Real truckers say no to rail

I like the way this guy thinks. Shadowviper wants to blame the railroad and the big companies for his troubles but he might try looking at himself for a while and see what he might be doing wrong.
I have been out here for a few years and have change who I worked for more than a few times. Owned my own truck for over ten years and the one not is very nice and cost more than I should have paided. But I have always made more in each move I made or I did not stay very long. Today I still make much more than I did twenty years ago and will still be doing well even pulling loads for less than I did last year.
On top of all that crap I'm a railfan. Yea I like trains. I even worked for a railroad a long time ago but like trucking more. If railroads hated trucking so bad why do I see so many railroad things like wheels and freight car trucks and couplers and locomotive engins on trucks. Why couldn't they haul it much cheeper? No it goes on the highway because they need it now and not next week.
You know I used to run myself silly,nore than one log book and run as fast as I could. Haul whatever they put in the trailer and go around the scale. You know the story. When I saw the light I started to make more than I ever did before.
Rail is not the enemy. You might just be your own worst enemy.

 

Sorry to hear that. What company were you with?

 

Rail damage does occur. Of course the president of the company made the decision to utilize the rails lower rates not you.

I remember back in the early 90's when JB started utilizing the rails. As an OTR driver and later OTR trainer I saw many cross country loads gets diverted. I understand the frustration of losing long miles in exchange for shorter hops but as a company driver we really have no say in how our bosses run their business.

Good luck finding another carrier to drive for. Look for one that does not use the rail and I am sure you will be happier.

 

I understand your anger, but untill they lay rail right to your corner market, there will still be a need for x-fer facilties and short haul. And since over priced real estate and NIMBY-ism forced management put many warehouses in the middle of no-where away from the customers, there will still be demand for trucks.

 

Could be more to the story here. Tell your boss to give RBX up in Springfield Mo a try. When I was there they had mostly O/O. I drove for a man that had a few trucks there. They did not use rail and not as many company trucks to compete with.

 

BTW that's not a bad way to go. Maybe you'll get lucky and get on with a compamp that will treat you right.

 

I used to work for Marten Trans in their Intermodal Dept. here in PA. Overall, decent enough job until they said I could only go home once a week. Not worth it for $160 a day imo. Anyway...

Intermodal does good things for our industry too. For one thing, it turns alot of OTR freight into local (or mini-regional at any rate) freight. IMO, this is a good thing for most drivers, who want to work local anyway.

Also (and this is a big reason Marten does intermodal) it can help alleviate freight in/out mismatches. For instance, Marten has a LOT of freight coming into the NE, but not as much going out. So, they send alot of their incoming on the rails to help keep layovers for their OTR/regional drivers to a minumum.

Intermodal does have it's drawbacks too, though, which will always keep OTR a reasonable alternative. For one thing, rails damage the HELL out of loads. If that load isn't properly secured (and I mean well secured, above that of normal OTR securement) it WILL end up on the floor. I can't tell you how much stuff I got because of damaged packages. Hell, you might even consider that a benefit for the driver.

It's also slower, especially when something goes wrong with the train. With OTR freight, if the truck breaks down, you can always re-power, or worst case get the truck fixed, usually in a decent amount of time. Or, if there's an accident, trucks can usually route around it. Trains, on the other hand, cannot take alternate routes, cannot be re-powered, and take longer to fix. We had a few loads come in DAYS late on the train because of a derailment, breakdown, or similar.

I understand the OTR drivers hate seeing their freight go on trains, but this IS a business. If someone else can do it cheaper, but not better, it doesn't mean they will take it all. Some companies are willing to pay for quality. And I think the competition is rather healthy for the industry.