Consequences for by-the-book newbies

While I understand what you are saying....

Slimy trucking companies don't care whether you are new or experienced.

If you don't go with the flow, get the freight there, make them money, they won't give you miles.

I used to run 4000 miles a week hauling cattle.

I would do team runs as a company driver...

You have to understand that you are only as good as your last load. The second you start bucking the system, they starve you out.

So if your company knows you have been sitting all day waiting to get loaded, they know you have not slept... Then they throw a load on you and tell you to be there in the morning, you are going to be tired.

The rules have changed. If they want you to break the law, make them take responsibly by filling out your log book exactly the way it should be, not the way they want it to look.

Once you break the law for them, there is no turning back. They will expect you to all the time.

You have to decide whether you want to run legal or illegal and accept the consequences of your actions. If they are pressuring or forcing you to, then reflect the reality of it in your logbook.

On the other hand, make sure you manage your time properly. Don't mark being on duty when you are sitting at the truckstop waiting to get dispatched and you have moved the truck all day.

 

I'd think as long as the companys pay the lower rates that is the type of driver they are going to get.
Its real simple if a driver knows how to fix the small stuff you to pay them to do it. ESPECIALLY if it would cost me driving time.

 

I can agree to some extent, but there's a lot of sorry ##### out here who'd continue being sorry #####, no matter what they were paid.

 

From what I gather reading most newbie threads they hire on with whomever will hire then and only then think about how to say "no".

In truth, you avoid the worst situations by working for a company that won't ask you to break rules, or very little rules very seldom. So you essentially decide this question while you are looking for a boss, not talking to your dispatcher. YOU WILL NOT CHANGE A COMPANY'S CULTURE. You will fit in or leave so make dang sure you know who you are going to work for.

Most newbies seem to read stuff like this and translate that into "all companies are the same just flip a coin." That's exactly the opposite of what I'm saying and how this industry operates. How your company does things is #1, or #2 factor in whether you make it or not. The fit between you and the company is #2, or #1 factor.

 

About the driver getting the low oil light...he must've been a good 3 gallons low. Part of the pre trip is checking oil level and condition. That low wouldn't have even shown on the dipstick. It is the drivers responsibility to maintain oil, fuel, coolant, bug juice levels. I woulda canned him lol.

I do as much maintenance as I can. But my company in most cases would rather have a shop do it than rish a driver doing something he doesn't know how to do and screwing it up worse.

My co is pretty good about running legal. We are told constantly through qualcomm messages to avoid oos violations, report mechanical/safety issues immediately, and do NOT run illegal on the logs. The co will actually dicipline us for any log violations they find on our scanned logs so dispatch really can't run us illegal, but they run us close. My last load 2 loads took me right to the end of my 14 and this load due to traffic forced me to do an 8-2 split on my hours to make the appointment time. Get good with your math and know the log regulations inside and out. If we have a log question we have a direct number to the log dept who will tell us the right thing to do. And if a dispatcher calls and tells me to run illegal I tell them to qualcomm it to me. CYOA my friend.

 

I have to wonder if some of these drivers really don't have the knowledge to do these simple things.

Had an experienced driver as a trainee with me when we picked up a trailer with a few minor issues. Gladhand gasket was torn, causing an air leak, so I swapped in a new one. Light was out, so I swapped it out for a new one. Biggest one was another light out, which had an obvious cause with two loose wires hanging down behind it, so I twisted the wires together to get the light working.

None of that stuff was a big deal, but my trainee was amazed that I knew how to do that stuff. Kept asking me questions for the rest of the day about how to replace a light and must have called me "MacGuyver" at least 20 times. Should be surprised that he didn't have have that knowledge, but I'm really starting to think it's becoming more common.

Worked for a local company last year where it was company policy that we were not allowed to open the hood on the truck for any reason. That did not just include adding oil, but also for doing any sort of inspection as well. Their claim was that it was a mandate from the insurance company, since it was known that we had a couple people get hurt over the years opening hoods improperly. I also always had the assumption that there might have been some issues in the past with people screwing something up while adding oil, and damaging the motors. Something like changing a light or airing up a tire would have had you fired on the spot.

Seems to be a trend nowdays towards making things idiot proof so that you can't screw them up, instead of the old way where we were encouraged to actually have knowledge about what we were doing and be able to think for ourselves. Makes me wonder how long it will be before other companies start to take on policies like this.

 

Chances are someone else will take the load and YOU will sit....how long you sit depends on your company and how bad you pissed them off..

 

Have them ask themselves - on their own car, if they needed oil, would they add it? What about a headlight bulb - you're getting ready to go on a trip, are you REALLY going to pay a shop $50 to twist in/twist out a light bulb?

The guys that say "I'm not a mechanic, I'm not fixing &^*" are idiots - they obviously don't realize they're costing themselves valuable running time, time off their 14, and MONEY.

You just can't can't fix stupid. I'll throw that lightbulb in, get the load delivered, and get another one... while the other guy spends half a day waiting at the shop... and we'll see who has a better check at the end of the week.

 

I owned my own shops for years. You could not count how many people come in wanting lights replaced, oil added tires aired up. All say I don`t know how will you please do it for me and how much is it.

So for some drivers they need to teach them how. IT`s nuts but thats how it is now a days.

 

I just posted almost the same thing in a roehl thread and got beached out by a bunch of L/O's for it, apparently L/O_'s make so much money at roehl they don't need to fix stuff

Oh but they were also winding about paying $500+ at a shop to do something they could have done in 30 min




American Trucker