Carolina cargo

Chinatown is absolutely right. Carolina gave me an opportunity to get into trucking. They aren't perfect and neither was I but the experience is all that I needed to prove to the next company that I could truck. I would never recommend Carolina Cargo to someone who doesn't need a second or third chance. Most that complain are ungrateful for the opportunity and we have to remember that most individuals that get into this industry don't last past the first year anyway. The bottom line is that if you don't need a second or third chance then you probably don't need to be talking about Carolina Cargo because you don't have a clue what it's like to be transitioning in your life with every potential employee telling you no except Carolina Cargo.

 

I was reading this thread earlier and I found the conversation very revealing so I just had to come back and say a few words. I stopped driving OTR years ago, many years ago. I trucked through the 80's and right up to that fateful day for us all in April 1991... You old guys know that date. It was day one of the Commercial Driver License and everyone was scrambling to get grandfathered. I drove for 8 years before that, drove for a number of companies and O/O's in a number of different trucks. I had some good times back then, being on the big road was a lot more fun then. I think there are a few of you still out there that are members here. Boy do I got some stories! Stuff that just could not or would not happen now apparently. The only way you made a thousand dollars a week then was run team miles in a solo seat, at least as a driver. Of course a thousand dollars was a lot of money then. Most company drivers back then were making between .10 and .20 a mile if they got paid that way, a top notch job was .25... Remember? Of course fuel was under a dollar and they sold plenty of hours in the truckers store at the truckstop, you could buy a whole stack of them for about .99 a book.. The most popular truck stop back in the day was the 76, remember those days? We drove large cars and talked on big radios and we lived life as it came at us, most of us going as fast as we wanted too.... Does anybody remember what got us into enough trouble that the CDL idea was finally passed? Does anyone remember Barbara Walters 20/20 show? I can't dispute a single thing she reported although I think her conclusions were to broad.. That show was done in 1989 I think. That was when the expression "20/20 driver" became part of the lingo. Back then it didn't matter what you had done in the past, prison, whatever, because there were no real background checks.

Having said all that so you know a little bit about where we came from I can see that things have changed mightily in the industry. They created a new government agency (FMCSA) a spin off from the old DOT, they set a bunch of new government regulations and changed the entire face of the industry. I was digging around and I was not surprised to find that many if not most of the regulations you guys are dealing with in getting hired and keeping a job are not actually government regulations. The industry is owned and operated by the insurance companies. There is no government rule that says felons can't be truck drivers, they do have some restrictions for certain crimes but even most of those have an expiration date, nothing to stop a felon from getting a hazmat after 5 years unless he was a terrorist or violent criminal. There is nothing in the government regs specifying a certain amount of experience as long as the driver has passed the CDL driving test and is physically qualified... That's all insurance company regulation. I mention this so that your ire is directed at the right regulator. If a guy owns a truck, or a company owns a fleet they can put anyone they want to in that truck as long as that person is licensed and qualified physically, unless of course you haul government freight. They can do that IF they are willing to pay the insurance premium for doing that.. Insurance company says, if you hire only drivers with clean records with X amount of experience you get a big discount.. So that is the rules. I have noticed that in view of the humongus driver shortage of today some of them have been getting flexible.. Some say, yeah you can hire that felon as long as the conviction is over 5 years old, or maybe 7, or maybe 10.. Some say you can hire them with only 1 year of experience or maybe 6 months.. There is a premium price for each of those concessions and a carrier has to consider what it is willing to pay to keep the seats warm.. Folks with nice clean backgrounds are often not interested in trucking, why should they be? Plenty of other jobs for them to consider.

So when I see a company willing to take on drivers who have made mistakes right away I think.. That company is paying some big money for insurance, not surprising that they only offer the opportunity at a low wage.. I would say something here about how well intentioned such a company is but we all know that they are just practicing the one thing we all know we can count on in the industry.. Greed. They are getting team miles out of their trucks for .22 a mile.. So they are making money. I just think we should consider that not everyone who has made a mistake is undeserving of a second chance, the difference between a guy with a non violent felony from his past and someone without one is often just the felons bad luck at getting caught.. Keep that in mind. Not that all felons should be trusted, they should have to earn that, but so should people with no felonies....

