Profile For Old School

We all miss her Stevo! Unfortunately she is gone. She passed away.

Take the advice given in this forum with a grain of salt. A lot of good information in here, but some stuff that’s just plain wrong.

This what you said earlier.

Now you claim 99% of what we say is good!

You are confusing me.

Congratulations!

That all sounds great. How did you think we were wrong? Brett and I didn't go to Paid CDL Training Programs. We don't teach that as the only way to success. It is a very good way to go though.

Bobcat, I don't think the drivers are the problem. I actually think they are the solution. That's why I try to share my experiences with you. Sometimes it's just our mindset which needs to be altered. If I'm convinced the company wants to use and abuse me, then I interpret each step they take in that light.

I have a completely different mindset from most drivers. I also have much different results from most drivers. I try to supply evidence and it only stirs up strife when I do.

Guys, I spent 30 years managing employees. So I have a strong tendency to be empathetic with the frustration of managers. I'm at the total opposite end now, and I still see a lot of the problems I saw as a manager.

We can all do better. I give it my best every day, just as most of you do. I just have a hard time thinking my company is set to keep me down. I've owned several businesses. I always wanted my people to be the best and prove it to me, so they could be paid the best. I still have faith that our companies want the same things I always wanted when I was in business.

Forgive me, I keep feeling I'm not saying things in a way we all understand.

One thing we drivers tend to not understand is the layered management in trucking. There's a lot of people in trucking company management. Each layer is responsible for the layers beneath them. Just about the only ways they can measure success or failure is through numbers in reports.

There's a lot of conference calls and meetings each week where upper layers put pressure on lower layers to produce better numbers. Those managers have no idea of the many ways you avoid disaster each hour you spend on the road. They know about service failures and success. They know about fleet fuel consumption, and fuel expenses compared to revenue produced.

They look at a lot of numbers. Eventually that pressure works it's way down the path to the man at the bottom - the driver. The driver is expected to be productive, efficient, and safe. That's a lot of pressure.

When managers want better results they resort to incentives they can measure with reports and numbers. That's how we get into these event recordings and bonus pay based on not being prone to triggered events. I understand why drivers dislike the system, but it's the kind of stuff managers drool over. It gives them solid evidence of success and failure that they feel is reliable.

Part of being a successful trucker is learning to work within their system. It takes a lot of effort, but when there is a financial incentive, it makes sense to learn the system and make sure it doesn't hinder your career. At Knight we have to keep our camera or events score (smartdrive score) below 15 to qualify for the bonus money. Extremely careful driving will get you there.

Here's some screenshot of my last month and current month score. I have maintained a zero score, just as I do on most months.

First off, let me apologize to Davy. I indeed read his earlier post in haste, and I was exhausted at the time. He didn't make any comparison of any companies to the Nazis. Please forgive me sir.

There's been a lot said in here about this new Netradyne system. I must admit, you guys and gals make me apprehensive about it. Fortunately, we don't really start getting into it until around the end of the year. Some of the things that Kearsey said they told her at the beginning are the same talking points we've been getting now. Knight is obviously trying to break this into their drivers thinking early on, so they don't have a mass exodus of drivers over this new change.

There is one thing we can always count on in this industry. That is the simple fact that things will change. In the past 12 years of trucking I bet I could honestly say there was some change in company policy or tech we use at a minimum of every six months. Change is inevitable.

Over the years I have observed drivers respond to change in a multitude of ways. One of the most common ways is to just move to a different company. Of course, that in itself is a form of change, and the same people who say they don't like change will make changes fairly frequently. It is a head scratcher for me.

Davy kind of got me thinking about this whole issue of having bonus pay tied into camera events, so I want to discuss it a little. I think Davy and I probably fundamentally disagree on this matter, but let's talk about it a little so that folks can see both sides of this story. Davy has had a difficult time of it with his camera. He's made his frustrations clear with us over the years. I have no doubt his frustration is legitimate.

I have not had those same experiences, so I have a hard time relating to what he has gone through. I have no problem getting a false triggered event removed. I don't need them to tell me what the settings or parameters are for the camera. I learn what they are from the way it gets triggered, and I respond by driving differently so I don't trigger it. To me it has been a fairly simple thing to overcome. From what Davy has said, I almost think he has been dealing with some incompetent managers, or it might even be possible that he doesn't realize how to best communicate with the office personnel. I kind of doubt the communication issue, but it can be a problem, and I bring it up in the hopes of educating the new drivers reading this discussion.

