Land Star: We don't tell applicants why they weren't qualified

Landstar is just as picky about drivers hired by their BCO's to drive trucks.

 

Well I am not saying he can't make us fix it before we move, but to assign us points for something that just happened just isn't fair or effective.

For example, I work construction a lot. I also go off the road. This summer it was pretty hot so after I blew 2 drive tires and replaced them with new, I decided to replace the other 6 and run the old ones out on one of my trailers.

Three days later I am under a bridge backing through some weeds and i run over an abandoned rail siding. I think "oh great" and look around the truck for damage but don't see any. But when i get back home and park the truck i see the left rearmost inner tire has a big gouge out of the center of the tread. (I was pizzed)

I replaced the tire with another brand new one the next morning as soon as Service Tire opened. So am I an unsafe motor carrier? I unknowingly drove about 50 miles on a damaged tire. I even rode past a scalehouse (Skudder Falls on 95) but they were closed. If they had been open I would have been out of service, fined, and recieved points.

I could accept them making me change the tire before i moved, but fines and points?

 

But how do you propose those O/O's who DO elect to put these kinds of important repairs off be dealt with? You can't deny that there are a number of O/O's, that, for whatever reason, don't operate with safety and professionalism in mind that give us ALL a bad name. How do we address those operators?

In my opinion, a responsible O/O who does his job properly may accrue a small amount of points against him, but never enough to cause him any harm. The ones who continually ignore their responsibilities, however, will be removed from the industry, as they should be.

 

Putting people with a lot of experience in truck repair and a couple of engineers together in a committee to write the recommendation as to what points are assigned to each defect, and what defects would not carry any points would be a good start.

Maybe see see if you could find a couple of engineers who grew up turning wrenches, driving a truck, and operating heavy equipment. I'm sure the SAE could find you a few.

It just seems to me that the rule book is being written by people without any real world experience.

I mean if safety was the real issue we would want to grab the guys with loose steering, excessive slack in the fifthwheel, brakes worn out or badly out of adjustment, bald tires,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

The kind of thing that the guy would have to know was wrong should carry lots of points. None of that kind of stuff I listed "just happened" you know that those kind of things are starting to fail, long before they actually become unsafe or become OOS criteria.

 

Oh yes, leave them on the road til they kill somebody. Obviously that would work.....



FAIL



If some jackwad killed someone in my family cuz he was knowingly cheating the system, I would have asked why he was on the road in the first place....

 

Buddy, I see it every day. You must live in some kind of fairy land where everybody keeps their trucks in perfect condition, and pride and professionalism is the paramount of every O/O/.

I live in the real world where there are guys operate with the attitude of "it don't affect me, so it ain't my problem." Guys who are only in trucking because it's the only industry where their ignorance and/or laziness won't get them ousted. The same guys who undercut my rate are the same ones who can't afford to keep their truck in decent shape. Bald tires. Worn brakes. You name it. You think there's a connection there???

You seem to have the attitude that if an O/O can't afford to keep his truck maintained at the moment, that it's a sufficient excuse to let him slide on it. You want to know how I feel about that? I say that if he can't even afford to keep his equipment compliant, he's already dead in the water, and needs to get out.

It's the guys hanging on by a thread that are always the ones running for rock bottom rates, in a futile attempt to just "get ahead" that make it so much harder for the rest of us to run for decent rates. Guys that can't afford to say no to cheap freight. Guys that have to run at or below cost just to keep cash flowing. Guys that think that because they bought an older, cheaper truck they can run cheaper than everybody else, but neglect to figure higher maintenance costs for that older truck into their cost of operation.

Sure. Some guys fall on hard times, and I feel for them and wish them the best. But the truth of the matter is that there are alot of O/O's out there who don't have a bit of business sense and don't have a clue what their cost of operation is, and therefore don't know what kind of rates to run for, and find themselves in a situation that they can't afford to perform basic maintenance, and refuse to accept that they have no business owning a truck. Those are the guys that need to take the hint, but won't. It's going to take something like CSA 2010 to get them to see the light. I for one, am ready to see some changes.

Everybody talks about the "good old days." I'm ready to see them back again.

Everybody talks about how trucking is a lifestyle. It is, but it's still a businesses first, and business succeed and fail by those who run them. It's a fact of life. Sympathy for the ones who can't make it may make you feel good inside, but it's still dog eat dog from where I'm sitting.