dispatcher horror stories...let's hear 'em!

[QUOTE
"Hey it's only a couple of inches on the map".[/QUOTE]

That's so funny.

 

OMG, I would have delivered that load of sail boat fuel. I'd have stopped by a walmart and picked up something funny to put in the trailer though. and I'd have put a seal on it.

 

That does not solve the problem for the vast majority that never get hired by those companies. There is a reason why turnover is so high in the trucking industry. The guys who decide to hire and determine the quality of the work environment the trucker lives are organized and coordinate their activities all the time. They do so on the phone, in person through those executive meetings they have, and their lobbyists as they funnel money to politicians who do their bidding. Organized truckers with reasonable leadership is the only thing that will ever change the trucking business for the better. This is like a chess game and until company drivers learn how to play the game, the vast majority will continue to lose.

 

Not a real horror story, but just the latest in DR ("Dispatcher Reasoning"):

Offered a load about 480 miles away from where I was. Also had to go pick it up. This was at around 10AM. The delivery time was 0030 the next morning, or about 14 1/2 hours away. The load was a live load. I responded that I couldn't do it. My day had started at 0500, and I had already killed a couple of hours driving to our yard and having a random drug test.

Her response: you can make it if you drive straight through.

OK, sure. Then I have to hit the dock in the middle of my break. Nope. Ain't happenin'.

Got another load. I've enjoyed my time at Crete thus far, but sometimes the loads I'm preplanned on are just whacko.

 

Some of you guys just need to grow a set and say: No!

 

Agreed. I'm at the point in my life that I'm not going to complicate it for the sake of someone that doesn't fully understand the concept of a trucker's time, legally or otherwise. If I can do it legally, great. If not, oh well....company will have to find another avenue.

 

You are exactly right that quitting doesn't change anything.

Trucking companies exploit drivers in ways that drivers do not even realize. Orientation is frequently an unpleasant experience, because it's like opening that Christmas present and not getting what you wanted or expected. You travel half way across the country on a bus so you can't leave when you find out you aren't getting what you were promised, like when they start having you sign forms that say if you are not happy and quit within a certain amount of time you will have to pay for that bus trip hotel, physical, drug test, and food. Or, you think you are going to get insurance, but you find out the coverage is over priced garbage.

Even with the insurance, there is usually a delay of 3-6 months before you qualify for the coverage, and the company doesn't have to contribute to it until then, so you are working without insurance. When a company doesn't provide insurance coverage for this time, they are saving money, and you do not have the protection you and your family needs during that time. This is an incentive for companies to turn over their drivers every 3-6 months -so they don't have to pay for health insurance coverage for their employees and so they do not have to pay unemployment benefits. Many of them WANT you to quit. So while high turnover can help the companies make money, it is very tough on the individuals who have the hearts - the drivers.

 

Having been a Teamster (Local 31) both driver and dependent contractor, I've concluded that unionization does nothing positive for a work environment. It also prevented me from earning a good living.

 

I should add that every member of my family that works in at a Union job, hates it. They hate the work, the pay, everything. And they are always complaining about it. They are convinced they are getting the shaft, at all times.

I get up everyday, happy to go to work.

 

Maybe, they either had bad leadership, or structural problems within the organization. I know that unionization way back when it originated was needed to curtail the exploitation, and we would be a lot worse off today if it had been nipped in the bud.

I substitute teach now, at least for the next couple of weeks, and I totally missed a teachable moment yesterday. It was 5th grade and I had been on those kids all day like a drill instructor. I hated that by the way, because the vast majority were either naturally quiet or got the message early on that I was not going to tolerate their misbehavior, so I hated for good ones to have to hear it. Anyway, one (race) boy walked by another (race) boy who was sitting (but had been a pain) and must have said something because the next thing was the boy who was sitting said I hate (race) people. I wish I would have said for the whole class to hear to the boy who said he hated the other, "Look around this class where kids of the race you hate are behaving and doing their work and explain to me why you hate them all."

My point is that perhaps some unions have evolved into something over the years that in not desirable, but the concept of speaking with one voice to create positive change is still as desirable of a solution today as it was back in the 30's, or whenever workers initially organized to improve their conditions. I just would not use that broad brush to paint the concept of unionization the same color.