if all companies are bad

For some drivers it takes signing on a working for a company before they find out the company is no good,,A lot of companies paint a nice picture of their company but in reality they are no good.
Go look at the websites of many companies and what they put up is all fantasy,,,Pictures of great looking equipment and they really have crap trucks and trailers,, Many carriers will not hire seasoned and experienced drivers because they know that any driver with experience and who knows their stuff will not stay long,,

 

As always...one more quality post.

I have to agree with you on all counts, especially #4, but I'll add that there are some bad ones out there.

If you really want to figure out how bad a company is, take Anthony's post and read some reviews. If you see a similar statement then you know not to pay attention to that part.

 

man I #### near fell out my chair to that line

Seriously, people complain about anything and everything in trucking, you could give some guys a brand new truck with every upgrade they will complain about the color of the carpet, give them a raise they'll complain it's not an even number, give them an award they complain it didn't come with tickets to the Super Bowl...

 

I always thought that, "doing what needed to be done" was just part of the job.

If the gps goes out, you've no atlas and no means of communication...

...well, what's left? A compass and the sky.

 

Who said they were all bad? Some are okay and some are terrible.....avoid the terrible ones. Much of the image problem lies with the perception coming in;....it's just a job and rarely the amazing adventure the brochures make it out to be. There are also as many trucking deals as there are companies,....and even different deals within a company. One guy might think it's great and another thinks it's hell.

 

My 2 cents on this.

A. Older Drivers complain because the industry wages have become stagnant (as most unskilled professional wages have).
B. Newer Drivers see these complaints, and mirror them in effort to afford more of a sense of "belonging" to the "Fraternity of Drivers".
C. A spiral of misinformation begins and just simply deepens every day.
D. The Most vocal employee is a disgruntled employee. The 15 thousand happy drivers at Swift (or however many there are) could care less what folks are saying about them because they are driving and making money. The handful that are upset are just very loud.
E. Most New drivers have come from a very meager wage in the past, and are generally not well educated. I hate to proliferate the stereotype of ignorance but it's true. There -are- drivers with college degrees and shining academic pasts, but not a lot of them.
F. The Job itself is not what it's made out to be. You expect it to be a bit more exciting, to see more of the country, to enjoy it a lot more. You expect folks to be nicer, you expect that it might be a real professional career. The truth is it's not, people are disgusted by truck drivers (thanks to a few shining examples). It's just as much a bottom rung job as Mcdonalds, simply much better paying.
G. The pay. A lot of drivers don't understand how to manager their money. They buy energy drinks, junkfood, soda, and truck stop junk (shirts, gadgets, tools they don't need etc) and wonder why they never have any money. A lot of them were never making much more than 8$ an hour and just don't know how to handle the extra income so they waste it. In turn they think "Hmmn, I've been driving a year and I only have 800$ in the bank and nothing to show for all this time on the road." They then attribute that to being underpayed, instead of being uncareful with their funds.
H. And lastly, driver responsibility. Most drivers (me included) have a general lack of desire to take responsibility for anything. Load late? Traffic, bad directions, not enough time on load. Back into something? Tight area, hard to see, snowing, icy. Equipment Ticket? Other driver didn't fix light, didn't check tires, didn't do etc.

The bottom line is that it is a job, and most were expecting some sort of site seeing adventure. It's mcdonalds behind the wheel of a truck. You're overworked, under appreciated, underpayed, always someone saying you got there order wrong, always someone yelling at you over the headset. There is always something that is going to break, and the is always someone that isn't going to understand you're trying your best. There is always going to be a boss, and there is always going to be pressure to do your job.

Weighed against expectation, it's easy for drivers to complain about their lot. But if they stopped to think about it hard enough they might realize most of their biggest issues with their company are more likely issues with their own personality, work ethic, or attitude.

 

The drivers I know in real life never post online and they are all happy for the most part. Now if the only thing you ever hear about a company is bad like with CR England for example then you might think hmm maybe there is something to this and I probably won't break the mold by going there.

 

Each person has their own experience too. Something tolerable or trivial to one, could be the reason another person quits.

The best part about being a driver is not having to deal with the office politics. Youre on the road, not seeing the same faces. So long as you get paid enough, a driver shouldnt really have much to do with management and shouldnt be part of the whole office mentality.

There are bad bosses, arseholes and ####heads at every company.

 

Was sitting at a lunch counter for the usual high entertainment value. This old hand was talking about leaving Celadon. He'd been driving 40 years, owner operator, but he didn't like how Celadon was nickel and diming him. So he asked this hand about ASU*** Truck. The old hand said that he had a buddy at ASU that was making money hand over fist. The ASU driver started spinning a tale about averaging 3500 miles every week and how they started him out at $.39/mile.

5 minutes later, the ASU driver makes a comment to another hand about his $41 paycheck. I found that to be fascinating...a company driver with a $41 paycheck.

Six: How do you do that?
ASU: Do what?
Six: How do you make a $41 paycheck as a company driver?
ASU: Well, had to buy oil and antifreeze for the truck.
Six: And how does that make for a $41 paycheck? They reimburse you.
ASU:Well, I took a cash advance.
Six: How much did you take?
ASU:$100
Six: So how does that make a $41 paycheck?
ASU: Well, I was broke down last week.
Six: Doesn't USA pay breakdown pay? How much do they pay?
ASU: $100/day breakdown.
Six: Did they pay you breakdown?
ASU:I don't know. I think so.
Six: So, how does that make a $41 paycheck? That's 105 miles in 7 days or 15 miles a day.
ASU: Ummm, I don't know.
Six: Are you the driver that was trying to do the U turn on the 2 lane road?
ASU: No! That wasn't me!
Six: Just checking. Thought I might be in the presence of a celebrity.



(***names have been changed)