Company driver needs to buy staps, and chains??

ooooo I feel the anger. It burns bad.

ooooooo.

If drivers are too stupid to be any good then I absolutely turn my back on them.

I try to help.

 

You must be around better drivers than I.LOL All I see checking tires is with a tapping a shoe on it method. Air guage..you have to be old school. Isn't there a icon or something on my dash to let me know tire psi? This trucking is really getting dummied down.

 

Depends on the rate [of pay], but ultimately the customer should pay.

 

Flatbedding is one of the most tight knit segments of trucking left out there, where they still help each other even if you don’t know the guy loading next to you. But like all segments of trucking the “it’s not my job to do that” or “I don’t get paid for that” mentality has crept in as it has in all other segments.

Does it come down to who you hire? Probably. But unfortunately you can’t know how someone does their job unsupervised until you send them out on their own. And you’re sending them out with thousands of dollars of equipment that they need that could be screwed up after their first load.

And I’m still waiting to hear why this is so bad for flatbed yet accepted in the mechanics world.

 

I couldn't imagine using company issued equipment, unless it stayed with me and was my responsibility alone.

If I'm signing for a load that needs to be kept dry I wouldn't want to take my chances with whatever was left on a trailer after Mr Bungle may have had it. I have enough stuff to look after when picking up a new trailer as it is than to do inventory on all the equipment every time just to cover my butt. I think there are other "hidden" costs to look at also. Time is money.

 

I used to work for a towing company and the owner accused me of "wearing out the valve stems from checking the air all the time." he started yelling at me that it failed due to me checking the tires at least 1/2 times a week we slipped seated and I was also part time so I tried to check them often.... countless times I found stuff that should have been caught eons ago but never was.

 

First, who said it's not bad in the mechanics world? It is bad, just accepted. It should not be accepted.

Second, mechanics tools are (typically) a lifetime purchase. At the least most tools marketed to mechanics are expected to last decades. Flatbed supplies, are just that. Supplies. They are expected to wear out. Even chains break after enough uses.

 

Why would an employer want the hassle of supplying the equipment? Always ordering stuff, inventory space, who is going to check and keep track of all that equipment or whatever needs to be done when a driver comes in needing something. What would be coming out of my check to handle that? It would cost more than it would just paying the driver more to handle it themselves.

Would you rather split the tarp pay between yourself and me and handle that aspect, or just give me the "tarp pay" and let me worry about it?

 

If you take care of the equipment it will easily last years before it needs replaced. All I’ve been saying is that I understand why some do it. Some people don’t have the pride to take care of equipment and do a job the right way if they don’t have skin in the game. And lately it seems like they are the majority in this industry anymore.

It’s pretty simple, really, that if you don’t agree with it then don’t work for the companies that do it. If they can’t find drivers willing to do it they will change their practices. Clearly it’s working for some.

 

I’m guessing a mechanic/electrician is considered a skilled trade. When I was a electrician I was the only one that used my meter. That one tool was the only thing between me and possible death so I had to trust it was accurate. All the arc flash suites and face shield were provided by the company and each electrician was issued one and locked up in a cage. This relates to flatbed also that if a chain has been used and abused and a link is wearing thin and I bet most drivers don’t even look along with straps are the tools that’s between them and possible death in a emergency stop. I took pride in my tools because I was educated on the dangers of electrical shock. Most drivers just throw chains/straps and ride. Not all but most