Joe & Tow's new trucking adventures/ex GTI thread

What a business.

You would think a guy with 20 years experience like RoadCall would be writing his own ticket and in most other businesses, he would. Got 20 years writing gaming code? You're the senior programmer with stock options. Got 20 years in the kitchen? You're the Executive Chef with a TV program. Heck, even 20 years in prison gets you seniority and respect.

But trucking? Nope. 20 years experience gets you grovelling for starting wages and treated just like a beginner.

Its a despicable way to run a business, Mr. and Mrs. Trucking Company Owners.

 

I appreciate your support DD, fortunately it's not quite that bad. I have a few good options running regional as high as .43 a mile but I would definitely prefer to stretch my legs and run coast to coast if possible.

According to SEC they said they get to Greenville but not Columbia. Obviously deadheading me 90 miles home wasn't something they wanted to do, oh well. Thing I really found absurd was telling me I could drive my personal vehicle to Lawrenceburg and get home as often as I want. Lmao!

Anyway I filled out the app with Lessors and put Joe as a referral. I'm not sure what they will offer starting out but we will see and go from there.

 

You know roadcall...one option would be to drive to the macon,ga yard....not quite sure how the milage works out. Or if there was someplace in greenville you could leave the truck and commute home from there...

i live 130 miles from the yard and airbreeze is over 200 and we both drive. We do stay out at least 4 weeks though.

not sure how often you were wanting to get home.

one of the things a smaller carrier has to be careful about is hiring people they just cant get home which only upsets the driver.

The driver who refered me here lived in colorado springs..while we do have loads going to denver, he was never in the right place at the right time to get one of those loads to get home. He ultimately left the company and went home for a local job. After 2 months of not making any money he actually moved his family to tennessee so he could come back to work here. Both he and his family are very happy now.

the vast majority of our freight takes us out of the tennessee area and right back. This is our model. I am sure when the girls offered the option of driving your own vehicle to lawrenceburg they were not trying to be flippant about it because we do have several people who drive long distances just because we get to the yard quite a lot.

 

DD .. i understand your thinking about years of experience but i have found in trucking that years of experience does not always equate to a good driver.

Had a conversation with a driver about the california bridge law...he said you could run same as tennessee in california. When i told him he was incorrect he spouted...i have been doing this 27 years...i know what i am doing...i replied..i dont care how long you have been doing it wrong 40' is the correct length....

i can quote several occasions where drivers with years of experience were just terrible drivers...so from a company stand point you dont really know what you are getting nowadays.

was in the recruiting office this morning and they had a guy apply who had 10 years experience...only problem was in that 10 years he had driven for 27 companies....how do you do that....

 

Yeah Tow but driving 130 miles or even 200 miles, that's a big difference between driving 500 miles each way. Now Macon on the other hand is 190 miles, is that yard secured? I might consider it.

It's a shame the company doesn't have a drop yard in Charlotte, I'm 100 miles away and could leave my vehicle there, oh well.

 

the conway driver that took my hood off last year had 7 years experience
he says "i dont know how my tandems hit you i swung wide"
I says "maybe because your tandems are all the way back"
he says "Oh maybe that is why I hit those curbs
I dont know how to move them can you show me"

 

Roadcall...macon is a secure yard...

as for charlotte we dont go there so we dont have a need for a drop yard there...

we do have a customer in greenville we service but that is pretty much all we do in south carolina.

 

My point is made. "As high as" is not a good starting salary for an experienced driver. As for equating experience with quality, the same holds true in any industry, including the two I mentioned - I have family members in each - and I'll leave the prison analogy as a joke. Evaluating an applicant's suitability happens during the prehire process; determining a new employee's performance is what happens during a probationary period.

Nobody should have to put up with the level of regulation the FMCSA puts down without at least $1.00 for every mile driven, not those plans you currently get paid for driving. I tracked my actual miles driven while working - no side trips or roads to lengthen the run - and NOT ONCE did I get close to what I was paid for. It made me wonder where their numbers came from.

But pay-by-mile only benefits the owner. I think drivers should be salaried based on the HOS rules. Start pay for them at $15.00 per duty hour and see what happens to driver quality and longevity. For $1,050 a week, I guarantee there wouldn't be any pencil-whipping the logs. And drivers would be safer and happier.

The trouble is there are so many drivers and so many companies of all kinds that nothing will ever happen to improve the lot unless some owner takes initiative. The Gordon's did well and SEC sounds like as fair as one can get, but things are what they are. So you have an experienced driver getting "up to" 43 cpm.

And drivers making $50,000 a year think they're cleaning up.

 

and how mant drivers would screw the company
sitting in the truckstop if they were salaried
there isnt 1 out of 10 knows how to maximize his time now
joseph could give lessons
it really isnt that hard

especially now that I got my south gate load back