why is turnover so high?

people actually listen to Road Dog? I listenened to a day of it once and it was full of boring hosts who don't have a personality (none of them do) all their callers are unhappy people who are desperate for human contact and many of them blame everyone else for their problems. I seriously considered cancelling my sirus just to avoid them, yes I know there are other channels, but they also are full of the same type of people.

how do you teach somebody to live on the road, 90% of them are trained as a team and then sent solo, sometimes broke and know very little, 2 years out here and i'm starting to get trip planning. (thank God i'm with a company who has a 0% on-time so I can practice)

I hate being alone with my thoughts, because I take things apart, which is depressing, and I forget my thoughts making me feel worthless. or I think up jokes that I forget. I also think up stories but that just reminds me that I can't do anything

 

This is exactly right in my experience because it happened to me. Spot on.

Luckily, I didn't need a truck to find out I liked myself -- I walked 1,734 miles in the woods to find that out.
When I finally got in the truck, I had no problem with who I was.

Finished a five-week community college CDL course and was in the office of my first company interviewing that same afternoon.

I actually enjoyed driving the truck and it wasn't hard work. However, I found all the accompanying nonsense to be onerous ... the idiot trainers I had who ran illegal tiring me out, who had me run with my tandems all the way back (violating the 41-foot law)(and yes I know, greenhorn. I argued with him in the parking lot over sliding the tandems, but he told me what to do), who stood in parking lots at shippers yelling at me and waving arms while I tried to back to the dock, running absolutely exhausted, being coached to cheat the logs, told to run over the speed limits to make more money and complete runs quicker, all of it was just too much bull ####e piled on top of actually trying to teach myself to drive the truck safely in mountains, rain, fog, city, country, day, night, all of it, with 44K of beer or auto parts in the box. It was the company culture.
Not a good place for a greenhorn driver, no way.

The 6,000 miles I ran there was the stupidest and most dangerous experience of my life and I've done some stupid and dangerous stuff, including skydiving, scuba diving, mountaineering and rock climbing, getting in a small plane accident, kayaking, and driving incredibly too fast on some German highways. When I was finally freed from the oversight of the idiots, I did have a few personal victories backing into shippers and dropping trailers and such. When I was finally left on my own to just do the job, I enjoyed those times, but those moments were fleeting and outweighed by the nightmare of the experience as a whole.

But the idiots in the right-hand seat were just too much.
I don't care if I ever go back to trucks.
My kids don't want me to go.
They don't care if I'm starving.

I'll never go back to my first effed-up company and chances are excellent I'll never get in a truck again because of my negative experience there. It was what it was. I'm a better man for my experiences and I gave it 1,000 percent of my best effort and I kicked it in the nuts. Seeing the ugly underside of how a small cowboy company on paper logs runs was educational.

But it just wasn't for me. Now I have this bad-arsed Class A license in my pocket with all the endorsements and I'm petty proud of it, but it's of no practical use to me.

After all this, I felt the pressure not to quit, not to give up. So I made some phone calls and ended up going to one of the mid-range national carriers for orientation. I got to the part where we were in the yard driving around in the truck getting warmed up a road test, three days into orientation and hated being in the truck.

That instructor was an overbearing twatwaffle -- some real-life cartoon iteration of the Saturday Night Live version of the drunken Sean Connery but with a wicked Upper Wisconsin accent -- who thought it was necessary to scare us with tales of hookers and junkies who would shank us in drop yards for five dollars to buy a fix. Dude, I've been to biker bars. Anyway, he felt it was necessary to toss all of this general purpose aggressive attitude at the us newbie drivers as we drove, maybe to test our commitment or something. I was there, right? WTF do you want from me? Another moron in the right seat spouting gibberish. Twatwaffle.

So I screwed up my shifting and twatwaffle says he wouldn't take me out on the road shifting like this. I told twatwaffle I could float the gears up and down the range with 45K in the box and he said that floating would be unacceptable. No problemo, twatwaffle. At that moment all desire to drive a truck simply left my body. I decided I didn't love driving enough to endure this spanking line of washed-up jokers and "trainers" with mood disorders. I just didn't want to be there anymore. As all drivers know, anyone who doesn't want to be in a truck shouldn't be in a truck because people could get killed. I pulled the plug right there and went home the next day.

