This Driver's Worth

Eek, they hired on a fleet and you worked under that fleet? I had an unpleasant experience with Quality Carriers, in a similar situation, though not money, just extreme managerial ineptitude causing loss of work.

 

If that's the case, they are probably correct. You didn't work for them, you worked for the contractor who had his trucks leased to them. They paid the contractor for the work the truck did, and it was up to the contractor to pay you the agreed upon wages. If the contractor didn't pay you, your beef is with that contractor, not the carrier.

 

You pretty much hit the nail on the head with that statement. A few things a experienced driver should avoid:

1) Website geared towards driver recruitment instead of customer service. If you have to navigate through a few pages to even find a job listing, it's a good start.
2) Companies that spam Craigslist, Monster, and other job finder sites. As CondoCruiser said, if a company has to post about the same openings over and over again, chances are there's a reason why they need drivers and that reason is they can't keep them.
3) Companies that hire students. Yes I'm biased, but I'd say a good portion of these companies do not pay well, and their equipment will be beaten up from inexperienced drivers.

*back on topic*

Every driver feels that they are worth more than what they actually are, and I'm no exception. Money isn't everything, although it does help. To me, what matters more than anything is a companies willingness to work with me over personal related issues, and also having an opportunity to improve within a company is another huge factor. That's why I drive LTL. OTR is a dead stick as you're stuck. With LTL, you can improve in the industry.

 

Great info in here!

 

When I was hiring I posted what the job was, and the expectations. During the interview I was open about the pay but not before I felt comfortable with the driver. I had people apply that simply replied to the ad with. What do you pay? They went straight into the deletes because that is not the attitude I want in an employee. The ones that I hired wrote a well thought out response that I could see they were looking to work hard and be rewarded for that and sent in their resume. I haven't regretted going that way, it took me longer to find drivers but I don't have to worry about hiring a replacement a few months later.

I gave out my rate of pay well before any other job I have ever applied for. This goes from labourer positions to office jobs. The pay is the last thing you will know and given out if you are offered the job. If you google questions to ask in an interview, what is pretty much always the first thing written. Don't as what the pay is while you are being interviewed. If you feel like you are being interviewed by a sleaseball recuiter then just walk away, knowing what they will pay won't make it any better of a company to work for.

Stay away from the driver mills they are just looking for suckers. Stick it out for a while with a company to show that you can be dependable. I don't want to be constantly hiring and if you haven't stayed with a company for longer than a year then I won't touch you with a ten foot pole.

 

Good points!

 

Job hoppers can never understand why they can't get hired on by good companies. If you think about it, why would a company hire you if you're just going to jump ship when you find something better? This is why I strongly discourage leaving a company when you're pissed off at something. Don't quit a company because you were given bad instructions to a customer and can't find a delivery or pick-up point. Don't quit because of this, that, and the other. Wait until all things are good, and you're cruising down the highway with your favorite song playing on the radio. If you still want to quit even at that moment, then maybe this industry as a whole isn't for you, because you're going to face the same problems no matter who you work for.