So many new drivers.

There was a time that trucking was for the un/under educated. It provided a means for them to support their families. Period. Hence the "unskilled" designation.

You still meet these old school drivers out here. Many can't read, so they're limited to local and intra-state now. And they're some of the best drivers you'll ever come across.

As far as highly paid? From what I gather within this forum. There's not much of that going on for experienced or inexperienced driver now days.

There are the exceptions. But we're easy to spot

BTW...I made a whopping $403 this week, before taxes. But that was my fault LOL

 

I'm going to say this as nice as possible. If what some people posted here got you that pissed off, trucking might not be for you. You'll need a much thicker skin to deal with companies, dispatchers, shippers/receivers, the motoring public, other drivers, etc etc.

And the reason newbies are such a problem these days is because of all the driver mills out there. I've spent a fair amount of time talking to older drivers, and they all have said how much worse the drivers coming out of those schools today are then they were when they started. Sure it was easy to get into trucking back in the day, but for the most part it was only those who really wanted to be truckers that got into it. Now, everyone thinks of it as a fall-back position. This has lead to an influx of people that have absolutely no business being behind the wheel of an 80,000lb weapon of mass destruction. Trust me, I went through one of those driver mills. Granted, I feel I'm a decent truck driver, but then, I've always learned things really quickly and strived to be a concientious person.

If the way people view the newbies today gets under your skin, that's good. It probably means you'll do your best to prove them wrong. It's the ones that could care less that really scare me.

Like it or not, but that's the way it is now.

 

Thank you for your feedback Raezzor and I have to agree with your comment about trucking being the fallback position for many trucker wannabes. All too often you see and/or hear about the consequences of many newbies lack of understanding or commitment. Unfortunately it all too often results in the death of one or more people who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I am committed to being as safe as I can be out on the road and I intend to follow in the footsteps of my father who drove for over two million miles accident-free.
As I told brsims, I am not trying to say that newbies aren't a growing problem and I don't doubt that there are companies that are willing to sacrifice safety to meet their bottom line, anyone who is being honest with themselves should be able to see that. I just couldn't sit here and ignore the fact that there are newbies, like myself, who appreciate and are willing to accept the responsibility of being a PROFESSIONAL truck driver.
In my opinion there is a huge difference between being a truck driver and being a professional truck driver. A professional takes pride in his or her work, a professional doesn't just steer their truck in the direction of point B and hope they don't hit anything along the way, a professional is actively involved in trying to insure that they reach their destination not only on time but more importantly they get there SAFELY. Personally, I have every intention to be a professional, just like my father.

 

Newbie, ya just might make it! Good luck to ya!

 

Good to hear. I felt the same way as you when I first started out. It bugged me that people judged me just because I was hopping out of a Swift truck (granted, it had it's dings and missing pieces, none of which were my fault,) but it just made me buckle down and work that much harder to do the job right.

To be honest, all that scorn probably made me a better trucker.

At least it sounds like you have a good attitude about your career. Hope to see ya out there one day.

 

Here is my .02 on why there are still so many new drivers.

Plain and simple, companies know they can exploit these people and make money and the prospective drivers are dumb/naive enough to get exploited. I'm a line-haul driver for Con-way Freight and I see it every night at the terminal I run with what we call "sub-service or purchase transportation" running our freight. Here is what I see 8 times out of 10 if it is not Con-way Truckload hooking a 53' at the dock. It is almost always a trainer - I use that word loosely - with a student, they pick up a load in Md or NJ that we would run back that morning, run on day line-haul that day, and night line-haul that night to make 2nd day service in say Kansas City. This means they must run the load as a team to meet Con-way's service times which are the fastest in the LTL industry.

Here is why I feel this happens. Most of these "trainers" are on lease purchase. I know this from talking to them and reading up on the companies they work for. They take on students to run the extra miles and make the ridiculous payments on what amounts to a fleet truck. These guys need to run so bad, their company quotes my company a rate so low, it is cheaper than using Con-way drivers, fuel, and paid for equipment as all Con-way Freight trucks and trailers are. Why would the pay a Freight driver .555 per mile when they can pay an outside carrier 1.07 per mile for everything? Oh yeah, we're .527 per mile now because the labor pool is so large and clowns will work for .15 per mile.


I used to have sympathy for those who were more less hood winked into these schooling deals with the notorious companies but I really don't anymore. There is so much information available now via the internet I no longer have sympathy - in fact I've grown to view them as the enemy of the industry. I'm just a driver with no real personal stake in the business other than my salary and benefits. I can only imagine the animosity real O/O's have for the companies and "students" who eat away at their earnings. I ran across Pa the other night with an independent O/O and we agreed 100% with what the other was saying despite our different angles of the industry.

His = You and your companies are killing his freight rates. You're killing the ability to be a successful O/O.

Mine = YOU are killing my $90,000 per year wages. Fortunately, there will always be a few high level fuel hauling, electronics, and high-end car hauling jobs you can't touch. Unfortunately, you could take my LTL job if you would work for less.

I really don't feel a bit of sympathy for those of you getting exploited anymore. Maybe someday (I doubt it) you'll wise up and realize that is your future 90K a year job you're killing.

 

I posted something explaining this but for whatever reason, the moderators have to OK this post in this forum. Read it and you'll see where some of us are coming from.

Nothing against any moderator, but some of my posts go right away and some need approval. Don't worry - I'm no recruiter. Just an LTL driver with some frustrations.

 

Numbers. Screw safety. Screw quality. Its all about the numbers.

(Old-School Mode On) Back when I started, those of us who werent grandfathered in had to run team. And it was hard running. A solo driver could run upwards of 6000 miles a week. In a POS truck with springride and Armstrong steering!

Some of the old hands had driving skills that teetered on supernatural. It was brutal. I remember my first solo driving job. I walked into this dusty room with a couple of weather beaten tough looking guys wearing denim and boots and asked about a job. The oldest and the toughest looking guy in the group simply asks, "Can you drive a truck, boy?"

"Yes, I can."

We went to a truck, I got into the driver's seat and tough guy rode shotgun. Had to run up the bigroad for a ways, floating gears, turn around and head back. Tough guy turns on the jake and I clicked through the gears no grind. Got back into the yard and walked into the office to discuss pay. Pay agreed upon, they made a copy of my driver's license and med card and gave me a load right then and there. Gave me the oldest truck on the yard that was beaten to hell but would never break down. Grabbed a trailer and was told where to go load but not where the load was going. Hell, it didnt matter...I finally had my own rig.

Boss was an #### but he always paid what was owed. You sit in the breakroom listening to a group of weather beaten roughnecks tell lewd jokes and war stories til Boss cusses you out for not leaving yet. There was no handholding, just "Heres your load, now get going!" We didnt watch the weather. The only weather channel we had was on the side of the bigroad.

Everyone knew your truck but didnt know you. "ROOKIE!!!!!!" Thats what they called you, but the respect was already there.

Get home on the weekend, and climb out of the truck. Boss would grease the truck and prep it for the next week. Go home, down a few beers and piss blood. Clean the clothes, pass out, get up watch some TV, play with the kids, play with mama when the kids went to sleep. Wake up, kiss on mama a bit til she ran you off, go back to that old building standing in the middle of that big gravel lot, sit there and drink coffee with a group of weather beaten guys who could drive with supernatural skill. Tell a few jokes and war stories, Boss comes in and doesnt say anything about you sitting around. You fire the truck up and do it all over again.

(Old School Mode Off)

Life was good.

 

####, Six. You brought a tear to my eye. And I didn't even drive back then!