How trucking used to be and where it is today

I just started back in November of last year. I really enjoy my job and make a much better living now that I run much more efficiently. I am happy for now making what I am. I work as a company driver and get treated great. My Fleet Manager is good to me also. I show up on time for appointments or early. I do my job and go home. I plan to find a better paying job once I get a few years under my belt. I guess if you don't have any knowledge of how it used to be then the happier you can be. Just smile and do the job. Happy for now

 

One of the problems we have now is 3 generations of stupid in the industry now. Everyone knows it now. How many drivers are there, lease operators and owner operators, running for $.90/mile+FSC? How many drivers have graduated high school and can't add? If 15 guys walk out a door crying and rubbing their arse, why is anyone else going to walk in? Stupid? Yeah, that'd cover it.

I never realized how bad the industry was until I had to hurry and get back on the road and got a flatbed gig with Swift. 60 people, fresh out of school showed up for orientation. I had driven before, and I had a few hundred in my pocket to carry me over. I traveled light, 1 duffle, 1 sleeping bag. Had to ride with a trainer. Out of 60, I was the only flatbedder. 1 meal a day provided by Swift. You couldn't get any of that trainee money until you got into a trainer's truck. Half the people got sent home. The other half wasn't ready to work. You're spending a week in orientation, then going home to settle some things? You're hurting your pockets.

They throw these big words out to dazzle the rookies, like "careers", 'state of the art equipment', but they're catering and recruiting people people who can't think on their feet. At Swift, the goal they put before you is the blue shirt..a mentor. Oooooooh, a mentor!

Be a trainer! Be a "certified" lease operator! It's part of the sunshine injection in the arse. Bottom line, if you are an OTR driver, you should be making a grand a week minimum. If you're not making a grand a week, something's wrong. Fix what's wrong. Don't be a trainer, don't even think about leasing until you fix whatever the heck is wrong, be it the way you run or the company you run for. Anything else is akin to painting the Titanic after it hit the iceberg. Thats suicidally stupid.

Simple math: if a company says they're going to start you out at $.40/mile, how many miles do you have to run a week to make a grand a week? How many miles a day? Is it doable on elogs? It is? Then why does the average driver at Moron Trucking make $35000/year? What's wrong? Don't give me that Supertrucker crap...we aren't talking about some sort of superhuman effort.

Now some of you are happy being dragged through the mud. If you are, keep it to yourself. Bragging about it is stupid. These trucking companies are betting that you're stupid. If you are dumb, you don't know any better. There's nothing wrong with not knowing. To be stupid requires intelligence. You KNOW better. You choose to be stupid. It was a decision in your brain after you gained intel.

 

You say this based on what? You can not back up that statement because if you could, you would not be complaining about broker rates.

 

Whatever

 

OTE="Camelclutch, post: 4647721, member: 166339"][/QUOTE]
Hauling freight for a dollar is going backward, even wasting a $100 to deadhead is better than spending $1.50 to get paid a dollar.sesh.