What do you like about trucking in Canada?

They dominate with numbers. This why they're able to take over so quick For every born Canadian there's 3 of them soon 4 & 5. As old as ny Dad is when he goes for his afternoon walks near Humber College truck school its only them he sees being trained. The Woodbine Mall where Zellers was has an abundance of trucks and trailers parked. They flooded and keep flooding the market even their own complain how difficult it is to get loads from in Ontario going anywhere averaging over $1.45 per mile. Over saturation has become an understatement. Ontario's freight market has become massively undercut by the over compacity of 1 to 5 truck authorities. Even if your a driver or O/o these companues don't play fair on replying back if your name is a English name. No replies back no matter your experience.

 

Yea, roll off and front load garbage and recycling jobs are actual work, in tight area's and neighborhoods, never seen one of them doing it.

Yea, they almost have dump truck taken over here also, I've heard some are doing truck and pup for as low as $80/hr (The Going Rate is about $130 for contractors, $150-160 for first party). The dig's i'm working on, its basically me, a dozen old guys in their 60's and 70's and the rest is them lol. Glad I don't own any of this stuff, cause I wouldn't be able to handle the stress, of these costs, and knowing everyone is gunning for my spot on the pile.

I know power only scabby day cabs, that most of the big companies use, is like you said $35-45/hr all in. (which is insane). I mean the trucks are absolute scrap metal, and i'm sure the drivers don't make min wage, so its gotta be a PR scam of some kind.

 

Absolutely nailed it, there are more and more truck parking yard popping up all over the city, and around the ring road in Calgary. Some of these trucks and trailers seem to never move, but yet more and more show up. Gravel is going the same way, I know of a truck parking yard on 84th street and 8th ave on the East side of the ring road. We are digging literally across the street, and the general contractor will not use those guys, because he said they don't charge enough to have insurance LOL. Gotta be 100+ truck and pups/quads in that yard, sitting there rusting.

Also, every mall or grocery store parking lot, has trucks lined up at the back of the lot now. Anywhere you can stick a struck/trailer on the street or in an abandon lot, there are trucks of all kinda. Its gotten so bad in the new construction, that they're barricading off the new streets once they're paved, and only removing the barricades, once the houses start going up. Bylaw and Peace Officers are #### busy, with all the trucks parking in residential area's now, some ever park in the bus pullouts LOL.

 

Up north the gravel haulers started parking their trucks on the residential street where I lived. They bought a condo unit in one of the buildings and stuffed well over half a dozen beds in there for the drivers. Bylaw ran them off, so they parked in an empty lot nearby. Lasted a couple days until they got booted out of there too. Never saw the trucks again.

 

Did they ever get the Petro Pass in Ft Mac cleared out? That was a sight to behold lol.

The Flying J's in Calgary FINALLY got real security, as multiple companies were using the lot's as a yard. All of them are mostly empty 24/7 now, maybe 10-20 trucks, vs packed to the brim when it was a free for all.

 

Are you kidding me? What?

I honestly thought it was only in Ontario & told my wife that we need to get out of Ontario and move to Alberta because it's so clean, no trash on the on/off bound ramps. People are nice and it looks like a well balanced cultured society there. Now I'm reading this? She's going to freak out that it's the same possibly worse than Ontario. Now I'm depressed realizing their isn't any hope in Canada and maybe this is a bad nightmare unfortunately never ending.

I thought for sure my family could up root their and things would be way better but it seems to be over now.

So, it's got to be happening right across Canada then? Honestly, I've been niave on believing this.

 

Out in the rural spots its not bad. I'm out in farm country now.

 

Not sure, I haven't been north of Westlock in about 4 years.

 

Well, we live in the rural area now in a small town population less than 7k. It doesn't make a difference. Honestly, for me it's more about the working environment. Trucking has changed so much since the 90's I plan on 8 more years max and then retiring or going into Management altogether. When becoming an O/ona couple years ago if I only realized it.changed this much I.never would of bothered. Communicating in English has become a challenge in Canada especially in Trucking. I've uses dispatching services when their 1st language is Not English it's become a crap show when they communicate with American & Canadian Freight Brokers. I've gone back to getting the freight myself because their English is beyond pathetic. It's become a circus plus more in this business it's difficult to realize this is the new reality of The Trucking Business.

 

Calgary, Edmonton and Lethbridge are not quite as bad as the GTA, but they've definitely gone down hill rapidly in the last 5 years. Red Deer, Grand Prairie and Med Hat are straight up ####holes, equal to the GTA lol. (Red Deer is now the most dangerous city in Canada, surpassing Winnipeg, Regina, Stoon, Surrey and Kelowna).

Everyone and their dog are moving here, and they're bringing all their ######## with them, esp the running every red light BS from BC. Lots of shootings, crime, assaults, car theft, car jackings, home invasions etc etc etc. Just the same old ####, that's going on across Canada. Tent Cities and Meth Lab RV's are springing up all over the place, in some instances taking over entire streets. The NE of both Calgary and Edmonton are basically Surrey/Brampton, with all the usual BS going down. Traffic and parking is a huge problem, going to the mall or a registry is almost impossible, as they're packed 24/7. Calgary had to declare an emergency with transit, and bring in the AB Sherriff's and Peace Officers to help stop the assaults/stabbings/shootings/people getting thrown on the tracks etc etc.

So no, the Alberta advantage is gone, and now with 2 woke installed mayors in Calgary and Edmonton, everything is expensive, taxes are out of control, roads are falling apart, etc etc etc. If I didn't get this dump truck gig, I prob would have left already. But i'm cashing in on the housing bubble, which is beyond insane. I've lived here my entire life, and I've never seen every sector of the city under construction; at the same time. They're even going back into the existing neighborhoods, and excavating the green spaces/parks/nature paths, to build more high density housing. Heck, they've even tearing up the golf courses lol, and its all high density apartments and townhome complexes (future ghetto's). There are some new communities with single family homes, but mostly match stick boxes 6ft apart, or million dollar mansions; nothing really in-between.

Lots of people are trying to escape the city, and flood the bedroom communities like Airdrie, Chestermere, Cochrane, Okotoks, Beiseker etc etc. Lots are even commuting from Strathmore, Didsbury, Nanton etc etc. Which is now turning those communities into the same ####, full of them lol. So all highways in and out of Calgary are constant grid lock also, esp Airdrie.

I happened to luck out, as I live on the north centre edge of the city, I'm always going the opposite direction of traffic going to the yard, from the yard to site, going back to the yard, then yard to home. So thankful for that, and not being stuck in the 1-3 hours commutes most people have.

We still don't have PST or HST, but its something that's always being talked about. Also if you do have to blast someone with your 12ga, when they break in, the cops are way better about it, then they are in Ontario; so that's a plus.

One last thing, anyone thinking of coming here, to get a job driving, its worse than the GTA. With so many freight companies going under, and the 30+ scabby driving schools we have, there are so many drivers looking for work its insane. The official unemployment rate is 8%, but the actual unemployment rate is more like 28%, which is catching ALOT of people off guard. (They thought they could just show up, rent a place, and get a job, not even close to reality on all counts). The only real work you can get into "easier" is trades, but again, you better have some experience and get pre-hired before coming here.

So yea, fun times.