Why do most new drivers quit?

As long as I get my own truck to live in and don't have to share it with another student I am all for it. Would be a good way to get acclimated to that lifestyle without the other pressures of doing the job.

 

Money is the main motivator but it isn't the only thing, not with me. I am not interested in any job that pays very well, but makes me miserable because I hate it. I have had those before and life is too short to do them again. I would much rather find a job I liked and adjust my expenditure to suit the income from it.

 

Why new drivers quit
1. Becuz most new drivers realize looking for a place to squat/pizz at the customers warehouse bushes, while parked overnight, was never mentioned in training or at orientation.
2. That driving beyond the 14 hour on duty period can be " amended" in the QUALCOMM when it's in the company's favor. True.
3. That speeding to make the delivery appointments is encouraged by the company despite the "safety" dept telling you it's not. And your are responsible or any and all tickets and dinged on DAC report for failing to deliver on time.
4. That company recruiters will lie and tell you things to bring you on board so they can hit their bonus numbers. They figure once you are there that you will not want to lose the two weeks you already invested.
5. Becuz living in the truck and being pushed to run 14 hour plus days while illegally placing your duty status in the off duty status while still technically on duty is only way to hit all your deliveries and encouraged by the company.
6. They honestly calculated their pay per hour......and realize they made $2.50 an hour
7. Your trainer tells you to not worry about conducting a full DVIR/Pre trip on the new trailer you just picked up...without realizing you are personally responsible for any ticket that results from the DOT inspection.

 

If I'm not free to do as I please I'm still at work off duty or not.. out 30 days is 720 hours at 3000 a month is 4.1 dollars an hour and no family gf kids.. new drivers are smarter than old ones...

 

I'm on my second stretch as a trucker. I first tried out the job quite a few years ago but only stayed a few months. Now I've been back for enough years to have a hash mark if this was the military. I quit the first time for a several reasons, but the main one would have to be a serious lack of leadership and encouragement at the two companies I started with. I'm not afraid to mention their names. At CR England the so called trainer I had freely admitted he was just doing the trainer gig for the extra money. I felt like I was working with a zombie. Orientation was a joke. All the desk jockies could say was stuff like "If you think your going to be able to do this and that, your in the wrong place"

My next stop was the big orange beast Schnieder. Orientation there was even less uplifting. The branch manager gave us this sorry ##* speech about what a rewarding career this was but emphasizing all the sacrifices involved. Then he had everybody in the group go around the table, intro themselves and tell the reasons you got into trucking and what you expected to get out of it. After nearly everybodys reply he said some kind of negative remark. "Well, you might find that difficult" or "You might want to rethink that" The trainer there made the first one I had look like a Harvard Professor. he was a braggart, a loudmouth and at the end of each day said "Think its tough now? Guess what, it gets worse.

 

Oh yeah. My earliest seduction to this crazy job was Sonny and Will on Movin' On

 

I've gotten a ton of great info from this site.

 

Yup great site helps me out ..no matter what your experience level

 

HA.

You will still get lost in the broad light of day. The steep mountain is even worse by day when you really see how bad it is. The only time I worried about night is along the red river in Oklahoma where the fencing is not well kept and bulls get out. The hides of those monsters are the same color as a pavement. You wisely kept a car in front. They usually do the hitting of same.

It's really tough out there I made it through most of my life because it's what I lived for. Aint too many like me.

What newbies will be run out on is a dispatcher intent on burning them out in 90 days or less. Every night is a overnight delivery after waiting all day to load. Eventually they have to quit.

Lepton1 hit on another important thought. For everyone of me, there has to be a number of snowflakes who wont do anything. They run themselves out of the industry.

Being new is even more tough for all the things you don't yet know. But will learn. FAST if you are smart enough to do so. Otherwise you paid for your learning through blood, sweat and tears. And hopefully never by allowing that semi to take another life including your own.

 

Any updates...lol...I've seen many come n go over the years...n a few stay...I like these old threads