Question:
Please allow me vent for a few moments. Although I am just a newbie in everyones eyes, just over a month with CRST, I am sick and tired of reading message boards with people complaining about low miles, no freight and companies cheating them.
Here is my 2 cents worth:
Keep out of truckstops!!!!!!!
15 minutes to change drivers, and keep the wheels rolling.
The last 2 weeks have got 6300 miles and 7400 miles, all leagal!!!! (We run team, this is team miles)
I have personnaly talked to a few disgruntled drivers who were getting low miles and after asking them how many times they have been late they responded: Everyone is late that is how it works!! Well Duh!! that is your answer to low miles. Just drive, keep your dispatcher updated and be safe.
Thats it thanks for letting me vent.
Still loving my 2nd career of trucking!
John

Answer:
those are also the same guys you hear talking about I will not take a load unless it has 1000 miles or more or I don't go there I'll sit and wait for a better load.

Answer:
While it is true many drivers do sabatoge themselves with being constantly late on loads, refusing to run in certain parts of the country or by refusing to take those short hauls, there are also many drivers who do nothing wrong beyond refusing to pull a bad trailer, or drive a truck that is unsafe, of run illegal who end up getting shafted on miles left and and right.
I will always be a mutter trucker at heart.
Answer:
Uturn, couldn't that one be cured or atleast greatly reduced by going with a carrier that maintains a newer fleet of equipment?
If drivers are maintaining their trailers along the way, i.e. light bulbs, tire inflation, and reporting mechanical problems instead of sticking it to the next person that gets it (Before beheading me, I am referring to the drivers that do this, if you don't then this would obviously not pertain to you), then that would cut lot of that problem out also. I am sure that there is always a few that will drop a trailer that they limped to the warehouse, D/H, kept their mouth shut so they wouldn't have to deal with it and basically burned their "fellow" driver. I think if a company were to keep track of how many times a load was delayed due to trailer maintenance before it even left the dock, you could get a feel for who, as a rule, leaves trailers in this condition, then weed their happy arses out?!?!?
It sucks when your equipment takes a crap on you, no doubt about it. The trucking industry tends not to look out for the person it happens too (from what I have read) but the only thing that makes it really bitterly annoying, is when the person purposely left it for the next sorry sap to deal with. This happens in every industry, the difference being, in every OTHER industry, you still get paid while cleaning up the mess, in TRUCKING, it costs YOU! Weed out the blatant jerks. Am I understanding things correctly??? Would that help things???
Love is blind and marriage is an institution. If you fall in love and get married, it's an institution for the blind.

Answer:
First let me state that I am fresh out of CDL school and I still don't know my arse from my elbow. With that said, I have spoken to a number of whiny drivers who have nothing good to say about their companies, the trucking industry, or life in general. The world is against them at every turn. They can do no wrong... the world is out to get them.
Trucking is a business. The drivers, carriers, shippers, receivers are all in business to make money; not to please truck drivers. I have found in my former career and in life, you generally get back what you put forth; good or ill. Many of the whiny bunch that I have spoken to feel that the world owes them a living. They feel that they do not need to manage relationships with their dispatchers, management, shippers and receivers. Wrong! If you want to be succesfull in any endeavor you must know how to relate to people in a manner that makes them want to do business with you; regardless of whether you are a company driver, O/O, or shoe salesman. A positive cooperative attitude goes a long way.
If you don't like your company then quit.
If you don't like the trucking industry then find a new career.
If you don't like dealing with people then crawl under a rock and hide.
Just don't expect me to listen to you whine about how horribly the world is treating you. I really don't care. And I expect that nobody else does either.
So suck it up and Kwicherbichen!

Answer:
What's CRST pay you per mile?
Are you on their 20/10 program? If not, is that limited to drivers with X amount of experience or is it your choice?
Right now I'm thinking about getting into trucking next year after I get more cash put away and CRST would get a look from me b/c of 20/10. I can't say that I'd like teaming (unless I could sucker one of my buddies into trying it) but I can't see driving to spend 5 days a month at home--it strikes me as a hard way to end my lifelong bachelorhood.
"I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy."

Answer:
Originally posted by Willin:
Just don't expect me to listen to you whine about how horribly the world is treating you. I really don't care. And I expect that nobody else does either.
So suck it up and Kwicherbichen!
Yep, yep!!! Right Arm!!! You betcha!!!!!!!!
###########################################################
I ride for those who can't! POW/MIA - You are NOT forgotten!!
Information is power!! The question not asked is the opportunity missed!!
My other vehicle is a '99 Electra Glide!!!! I ride for those who can't! POW/MIA - You are NOT forgotten!!
Lead, Follow or get out of my way!!!