When we drivers talk to the folks in the office, we have to speak to them in a completely different way than we do each other. We can't be combative or even a little rough around the edges. I'm being honest with you when I tell you I am super sweet and gentle when talking with the folks in the office. They carry a completely different type of ego than we do, and you have to deal with them in a way that is sometimes completely unlike your real self. My dispatcher once told me, "I don't know how you get so much accomplished when talking to the guys in the office. You just have a way of talking to them that makes them feel bad about denying your request. Other guys tend to make them feel glad about denying their requests." Please take note of that. I almost have to act like I am not even myself when speaking to the safety people or any other folks in the office.

Davy argues that our bonus pay is actually part of our wages. I don't get that. A bonus is a bonus. It is tied to a performance based system, and it is paid when the performance is reached. It is not there to pay drivers less, but rather to reward top tier performers. I can only count two months in the last two years that I didn't receive my full bonus money. That is my experience. It is very different from Davy's. That denies his contention that the greedy corporations are set on keeping driver's wages down. It supports the idea they are willing to pay top pay to top performers. There are parts to being a top performer that have nothing to do with driving a truck or proper trip planning and execution. We have to know how to function and communicate with our peers. They may be different than us, and we have to learn how to communicate with them in a way that gets things accomplished,

Just two months ago, I had a complaint about my bonus. I had earned a killer bonus check and I was being denied it because I had missed the fuel mileage number by .01 miles per gallon. That really got to me. I had to make several calls, but we got it resolved. They even changed their goal by .03 and last I heard, something like 55 other drivers got their bonus money due to that simple change. I always get that fuel mileage, I knew something was off. I just had to get to the right person and convince them their estimated goal was off a little due to the extreme cold we experienced during the month.

Some of you may even laugh at the way I drive. I drive extremely carefully. I drive like I am driving a tanker filled with nitro-glycerine. I slowly accelerate, slowly decelerate, and take curves off and on ramps extremely carefully. It works for me because I like to outperform their expectations. In a nutshell, I like to overcome any and all obstacles set in my way. If those obstacles keep me from earning the most money, I soon figure out how to conquer them. If I need to keep from triggering that camera, I figure out how to do just that. It makes me safer and more satisfied with my income. Who can complain about that accomplishment?

I also hope the Triggered Veteran will give us a run down of what happened. Whatever it was, induced him to go back and find this thread and give us a jab. My guess is that he got fired and is now blaming it on us. I would love to hear the story, because I have a feeling it will vindicate any advice we have given.

There's a lot of crazy information going on here. Comparing Knight, or any other company trying to improve their fleet's safety record, to the Nazis, is just over the top!

Knight is switching to Netradyne, but they are not using the inward facing camera. It is a part of the Netradyne system, but at this time, will not be incorporated to Knight's program. They have a cap covering the inward facing lens. They are also encouraging drivers who are not confident with the cap, to cover that lens with a piece of electrical tape.

The switch is because they prefer Netradyne's technology compared to their current system. They've even admitted there will be an adjustment period where they expect to have to adjust some settings due to the AI not always getting things right.

I'm not using the new system yet, but if I find them oppressing my wages, I'll be the first to let you know about it. Knee-jerk reactions are not helpful when technologies are being developed. C'mon people, learn to fight a good fight. Roll with the punches, and take your licks when you have good information and opportunity.

The worse part is knowing I have to wait 5 years.

How did you come up with that?

But the lawyer even though I paid him a lot doesn’t really feel the need to help me get back into a truck.

Why should he?

You are the only one who can help you in this situation. The damage is done. Move on. Change your mindset, and change your life.

Resilience is a character trait you need to pursue. People have faced much greater odds than you are staring at and risen above their circumstances. I personally had a very difficult entry into trucking. Despair only drags you in the wrong direction.

Admit your mistakes or faults, change your ways. Never stop moving forward. Don't blame your lazy lawyer or an overzealous trucker for calling the police. You took your own poison here, and it really seems to surprise you that you can't get away with it.

This is a great time to decide to act like a man. Put your childhood behind you and show you've got some fortitude. Do what it takes to get back into your chosen career. Then do what it takes to stay there.