why is turnover so high?

But let's be honest here guys. If trucking paid an average of 100k a year turnover would still be higher than other professions. Most people don't want to work away from home for any length of time, it's just the way it is. Great paying jobs are available in trucking, I know I have one, but it took time. It also took me getting out of vans and excepting the fact that I was going to have to run to make good money. So many drivers want to be home every weekend and drive a van, they never branch out to other types of trucking. I'm not saying the industry doesn't have some big problems, I'm really not. What I'm saying is trucking is trucking and you can't change the fact that freight needs to move a long way, and that means time away from home.

Local work is usually 12 to 14 hours a day plus commute time. Regional work is usually paid less as you don't have time or the freight lanes to get your miles. There are exceptions to all of this of course.

Another factor is that so many people jump into this industry without doing even basic research. England's school is full this week and it will be full next week. Most of those drivers will leave but none of that matters. People will still go, and be thankful of the "great deal" they're getting.

Trucking has been good to me, I have made my money, been treated fairly and I have little stress. That's been my experience, but I can see how easily someone could have a different outcome.

 

Good for you, I am going out with my third mentor tomorrow, I have been told by several that he is a good mentor...Thank you God. These companies really need good mentors cause it is not fair to put a good respectful and honest person with a whacko for weeks. I have a really hard time calling it training when you are not able to communicate what you are doing, hello I am here because I need to know the Qualcomm, get some backing, trip planning etc. Getting with someone who cannot make their mind up, take loads then refuse them after you have been back trying to sleep expecting to be driving in a couple of hours then the mentor decides he does not want to do, your trying to sleep with heat on in 65 weather and radio blasting in front and back. I believe in being respectful to others and trying to find a middle, if you cannot do that then one of you will be miserable and it will not work good.

 

Finding good trainers is a tough thing for any company to do. I think I was a good trainer but I won't train again. So many good drivers out there feel the same way, it's tough to stock a training department. But there is no excuse for a bad trainer staying in that position.

 

The $ is just not there anymore ,...most find out the hard way ,they can't make enough $ to support their families and support themselves living in a semi ,this job is 24/7 without the pay ,it will not change until there is no one willing to get it there for them .....i wouldn't even think for one single minute about going OTR
.....not to mention all the other BS that goes with this job

 

Lol, I am not going to talk crap but how long did you give it? There is all of that in trucking but there is also a better relaxing side too that you obviously never gave the time to see and it saddens me to hear that. The first year , no matter where you go, is dealing with the ugly side of trucking and sometimes a little longer. You see how not to be in some situations, you learn if you do not want to be sitting around to start looking for another load before you are even finished with the first etc, but most of all you learn to ask questions to the descent and safe drivers who have been out here for a long time and can give you pointers on how to get to the enjoying part. There are more sides to trucking then any other industry and you can find one you like but it takes time. As far as dirty, how clean do you think some people are making your food at a restaurant?

 

Third times a charm,hopefully this will be your last trainer.Far as needing good trainers,I agree but unfortunately companies don't see it that way.They're in it for the money.

 

There are many valid reasons on here, but one that seems to be missing is a hard exterior. Meaning, one must first prove themselves to be competent and more importantly profitable to their company... Then, they need to stand up to the boss... big time. Meaning if asked to do something questionable, tell them to go to HE double hockey sticks... Moreover, these same individuals MUST also contradict this at times and actually do things less questionable to remain a profitable part of the company. It's a song and dance few people are willing to play, once they actually make it to the better money jobs.

 

Thanks pattyj, I hope so too. And, I know it is not always the mentor, I have seen some crazy people going in that I would like to bop in the head lol. But, I do know I will be sticking it out until they tell me no.

 

The shame is not in the trying and failing the shame is the way you are conducting yourself .
You seem to have a need to feel superior to those that have made it in this job .
Folks like me are the ones you claimed to want to be like by being professional running legally and safely .

I don't care what you think, I care that you are claiming to know more about trucking and the way things are done in trucking than you really do .
I care the that you are claiming that everyone in trucking and anything to with it are below your superior intellect and knowledge of all things trucking .
Just because you didn't get the world you wanted in trucking you seem to have vendetta against the industry and everyone in it .
You have not seen the inside of the trucking industry .
All you have seen is the inside of two shady companies as describe them.

We as an industry are not perfect by any stretch of the imagination and I would never claim that it is .
I would also not claim that the industry as a whole was lying, hypocrisy, slobs, misplaced arrogance, fake chivalry, piss bottles, exploitation, unpaid work, third world stuff.

As for my attitude being the reason that people take such a dim view of truckers as a group that is just laugh out loud funny .
I am one of the few people in trucking that is proud of my profession.
I believe over all truckers are good people doing a thankless job and doing it proudly and safely despite what people like to think of them .
I will not just sit by and let people come on here and spew hate and ignorance and not stand up for a group of honest hard working individual's .
I also think you are a driver and hate the job you should quit and go something that makes you happy life is to short to do something that makes you miserable !!

I don't have a problem with you pointing out your experience at all I do have a problem with the way you are painting everyone in the industry.
A good exchange of differing views is a good thing .
Spewing hate and discontent and name calling does nothing for anyone .

Once again I wish you all the happiness in life and may your next endeavor be a profitable one

 

If nobody ever says anything about conditions in the industry, nothing will ever change.
Whistle-blowers get tarred and feathered. I'm just telling the truth, not attacking individual men and women who work hard despite the conditions in the single most critical industry in the United States.

I'm not painting all truckers with the broad brush, but I'm absolutely painting the specific ones I encountered that way.
I'm also not claiming to know more than I do, but what I know is plenty.
I just haven't been indoctrinated and institutionalized like you have. With all due respect.
Fresh eyes, you know? Not 33 years of being beaten at the wheel.
No vendetta, just truth. TRUTH.
I know that #### hurts sometimes.

The trucking industry is schizophrenic on its face and that indoctrination begins in CDL school with the hypocrisy of learning the DOT pre-trip that nobody does in real life. legally required post-trip? What's that? The charade just carries on from there, over and over again: here's your rule, here's how you get around it. Then you've got the cops and DOT who are the straight men in this joke of a Coyote and Roadrunner kabuki dance.

It's absurd on its face, driver. To say otherwise is to be clinically delusional.
Oh, and I'm not done with trucking. Not by a long shot.
I'm going to keep working this industry for all it's worth.
Things need to change.

It's a shame you feel so personally attacked by my description of my experiences.
Sorry you have so much invested in a job that you feel the need to feel that way about it.

I actually have grown a tremendous respect for the drivers who do this job, but you never gave me a chance to get to that part.
Nothing but respect. Not everybody can do the job, but not everybody should do the job, either.