Answer:
I stopped my whining and (edited) when I realized that most people didn't care and the rest of them were happy that I had those problems.
"We have met the enemy, and he is us." pogo

Answer:
Only when drivers demand pay for the on duty
not driving time you will see an improvement
with the leave for the next guy aspect.
The more miles means better pay mentality
is the real problem.
Mike
Answer:
Originally posted by Newfman:
Uturn, couldn't that one be cured or atleast greatly reduced by going with a carrier that maintains a newer fleet of equipment?
Properly maintained equipment is properly maintained equipment regardless if it is 1 month old or 15 years old. More often than not it is up to the drivers to report problems and get them fixed but there are too many who will turn a blind eye to problems if they know they will be getting rid of that trailer soon because they do not want to take the time to get it fixed.
If drivers are maintaining their trailers along the way, i.e. light bulbs, tire inflation, and reporting mechanical problems instead of sticking it to the next person that gets it (Before beheading me, I am referring to the drivers that do this, if you don't then this would obviously not pertain to you), then that would cut lot of that problem out also. I am sure that there is always a few that will drop a trailer that they limped to the warehouse, D/H, kept their mouth shut so they wouldn't have to deal with it and basically burned their "fellow" driver. I think if a company were to keep track of how many times a load was delayed due to trailer maintenance before it even left the dock, you could get a feel for who, as a rule, leaves trailers in this condition, then weed their happy arses out?!?!?
Most companies could care less. It is a sad part of the industry. As long as the load get there on time in one piece they are happy, and more often than not if it is late due to having to get a problem fixed that was left it is the current driver who is doing his job that gets the blame for the load being late not the last driver who had the trailer who will come back and say "Oh it was fine when I dropped it. Must have happened at the warehouse."
It sucks when your equipment takes a crap on you, no doubt about it. The trucking industry tends not to look out for the person it happens too (from what I have read) but the only thing that makes it really bitterly annoying, is when the person purposely left it for the next sorry sap to deal with. This happens in every industry, the difference being, in every OTHER industry, you still get paid while cleaning up the mess, in TRUCKING, it costs YOU! Weed out the blatant jerks. Am I understanding things correctly??? Would that help things???
Yes it would help but more often then not it is these same jerks who have no problems with taking that hot load. Who have no problem falsifying log books to run 4,000 miles every 6 days every week and so on. In the eyes of a lousy fleet manager these drivers are the ones who are "cooperative".
I will always be a mutter trucker at heart.
Answer:
Hmm, that kinda' sucks. So, if I Drop and hook at a warehouse somewhere, and do my PTI and report two rear clearance lights and a seperating tire on the trailer I am picking up and an air leak on the one I am dropping off, then I'm not a team-player, I lose pay on the trailer I pick up, and the driver who gets my previou trailer gets to deal with the air leak, because that trailer will remain in service. It seams like this would cost the companies money for delays. I guess I will just have to learn to suck it up
Love is blind and marriage is an institution. If you fall in love and get married, it's an institution for the blind.

Answer:
congradulations,average for the 2 weeks is 3425 per driver,per week and on your off hours,you are trapped in a box,while the other driver works.
I'm sure you will enjoy 30 to 40 years of working like you are.
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"I ain't paying somebody to work"
Would sooner work and complain about not getting paid for it.
Answer:
Zig give the guy a break at least he's doing what he wants. Not everybody has a standup gig like you..At least you make it look that way. What a deal!!! seeee yaaaa
sandpiperx

Answer:
I was an EMT-1 with GoodHew (bought by MedTrans) Ambulance in L.A. For a few years. My first partner kinda sucked and made the days suck. My next partner was great, we became good friends and still are though we are on opposite coasts now. We shared an ambulance, smaller than a Freightliner and less comfortable. We were on 12 hour shifts with 3 hour mandatory hold over when requested, which was almost every day. We were at the mercy of a dispatcher that played favorites and we paid the price. We ran non stop back to back calls, very few were 911 since we weren't the favored crew. Mostly Private calls and inter-facility transports. Buried in traffic quite often with a patient circling the drain and idiots not pulling to the right for our lights and sirens. Got stress? I have been beat-up by psych. patients, pissed on puked on, bled on and worse. I have been shot at and had a brick thrown thru my windshield running Code-3 down Compton Blvd in South Central. All this for $7.10 per hour (plus over-time ). But, through it all, we managed to have a hell of alot of fun, until there was no more to be had. I survived it and it became tollerable because I had a great Partner. If I still had that first partner, I probably would have shot him or quit. (euphamistically speaking, ofcourse) That team driving stuff. . .could be great, could really suck
Truth is stranger than fiction, because fiction has to make sense.

Answer:
"Please allow me vent for a few moments. Although I am just a newbie in everyones eyes, just over a month with CRST, I am sick and tired of reading message boards with people complaining about low miles, no freight and companies cheating them."
wait untill the new wears off and he will join the complainers.
Getting a CDL is exciting,getting you first job is exciting.so is climbing MT. Everest you acheived something.Turn climbing MT. Everest into a job and climbing the mountain will suck after awhile.The first time the climber comes down,all they can talk about is being on the top of the world,after a few times they will complain about the snow,wind,danger.ect.
"Not everybody has a standup gig like you"
Whats standup about my gig,running the NY metro area,you have got to be kidding,the good part is I'm no longer getting cheated out of my time,I'm getting paid for all of it.
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"I ain't paying somebody to work"
Would sooner work and complain about not getting paid for it.