Why is it so hard to find good drivers?

It's weird to keep drivers waiting for their truck to get inspected without paying drivers indeed. I can see the company's point there though. If a truck breaks down over the road company doesn't want to have to hire mobile service or take a truck to a shop which might be significantly more expensive and time-consuming than that of their in-house shop. And drivers are going to make sure that their trucks are fixed and maintained properly in the company's shop. This way drivers can't blame anyone but themselves for failed roadside inspections, delayed pickups and deliveries, and expensive towing with roadside repairs.

I hate to say it but it looks like bean-counters at your nephew's company are more responsible to their investors and bottom-line profits than you were while managing your own company; your accountant-wife figured that out quickly and "made" you sell the trucks.

 

Didn’t take a lot of high level math to figure out I was working a lot more hours and stressed out a lot more and making LESS money with five trucks than with just one .
I figured that one out all by myself.

and didn’t take a lot of effort to get me to sell the extra trucks since I was losing money every month.


the mistake I made was thinking that a hired driver was going to work as hard as I did. And thinking that they were going to treat my trucks like I treated them.

learned that lesson the expensive way.
Sold two of the trucks to the guys driving them , and got the company they were leased on with to deduct the payments from their weekly settlement and mail it to me. Traded the last truck for some cash and a classic car.

Started my new 8-5 job the next week.
Man , that was nice to walk out the door at quitting time and not think about the job or the problems there , until 8am the next day.


The bean counters at the company my nephew works for have a pretty good handle on what works for them .

they found a niche market and serve that market well. They order a new truck spec’ed for their type of use , takes about 6-9 months to get them built and delivered , and get rid of the used trucks the month before the warranty expires. They have very few breakdowns , it happens but not often, last one was a wiped camshaft on a truck with less than 150k so it had to be a factory defect somehow,
They change the oil every 10k

most of the trucks have less than 250k on em when they sell them at the end of the warranty

when the depreciation runs out and you’re gonna have to start paying income tax on the profit the truck makes. And the warranty runs out and you’re going to have to start paying for the repairs, if you have the $$ the best thing is to sell it and buy another new one
.but not everyone has $225k for a new truck every three years .

 

At least you admit your mistake in misjudging drivers, unlike this unhappy Chinese Tesla owner.

 

You can’t find good drivers because there are no good drivers who are unemployed.

if they have a clean driving credit and criminal history and a few years driving experience and any motivation at all,
Then they already have a good job at a place that treats them well and pays them well ,like UPS or they already have their own rig .

 

While I think most of the basics on this topic has been covered, I have a slightly different take on it, It isn't just Drivers and it isn't just this industry, I honestly think that this same exact question is being asked in every industry, every day. Work ethic was already at a low point in the work force, now you have the added stresses of welfare/unemployment checks paying more than some jobs, not trucking of course but in general. I honestly just don't see the "Drive" to do better in peoples eyes any more. I'm not saying what is happening will be better or worse in the long run, But it will definitely be DIFFERENT!

 

YepAs customers start coming back to Metro Atlanta restaurants, will the workers?

 

Exactly, And although I usually side with small businesses, some of this, esp. in the food/restaurant sector is of their own doing. My ex and I used to own/run a restaurant, while all the other food places paid 2.00 per hour plus tips, we started our waitresses at minimum wage (7.45 at that time) PLUS tips, and they kept ALL their tips, no splitting. Even thou we were in a very small town, we never had a help issue. Take advantage of people long enough, and soon you will have no people.

 

I know a woman who threw her tip (coins) behind a customers' car as an older couple were leaving the diner's parking lot. I guess, the customer called the owner of the diner to complain. That waitress had a plastic surgery bill to pay for working for less than a minimum wage and worked at that diner for several years since the diner opened its doors, so nothing happened to her.

 

Most of the newer generation of people really don't have ambition to achieve anymore, free govt money is right up their alley!

 

They just don't want to earn the stripes, I have seen people complain about how they make so little money but the moment someone mentioned overtime or extra responsibility they are the first one to run away.. also just because you have a degree doesn't mean you are making alot of money... The sad part is that in alot of cases you are not special when you work with 500 other people with the same basket weaving degree so you can't stand out in a billion years so they give up and start complaining about equality online getting that digital dopamine...as drivers we tend to earn our reputation differently