Our country has more people in prison than China and they have 3 times as many people, that indicates a problem. Either we are a nation of second chances where when a debt is paid it is paid, or we are a bunch of hypocrites listening to the musings of some desk bound insurance adjuster's opinion about risk. We really should figure this out and when we do we should remember these people have to earn a living. So if a company like this Carolina Cargo is willing to give them a chance well that's nice, the guy has to do what he has to do keeping in mind that no matter how many years he drives for peanuts he, or she, is still going to have a felony on their record and there is no guarantee that it will ever be easy to get a job considering the stigma and the greed for insurance discounts. Regardless of our politics this is something we should all agree on... If a man pays his debt to society then society should not be keeping him from making a living within reason of course and depending on the danger. If we had that sort of attitude among the employers then competition would prevent these people who have made mistakes from being taken advantage of..

Just sayin'

 

^^^ totally agree, and you are well-versed. Seriously, maybe you or someone as quick-witted and well-advised should run for office somewhere. Not joking, by any means.

Any suggestions as to how to effect repairs on this whirlwind? Not being evasive nor condescending. I've met a few CC drivers on the road, and enjoyed lunch with one. He had a felonious assault and was a RSO.
Younger guy, dating a younger lady, and ... stuff happened. He already HAD his CDL but nobody would take him back.

He backed in beside me with the suave of a seasoned driver, and the humility of a man who'd made mistakes. Less pull-ups than ANYONE in the FJ. Probably including me, idk. I was just humbled myself, because SOMEONE gave him another chance. He couldn't even work as a dishwasher at Olive Garden because of his charges. He emails me periodically, and is still grateful.

Is Carolina Cargo the overall "best choice" for second-chances? That, I don't know. But many a humbled man, learning from his mistakes, can get their foot in the door there. Werner wouldn't even talk to him.

I agree with your statement "if we had the attitude...et al..." totally. Where do we, as brothers of trucking, even BEGIN?

ANY other input, @Chinatown ? I've met two people reintegrated into society with their 2nd and 3rd chances; and they both failed at Craigslist searches, also. One was local / Ohio, the other I bought dinner for was from TN. Decent freight lanes, no opportunities.

Sorry to keep kicking this ball around the court, but unless SOMEONE wants to start a rally to change this, what other options ARE there? I've even asked my boss (O/O that I subcon for) and HE said the insurance would be thru the roof. Maybe in a year or two? Who knows.

I have NO stake nor stock in CC, just two people that got another chance. We are human, we make mistakes. Some, a bit more serious than those of others.

@TROOPER to TRUCKER . . . am i correct?

Be safe, drivers.
Kudos,
Tom

 

