Broke Down 69 makes a decision

I am not a big fan of Trans Am but it is not my place to rain on any parades. Remember do not work cheap. Company drivers should make 60,000 per year at the very least. Spread the word to all your fellow Trans Am drivers. We need more money.

 

Now here is where I am going to strongly disagree. The job you are doing currently has nothing to do with your past. NOTHING. A company does not say to its customers "Hey, I got a man that just got off death row because he hired a really smart lawyer and now is desperate for a job. Because of that he will work for peanuts and we will pass the savings on to you." No they bid the job low and pass the s crew job on to you the driver. The driver with the past does the same job as the driver without the past. They both earn every dollar they get and should demand to be paid accordingly.

We do not believe in Second Class Citizens in this nation. Do not let anyone in this industry treat you as one. Trans Am, Swift, Werner, and all those others should raise their pay. They won't until drivers demand it.

 

@Wooly Rhino, Should, could, would....
When you're hungry and trying to pay your bills, all the should, could, would, doesn't mean a dam thing. Sometimes life is tough and you have to do what needs to be done to get by.
And I sure don't see where it is in the new drivers best interest to encourage him to be a rabble rouser with a new company. Do you think for one minute that the company won't kick him on down the road, then replace him with a more "cooperative" driver?
Sure you'd like more money. We all would. But nobody forces you to go to work for a company.

 

Those who know me know that I have the resources to be a rabble rouser. I am political and I enjoy a good debate. I know that my reality is not the same as others. I went to prison because I told a Judge he was stupid. I was correct, he is stupid, but I paid for my "mistake" by doing 4 years of prison and parole. Now do I recommend everyone call a judge stupid. Yes. I recommend everyone fight for what is right.

The companies out there sc rew people over because we allow them too. I do not drive for less then 45 cpm. Never have, never will. Of course now I have purchased my own truck and will have my authority active in 10 days. I will not haul cheap. If everyone stuck to their guns none of us would have to. Enlightened self interest is the ability to ignore the short term rewards for future gains. In my opinion a nationwide pitch that is right down the middle of the plate would be an excellent way to bring attention to the problems in the trucking industry. But I understand that there are lots of folks living from paycheck to paycheck would could not afford the fight. So we face the flood of foreign truckers who work for peanuts and the lumpers who detain us and charge out the ying yang. HOS rules that make no scientific sense as we all have different sleeping patterns. Lanes that were designed for Thru traffic being placed as off limits to trucks. And by the way, the interstates were built for who????? Trucks that is who.

No my ideas are best left in the world of theory and taking a more pragmatic view is safer. But sometimes taking a risk is way more rewarding in the long run. For eight months, I got to live with a group of guys that I never would have associated with, let alone shower with, all on the states dime. And I got it all just for calling a judge stupid.

 

@Wooly Rhino, somehow I doubt that you were in front of the (stupid) judge for no reason. I neither know nor care what you (allegedly) did to get there. It's behind you and you are getting on with your life as you should.
That being said, if in fact you DID call the judge stupid BEFORE being sentenced....
I've never seen anybody sentenced to state for contempt.
Anyway we're getting this thread a bit off track here.

 

Cent per mile, doesn't mean much in the big picture. With 20 yrs. experience I was happy with .36 cpm because at the end of the year I had made $65K due to accessorial pays added in.

 

Did your friend specify what he hated about working for TransAm?

God bless every American and their families! God bless the U.S.A.!