Question:
EnSoledad
Senior member
Joined: 29 Jan 2005
Posts: 78
Location: Ohio
Posted: Sun May 08, 2005 9:00 pm Post subject:
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What we have to remember is that the "trucking industry" is a very large, diverse field. It includes OTR, LTL, small-package delivery (ala FedEx, UPS, DHL), linehaul, local delivery, buses, specialized niche hualers, mining trucks, construction, etc.
So one person could be pulling reefer for a bottom-feeding, dweller company like CR England and say that trucking stinks, while another might be working linehaul at Yellow or delivering expensive cars and think trucking is great. Get these two drivers together on a messageboard, and you'll have a never-ending flame war. Who's right? They both are.
I don't think trucking overall stinks, but even the most diehard drivers out there have to admit that running OTR for one of the large mega-carriers is really a bad deal.
Who in their right mind likes spending weeks on the road away from their loved ones? Who thinks HHMG is a fair pay system (as in drive 1000 miles and get paid for 900)? Or giving 2 free hours of our time to the shipper/reciever/carrier when we bump the dock? As an OTR driver, I don't get paid to fuel the company's truck, inspect the company's equipment, drop and hook the company's trailers, scale the company's load, or sweep the company's trailer (even had to buy my own broom). If I have to fingerprint a load, I get paid $12.00/hour after the first hour - do you think think it's fair that I give that 1st hour of busting my (edited) to the company for free?
Out of the 13 drivers in my orientation group, I'm the only one still driving almost a year later. Are those other 12 folks wash-outs or failures like the pro-trucking crowd says? I don't think so. I think they looked at all the long hours living on the road, the free labor, and the small paychecks and got out, joining the annual 130% churn in the OTR sector.
My advice as a soon-to-be-ex-newbie to someone thinking about getting into OTR is to think long and hard before signing on that dotted line. Unless it's a local, regional, or dedicated job where you get paid a fair wage for the time you put in, then don't do it. It's not worth it.

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verey well put cheapshot . I think you said alot of what realy needed to be said and in a verey good way. My hat is off to ya .
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cheapshot didn't say anything. Government Ain't YO' Friend. Nor your Servant.
A Tax Reduces Incentive & Capacity. A Regulation is also a TAX.


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as per the norm more cheap shots .get a life sams
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per the usual reading comprehension disorder round here Read the title again sailing35
I don't mind the work involved with doing the job, it's how my time is thought of being expendable at my own expense that bothers me. Well stated EnSoledad

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Also well put Gratton. I had those same feelings. They quickly go away when you realize "it is always gunna be like this if you don't find a niche job, and continue working for a coolie carrier". ( I am embarrassed I stuck it out for 5 1/2 years)
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At this point you explore options, get out of the OTR dweller society with yer DAC intact.
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BTW Thanks all for correcting the guy who thought I wrote "The Truth".
The credit for that, of course, is member EnSoledad, as stated.

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It all depends on "who" you work for.
Starting out is the most difficult for most. The cost of school, the available carrier training choice, etc.
There are a lot of truck drivers that do very well in trucking and no, their not on these forums crying and whinning. Their out there making very good money
Too many of the people on this forum think TruckNet is "THE WORLD"
WRONG>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Try again!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There are over 3 million truck drivers in this Country, yet, there is a only a fraction of the "memberlist" on TruckNet. Of that total Memberlist are truck drivers that don't even live in the U.S. or drive a truck.
Break that memberlist down further and you'll only find a handfull that are the same ones, day in and day out, crying and whining on TruckNET. The same people/small group, crying every single day, 24/7/365.

