us exspress

I am going to try something here, address point by point. If it doesn't work, you will hopefully be able to read it anyway...

HM

Make sure you either get that in writing or record his answers.

I bought my first truck in 1974. At that time there were numerous union trucking companies who provided the drivers with a decent wage and living. Those are mainly gone and truckers now make much less money for a much harder life on the road. This is something that can not be disputed - it is a fact..

The one thing that has changed now is that there are more husband and wife teams - out of necessity - not out of love for trucking - simply due to the economy.

I can very well understand your "social shock" - however what i meant was that the people signing up for Uncle Sam are not exactly the same social segment of people as the ones getting into trucking.

Truckers of necessity are probably more independent that those who enter the military life - if you are not you probably won't survive life on the road.

Your comment shows you really do not understand the trucking business. Do you understand that these office workers in this terminal alone deal with perhaps 300 - 500 new drivers every year - in addition to the thousands that come thru the gates?

Yes, they are inefficient - absolutely - and that's because they are always understaffed and underpaid - just like the drivers - and I dare to say - have a fairly high turnover as well. Few people thrive dealing with a number of pissed off and angry drivers - as many are - every day, day in and day out. A lot of the dissatisfaction in the trucking industry starts right here...

I said that they all - including drivers - should get paid better - and be treated better. It would certainly attract a different "class" of people and lead to better retention which would absolutely improve the business.

When I started I leased myself to North American. I stayed with them for 5 years - hauling mainly electronics and exhibits - high value freight - simply because they treated me exceptionally well. With respect and understanding for my needs and wishes. They treated me as a business partner - and rewarded me for my part (all expense trip to Hawaii for two in the middle of winter, for example).

Oh, absolutely. It comes from the top down, no questions about that at all. However, that they do not try to "resolve the distance between themselves and their employees" shows distinctly how little respect they have for the drivers - and the support people - and clearly point out they are not interested in providing a mutually respectful and beneficial environment (and business model). It is simply "get them as cheap as possible". As long as there are desperate starving bodies around, this business model will thrive and not change. And the changes in the American society with outsourcing and union busting that started in the late 70's will insure that things will not get better for the majority of American workers.

No, I wanted to point out that the US trucking industry is going in the exact opposite direction. The changes made last time was solely intended to make the trucking companies more profitable and save them from hiring more drivers (and so have to pay higher rates). The increase to 11 hours driving was equivalent to about not having to hire 40,000 new drivers if I remember right.

Anyone in their right mind knows that driving 11 hours straight in a bouncing truck (wait until you get out on the lousy interstates hauling 80,000 lbs - you will know what I am talking about. It is not exactly the same as sitting in a car cruising down the highway).

You have not had to deal with "life on the road" yet. The traffic, the 4 wheelers, the shippers and consignees, dispatch, weather and all the little things that can make your life miserable on the road. Let's just say that the orderly life you've probably had until now is going to be gone. Let's see how you handle an irate shipper after a 70 hour week and only snatches of sleep - and dispatch or your FM won't get in there and solve the problem for you - basically telling you "shut up and let them kick your ###".

Wait 'til you sit for 5 - 6 hours waiting for a dock space, can't sleep as you need to be awake for the call on the CB and then have to stand on the dock counting boxes on a pallet - and you won't get paid for it. Then you are supposed to drive for a number of hours (even of you're running out of hours) before you can stop for a rest because you're hauling a load of electronics and your company have decided you might get hi-jacked inside a 200 mile radius from the shipper.

Yes, in some ways you are the ideal driver - except for no experience. You are probably "decently educated" and are "decently intelligent", can perhaps deal with people even if they are unreasonable - but the fact is once you get on the road - none of this will matter - you're simply another body in a truck - a number - and the management don't give a hoot who you are - only if you accept what comes your way and take care of the load.

Oh boy, if you don't accept disrespect, you won't last long. Your last paragraph will come back and bite your backside. And you are again getting offensive and show your ignorance of the business "I don't sit around waiting for the respect that so many claim they don't get" - you are going to get very, very little respect when on the road.

It is very sad but that's the way it is - especially in a company that is churning out thousands of drivers - new and experienced - every year. It is not just the "quality" of drivers as you insinuate that results in the extreme turnover...

HM

 

HighMiler: Thank you very very much for your response. I am definitely paying attention to your posts. Talk to you again.

 

Hahahahaha.....Goober.

 

You are very welcome - my pleasure...

I am just trying to give you a true image of what you will experience on the road.

Personally I'd love to be able to turn the clock back 30 years when trucking was very different and actually fun and enjoyable..

But the world has changed - sometimes for the better - unfortunately much for the worse.

The social fabric of the US is unraveling and the lower strata of the society is naturally feeling the effects first..

HM

HM

 

SO ironic coming from a guy who has delivered a total of ZERO loads of fright in his six month driving career.

 

Ohnoo, he's back. Why do you keep saying that garbage when it is not true. That is your problem that you drive for Swift.

You need to read what this thread is about before you chime in. This is not even about driving time. Go back to the Swift threads and deal with Tip.

 

Something to ponder:

How much difference is there between these employers exploiting illegal immigrants working for slave wages and the trucking industry in the US ?

