New Driver looking for work, what to look for?

LOL, you're not going to have much choice about who you work for. You will have to take a job working for someone that probably won't even put you on their insurance. Then they will force you to do lots of illegal stuff, you will get tickets, get in an accident cause you're being asked to do crazy things with no sleep, worried about the DOT busting you at any minute.

Then after a few years of beating your head against the wall and talking to older more experienced guys who will confirm to you that it's all the same everywhere you go.

You will take a look at all the hours you actually put in to do the job and realize you make less than 10 bucks an hour, have no life etc. You said you heard guys don't get paid, if you're going to drive for the kind of people involved in trucking in the Vancouver area, they you better learn about "the forever plan". They will hold off on paying you for weeks and weeks till they know they've got you. They they will just give you a bit here and a bit there, stringing you along until they owe you so much you can't leave. Then of course they push you to do more and more illegal things.

The forever plan, learn about it.

Given the fact that you have a university degree, you will most likely walk away from trucking shaking your head wondering why you didn't listen.

Here is an example of something you will encounter:

Driver says to owner
I've got a bad tire on the trailer, better get it fixed before we get a ticket or blowout
Owner says
Don't worry about it, just keep going, cheaper to fix it at home, ur not likely to get pulled over at the scale

Driver says, I don't want to risk it, Owner says, either drive it or get the F### out of my truck.

You are driving along and see the scale light on, doh!!, you pull in, get an inspection, just your luck.

Commercial vehicle enforcement officer says:
Why are you driving with that tire!?! didn't you see it on your pretrip?
You couldn't have done your pretrip, I'm giving you a ticket for the bad tire and not doing a pretrip.

Bingo, you just screwed up your nice clean commercial drivers abastract.

Owner says, don't worry about it.

Now try and get a job at a reputable carrier with a "no pretrip" on your abstract.

That's just one of the many varied scenarios you can encounter out there that will get you in trouble.

If you quit or walk away from the truck good luck getting all the weeks worth of pay they owe you. They won't pay you cause they don't have to pay you! It can take almost a year to get your money through the labor board and there is no negative consequences for the owner of the truck. If you're a contractor, you have to take him to court, maybe even pay for a lawyer.

I worked in a technical field for many years until all the jobs were shipped to china and india. Luckily I had previous farming and mechanical experience so I could get my class 1 for minimal cost. Driving the truck is actually a pretty good job, I enjoy doing it, especially specialized trucking in the oilfield.

The problem is you will never be allowed to just go to work and do your job and go home. You will be constantly pushed into doing stupid things so some dummy with a truck can make a couple more bucks never realizing that pushing you into illegality is just a one step forward two steps back game. Unless of course they are just laundering money, and many are, then they will just do stupid ridiculous things with new trucks over and over again.



Stay away from long distance trucking or any basic form of trucking. Try right away to get into something where you are more of an "operator" than just a driver. Even if you have to just work as a swamper at first.

 

####, and I thought I had a rough start lol.

This is why I tell people to go to Challenger or VersaCold to start out, they won't try to kill you, make you run illegal or keep you away from home (Quite the opposite, in my experience).

Also, not all companies are the same, no matter how many bitter old heads keep saying that ####. I can name 10 companies that I would work for tomorrow, where guys are happy and have built a career. Heck, my terminal manager has been a driver at my company for 23 years, and hes the happiest/nicest guy I know. It doesn't matter if its construction, Oil and Gas, Trucking, Trades, IT, Engineering etc etc Not all companies are the same.

That being said, the smaller companies and owner operators in AB/BC that you're referring too...yes I agree with all the above points.

OTR can be amazing with the right company, and the right mindset. I could NEVER go back to a 9-5 job now, with a commute. Or a 14/4 camp rotation, stuck with the same 80 people for years on end. Nope, gimme that 11-3 long haul any day or the 6-2 short haul/turnpike schedule.

 

Back when I started in 1979 out on the coast of BC, the only rookie gigs were rounders to California. But then is the same as now, you have to earn your spurs. I myself hated the runs, but I sucked it up and did my 1 year time. To this day I refuse to do California runs, and there's lots more reasons to hate them now too.

But it amazes me to see all the ads nowadays saying no experience needed, running all 48, and any kind of load or trailer, even combinations.

One look at the rubber before and through every corner on a downgrade in BC now speaks to the lack of experience. That was very rare in the old days. The amount of idiocy I see on the road and in lots is astounding. We used to be knights of the road. Now as a group we're just dangerous.

 

Actually I take that back, I will PM you. Also anyone else reading this, who needs a hand getting started can PM me. As a guy who just went thru all this new driver crap in the last 3 years, I'm happy if my experience saves someone else from the meat grinder lol.

 

My buddies at Bison out of Langley get $21/hr OT after 8hrs for City Work. That includes going to CN/CP rail for Cans. J&R Hall pays $24/hr out there for city, that's all I know when it comes to the Lower Mainland.

 

Regarding the Canada Labour Board, even after going through the process the Employer still doesn't have to pay you. Their inspectors' letters, orders and court orders they file have no legal teeth. The bailliff costs are on the ex-employee to cover, and often the Bailiffs will ignore your small claim or refuse to seize the company's trucks and other assets. This is my fourth round through the Canada Labour Board.

Yes, you can get a court order against the ex-employer but then it becomes a shell game of hide the assets/money and the employer has all the time in the world to do prepare to hide those assets and money so, with full warning in advance from the Canada Labour Board inspectors of any legal threats you have no chance of collecting before their assets are sold off or they change bank accounts.The Wage-Earner protection program is limited to $5k or less, and doesn't kick in until the company files for bankruptcy.

As potential drivers we also have no way to manage reputations of companies effectively and organize to ensure right from the start we are secure from bad companies.

This really needs to be fixed.