i am making over 2 times more than i have ever made in my life...

I never could get into The Road dog channel (platform for the ATA to push there agenda)so I turned to Stern because I enjoy the humor, although my wife assures me it is rotting my brain.

 

You are dillusional, for some reason you think the answer to everything is more money..

How many of the ENTITLEMENT generation actually WORK...

WORK...
its not a social gathering
you are paid to perform a task/tasks for xxx dollars...BEFORE you hired on you knew this dollar amount ( at least I would hope you asked )
who pays YOUR paycheck........the customer
there are sacrifices to EVERY job..if a job doesn't fit YOUR criteria don't work there
if you are given a task you don't like suck it up and do your best to complete the task at hand.. it's YOUR job !
look in the mirror...would you hire you?
do the right thing ALL the time...not just when the boss or others of importance are around
always look to improve yourself to stand out over other peers
have goals set for yourself to advance if you want to make that coin
NEVER stab others in the back/take credit that isn't yours/get to where you wanna be by stepping on others toes
I will let my work ethic dictate the type of worker I am and what my worth is to my employer, If I feel I am being shortchanged I will ask for compensation if none is given I give mine (2 weeks notice)

There is 24 hrs in a day, you only need to sleep 6-8 of them

Nothing wrong with working 2 jobs, I have done it many times in my life

OTR trucking pay is what it is, there is a WIDE range of pay and where YOU choose to fit in that range is all on YOU
There are plenty of low paying trucking jobs out here, my answer to that is DON"T WORK FOR THEM
If you can't get hired on by a better paying carrier take a look at why and fix it
A job isn't there to bail you out of poor money making decisions / help living beyond your means / keep up with the JONES's..it's a JOB

You think by raising pay that's gonna be the cure all fix all? Sorry someone with more money than you or I will make sure that doesn't happen

Government love people that depend on them, they want to keep people dependent on them otherwise why do the people need a government (they will always keep the average JOE in check)

Most people live WAY beyond there means

New cars
Credit Cards (the I want it now card as I call it)
That Big house
The Boat
The 4 Wheelers
The Snowmobiles
Flashy clothes
Jewelry
ETC ETC ETC ..................

Sure lets give everyone a raise how bout 20 grand a year...here is my answer to that
They will raise..
gas prices
food
clothing
interest rates
car prices
health care costs

shall I go on...

Your not holding the cards THEY are and THEY will always trump your best hand

They are :
The rich
The government

My eyes are wide open..I know where I am in the food chain and I live accordingly, I make a fair wage for the work that I do and it meets my criteria.I am by no means hurting for money.

This is real life, it isn't fair and it never will be unless people wake up and snap into reality, if you want to succeed in life you need to work hard at it (it's not easy)

And for the record, trucking isn't rocket science don't try to make it out to be more than it is

 

if all the "drivers" were paid what they are worth
only 10% would get a raise

 

Today was a day that I will call a milestone, and it set me thinking.
In the mail I received my Social Security letter tellin me I could apply for my benefits, as I will be 62 in 2 months. Got me wondering "When did I get old " ?
The letter explained my benefits, but I had already decided to wait a few more years until 66. If my health holds up.Also, I refuse to think of myself as up in age, and accepting the money would mean I am admitting to the fact " I AM GETTING OLD".Anyway, just age denial I guess.Just an old truck driver.
Then I went to my local favorite restaurant for supper, and I was being served by a waitress with whom I had been served many times. A pleasant,30-ish lady from Nigeria with whom I had conversed before.I could tell she was intelligent.
Today she was not busy, and we spent a while talking. She was a college student with 2 Masters Degrees, 1 in Microbiology, another in ????, she was working on her PhD. Her center of attention was cancer research, which she said was her passion in life. Had her name on 2 published papers already.
Now I wondered why she was waiting tables in a smaller eatery, and I asked her. Money was to pay on Student Loans, and the owner let her choose her own hours, which was great for her class schedules. I had always thought she was simply a waitress, probably several kids, single Mom scenario. Boy was I wrong.

Now as I left I got to thinking. I was starting to end my career and she was just just starting hers. I made a mental comparison. She was spending about 8 years to learn her craft, it took me about 1 week to learn to shuffle gears, even though I have some college,my original choice of a career was an automotive design engineer.She has a chance at making a big difference in society, and I was content just helping others when I could. She had determination to improve her abilities, I was just trying to keep a clean CDL license. Her job offered a chance for recognition, I get the finger from 4 wheelers.She was happy and outgoing, I have become slightly cynical.
The biggest difference is $$$$$$$. Her salary will be astronomical, I had just read my Social Security record of my earnings the last 40 years. Kind of depressing, but I have an above average life style for this area.