Consider how many hours an over the road trucker - especially a beginner - work per week - and how much they make at the rates they get paid to start - take home after expenses on the road....

Think about it...

HM



From CNN:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/05/28/beck.immigrantworkers/index.html

NEW YORK (CNN) -- "Jobs Americans just won't do."

"I can't stand that line, but more importantly, I don't even understand it.

Americans spend months at a time at sea fishing for crab or drilling for oil; two of the most dangerous jobs in the world. Americans clean bathrooms, subway stations and crime scenes. Americans man toll booths, pave roads, embalm bodies and inspect sewers. Yet people really expect us to believe that they won't pick strawberries or oranges?

It just doesn't add up.

Earlier this week The Wall Street Journal published a story about a shortage of H-2B visas, which are issued twice a year to nonagricultural seasonal employees. Because our government can't get out of its own way, they recently let an important "returning workers" provision expire resulting in thousands of foreign workers being shut out of the country this summer.

That's inexcusable. I know this will come as a huge shock to those who only like to hurl insults, but I think we should be issuing more work visas, more student visas, and more green cards. And I think we should cut the red tape and bureaucracy that's constantly blocking the front door.

But until that happens people are left looking for loopholes and excuses, and "jobs Americans won't do" is the gold standard.

The Journal article offered an example of a couple that sells food at fairs around California each summer. They say that because of the H-2B visa shortage most of their seasonal employees aren't able to enter the country.

So why don't they just hire Americans instead? Good question. Her answer? "This is a hard job."

I find it pretty hard to believe that there aren't a few college students who wouldn't want to drive around California and work outdoors all summer, but let's assume that's true. Let's even assume that none of the other 1.1 million Californians who were unemployed as of April are interested in the job either. Isn't anyone wondering why?

Well I'm not a labor consultant, but I am a thinker. Maybe the problem isn't that the job they're offering is "too hard," maybe it's that the wages they're offering are "too low."

No one paints the undersides of bridges for fun, they do it for the money. That's how capitalism works.

How capitalism does NOT work is when we collectively look the other way as companies exploit illegal labor for their own benefit.

The unspoken truth is that these businesses don't hire illegal aliens because they can't find American workers, they hire illegal aliens because they don't want American workers. And it has nothing to do with wages.

Illegal aliens mean no workers' comp claims, no age, race or sex discrimination lawsuits, no healthcare premiums, no unions, and no demands for raises, vacations or bigger offices. In fact, illegal immigrants are the perfect employees because they're not employees at all; they're corporate slaves.

Economist Dr. Thomas Sowell once said, "Blacks were not enslaved because they were black, but because they were available." Can't the exact same thing be said for illegal aliens? They're available and we're allowing them to be exploited in the name of cheap groceries.

Is the price of fruit really the standard we want to live up to as a country? Is that really who we've become?

Many Americans believe that cracking down on the businesses that hire illegal aliens (the current maximum federal fine was recently raised to a laughable $16,000) would hurt these hardworking people too much. A bad job is better than no job, we tell ourselves. But that's catalogue compassion. If you want to understand the real impact of these decisions you've got to get off the couch and go see it for yourself.

Back in 2005, Newsday did an investigation of the living conditions of immigrants in the New York area. In the city of Westbury (median income: $83,000/year) officials found twelve immigrants living in a basement flooded with sewage.

In Southampton (median income: $64,000/year) officials found immigrants living in sheds with no plumbing or heat.

In New Cassel (median income: $62,000/year) officials estimated there were dozens of "shift-bed houses" where immigrants literally rent mattresses for a few hours a day to catch some sleep.

Is compassion looking the other way while immigrants who come here for the dream end up living a nightmare smack dab in the middle of some of our wealthiest communities?

Is compassion ignoring stories that reveal the truth, like the recent raid of a squalid "drop house" in Los Angeles where 57 illegal aliens were being held against their will?

Is compassion not wanting to hear that a woman was raped in that drop house, or that many more would have been if not for the screams of their children disrupting the attackers?

If that's compassion, then I guess I'm happy to be accused of having none.

The problem with the debate over illegal immigration right now is that special interests have been successful in making us think with our hearts instead of our brains. We've been persuaded to believe that real compassion can only be achieved by following their agenda. But look where that's gotten us. And more importantly, look where that's gotten the people they're supposedly trying to help.

If you really want to be compassionate, then help immigrants get jobs here the right way. Help put crippling fines on the employers who knowingly hire illegal workers, help expand and simplify the visa process, and, most importantly, help get people to start thinking with their brains again.

After all, compassion without common sense may feel good but it doesn't achieve anything. If you need proof then go out and give $1,000 to every homeless person who asks you for change. I bet your heart would be full, but your wallet would soon be empty. And all those people would probably still be homeless."

 

To sum it all up, Americans wont do the work at the prices the employers want to pay. Immigrants will.

 

Well, if we stop letting illegals in to do the work, then the employers will have no choice but to pay more money. But we cant do that to the poor little illegal workers.

 

At least with Tip I would be dealing with someone who's actually drove a truck. And not someone who just talks out his backside about, and to drivers while trying to sound like one his self. Do you double clutch that shift key or float it?