Dan Rather blasts trucking, industry blasts back

WOW!!! What a breath of fresh air about this business. Hope these CDL mills get some attention from the feds and Dan looks into the trucking big wigs in DC.

 

the only ones who say dan rather is an a-hole for running this story are the ones who are too blind and dumb to read the writing on the wall. i don't really care for dan rather, but this story was spot on about the bad apples within the industry. this had NOTHING to do with those who are truly professional.

when i had gone through the swift academy 3 years ago in phoenix. there were bad apples in my class. 8 of them were given passing scores, and issued cdl's. half of the class didn't agree that those ones were being passed through. some of those who made a stink were sent home and charged, plus added interest for the cost of the mill. i kept my mouth shut only because i didn't want to owe $3900 with interest. i wouldn't have been able to afford it.

when it came down to the mentor portion. i was fortunate enough to have gotten on a truck with an l/o mentor who was worth well beyond what swift was paying him. all of my time in the driver's seat, he was in the passenger seat. not a single minute i was alone while i had been driving. he gave me very valuable lessons on how to deal with wyoming. i was also lucky that i had gotten on his truck while the winter season was still going strong. while he was driving, he made me sit in the passenger seat to observe how he was handling wyoming, montana, alberta, manitoba, the dakotas, and minnesota winter weather conditions. when it came time for me to drive, he was right there giving me pointers. those pointers are the reason i'm still alive and employable today. he's still a trainer at swift.

by the time my 2yr mark rolled around, i was the only one left from my class. the rest of teh students had been fired for preventable accidents/tickets. the bad apples had gotten fired within their first 3 weeks. still though, i still get an uneasy feeling whenever i think about it, because those dipsticks still have their cdl.

those morons have banded together and started their own o/o outfit, by the way. they're based out of ontario, california. they park their trucks at the t/a east near the main building. you'll know it when/if you see those mults. one of the idiot drivers is a short, scrawny dirty SOB with glasses, and does kung ## ####. his kung ## is garbage. he makes it look bad. he THINKS he's tough and awesome like chuck norris. he's not.

 

Hello Everyone:

I am the girl in the Dan Rather Video. I just wanted to stop by and say that there was an enormous amount of content that had to but cut from the segment but I tried to touch on every aspect I could.

There is a follow-up show and an email was put out from the Dan Rather Producers viewer@hd.net to tell YOUR story of a training company or CDL School.

The reason is so important right now because many people are getting handed workforce vouchers for CDL School at unemployment offices and being led to believe that trucking is the answer to their prayers to save the house.

The trucking industry is using people who cannot afford to be misled and the CDL Schools are giving loans to people when they know jobs are tight and they may not get hired but still will have to pay the student loan.

I wrote my response to thetrucker.com with regards to ATA trying to discredit myself and Tom.

It is on my site because it was not published, big suprise right?

Anyways, I encourage everyone to take this window of opportunity to write write write ....

The Trucking Industry is not going to report on this much, they will make it go away with their big pockets unless a chourus of people begin to tell all.

I have trouble finding time to visit here but I can be found rather easily by googling TruckerDesiree

at the same time I met with the Dan Rather Producers , I was being followed by another filmaker who made some footage of Ellen Voie and a gentleman named Ronald Fletcher. I have just posted that link and so have Donna and Allen.

I don't know what the policy is here to do that but anyone is welcome to it.

I'm about sharing information, I don't care about traffic and money making ads. I'm doing this to get action... even if I am the one that goes down for it.

My company has not said one word to me and I have seen the 5 page letter they sent to the producers prior to the broadcast, just a bunch of marketing mumbo jumbo to cover all their bases but never address anything.

Most of our drivers are so out of the loop they have no idea there was a show.

That is truly the best way to keep you under control, uninformed and divided.

I think we can rock the boat if we sieze the moment.

 

Hello and welcome to the site.

 

Hello and Welcome to the Forum

Thank you for your information and determination!!!

 

We all know the bias Dan Rather has. Just ask Bernie Goldberg, he had some major go arounds with Rather when they both worked at CBS. Unfortunately the majority of the media will always portray the trucking industry in a negative light and they've all been offered many times to come out here and see what it is really like and they have no interest in that. I'm not saying that there are not any bad apples out here in trucking cause we all know there are but let's stop painting the whole industry that way. As much as I disagree with a lot of what the ATA stands for and proposes, my hat is off to them for standing up and firing back at this kind of garbage.

 

the piece was NOT about the true professionals within the industry. it was noot a slam on the entire industry. it was about uncovering and opening the misguided public up on the abuses and deception of the mills and companies, big and small.

each time i go to one of my favorite watering holes during home time. there are new people in there who find out through the bartenders about what i do for a living. they ask or find out because they want to know what the hell my problem is with being social, why i'm such a bitter a-hole. once they find out, the questions begin pouring in. i answer as best i can, because i cannot speak for EVERYBODY out there. seems that i have woken many up because they have thanked me in the past, because they were thinking of becoming a truck driver.

 

I clearly stated that the majority of truck drivers are not the small number of bad apples out here. But you have to admit that most of the public when viewing this will assume ALL drivers are like this and ALL companies are like this. They paint us with that broad brush without getting to know what's really going on.

 

Small number of bad apples? It's getting bigger by the day man, where have you been? When you have companies like England with a 280% turnover rate, bulletproof glass, and your tax dollars pouring in, you got a bloody problem. The problem starts with the ATA and ends with government hand-outs. Yes, I started out with, and still am with a megacarrier, but they set it up to be like this.

And that's a big problem.

 

i'll admit it. that's where i educate the ones i encounter. at the watering hole, most people would take me for an IT minion. when i tell them what i actually do. they're silent at first, in disbelief. they scratch their heads. the most common question is, "wtf are you doing driving trucks for a living?" i tell them how i first came to the idea of it, and how it came to the whole execution. then the questions pour in over the course of the night until i decide to leave, or they decide they've had enough to drink and leave.

the slobs within the industry are the ones putting the bad image out there. the pee bottles everywhere, trash all over the place, fat, uncouth people, and convicted violent felons aren't doing any bit of good. they don't care. when the public goes to a walmart somewhere and sees the filth within the parking lot where trucks are parked. of course they're going to come to the belief that ALL truckers are disgusting pigs. it's unfortunate, but i can see where they're coming from.