Profile For Little Debby

I agree with Sam C. You will do this run for this amount. Take it or leave it.

You know it would be a great idea. Reality would kick in. The lazy people would drive that idea right into the river. LD "If I'm getting payed for the load, I'm just going to take my sweet time."

Sandman, I get what you're saying here. In our case here, if that person dragged his feet he would miss the chance to preload for the next day. For us it's deliver/ load/deliver/ load/deliver/ annnnnd,,, preload. If the slacker was dawdling all day he'd miss the preload because the mill would have closed for the night. Simply said, he's not performing and has no excuse; so he would be terminated.

Sam C just to give you some perspective on what has affected ALL workers in the US: If the minimum wage had kept pace with the general cost of living from the 1970s until right now; at this point in 2015, minimum wage should be sitting at $26.00/hr. To stay relative to the cost of living. So what does that tell you? We're ALL screwed. ALL workers. Not just truckers. Be grateful you found A WAY to do this job that you find joy in and survive. I think if we adjust our standard of living to the current economic environment we have been saddled with, continue honing our skill set and maintaining our professionalism, we are some lucky, lucky dogs.

I agree with Sam C. You will do this run for this amount. Take it or leave it.

This has been very interesting to read. How do you guys feel about being paid a % per load? I'm hauling scrap steel and being paid that way. So many, sooo many things can boof up my schedule and I don't get the runs in that I need to make it a good pay day. I sort of feel like a log truck driver now. Except I refuse to drive like a lunatic. When the gods shine in my favor, I can gross $1200.00/wk. Otherwise it's anyones' guess. I think I agree with Old School about the gist of the whole thing; you simply MUST be willing to embrace the lifestyle. Mine is a local job; yet feels like 12 on 12 off. It will pay and it will not pay. You simply have to accept that and be grateful for the opportunity to live/work in an environment that fits certain personality types to an absolute T. And you trucking personality types know who you are! In the whole ridiculous scheme of things, the whole absurdity of humanity and western capitalism, it is a glorious job. I must say; if you feel compelled to wrangle and fight it, it's not for you and you should search for a better fit because you deserve a good fit. Life is short. :)

Hello Spirit! Hey just a thought. While you're getting into the groove with Swift, start researching where their terminals are and cross reference that with where you'd like to "live". It sounds like you wanna leave the TX fam behind, and get gone. So get gone via Swift. Then when you've outgrown Swift (which I'm sure you will) you can pick up a nicer gig in the area you'd enjoy living in! (Been there done this! ;D) Good luck girl!

If your company doesn't have strength tests where the applicant has to lift 100 lbs or even 75 lbs, you should tout that to the women. Also, if you want to advocate for safety equality and consideration for your smaller/weaker employees you should offer things like 43" pull hooks for the 5th wheel pin, long cheater bars for binders, automatic in cab side mirror adjusters, for example. Do your trucks' front bumpers have a welded step or a cutout hole for stepping on to pull the hood? A woman will want that. Show that you want your women to work smarter not harder. Hope this helps.

Taybaby17 does Schneider pull food grade tankers? If you haul anything food grade, your tanker will not have baffles. Your load will move in dangerous ways. Just FYI. Good luck, girl.

Yes that's true about having to weed out the nonsense. One good way to weed out the junk is by simply emailing their address or even texting if a phone number is given, and begin a convo. It won't take long to see if they're shysters you should bypass. And if you don't want to work for the mega companies, you'll soon recognize their very, repetitious, ad copy, and you can bypass that as well. I recently learned to enter 'key' words into the "Transport" page in the jobs section. For example I typed in 'belly dump' and a lot of specific types of trucking jobs popped up; some older jobs, some far away jobs, but still; it gave good results. If you're looking for something specific and tailored to your needs, watch Craigs closely and when you think you see one, POUNCE on it! MEOW!!

PS: Also ladies, I'd like to share that I've started a Facebook page for Women in the Trades. Please do feel free to join and infoshare! Thanks Brett! https://www.facebook.com/RedHardhatSociety?fref=ts

Hey ladies,

Just updating my profile and thought I'd drop a note in here too. After exactly one year driving readymix with Knife River I decided rather than graduate from "yellowhat" to "orangehat" on my one year anniversary, I'd leave KR. I wanted to move into dump and pup but was unsuccessful extracting myself from their readymix division. So out the door and don't let it hitcha!

I found an ad Craigslist for dump and pup work. I applied for it and lo and behold, it was a company I drooled over 30 years ago! So I hired on immediately. Of course the economy and company clients have changed and such, but things are very good with the job. I picked it up so fast that after only three weeks of dump and pup looping, I'm going to do some training in flatbedding with sideboards next week. A loop running wire coil from Oregon to Tacoma once a day. I'm sure I'll love it because it involves LEARNING and TRAINING; something we ladies should ALWAYS embrace!

Anyhow, back to Craigslist. It's evident to me now that EVERYONE uses it to hire drivers. Not just the companies that have revolving doors. Even the quality ones use it. The job I found with Sherman Brothers only has five drivers in this division. So I am one of only five. It's great experience. Just saying if you were thinking of trash talking Craigslist work, think again girls! Happy trucking!!