What Would You Do if this was your OTR job?

All that chasing empty trailers sounds real familiar. My first gig we did that a lot.

 

Ahh the great American trailer hunt. I remember them days. Lol. As for the repowers. Get over yourself, it’s your job...you go where your told, not where you want.

The last repower not only earned you more money (which you’re crying about) it also gave you an empty trailer (which you needed).

An old supervisor of mine had the perfect saying. “Suck it up Buttercup, this is trucking”. That rings true. Life sucks & often is not fair. If you want more control, you need to put enough time in, while saving enough money & buy a truck.

If it were my job, i’d hang in there. Until something better comes along that is.

 

Well that's just it... how many trailer fixes does it take before you quit?

I don't get breakdown or detention pay, so I'm not getting paid to babysit trailers and fix stupid things.

 

Yep, that's why I don't think speaking with a manager is a great idea, but I've been dealing with a lot of maintenance issues lately, so I just might say something.

 

My first two companies at least knew how to keep track of their equipment. If these people are so disorganized that they don't know where their trailers are, don't know if they're loaded or not, and have to go through 17 layers of management to allow you to go find the equipment you need to do your job...well, I drove for companies like that as well, and didn't last too long there. Just sayin.'

 

No, it's the first time I had that particular problem...

FYI, the saga continues. TA road squad showed up 2 hours late last night, and the mechanic checked it out, said he didn't know what the problem was, and eventually left without solving anything.

My company's after hours dispatch eventually told me maintenance would get on it in the morning. Since then, I've spent the night at shipper, and haven't heard a peep from my company this morning (they've been at work for 2 hours).

I'm currently asking shipper to crossdock load onto another trailer.

 

A good working relationship between the driver and their company is critical in my opinion. As we all know, trucking is not a normal job. Since we dont know what your experience level is, its a bit difficult to advise. If you are an experienced driver with a good record, there is no reason to tollerate that crap...and no...you don't have to " suck it up buttercup". The only person who has your best interest in mind is you, and you have the power to change it in today's job market. Good Luck.

 

I actually worked for a small company before this, and this type of stuff was the norm there. I'm beginning to think this is just trucking.

 

Not all companies are that disorganized.

 

Very sound advice. The only detail is that I already had an empty to take to the repower, so repower wasn't necessary for getting an empty.

Yes, your post makes me wonder how many jobs some of these other posters have had. I bet a lot