Despite my experience, I was under-trained to be driving a big truck and I knew it. Sure I could hook and drop and float an Eaton ten speed and get bills signed, but as a notable idiot once said to me: "Just because you like driving a truck doesn't mean you're qualified to do it." Thanks bub.
Because it's such a difficult and complex job, I guess. <sarcasm there>

When I left CDL school, I was hungry. I wanted to learn everything I could about driving as safely and efficiently as I could. I was a sponge for information and I was committed and driven to improve my lot in life with a new career and to secure my kids' future with one of those good, in-demand trucking jobs. But I have to say all of that enthusiasm got beaten out of me by the cynical mentally deranged fools who couldn't teach a pig to run, AS WELL AS the ridiculous realities of a completely irrational industry that treats its employees like disposable slaves.
I was supposed to respect these people? Enjoy this industry? Cheeeya.
So #### it.

Basically five months of my life.
End of story.
End of trucking.

I don't blame anyone for my experience. I certainly made an unknowingly bad choice for my first company. That experience pretty much put me off the whole industry with a punch in the gut and a kick to the head. I accidentally hit a magical grand slam of egregiously stupid interactions with some messed up people and tried to make the best of it, but my mind just couldn't contain the sheer magnitude of the cognitive dissonance given the limited capacity of my skull.

In trucking, the hours suck, the pay sucks, the people (some of them) suck, the cops and DOT suck, the working conditions suck, traffic sucks, the sleep schedule sucks, being away from home sucks, and the responsibility -- both from a legal and safety risk standpoint -- of driving a big rig is grotesquely, galactically, amazingly under-compensated.
Pay by the mile sucks and unpaid work sucks.

I'd say $90,000 is a fair salary for new truck drivers. Around $45 an hour.
When companies go there, they will have their drivers.
And never mind that cents-per-mile pay stupidity.

And the driver shortage continues ... don't believe a word of that lie.

 

That is the thing that really sucks... when we start in this industry we come in full of excitement, enthusiasm and a desire to learn.... but, we get put with trainers who not just make are time with them miserable, but also give us a verynarrow and slanted view of trucking....

I enjoy trucking today... but, if I had to roll like my first couple of trainers did.. I wouldnt...

That is actually why I just recently became a trainer.... I just got assigned a new trainee who got off another trainers truck... it was not a good experience. .. I went to the hotel and we sat outside at this little table and talked... wow, she had been througn quite the ordeal... for starters, her trainers truck was a cluttered mess... had a poorlyy trained puppy on board who had many accidents in the truck....

I wanted to ease her concerns about rolling around in a dirty truck so we went to my truck... and as soon as the door open a nice fresh scent rolled out.. we get in, it is clean, organized and has a great relaxing homey feel.. I bougnt material to cover the walls with... I like color.. I dont like the drab colors of the trucks interiors so I liven it up... I have what I need without a bunch of junk I think I may need... now, that took me a couple years to figure out, I loaded up my first truck with everything i may possibly ever need... now, I have learned I need space and unclutteredness ..

Anyway, after seeing my truck, meeting me and talking about things she felt better... I will pick her up in a couple of hours and we will roll....

I will do my best to give her quality training without all the drama and stupidity that some trainers put out..

 

Well I happen to like Road Dog and have talked with others who do as well....

You teach people how to live on the road by example... I keep myself and my truck clean and in good shape, I have a budget and stick to it.. it is only the last part of training that is team driving, for the first have I drive my normal day and then have the trainee drive 3 to 5 hours.. depending on their abilities. .. that way they get to see how I do and handle things.. I dont throw everything at them all at once...

After the first part of training we run team.. which gives them the opportunity to run full shifts by themselves as they would when tney are solo.. only they have a trainer they can wake up and for help any time they need...

 

The question you should be asking is "Why is the OTR turnover rate so high". It's not the same everywhere.

As much as some people hate unions, they need to ask themselves why unions don't have a turnover rate. It doesn't matter if the union is Teamsters or a smaller one. You're an idiot if you quit a union job.

 

Well there you are, right?
The reasons people don't leave those kinds of jobs: Good pay, they are protected (to some degree) from a-hole-ery from management, benefits, and good pay. Did I mention good pay and benefits?

Treat people right and they won't leave your cheap-### illegal-running psychotic bipolar company for a better one that treats driver like humans.

