone gives them the same method, truck driving school, mega-fleet carrier.

For the young folks who have the time and dedication, even though schools and mega-fleets are easy to get on at, the schools and mega-fleets about the worse way to do for them to get into it.

 

For starters, I never suggested everyone had to learn how I did.

But, food for thought, Twin Screws, way back when, a great deal of the seats were filled by drivers who learned how I, and so many other drivers, learned to drive. As I mentioned, there were fewer trucks and less freight moving around then, but, by the same token the population was much smaller, so, I don't think the ratio between drivers and population really changed all that greatly.

But, part of the problem why training is so lax and problematic in our industry is because these mega-fleet companies let it be that way. They know precisely who they're hiring, they're hiring total rookies with miniscule amounts of experience, loosing them, first for a few weeks with a "trainer" who barely has more driving experience than they do, and then on their own in a truck, often sending them to some horrendous locations because the more "experienced" drivers don't want to take those loads.

And these huge companies aren't doing this to provide a bunch of people a way to start in the industry, they're doing it because it gives them the high ground. "Yeah, you're only making .28cpm, and only getting 1,500-miles a week, but, you have no experience, and you have no references... what are you going to do about it?"

They hire the total rookies because they're cheap. They don't care how inexperienced you are so long as you're cheap.

And so, because the trucking schools can get away with bare minimum training and ship them off to the mega-fleets who in turn lay their teeth into the rookies "paying back" their tuition at the trucking schools, the system perpetuates putting inexperienced drivers where they should be.

The simplest solution to improving driver training would be Schneider, Swift, C.R. England, Prime, and every other mega-fleet upping their standards. But, upping those standards effects their bottom line, and they'd rather have a few wrecks every week than demand better training.


So, let me turn this around:

I see so many truck drivers complaining about the industry, about working for crappy companies, and about how they don't make enough money. Well, to paraphrase a friend of mine, minimum training, minimum pay.

What do you expect when you went to some trucking school for a few weeks and then signed on at a massive carrier?

What do you expect when you don't even know what the hell is going on in the engine when you start up? A lot of these mom and pop type trucking companies, maintenance is part of your job as a driver. Not overhauling an engine, but, greasing, brake jobs, tires, all that stuff. Yet so very, very few of the new-age drivers are willing to do that sort of work, let alone even know how to do it. Companies and individuals themselves have gotten so sue-happy that the idea of picking up a wrench for the truck you drive is just beyond the pale. Does it show how scared and unwilling to work many of these new-age drivers are when they here about some little operation and back away because someone said "maintenance is part of your work, as well."

Our industry is already halfway to pandemonium, Twin Screws, because mega-fleets lowered standards across the board.