Poor pay

Most companies that offer health and life benefits also offer legal benefits, partly paid for by the company, so your cost is minima at best.

There's too many variables to leave to chance, crooked cops being the worst of them. I run a Valentine1 radar detector, not because I speed a lot, but because radar guns can be incorrect and used improperly (google "POP mode). Now factor in a trooper citing you for something borderline or flatly acceptable, but because he's on his period he's all pissy, and so cites you for something bogus.

That's when you want a lawyer, to protect YOUR rights. Say you get a ticket that normally would cost you thousands, and get you fired; but you know you didn't do it. Who ya gonna call?? LAWYER! Not only does she help you deal with it, but she can make sure they schedule your court dates (if necessary) so you don't miss work time or the court date because of work, and get a nice warrant for your arrest. That alone makes the lawyer worth it; and if the service is provided by the company at a reduced cost, it's even better.

 

Exactly. The group that supposedly represents truckers isn't doing its job, if we are slowly being driven (!) into poverty.

And it's not just the public, but the drivers themselves, they need to be educated as well. They need to stop swallowing the tea party/republican/corporate propaganda that's got them convinced that anything that makes their lives better is "communism" or "socialism"; when, in fact, it's "corporate welfare" and government corruption that's killing this country and it's people.

 

About the same rate of pay you get at McD's...sign me up!

 

I bid $17.00

 

AAHH OOOHH --really maybe a Democrat can clear this all up --oohh crap, strike that.

 

Yeah, if you take this discussion political, it gets kicked down to the basement.

FYI.

 

Lux Prometheus drew first blood LOL
Hey Lux do you own the Youtube video that wants to bring free light to third world countries ? Lux Prometheus "elevator talk" --you tube vid.

 

I haven't read all the posts, but I wanted to respond to this. Perhaps I'll simply parrot what someone else wrote...If so, I apologize, like I said I haven't read most of the commentarfy here. You work in IT, right? IT is a technical field. It is a specialized field. It requires knowledge that is not easily or cheaply obtained. I.T. fields are rated fairly high in the pay scale. Its a white collar job. You know, suits, pressed shirts, nice cozy office, secretaries, that kinda thing. You guys program the computers that run our trucks...but you get a CDL as a fallback? And you expect...what? Is your idea of a trucker someone who is rolling in dough with a mansion on 50 acres of property, and a barn to park the rig in on weekends?

You are in a whole different field. Truckers are WORKERS. Trucking isn't a job, its a lifestyle, and one not meant for all. You know, the kind of lifestyle that puts you in a moving office where your bedroom, kitchen and office are a step away from your driver's seat. Its a lifestyle that consists of thousands of dollars worth of equipment you don't pay for, don't pay to maintain, and don't pay to keep legal. Its a job that requires you to work at odd hours, for long hours, sometimes without ever seeing your family and friends. What money you make is directly relevant to how good you do, how willing you are to work, and how difficult you can be. No, you will not start off making top pay, but in IT you didn't start at the top either, you started at the bottom. Drivers with years of experience making what they make can look down on us students and wannabe's and ask themselves..."Why would they do this for so little?" but deep inside they know...its not because we are trying to get rich, its because we love it, because we need something steady, a job we can depend on...for you this is a fallback...when the I.T. jobs come back you'll leave the truck and go back to your suits, and pressed shirts, and ties, in your nice corner of heaven, but for me, this isn't my fallback...this is just me. Making a living. No, I'm not making big money. Yeah, maybe my first year will only net me 35K...maybe less, but my second year will be better, as will my 3rd, 4th, 5th, and so on. I get to drive, which I love. I get to meet some great people, see great places, and I get that satisfaction of knowing that at least in this, I am free. You work for what you get. If you can't get that...then you wasted your money and time getting a CDL. I would lie if I said I didn't care about money. I have a wife and two kids. I have no savings, I have no money, My kids get very little for Christmas, but I am doing what I can for them, and maybe in time I will be making 60k a year and I can look in that side mirror while backing a trailer in 2k miles away and know I'm putting them in college. perhaps you should just look more into IT jobs. Move to silicone valley where the money is, just saying.

 

steven, underpaid is underpaid. Let the road romance go along with the thousands for the equipment. Since 1980 when trucking was deregulated the lot of the driver has gone downhill, major union outfits went under, like CF. What broke a lot of companies after deregulation was a huge drop in the price of used trucks that wiped out the 'value' in that rolling stock. These 'structural' changes swept thousands out of good driving jobs and the mega carrier 'solution' has reduced the driver's quality of life, who now put in the equivalent working hours for two years into one year.

 

Victor I get what you are saying. But as another poster put it. Its about perspective. For me...its an improvement. I won't go into my personal financial issues which color my thinking...or why I see trucking as I do...but I will say that truckers have the power to change the industry...just like Americans have the power to change the government...but as long as no one DOES anything no one can complain. No you don't get paid what you are worth...yes you do work hard for your pay...but none of this is new. My dad was a trucker his whole life...these issues are not new...so from MY perspective changing careers after my business went bankrupt and finally being able to do what I have always wanted to do...my perspective is OPPOSITE someone taking a pay cut to become a trucker.