A very thoughtful post Tom, first let me say thank you for being the compassionate person you are, that's rare these days. I remind our fellow drivers that might be reading this that kindness should never be taken as weakness for it is only the weak who cannot afford to be kind. As to your friend with the RSO tattoo... And it might as well be a tattoo... Let me tell you about something I recently dealt with. I live in a rural setting, have about 8 acres and my neighbor has about 10 next to me so we are country people. My neighbor's wife and mine are close. So one night she comes over after calling ahead to say she wanted to talk to us. It turns out she has a nephew in another part of the State who was in prison and was up for parole soon. She was nervous talking to us about it. She said that the problem was that he couldn't get parole without a confirmed place to stay and that his own family would not give him permission to stay with any of them. So I asked why, what was the problem. She told me he had been charged with a sexual offense and that he was required to register. She explained that it was a similar situation to that of your friend, he was 18 and was dating a girl a couple years younger and her family had went ballistic. He was not real smart and had a public defender so he signed off on a pretty serious charge. He had got 7 years and he had done something like 5 and was up for parole and had been approved but pending some place to go. She said she couldn't take him there because of all her husbands guns but I knew that wasn't it, guns can be put in a safe and it's legal for a felon to live there as long as he doesn't have "access". So I have an apartment of sorts on the backside of my house and an RV barn big enough to park 4 big trucks in that has a separate address, and I had made one of the bays into a kind of loft over my wood shop. She was asking if I would let him come here. Now Tom that's a serious ask because with a RSO it would be my address or my barns address that would be made public. I asked her why she hadn't tried to find him a halfway house where he could get some help and stay at least until he could get out from under the parole because that comes with some rules that aren't good either. She hadn't thought of it. I told her that I would be willing to travel to this prison and sit down with this kid and that my decision would depend on him and what I could learn about him. So I guess he decided to find a halfway house because he didn't take me up on the interview offer.. I know, people hear RSO and lot's of icky stuff comes to mind, lot's of stigma there. But to be fair not every situation is as easy as that. My advice to the kid would have been the same I would give your friend.. How hard are you willing to work uphill? It's not that he has to prove it to the whole world that he's ready for a second chance, just those around him that are important and somebody willing to let him earn a living.. Again, I totally get it, there are a whole bunch out there that they should never let out in the first place, there's another bunch that just don't know what being humble is all about. But I do believe in giving people a break if they are willing to try and I do think that sometimes you got to be willing to put a few chips on the table to see how the hand plays out...

 

great reply, great post @BB203 . I live in the country as well, with 23 acres, 4 cleared, and a pole barn with a loft as well. Beside the "square house" .. and, Yes, that IS serious consideration, either way. I just feel bad for these guys making chump change trying to start over. And i get it about the address, we have 2 different ones as well, but either way being in your (my) name, it shows up on RSO websites.
It's not so much ME giving him a second chance; I will as i'm able . . . it's these companies.
They need to either do it or NOT.

 

@Chinatown and @pattyj C.C is not really that great, but not really that bad either. I'm still not an OTR driver now and was just laid off of my concrete trucker job due to and inside plot against me for calling out the super truckers who worked there (you can find the wooden crosses on any steep grade in America). With that said, I did apply to them cos I need only a measly 2 months worth of tractor-trailer experience to get a local gig here at home that was better than the concrete job. They turned me down cold because of my DAC report. Currently, I'm in the midst of obtaining a job helping under-privileged children while I obtain my degree in psychology and business management so that I can return as an O/O some day. Now @pattyj I was a Corrections Officer before I was a gear jammer, but some of them you have to look past. Some are remorseful, some aren't. But it isn't our job to cast judgment on another as everyone of us has someone (or something) to answer to when we're done on this plain of existence. @Chinatown you really are helpful, but still kind of be a little more understanding bro. These days there hardly is a "right" for any driver in the trucking industry. I love you both and I love reading your posts. You're both equally intelligent when it comes to the industry so let's just leave it at that. Everyone of us from all walks of life have screwed up big time. Just look at my mess that I'm having to spend time cleaning up. Kick the **** out of me either way, but I'll love you both still.
Just the 2 cents from this old Warthog.

 

nice post but it sounds like you think Chinatown and I argue.We just have a difference of opinions is all.There's things I say he doesn't like and visa versa but that doesn't mean we don't get along.

 

No, no @pattyj. Never saw it like that. I mean that you both have valid opinions. Someone else may see it that way and I was clarifying it before the admins decided to step in. Seen debates like this before and the admins poked in there and pretty much took it all out of context.

 

I actually live where they are based. I could really tell some true stories about the owners etc. That isn't what is important. Do they make a ton of money off of cheap labor yes. If you have no where else to turn and need that chance it would be crazy not to drive for them until you can move on.

 

^^^ according to the guys I met, there WAS nowhere else to turn; not even CRST or Werner. Only other option he had was Lobos Interstate Services in Utah, and thank God they did their research on THAT one, first.
To me, it's better than some shady stuff one may come across on Craig's List. EVERYONE needs a second chance. God's given US many!