another driver told me to dictate terms to the boss??

Otr job would have to pay double what I can make locally for me to even think about it. 100k per year. That's not a job but a lifestyle. Your asking me to not be with my kids and them to basically not have their dad around.

Anyways have a good track record here. No accidents or damaged trucks by my doing. You are right about one thing without a doubt. One more month construction season opens as do my options. I will lay low for one more month then I'm going to start politely making demands. He is loosing another driver to a DWI, he goes to court tomorrow and that's gonna be the end for him. He actually got the DWI in one of my boss's rigs, yet my boss has kept him on right until the court date. He's hurting for drivers no question about it.

I don't mind dump truck or dump trailer as long as my unpaid time stays to a minimum. Generally quarries don't keep you sitting. Generally construction jobs like paving are hourly.

 

that's basically what i did. i ran dump until i couldn't and took this crappy job in the off season to keep driving. i really didnt have much intention of staying there. admittedly i probably have one of the better routes, some guys have it worse, allot worse. either way it still sucks. one of the drivers i trained who quit came back today. i asked him what made you want to come back, the answer i didnt want to and he plans on leaving again. seems like i can quit and come back at will when times are tough. my route keeps me OUT of the plants. milk plants suck.

the trucks arent too bad but the trailers are fairly beat up. they maintain things from a safety standpoint, as far as image.... it seems to be a secondary consideration.

construction is often times different then other types of driving. construction projects are state, town, and federally funded. you arent exactly pulling around worthless freight or agriculture products that might as well be a waste product. milk is now $13 per 100 lbs. yet its not that cheap to buy in the store, go figure. the stuff in the store has also been stripped down (a good portion of the butterfat removed). butterfat is what actually brings the $$. somebody is making money, its not the farmers or the haulers.

anyways i called a construction company today and they start hiring mid-april, they also run salt so there is a strong possibility of winter work. that's really what i need, a construction company that will keep me going in the winter, so i dont have to work for crappy xyz milk hauling outfit.

my boss has been running his organization like this for decades, he has had such a high turnover he couldn't get drivers to take "transport" loads. a transport load is just that. take an already loaded trailer to a destination, as opposed to farm pickup which is what i have been doing. he has lost millions of dollars in loads because of this. apparently he has increased his pay to some degree, because he was on the verge of losing his entire outfit. i think you guys are right, im not going to change him OR the system.

to say that a local job is not a REAL job is absurd and it annoys me. i love driving truck, i feel like i am still an asset to the industry. trucks need to move. trucks of all different types. OTR is not a "one size" fits all CDL holder job. CDL does not have to immediately mean leaving your family for weeks on end. if i was single and wanted to see the country, sure; but i saw it for 8 weeks and saw enough of it. my place at night is at home with my children and wife.

 

i know milk is not the only thing i can do in the winter, i see allot of construction companies hauling salt in the winter.... which is what im thinking about right now.