Hopper, Dump O/O's & Drivers

It is $2.79 here in Enid.

 

Yep WH,i'm afraid your probably right on the rates,thats how its been around here the last few years after harvest too. Fuel was 2.79 in Danville today.

 

You guys haven't seen nothing yet, go down around Houston and see all of the junk running around their and hauling it for nothing. I have been going to the pipe yards down there and they are full with mexican drivers. Which that is who works in the yards and pretty much runs shipping etc... and if you aren't brown and speak spanish well your going to have trucks run around you. I showed up Thursday morning at 7:30AM and finally got unloaded at 3:30PM then had to race across town to get reloaded by PM. Most drivers that go thier have to wait to the next day to get reloaded.

This pipe yard is one of the largest and they do take a lot of loads everyday. You first go to a staging area that holds maybe fifty trucks or so and that is where the office is at. You wait on one of the yard guys to come by and check and count your load and hand you a slip to take to the office a long with the bol. Hand that in at the window and wait for your instructions to which yard they want you to unload in, your waiting by a window outside in the heat along with everyone else. Well their was me and three black drivers waiting and we were passed up by some mexican drivers that came in behind us and they received their paperwork back before us and went to unload. After waiting in the staging yard for four hours we received ours and went to the unloading yard and got in line behind several other trucks and waited, after eight hours I was empty and told dispatch I will never haul a load in their again.

A place this size and all the forklifts running around their shouldn't be this long of a wait. When I went back by the staging yard they had several trucks still waiting. I had a friend of mine loaded at one their Friday and when he got loaded you pull up to the guard shack and they count your load and make sure your paperwork is right before leaving. When he pulled up their and handed his paperwork to the guard so did four other drivers behind him all mexican and he was the last to get checked out so he could leave the others were already gone. They are always in a hurry and will run over you if you don't watch out. I had two close calls here lately.

Funny story, I have a Friend of mine that owns a small pipe yard here in Oklahoma and he had one deliver to him and asked him if he was interested in buying his trailer. My friend asked him why he was selling it, the mexican told him he couldn't compete with those cheap hauling mexicans in Houston. LOL

 

They used to be pretty timid, not wanting to rock the boat. But now, they know they're not going to get any guff from the authorities, so they do whatever they want-blatantly. For the life of me, I don't know why every state in the union doesn't adopt immigration laws like Oklahoma has. They got it right the first time, and it WORKED! I guess when you're a bottom feeding under cutting no pride chump, the people who benefit from your cheap labor make sure there's plenty of work for you to do at the expense of those wanting to give an honest day's work for an honest day's pay. Sorry for the rant, but deep down I know that this will be the single biggest challenge we'll have to face in the future of the tucking industry. It's gonna get worse before it gets better, boys.

 

Don't kid yourself...the company we both haul for would fight (lobby) tooth and nail if an Arizona style law were to be introduced here. They LOVE that bunch. Keeps us in check, you know.

 

wheathauler...I'm leaving farming/high school teaching for various reasons, but am getting started as an o/o with low budget truck and hopper. I'm in northeastern kansas. I'm trying to put together some income projections...I talked to Cargill, and they're paying 1.46 to 1.52. Is that loaded only? How many miles can I realistically log during my first few months. I'm shooting for 1000 a week. Harvest is coming up, and I have some work lined up. Any other advice for a newbie? Thanks.

 

Thanks for your comments.

 

Myself i like hopper. you can get good rate too. And you can put coal an salt to for winter back hauls it little more work but it work an money too. so it horse a pleace.