 

I find it hard to believe that people actually like Road Dog, I have tried to get into it but aside from Landline Now its just "The depressing peoples network" (which is why I think the network changes channels every year) they are boring hosts with no Personalities who deal with unhappy people, one time I actually heard a host say something depressing and demoralising. then another driver talked about how he was going to jump (and probably lynch) his boss so he waited outside the bathroom for an hour before security escorted him away. The host was stroking his ego making him look like the hero. Then all these people who call in daily and are basicly co-hosts have to use a phone, they can't actually have a studio? and plus they are "everyone is after me" people, they don't drive trucks but claim to stand up for our rights, I mean because OOIDA has stood up for so many rights (how'd that work out?) and don't get me started on the ATA. And then you have Mr Money guy (whoever he is) who somehow has all this money invested in all these studies, and also says "there is not a 1-size fits all gear-ratio" but then says everyone needs to run 57mph? Running 57 gets you killed out here. of course he encorages people to buy trailer tails, and trailer skirts, he has a relationship with these people, jerk. and please put some emotion in your show. Dave Ramsey at lease has emotion, he's a fraud (like this guy) but I don't care. and I feel like I am smarter than many of the callers who call in, which is an insult to those people.

but on to the second topic

the problem is these companies train like a team and then try to convince you you're not a team (not fooling me) I have a few ideas about how to improve training, i'll share them later on a different post, but they throw you out into a team and leave you to figure it out then get mad when you don't figure it out.

 

You say you don't blame anyone for your your experience???
From what I read here in your post all you have done is blame and call names and put it all on them that you did not have a good experience .
You come off in this post as just another newbee that thinks he is to good for and knows more than anyone trying to train him .
You are so much smarter and know so much more about safety and how to the job better than anyone could ever know how to so you cannot bear to do the job is how this post comes off from the way I read it .

You seem to be another failed truck driver wannabee that blames the industry for his failure.
All I have read in any post from you is your hatred of trucking companies and drivers and it just seems that you are very bitter that you cannot handle being a truck driver.

In another post you want to hear stories of failed marriages and messed up kids so you can prove your messed up view on trucking .
Anyone that blames any job on his or her failed marriage is just looking for something to blame their failure on like you are doing by blaming and hating on trucking for your failure .

You failed plain and simple so just get over it and yourself and go on with your life .
There is no need to go around spewing hate and discontent because you are bitter and need to feel better about yourself .
By spewing hatred and anger you are just coming off as a bitter loser and negating any legitimate point you may have had .
I hope you have a happy life and are able to get over it move on one day .

 

Oh please.
Aren't you a tough internet trucker?

Kind of the whole point of my post is that I expected to be trained better, by more competent people, and to run legally and safely.

What do you even care what I think?
I wrote my experience.
Would you rather I write something like, "The Holy Profession of Trucking was too complex and difficult for me and I tried, but I'm just a weak sniveling failure and I'm to blame for everything!"?
Would you prefer that?

Sorry dude, not going to bite.
Trucking is a choice, pure and simple.
I'm no shrinking violet and I let blame fall where it does.
Folks like you with your attitude are one of the reasons people take such a dim view of truckers as a group.

All I expected was a fair shot and that didn't happen for me.
Everyone has a different experience going through life.
And if I failed: SO WHAT? That doesn't bother me in the least.
But you seem to derive satisfaction hammering that point home, don't you?
I entered an industry that seems to be well populated with lots of people with low self-esteem who thrive on being exploited -- that's just not me. It's not how I roll. You feel free, though.

Maybe someone will learn from my experience.
Calling names?
You betcha.
The names I have for some of these people I cannot type here because this place would run out of pound signs.
But that makes me seem angrier than I am. The reality is that I'm just ####### appalled at what I found in this industry, the lying, the hypocrisy, the slobs, the misplaced arrogance, the fake chivalry, the piss bottles, the exploitation, the regulations, unpaid work, all of it. It's third world stuff. Nothing personal.

There's an Arabic saying that a donkey can manage his own affairs better than a wise man the affairs of other people.
Before you try to put your stinky trucker shoe in my backside and shove me out the door maybe you should adhere to some higher wisdom.

And no, I haven't failed. Having the guts to try a new industry from a cold start is in no way a failure.
Anybody who succeeds in life has also suffered plenty of failures, but you have to have the guts to try.
How can I be a failure for having seen the inside of the stinking mess that is the trucking industry and decided not to continue living in it?
Hell, for me, this is nothing but a win and another educational opportunity on the road of life.

I'm sure there are truckers who don't have the guts to try other things, but if they did and failed, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be on internet forums busting their chops for bringing a different perspective to the job.

Stay safe, driver.

 

Drivers quit before companies get the chance to fire them,lol.Turnover is so high because of low miles that don't compensate for the low pay.Detention is an embarrassing pay.Overall the pay is an insult to the drivers intelligence.Some drivers sit for days waiting for loads even waiting hrs can take a huge bite out of your paycheck.Companies hire more drivers then they have freight so the drivers are the real ones that suffer.Drivers are the backbone of the industry that gets paid the lowest.Companies could care less about their drivers because the inside staff is bringing home adequate checks.Most the drivers out there are living from paycheck to paycheck and having a real tough time.I could write a book on whats so wrong with this industry and why the high turnover rate.