Would I do it again ? Or would I take a job like hers. Plenty of money, possible fame,office,security, warm work area, doing your life long ambition ?

I decided probably not. My life has been good, I have all I want to have, I am my own boss, doing as I want.And that means a lot.
Money is not everything.

 

That's a pretty dramatic collection of sentence fragments.
But I've been paid 23 bucks an hour for sitting at a computer screen and been paid 23 bucks an hour to drive trucks.
Driving trucks in the OTR lifestyle sucks far far more if you have any kind of life beyond your job.
For those with no lives, there's OTR.
For those who choose that life, more power to them and dog bless them.

But nobody can claim trucking pay is fair or even equitable without lying his ### off and being thought insane.

People who accept a situation where grown men dress in costumes and play children's games for millions of dollars and where truck drivers who deliver all of life's necessities every day are just getting by and living like animals deserve what they get in terms of both wages and government.

 

I will again make the point that the wealth transfer to the .01% is really happening. I can justify my pay and I can adjust and compensate but it will not change the destructive direction ownership of my country is going. Yeah I do alright sure I can make it. Yeah I work hard and expect to take care of myself and wouldn't want it any other way. If those at the bottom of the pay scale were receiving a pay level that did not qualify them for welfare like programs if they made a living wage for 40+hours truckers pay would be so poor in comparison that many of us would be stocking shelves and flipping burgers just to have a life. I fail to understand how it is ok for people to work a full time job or two part time jobs and their pay be so low that the government has to subsidize their income so they don't become a more expensive drain on society. I further maintain that if reasonable opportunities existed to earn a reasonable living at home without driving a truck we would have a true and immediate driver shortage. It is low pay in general that supplies the drivers for this industry and that plus the way large corporations dehumanize their people provides a base foundation for negativity that seems to pervade our environment.

 

I remember when I was in grade school, learning about how the Great Pyramids in Egypt were built.
Even at that young age, I wondered how the great Pharoahs, who did absolutely nothing, convinced the local populace to sacrifice nearly their entire lives to provide all the labor necessary, with little compensation other than porridge and water, to construct the Pharoah's dream home, be he alive or dead.
Then I grew up, somewhat, and started driving OTR.
Now, I think I know the answer.
I'm willing to bet that, if one were to translate many ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, they too would find the answer to the pyramid labor question:
"Mook! I'm really sick of moving these stones, for free, to make one man happy"!
And the reply;
"Nefaru, you have an ENTITLEMENT complex! Quit complaining! After all, you get what you put into this"!

 

I quoted and highlighted in bold what didn't compute. You came up with a figure of $1224 per week. Then you added $200 per month, then stated a new figure of $1424 per week. That does not add up. Adding $200 a month would add $46 per week. Using a 12 month 52 week calender. that would increase the $1224 amount to $1270, not $1424.

Did that clarify it for you? Do you see what I am pointing out?

 

Obviously you THINK you have it all figured out,

What is this LIFE you speak of :

You mean the same ole same ole so many do week after week day after day for crap pay for the work involved.

No, I don't care to do what most others do, that's not the life for me.
YEP, I had my fun when I was younger, pissing money away on stupid stuff.

People who accept a situation where grown men dress in costumes and play children's games for millions of dollars and where truck drivers who deliver all of life's necessities every day are just getting by and living like animals deserve what they get in terms of both wages and government.[/QUOTE]

What is your point to that statement? Johnny got his apple where's mine?
Live like animals
Just getting by

Do you think money is going to solve ALL your problems....lol
You failed to see the point I made, it doesn't matter how much MONEY you have, it can be devalued in many ways.

I have a plan, it's already in the works and has been for some time, I will retire at 55 and I don't NEED social security (social welfare actually) to survive once I retire.

You can put this low pay debate to most any job, it's a JOB nothing more nothing less, what YOU are willing to put up with for the pay you are given is YOUR choice, what makes one person happy at a job another hates.

And I have no political or religious agenda so "dog bless whomever you like"

While we are at it lets see....what do you think your servicemen in this country are worth? In dollars as that seems to be the topic..
I'll be back to chime in on that 1 as I have served (by choice)