How many newbies back-out?

So-called "practical living skills"...excellent point. I know I sure could have used that when I was first starting out!

Come to think of it...I ain't so great at it now!

 

when i was driving back in '77='83 i never had throught of this either.

 

Ive trained 14 guys over last year, only 3 made it. 1 is still driving. I had 4 guys jump truck in a month back in January. Job was too much for 2, 1 missed his Mommy, the other was 25 and did not like when his friends called to tell him they were at a party and he was missing out.

 

11 smart ones !!!!!!!

 

So you think its OK to work somewhere that isnt paying the bills?

I mean, if im out here, marriwed to my job, cant do anything i want, on the road, i require a minimum of $600 take home a week....

anything less and i start to get very very pissed off. like i am right now.

 

I think that the only way the starter company's will ever get over the turnover issues is to offer more regional and local type position's sooner.
Lets face it. Most of the company's that hire students right out of school are OTR company's that will get them home maybe 4 days a month.
Many of these new drivers are going out on the road because they have a young family and kids. They want to make a better life for the family.
They can make some money, with a good dispatcher. But in order to make decent money with pay being under .30 cpm, they have to run 3000 Miles a week.

The industry is in the early stages of change. More an more regional position's with weekly home time are becoming available. But they are in demand positions. So the new guy will not get it for at least 6 months in most cases.
And the pay needs to at least start to catch up.
Starting pay has gone up about .08 cpm in the last 20 years.
Pay for experienced drivers has gone up about .12 cpm in that time.
This is in todays dollars. And is not much of an increase.
A few percent over 20 years, while the cost of living has gone up a couple hundred percent in that time. That mid size car I looked at in 1991 cost 13k, now it is 30k.
That house that was 60k in 1990 is now 220k (after the market crash).

The trucking company's have not been loosing money over this time. The company office staff has not lost money. Only the drivers are loosing out on the cost of living increases.
At some point it has to be addressed. At some point it will get so bad that nobody will stay. Then the freight will not move.

Sure, they talk a good game about intermodal, using rail and waterways. Even if they go full bore and double the tracks we have in this country. And triple the number of trains. It will not effect more than 5% of the trucking freight. And that will only be long haul, which is slowly going away anyway. Freight is picking up, and will exceed any volume that this country has ever seen in the next 5 years.
If driver pay and rates do not go up, then the product will not move.
I thought about going local again a few months ago. But I decided to stick the next year or so out and see what happens.
Most new guys will not do that. They will get frustrated and leave the industry.
That is not really bad for me. If they want to keep those drivers or me, they will have to increase pay. I am waiting.

 

Actually in the current economy there is a third type.

Someone with a real work ethic and, a sense of dignity that believes that driving is an honorable occupation but, stays away from it (or leaves) because of the working conditions.

Making slave wages, living like a gypsy in a space smaller than the average closet for weeks on end and finding that the only way to make it is to eat out of a cooler and cook on a hot plate. Suffering through the urine smell of your average t/s parking lot, being treated like dirt by shippers, consignees, dispatchers etc.. and myriad other indignities is not a case for a "tough pill".

It's just masochistic.

Oh but wait! I'm sorry ..... it's a lifestyle.

ummmm, no. It's a blue collar job, an occupation and, maybe even a profession.


yeah..

JMHUFO

............. Jim

 

Actually, it is a rather easy job...................

 

It is?

What do you think is so easy about it once you factor in all aspects?