eye opener

I'd check out the union outfits first and foremost. But I'm pro-union now, thanks to pulling a stint as a driver in the non-union trucking segment. I know some union outfits will hire a green driver. Maybe even most outfits will in this day and age.

Good luck.

 

BlueEyes, it looks like it won't be a significant problem for you - single is ideal. For others, though, I'd say - don't make trucking your primary household income. Especially not at first.

Quite a bit of the hate and discontent I see here is because of low pay. Not that low pay is good - we all know it's not. But if trucking is your only real source of household income, you will end up running (or trying to run) your butt off. And will probably end up taking cheap loads, just to make a few cents to pay the water bill. Thus, the companies know you will work for chicken droppings - and that's what you'll get paid in the future.

My wife works, and is paid enough to cover most of the bills. My job (local) will pay the rest of the bills, put money in savings, and buy pizza every two weeks.

The point is, with a little forethought, one need not settle for crap pay, even as a newbie.

 

Things I would change.


One of the major issues, other than pay. Two faced policies in the companies.

Run legal or else...take this "illegal" load or else.

Of course, they never say it outright. That would be illegal. They just punish you for a few weeks or months to get your attention.

The use of "reporting" agencies to destroy or cripple a driver that bucks the status quo.

Staff/Management personnel who lack integrity and/or morals.

Spineless drivers, who report EVERY minor infraction of company policy.

Spineless dispatchers that are afraid of losing their job because a driver "can't" legally pull a load.

The garbage we refer to as lumper's, and the companies that use them.

Reporting standards for "accidents". I would have guidelines as to what could be LEGALLY reported as an accident.

Breaking a tail light on a dock. IS NOT an accident, in my book. And should not be put on a DAC as such.

I would have LEGAL ramifications for ANY company who falsly reported on a drivers DAC. Minimum fine.. $10K plus all legal fess and lost wages. Plus reimbursement of any losses incurred as the result of a false report. IE lost your house due to the inability to get hired? Companies pay for another one.

 

I don't know that I would change any of it. Some of those experiences weren't good, but it is all experience and it all comes into play somewhere down the road. The stuff I have done wrong, and there is no shortage of it, got me to the point I am at right now. A very good place I must say. Call it paying your dues if you like, sometimes a newer driver is gonna get the short end of the stick. Learn from it, prove yourself and don't let it happen again.

Most of the mistakes that hurt the most had nothing to do with the company I was with. Learning your own strengths is great, learning about your weaknesses just plain sucks. As a for instance, I don't carry a credit or debit card on the road any longer. The lesson about that little personal weakness cost me thousands of dollars. It was certainly all worth it. I just plain enjoy doing this for a living.

As far as truck stop showers go, most of them are pretty decent. Now that the Stockyards 76 in S. St. Paul, MN is closed they hardly make me nervous at all. Back at the old Stockyards you could take a shower and have to wipe the mud off your feet when you got done.

 

showers aren't a problem. Most of the truck stops keep them clean. some don't but most do. Even though they are clean the big problem with them is they never dry out so get yourself a good pair of flip flops you can shower in. trust me, when I first started driving I didn't know this and it took me pver a year to get rid of all the athaletes foot and plantars.

If I could do it again I wouldn't have been so quick to turn in my last truck to the bank. I didn't really have to but with all the drepresion from loosing the others I was soured on the whole thing.
if I could go back farther and do something different it would be never getting into trucking in the first place. although I don't know what else I'd like better

 

Of course, I agree with everything Danc694u says.. but then, he's my sock puppet!

(OOOOH, I'm gonna get hammered for that one!)

Looking back at the past.. um.. years, I don't see much that I'd change. About the only thing is that I'd have left my company sooner, when I realized that I was not going to change the management style of my partner / CEO.

I probably would have ended up in trucking anyway, though. While my first love is trains, medical reasons prevent me from driving them. Not so, with trucks. And it's also something I've kinda hankered for all my life.

Now is probably the best time for me to get into it (disregarding the economy). I'm no longer in a hurry when I drive, and I've had my lifetime allowance of BS. So, I can drive safely, AND tell the company to go take a flying hike if they want me to do something illegal or dangerous. (more dangerous than hauling petroleum tankers, I mean).

There are things I WISH would change, but I'm never going to make the effort. Such as my wife's job. She's a paramedic... and sees far worse drivers than we do in trucks. Also, deals one-on-one with psych patients. AND supports the local police on some calls. She wears a ballistic vest, but it still drives me nuts when she's on the job. It's not a safe occupation, not at all.
But, I'm not going to try to force her to quit... she loves the job too much.

 

I guess the thing I would change is my attitude. When I first started driving for JB Hunt back in 1992 I actually believed they were so happy with me as a driver, and later, a driver trainer, that I had found a home for life. It was not all peaches and cream, or gravy runs, but the pay was better than anything I had made in "normal" jobs back home in Maine.

After being involved in an accident in June of 1998 on a foggy morning, I was summarily dismissed (even though I was not cited for the accident). I was considered a liability by the corporate attorneys on retainer and I was toast. All my hard work was gone in an instant. The reputation I had built with office personnel in East Brunswick NJ meant nothing. I had Over 6.5 years of loyal, faithful work and even recruited many drivers for them at that time. Sacrificing my family life and time in the name of keeping the company happy (and the customer) by foregoing hometime, staying on the road for several weeks at a time, and even coming back out of the house early when called. I was a good boy kicked to the curb after screwing up.

To say the least, I was young (22) and naive in the ways of trucking and big business. My error was believing I was something special and bought into all the safety awards, driver of the month awards, trainer of the quarter awards, and free lunches with corporate personnel when I got through Lowell Ar. I did not believe the old adages; "we are all replaceable, and there are guys coming through school right now just itching to take your place." At the age of 28 I was rudely awakened from my fantasy world.

When I asked to stay on (even if it meant I would work in the office for a year or two as punishment), and was denied, I realized I was indeed "replaceable." My truck was repaired and re-assigned within a week to a new driver. To add insult to injury JB Hunt even contested my unemployment claim. I won that round, I am happy to say.

Making dozens of phone calls and having to explain the details of the accident over and over and being told; "we can't use you" every time for 2 weeks got me seriously depressed.

I liquidated my 401k just to keep current on my debts and took the hit on my taxes the following spring.

Fortunately for me I found a small outfit willing to give me a second chance. That story has already been told elsewhere so I will not go into it again here.

So my naivete', trust, and attitude of being one of JB's golden boys is the thing I would change (if I could go back in time that is).

Now I am hard and cold. My eyes are wide open and I trust no-one. I know I am replaceable and so I practice CYA. I also keep apprised of what companies are offering more money, better equipment, and benefits, so if things change for the worse at my current carrier I can hit the ground running with an alternate company. Loyalty is something I do not give easily anymore (I know better).

To the mega companies I am "undesirable." I run as a company driver but think and act as an owner op. I use knowledge, past experience, and personal integrity to keep my current job. Large companies seem to want mindless automatons fresh from school that can be molded and are programmed to ask permission for everything they do.

I am fortunate that my current employer does not try to dictate to me how to do my job (the ones that have tried have been replaced). The service I provide outweighs my independant style and the higher ups recognize the value I bring to the table so I am left alone (so far anyway).

 

That's a good story, J. Sorry to hear you had to be shaken so hard before you learned the lesson and got over your naive self. Been there, had to do that. Yours is an example we can all use when trying to choose companies. I know one based in Arkansas I'd never be caught dead driving for.