Folk's, it's really simple!

Good post my point exactly

 

Listen Guys as of the 31st my company is letting all the Company drivers go !! They feel that the answer is Owner Opps is a better way!! well we have way to many Pre madona owner ops in the company that dont do anything except run the good freight so who is going to run the rest ? Hummmmm

Lets look back a yr ago or even two . When I would go online to pull up Truck driving jobs you could pull up 5-10 pages of jobs with 20 or so on each page . Well today I get one page and 10 companies !! I have been driving for 15 yrs I myself have never seen it this bad !! At this time knowing that the 31st is the last day Im thinking is trucking the answer anymore ? I am doing alot of soul searching and going back anything I have done that could help me to get a job I am useing !
I am ex navy has it helped me NOT A BIT !!!!!
Well guys I dont know but I for one think we are going down a viscious spiral staircase !
Oh you new guys get out and go back to school why you can !! This is not the industry for you !! Yes 10yrs ago it was easy to make 50-75k but today lets get real ist more like 25k to 45 on the high side!
I preach this to my kids at church every sunday
MAKE THE WISE CHOICE!!!!

 

I wish I had paid more attention to you guys when I went to truck driving school last year. I have pretty much sat or gotten low miles. I turn down NO loads, even the short ones to LA (last load was a whopping 29 miles). Because I'm addicted to food, I turned in my truck and am looking elsewhere for work. (straight truck, telecom, delivery ect). I walked away from a position that was getting worse and was not creating a sustainable income for even 1 person to live on. I carried my own food, ate very little in TS's pretty much made a $5 Subway last 2 days...
It was pure folly to continue. After talking to a 1 year driver who is getting out, I said to myself that it was time to cut my losses while I was still at my home terminal..

 

BIGBRETT... Your right about truck driving not being the career to get into right now. I spent 18 years in a gas plant as an Electrical /Instrumentation tech but never liked the job, hated being locked behind a fence all day for 6 to 7 days a week. I thought driving would be a fresh change so I got hired on with TMC and two days after my over the road training was finished I quit and went back to the oil field. The recruiter told me about how I could make $800 to $1000 a week, which was close to the pay I was making while being home every night, but I couodn't see that happening. I spoke with a lot of drivers from different companies in all the truck stops, which we spent a lot of time in, and only a handful were making that kind of money, or at least they claimed to. It doesn't take much to look around at all the empty flatbeds and trucks sitting in truck stops to see the industry is in trouble. I'd love to be able to make a career out of driving and maybe one I will if the frieght ever picks up, won't be anytime soon though. I would sugest anyone thinking of entering the driving industry do a lot of research and talk to as many driver as they can. There are a lot of new drivers out there right now that have large bills from the driving schools they went to and they have no choice but to take whatever they can get to pay the loans off. A lot of the trucking companies know they have these new drivers bent over a barrel and they are taking advantage of it by paying low wages and keeping them out even when there are no loads available.

 

I know what you mean. I get them for the enjoyment of reading. It is so sad though. It will never stop.

 

I love theses magazines as well, for the same reasons. Some of the most recent adds that I always laugh at is the US Express Ones. The guy driving with a psychotic look on his face with all the money flying around in the cab, and the one about autostick transmissions, showling a guy with one chicken leg and one popeyes sized leg.

 

I have been driving for one year as a company driver, What I want to know is what should a driver be making after one year with or without per diem? Should I wait to after I get two year under my belt before I run for the hills or not? I do understand what time it is and will always look,listen and ask question for you and others veteran truckers who can help us beginners, who do want to learn and advance in the trucking business,whether the answer is good or bad. God Bless.

 

idont know 30 - 35 grand a year after the first yearisnt to bad.. depends on the company you work for .. you have to remember that the big companieys are all basicly the same just a different wrapper .. the best you can do is see which one bull crap smells the best for you and go withit

 

After 1 yr, what should a company driver be making per mile, per deim or w/o per deim? Thanks for your answer.

 

a few pennies a mile is a small price to pay for a company that treats you like a human