Attention all company drivers!!!

Well, Minnesota law provides that an employer can let someone go in the first 90 days no reason needed. Course those rules vary by state. And its ANY employee, in ANY company. Not just truck drivers. So there you go.

 

I think it's pretty common in most states.

 

Every trucking company from coast to coast has a sign out saying "Drivers Wanted Class A CDL".

FFS just look at the projected driver shortages over the next 5 to 10 years. Driver shortages nearing a half million.

I paid over $4 grand for my CDL, and with all those numbers staring me in the face, you're telling me I gotta eat some pencil pusher's feces?

Methinks not.

Just remind the interviewer it was them, what had the Help Wanted ad posted.

 

Oh, and I'm sure this will get me branded as some sort of Bernie loving, commie, pinko, hippy, atheist, gawd hating, messiah sacrificing, baby eating, devil worshiper, but, to wit: if trade unions were stronger in this country, this whole line of discussion would be moot.

 

Unions are the cause of trucking deregulation.

 

Trust me, that kind of attitude they will tell you to not let the door hit you in the ### on the way out. And rightfully so. We work in a service industry. If you are swaggering around like some entitled prick, this isnt the industry for you. My safety record is pristine and over 30 years experience. I can work anywhere I want. And I dont have the attitude that you as an unproven driver has. They are far better off with an empty seat than putting an attitude like yours in it. And they know that.

Best to save your time and lots of potential recruiters time and write off your 4 grand and go work in an oil field or maybe on a crab boat in Alaska or something. Your attitude combined with 80,000 pounds of truck is a problem waiting to happen. So you MIGHT want to re-think your logic some. Side note: 4 grand is cheap. Most places are 5 or more. So count yourself lucky when you write off that 4K.

Let me put it another way. You decide you want to move half way across the country for whatever reason, and neither you or anyone you know wont be able to drive your brand new BMW to the new location and you cant find a shipper willing to ship it there. Your neighbor has this 16 year old kid (his daughters boyfriend that he just met) that just got his license that would be willing to do it. He just happens to be standing there drooling over your car and muttering to himself wondering how fast he can get that puppy up to. You going to give him the keys on YOUR insurance and let him go? Even though you REALLY need someone in that seat?

Pretty much the same thing...

and as for unions:

The unions had such a stranglehold on the trucking industry they had to deregulate it to expand. I say that having worked for 5 different union companies. Unions arent the answer. Going to work for yourself is the answer. Decide what you are willing to work for. Decide where you are willing to go or not go.

I just left USF Holland last week which is a Teamster barn. Its is owned by YRC. I own more stock in that company than every single member of the companies management (left over stock from when I was in USF Dugans profit sharing back in the 90s). All their truck are leased. The last contact the company asked for a 15% give back (and some other benefit concessions) and the members voted it in. ABF just did their contract a few weeks ago and got all their give-backs back plus some. YRC isnt likely to do that, the union will strike and the company will close up just like Consolidated Freight did. Unions dont have the power they once did and really there is no way to restore the power they had. The government wont allow it.

Look what happened to the air traffic controllers back in the 80s. Same thing, They had a strangle hold, voted to strike and the government shut them down. No, unions arent the answer in this day and age. On the plus side, as the number of needed drivers increases, the pay will also increase. Supply and demand...

 

That's telling it sort of backwards. "Breaking unions was the intended consequence of deregulation..." would be more accurate.

That about sums it up.

 

I guess that's a mostly fair criticism and I had it coming. Thanks.

 

There should be some middle ground. When these companies work you to death and you end up with an accident it's you that really pays deeply. They know some bozos shouldn't be behind the wheel, but as long as they meet insurance criteria no problem.

 

screw usa truck...if they don't like the truth, don't come here