Do all Truckers whine about their companies?

A good work ethic will get you further in this industry than in others.

This is one of the few industries where the job is completely performance based... You will not have to pick up the slack for others - they will make less - you more.

In a lot of fields - several work as a group to get the job done - and all get the same rate and pay at the end of the day regardless of how much they actually do (sound familliar???)...

but in trucking the guys that want to sit - do. and they do not get paid.

the ones that have motivation will run... and get paid.


Granted not all companies are equal - and in most companies you do not get paid for dock time etc etc...

BUT

there are a handful of companies out here that pay for all time involved - and compensate their drivers for everything away from the house.
(not to mention the differences in home time).


Keep your eyes open - and get some experience.

 

I work with 180 other drivers at my terminal - and there are probably 40% of the guys that whine about everything.. (not one of them making less than 75K a year)

some people will never be happy.

some people will never be calm.

some people will never "be".

 

Well I was happy with CRE. I still think of them with desires of maybe driving for them again. Yet some wounds exist, and they have sent a occasional call asking me to come back.

LOL I love the drive, its finding some place that doesnt want to talk to you on the phone and tell you where to find them.

 

Not a whole lot of your type around, country boy. You are one of very few. You keep that good head on your shoulders along with that strong work ethic and I guarantee you'll make it far!!! Good Luck to you and stay safe on the roads.

 

The easiest way to tell when a recruiter is lying is simple. Their lips will be moving...

 

Excuse me ??? See upper right hand corner..

I ##### and moan EVERY day. Because of that "It's trucking" mentality that's spouted daily by companies and drivers.

NO IT'S NOT !!!!

In the mid 80's I brought home $600 plus every week at .17 a mile plus stop pay....and was home EVERY weekend.

Oh sure, I laid over a couple of weekends. I can count those....on one hand.

Trucking used to require no less than 2 log books. Sometimes 3.
Trucking used to require ungodly hours of operation.
Trucking used to require you to work...hard.
Trucking used to involve 3500 plus miles per week OTR.

Thanks to a bunch of candy #####

Trucking now requires you to provide security for up to 4 days a week for company equipment while sitting in some unknown ####hole of a truckstop/town/terminal.

2400 miles a week is NOT an OTR job. It's a local job. One look at UPS, Conway, Fed-Ex, ABF and others should provide you with all the proof you need.

Yet companies continue to repeat this same line of bull#### every day. "That's trucking"

If I'm going to sit 2-4 days a week...I WILL sit at my house.

I don't get paid to sit on my ###. So why should I provide unpaid labor/security for some "company" that thinks it "Just trucking" ?

I didn't do it in the past, and I won't start now. You either run me...or get me home....PERIOD.

I will sit at home until hell freezes over. But I WON'T sit in a truckstop for days on end.

But, new breed will do it day in and day out without fail.

At least nobody interrupts their X-box time....like the wife/husband/kids would do...if they were home.

Good luck with that life.........

 

Amen to that..... I say as I look into the mirror

 

Red Flag. Red flag. You was happy, but left, you forgot about reality and miss them..... Was you there long enough to go broke? 2 months or longer.....

 

I do my job just like every other trucker does today. When I was out here running back in the 80's I ran only one log book. I was driving for 10 then off for 8. I averaged 4200 miles a week and doing $670 gross # .16 per mile. Now I am running 2800 miles # .36 per mile and gross $1008 per week. And if I have to sit at a truckstop/town for a couple of days then I sit. That is the "trucking industry." So you see .... the BIG DIFFERENCE between then and NOW is there are more truck drivers now than there was back then. In the long run, the miles and the money will there. And just like every other trucker, you follow all the rules and regulations.

As for the newcomers in the trucking industry .... BE PATIENT!!! Take all the loads whether they are short or long. If you keep turning down loads you don't prefer to do because they aren't long enough then that long haul load will never come ..........

 

So you consider sitting for extended periods as normal...for you and the companies you have worked for? I guess it's a matter of work ethic then, isn't it.

I've only worked for a couple of companies in my career that were like that...briefly. And I have stayed out for 6-8 months at a time. Never again.

Some of us prefer sitting with our families...to sitting with other truckers in a truck stop. Not every truck driver consider themselves a recluse...it's unhealthy. It's a medical and scientifically proven fact truck drivers who stay out for hyper extended periods, lose social skills.

But.... I will call you out on your first lie. One log book...4200 miles a week.

55 mph times 70 hours equal 3850 miles per week. And that equals $617 a week before taxes, if you never had to fuel, deliver, or hook/unhook.

The national speed limit was 55 mph

There was no 34 hour reset. You used your 70...then sat until you picked up hours. Otherwise...you used another log book. Or lied on a single log book, which led to many tickets.

The big differance I see between then and now. The number of drivers willing to take #### off of companies that dish it out.

Like Covenant...JB Hunt...Swift....Werner. The list goes on and on.

The only "product" a trucking company has to offer, is it's drivers and the services provided by those drivers. A barn is NOT a dairy product, it is a means to provide those products safely...as is the truck you drive.

And just like a jug of milk...if you leave a driver out too long. It will go bad on you.