DOT initiates 4 Major Rule Changes

Yep. Companies have trained drivers to equate more miles with more money. Drivers need to realize that they can command MORE money for LESS miles if they just stood up and demanded it.

 

You can always say no.

Right now, they're probably going to listen when you say no. Drivers are very hard to come by these days. Leverage that. Tell your co workers to leverage it as well.

Nothing will improve until enough drivers stand up and demand better pay, better hours, and better working conditions.

 

Back when I was a company driver, my dispatcher had a nasty habit of giving me a load that required a start time of 23:00 after I finished my day that started at 04:00 and ended at 13:00.

No.

I informed my dispatcher that I would not be able to obtain sufficient rest to safely complete the next load because there was no way in hell that I'd be able to sleep at 3pm. I don't work that way, and I won't let them try to work me that way. The company was large enough that they could call in someone else that prefers to work the night shift. I stood my ground after they tried this several times, and they eventually got the hint and started scheduling me the way I wanted.

 

So you're an O/O? If so, you have all the freedom in the world to say no. As a company driver, you can't just hang it up and call it a day whenever you feel like it. Run it, or there's the door. It doesn't matter if they're running you like a scalded dog, doesn't matter if you have a family, it doesn't matter if you have obligations to take care of, it flat doesn't matter. 9 times out of 10, if a company can run you 16 hours, they will. Those that won't take advantage will be the the exception, not the norm. Once again, your point is not valid UNLESS we're talking about O/O's, which I clearly wasn't referring to. Are we on the same page?

 

Yep and that is troubling

 

I drive my truck... Not my boss, not my dispatcher, not the broker, not the mechanic... If they have a problem with me stopping early because I'm tired or sick, or just cause I have the extra time to do so, then they can shove my job in their....

 

If that's the way your company works you need to find a better company. As I said above... I drive my truck, no one else. Period.

If they give me load that would require me to run harder than I want or am comfortable with I won't take it. Period. I have had a few instances when I wasn't comfortable driving for reasons varing from tired, sick, weather, ECT. I called dispatch and let them know I was shutting down and that it could possibly affect my being able to deliver on time, they said, "No problem, just be safe." That is the kind of company drivers should DEMAND, instead of rolling over as a little whipping boy to the slave drivers most call dispatch.

 

All Orida is interested in is changing things back to the 70s.