Arnold Brothers-good or bad?

Regarding health issues of pig manure-look it up. Easy to do. Some interesting stuff on infection in processing plants. If one has a more sensitive immune system it would not be hard to pick up a parasite from any contaminated area. Concerns over pig manure exposure were expressed by a specialist in Alberta, by the way. Recommended folks exposed to this stuff get tested every now and then to make sure they have not picked up anything interesting. If one did pick up something through their trucking job, would their provincial workers compensation program see that as an issue to be addressed or would they tell the employee that they were on their own? As to all ABT O/O being pleased-often it is the wives, mothers, etc. that are doing the bookwork for O/O and seeing the bottom line, and hearing what is going on. And that can be illuminating. And in this day and age there are many ways for O/O at any company to contact each other about issues so all ABT O/O being happy as larks just does not wash. Wives also connect and contact each other and compare notes and pass on information as to which companies to be avoided. As in any large trucking company, often "what you see and are promised" and "what you get" can be radically different. There may be many who like ABT and some of the other big ones as places to work. Often that might depend on what route they are actually on, and the demands the company places on them for freight delivery vs. what can actually be done legally on the log book. Most of the big ones play games such as forced dispatch knowing that the trip cannot be done in legal time then the safety officers in head office play this game where you get written reprimands for the forced dispatch. And the game is played out over and over. Stop when your log book is up, and the big companies will give you hell because they want you to carry on illegally, yet will cover their butts with safety officer reprimands. Looking over the decades at the crap shoot this industry is, it seems like both drivers and O/O are always looking for greener pastures and better treatment-which rarely exists. If the big names in Canada treated their O/O well, then there would not be the constant plea for O/O and the revolving door of folks going in and out. The family menfolk in their decades of experience has just about covered them all. Sadly I would have to say to any young woman whose boyfriend wants to be a trucker-leave the relaionship. To any wife who has a driver hubby who wants to buy a truck and be an O/O, my advice would be to walk out the door the day he buys a truck and never look back. And you don't want to know what a bunch of truckers wives told their husbands at a giant picnic when one of the fools mused about their sons getting commercial drivers licenses. Anyone is welcome to look at this industry and the big companies involved in it, with rose coloured glasses. The lessons learned along the way are often harsh. ABT driver training is some of the best out there. Whatever experiences happen from then on with them or Bison or any other companies big or small that one might encounter, this industry will leave its scars on the drivers, the O/O and sadly, their families.

 

In these tough economic times, there are so many folks that have lost their jobs in other areas looking to make a living trucking. BC can be a horror story with many very small companies undercutting rates and then the O/O not making enough money to keep their trucks in safe shape-and members of the public have lost their lives. Mind you I am the first to admit after having gone along on many trips with family menfolk that the road can be a seductive mistress. You are on your own, and unlike an office environment, no one is yapping at you or in your ear. On a nice day, the heights of the Coq, or a Montana vista, can make your soul sing. For years our own Cdn. government looked at truckers as necessary vermin when they decided what percentage of your meal costs could be deducted. It is now 80% which means the feds think truckers are lying 20% of the time A federal goverment study a while back found that the average O/O in Canada made $16000.00 per year after all costs-and quite a few of them also relied on their wives salaries to help out at times. But folks still look at trucking as a way to take a shorter training course and get to work quickly. I tell young guys to take the thousands they would spend on driver training and take a good commercial transport mechanic training program if they are interested in anything to do with trucks. Just don't get behind the wheel. Something else that needs to happen-trucking companies need to start administering reading comprehension tests to drivers before hiring them. It is one thing to speak English if it is not your first language, and quite another to read and write it comprehensively. Sister-in-law teaches English to new Canadians and it is not an easy language to master-has seen former students driving trucks when their English is not yet at a level where it would be wise for them to do this. But again, a shorter training program period and then out on a job far sooner than other choices. As much as I hate what this industry does to people, I am the first one to admit that sitting high in a truck with hubby and swooping through the San Rafael Swell is quite the feeling. Yup, trucking can be a seductive mistress, and that mistress can be downright mean.