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Are you serious? Sheesh...a real trucker ain't happy if he ain't bitchin.
Turn on the CB and you'll hear boatloads of whining and crying all the livelong day. And don't tell me only a handful of drivers have CBs, either. Turn on Truckin' Bozo or Dave Nemo and 80% of the call-ins are guys bitchin about something or other. The other day they were mad as hornets about Indiana raising the fine to $500.00 for parking on ramps. Stopped at Flying J on my last run and a driver was screaming into the phone "I TOLE YOU I WANTED TO BE HOME THIS WEEKEND YOU $&%&%&%&!". Little kids and women walking around - he could care less. Was checking into Food Lion last week and two drivers got into a shoving match right on the dock. Both were permanently banned from the facility. And when I'm at one of the company terminals, I stay the hell away from the driver's lounge. It's a 24/7 rerun with the exact same cast of characters: experienced drivers bitchin about the greenhorns. Greenhorns bitchin about the dispatchers. Mechanics bitchin about drivers tearing up the trucks. And everybody bitchin about Swift.
It was the same when I was in the service. Everybody bitched and moaned about everything. It's just the nature of the job.
It's one thing to (edited) and moan like alot of truckers do. Quite another to have a rational discussion on Trucknet about things wrong with the industry. And there ARE things wrong with this industry - even a supertrucker like yourself has to admit that.
So stick that up yer' pipe and smoke it.
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I saw this dak1, and I had to...had to say....."Well no $hit Sherlock!"
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Go ahead and reply, of course, say whatever you would like to , of course and I will read it and keep my mouth shut. You can have the last word here, and if you could keep it short, that would be great.
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I would appreciate it if we could leave this thread intact, no pizzing match, ok?
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My only intention was to expose as many people as possible to member EnSoledad's reply in another thread(pizzing match )........on the newbie board.
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What you wrote EnSoledad....deserves a thread of it's own.
BE SAFE ALL.[/i]

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at werners terminals it seemed to be a contest about who could take the most abuse from the company and top the other drivers i got screwed story,i was surprised when I went to crete and at first it was nothing like that.They went down hill over the years

The company can sure make the job even worse,i saw that between werner & crete
A lot of the things drivers complain about aren't related to the name on the door of the truck.
A guy at a dock asked me how's crete to driver for,I replied "well for a trucking company not too bad.he told me to back it right in.once he started unloading me he told me he used to drive,but the job sucks so bad now that he got out of it.I would probably be still sitting there if i told the guy crete was a good company to drive for
all it comes down to, is after a really bad experiance at one of the major training companies,most other companies will look good,but for somebody who had a good trucking job years ago,all of todays trucking jobs look like the pits.
Lana Batts, former president of the Truckload Carriers Assn. (TCA) and an employee of the American Trucking Assns. (ATA)

http://www.heavydutytrucking.com/2005/01/010a0501.asp
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There's no doubt trucking has become a very easy job to get into. Because of that it attracts people who otherwise wouldn't work at all.
Then there's the other side of the coin. The average person who simply wants to get ahead in life and make a little more money. Some already have good jobs. But they run in to the recruiters who lie about the job and wages and the training schools along with many drivers who will hype the job out of proportion and make these new people think their going to enjoy the easy OTR "Lifestyle". These companies and people use catchy little phrases like paid unloading, home weekends, average driver makes XX amount of money and so on. So the new person thinks their looking at an above average job that will be a piece of cake and the money will start coming in. Unfortunatly for most it will never happen and they'll be stuck with one big company after another until they can quite or realize their so far in the hole they may never get out.
For the average person starting today, trucking will never be what they thought it would be and the loss will be greater than most can afford. Longevity in no way guarantees a great income. If it did drivers with 30 years experience wouldn't be hopping from job to job. Some are fortunate and find that area of trucking that suits them and provides a good living. Most do not.

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to much hot air in this forum!!!!!! what a JOKE
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Not hearing enough warm & fuzzy crap to make you feel good about yourself, huh?

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Coming from a guy that couldn't get hired because of his background.
Give it a few more years and some one will suck you up.

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I am a veteran of internet forums, having participated in a couple for a couple years, posting over 2k messages, and reading over 300k in that time. One thing I realized very early on is that forums like these are a great place to beetch. There is a very small percentage of people in the arena who post in places like this, and they ALL have something to say.... Some want to complain and become your "Amway Friend" (a person you dont know hearing you are thinking of joining Amway and instantly becomes your friend, trying to discourage you from joining that "scam"), and others want to share stories and interact with others they can relate to. The latter generally understand that whatever theyt are into isnt perfect, but aaccept it, and like to talk to others who also accept it.
With that in mind, I approach this board with my eyes wide open. I am new here, and am working toward a career in trucking. I purposely sought out forums like this so I could hear the detractors, and the flame-fests that inevitably come with it. I know better than to believe the recruiters completely. I wanted to hear the BAD things people in the biz are saying, because it gives me an insight as to what I may be saying in a year. It gives me ammunition to fight it.
Rule number one: Dont feed the trolls! They serve a needed role in a forum. Accept they are here, and do not give them any more of a reason to post. I am not, BTW, singling anyone out as a troll... its just a bit of wisdom I was taught a long time ago.
Anyway, I wanted to make my first post, and this seemed to be a good thread to do it in. Assuming my plans continue to advance, you should see more of me in here, initially asking a lot of, well, newbie questions!