Fired on day 2 of a new job?!?!?

Just be glad your not hiring for Food service delivery drivers like Sysco,Mclane,Maines etc where they work the drivers like galley slaves . Their rate is like 20 to 1.
I drove for Sysco in the 90's and was in the top 5% of there drivers in performance and getting hard runs done on time. I made decent money,but the job totally sucked. They had computers in the trucks back then ,and tried to model it like UPS watching every move you made,and trying to always get the driver to work faster (but be safe lol)Always questioning why some nitemare stop"took so long" and looking to write you up .That stop was double parked in NY city on 57th street with 600 cases going down a flight of steps on a hand truck and being put by the driver in three different locations.
Then , Every case being checked in by some overly self important fry cook. Then 15 more stops in NY city.
All this and being questioned "why so long" by a supervisor,who was a failure as a driver and couldn't lick your boots as a driver and got hurt and went into supervision because no one else wanted the job.
I ended up buying my own truck and verbally lit him up an inch off his nose on the loading dock the day I quit in front of 5 other drivers and had him crapping his pants and threatening to call the police. The wannabe cop ,paper tough guy wasn't so tough that day and was stuttering like the ##### he was..... Yeah ,stupid thing to do,but it felt good and he deserved it.

 

That's the thing though isn't it? If a guy really is dependable and conscientious it probably won't be long before he can afford to buy his own truck and do it for himself.

 

They've cloned monkeys. The day isn't far away. Just sayin'...

 

Oh really?

Now he gets all kinds of home time YAH?? Poor thing. Cannot even finish unloading a load. Maybe he should not be in the industry.

 

A big problem is driver pay. Drivers wages are going up,but not as they should have. As a driver I wouldn't touch a job under $25 an hour.Thats only $1000 a week for 40 hours.Thats what a standard work week is . A $1000 a week minus taxes does not go far today When your talking 70 hours and all the things you have to put up with today an experienced driver with a good record should be in the $85 k plus range. When you start talking per mile and sleeeping in the truck for free And a week or more at a time away from your family it should be more.
The problem is the industry is used to relatively cheap labor,and quite frankly addicted to it. They think there's always some goober or immigrant around the corner who work for the same wages they paid 20 years ago. Last time I checked UPS parcel had no shortage of drivers ,why? They pay a good wage ,over $30 an hour,over $.70 a mile good benefits etc.
The nursing industry suffered from low pay and a nursing shortage. What did they do ,they started to pay a wage worthy of the job. My friends wife got a job straight out of school as an RN making $35 an hour. I laugh when I see these adds for top pay for drivers and see $20 an hour or $.44 a mile all miles! Home weekends! I even see jobs lower $17 an hour ,or they're embarrassed of their pittance pay and won't post it or "upon interview"
I'm not looking for a job ,I just like to keep my eye on the industry and sometimes call some of these ads and tell them my experience,clean license etc and they get excited and I ask them the pay and when they say I act insulted and end the phone call ,maybe they'll get the message,probably not. There is a good driver shortage,but a bigger shortage of good paying jobs that offer a lifetime career someone can be proud of and raise a family on.

 

Amen, brother.

 

I sold a landscape/snowplow business to buy my truck because employees suck.. not all, but a lot.. it's hard, because no matter how good they are, they never care or deal with things the way you would.

 

Guys the problem is this.

We have a lack of motivation in the drivers pool to treat this as a profession.

It isn't pay, it isn't working hours

It is that we act like this is a job and nothing more than just a job.