I wonder...

Op: If a truck driver isn't complaining about something, check his pulse; he's either sleeping or in need of immediate medical attention. LOL.

Yes there are good companies and you can have a bad experience with them and vice versa.

Yes you get out of most jobs what you put into it.

Yes all the big ones get sued on a right regular basis. Most so much so they employ in-house attorneys and finally;

Smiles definitely make the miles go by a lot more quickly.

 

That is not true at all, once you have been on the other side of the fence actually running a company you will see that almost all employees are not happy no matter how well their treated, its human nature to complain these days.

 

Overall, trucking has reached a new all time low. Most Carriers (with the exception of a small number) lie to their drivers to keep them out on the road as long as possible to make a profit. Most don't care anymore, it's all dollars and cents. Deregulation is the root problem, I do not blame any driver for complaining since there are too many cars and trucks on the road, no parking, lousy food, no rest, just 'get the load there' etc.. In my experience even the most annoying drivers had legitimate complaints.

 

Most drivers would agree when we first get hired into a place we have no complaints, or problems, most complaints and problems stem from what recruiter said and what is actually told during orientation, how dispatchers treat them and group it all under that the company as a whole is bad

For example when I went to the 3 day orientation for Knight, everything was ok recruiter didn't lie to me and what recruiter told me was same as what was stated in orientation. My first complaint I had with Knight comes on the second day when they were going through the rules.

This complaint seemed like we all were thinking the same thing.....all you have done is told us we would be fired for this or that and the list was so long that I asked wouldn't it just be easier to tell us what we wouldn't be fired for since so far the person didn't leave much out.

i would say this would have been my biggest complaint, I had a great dispatcher and when he got promoted I decided to leave.

My 2nd complaint terminal manager sucked, and created IMHO a hostile work environment for me (but since then they had been replaced)

Other than that I guess trying to get fuel outta Phoenix terminal was a mess would take anywhere from 1-2 hrs just to run in and get fuel (3rd complaint).

4th complaint was having to fight other drivers over mt trailers

overall I had a pretty good experience with them and would have no problems going back to drive for them at some point in the future

just because a few chiefs make things bad for a company doesn't mean the company as a whole is bad no different then a few drivers that mess up makes all the drivers look bad. So it's possible and if my dispatcher wouldn't have been promoted I would still have been there today.

 

I have worked for mega fleets (crst and Schneider) big fleet (Sharkey transportation) and now a smaller company (ofc/schmidt). My favorite so far is ofc by far. Treated awesome, good pay, good equipment (for the most part), good loads, keep you moving.
My second favorite was Schneider but I was on a dedicated target account. Pull out of the same dc and deliver to the same stores every week. Got boring but the checks were consistent and only had 5 dispatchers in the entire office to deal with.
Crst was the worst of the worst. How they are still business is beyond my comprehension. Low pay, no miles, sitting for days, stupid dispatchers, crap equipment.
Sharkey was a decent company overall. Just the small day to day things got irritating. I think they got too big too fast and the back office never expanded to support it properly so everyone was doing double duties most of the time. Had decent equipment and decent pay (I was on percentage pulling reefer) good home time.

 

De-regulation started the downhill slide.

 

I'm thinken the economy and all the laws has something to do with why drivers pay sucks.When I first started driving back in 2002 it wasn't near as bad as it is now.Its not just trk driving either,its jobs nationwide.

 

it is easier to find things to complain about and to not be happy than it is to be happy

 

Isn't that the truth though.Whats to be happy about,trucking is just another job disrespected by most.