Profile For Giscard B.

Jessica A-M, you would make a great lobbiest for the carriers, no offense. If I had to actually sign a contract I'd read the fine print. All I had to go on was the company's postings, what the recruiter told me and the company reviews I found online. For this large a company ibfound relatively few reviews and came to findnout later apparently no one sticks aroundbwith them long enough to write a review. This carrier is I believe the second largest in the US and do very well at lining their pockets so they are not in financial difficulties.

All I'm saying is that for an industry that could shut down the country in a couple days if we stopped working, we should have a much bigger voice in affecting laws and policies that govern us.

By the way I am looking to get out. Inexperience is my downfall.

As a new driver with a large carrier I am amazed with how much they get away with their practices most of which are boarder line illegal if not illegal!

Giscard, I'm not too sure about advocacy groups, but I am curious about these practices you mention. Could you elaborate a little just for clarity.

I really meant lobbying groups. Practices

1. Promising paid training and you don't get paid for the first day
2. Being forced to purchase a king pin lock, shoes from them and deducting the cost from your pay check
3. I was given a dedicated run into NYC, multiple trips per day and offered a salary and the promise the runs will be done in 8-9 hours. Turns out it took on average 12-13 hours per day with the average pay ending up being about $12 an hour with extra time , for a run into NYC with a 53' trailer. If I were paid for this run as an OTR driver by company pay scale the pay would have been significantly higher.
4. Having to fight for every penny in stop time, repair delays and all other promised payments and then still not getting paid for some.
5. A performance bonus system that is the same for all including MPG standards. It was the same for me despite running 45000lbs load to NYC, being stuck in traffic for hours, getting idle alerts because traffic is so heavy. Plus I was given an older truck from the fleet that. Had lower MPG.
6. Performance bonus system that is designed for you to never get. My online calculation from the company always excluded 20 points from the total 100 and I'm required to get at least 75.
7. Being promised $6k in tuition reimbursement and couple months in come to find out they only reimburse the financed portion and not out of pocket expenses.
8. In general for the industry I think the pay for mileage driven system is faulty and benefits the carriers
9. Idling policies in general I have a problem with. You can't leave a pet or child in a car because it gets too hot, but you can leave a driver to sleep in a hot truck because of idling laws and carriers refusing to install APUs in fleet trucks. And when we do idle, we loose out bonus. I guess our health and well being is worth less than a dogs.

These are just some of my issues. Wish there were some groups out there lobbying on behalf of us truckers.

Are there any trucking advocacy groups out there besides PTDI and TCA. Those only seem to focus on trucker education and carrier companies. As a new driver with a large carrier I am amazed with how much they get away with their practices most of which are boarder line illegal if not illegal!

Anyone know of any alternate routes to the GWB and Cross Bronx Expressway? This is becomming a nightmare in my trucker life. The traffic is horrendous.

I’m back in Fontana at the Best Western getting ready for my third and final week of orientation that begins Monday. We’ll cover map reading, trip planning, Qualcomm, and final testing (road and classroom). Then it’s a matter of picking up a truck and getting to work.

I just finished my first week with schneider orientation Class started with 21 now we are down to 11 by end of first week. They supprised all of us with a road test on Friday. Is there another road test after the third week of training?