Company Lies

::::hugs and kisses::: I know and love u too. And you only WISH you ran into me on the road....road not toad. I fixed it. Impressed?

I actually wrote my response on my 30 and had to get back on the road and didn't mean for that last part to come out the way it did.

But Rainy said it best... My 13$ a week for insurance that at 35 I don't really use isn't really hurting my 1+k per week check to bad. AND DON'T FORGET THAT IS FOR SITTING IN A SEAT.

Much like Rainy I'm known to the people in the office. I expect to be known by my dispatcher but when someone else picks up the phone and knows me by name it to me aback.

You can get all of that by pulling a chemical tanker. You will be treated better and paid for everything you do. most are paying about 35 an hour

I actually wrote my response on my 30 and had to get back on the road and didn't mean for that last part to come out the way it did.

But Rainy said it best... My 13$ a week for insurance that at 35 I don't really use isn't really hurting my 1+k per week check to bad. AND DON'T FORGET THAT IS FOR SITTING IN A SEAT.

Much like Rainy I'm known to the people in the office. I expect to be known by my dispatcher but when someone else picks up the phone and knows me by name it to me aback.

Hahahha. Omg... I met my FM and left. I didn't have to talk to him again for two weeks... I called him and said "hi. I'm sure you don't remember me, but I have a question" he laughed and said "of course" then told me our whole conversation the day we met. Now he waits for my funny comments on the QC hahah

Averitt Express offers profit sharing and a driver is 100% vested after only 6yrs. They also have pretty good health, dental, vision and life insurance at a decent cost (I am single and I pay about $40 a wk for all).

After being with them for 3.5 yrs, I am making .44cpm (when pulling freight). My regular "job" with them pays a weekly salary that starts at about $1,200 a week.

The only time I was in an "old" truck is when I first started and that was for 7 months I believe. Nothing but new after that.

We have apu's and inverters provided. I have a Haier fridge I bought from Walmart, a t.v., a coffee pot and a microwave plugged into it and it has not failed me yet.

My FM is awesome and I have a top notch support staff at corporate headquarters.

My point is, the good companies are out here. You just have to find them and work yourself into the top tier of their drivers. It can be done... Trust me.

Fm:

Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager

The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.

CPM:

Cents Per Mile

Drivers are often paid by the mile and it's given in cents per mile, or cpm.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

APU's:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

Hey driver some companies out there will treat you like junk and some will be great to you. You may not be with the right company. I had hard times when I first started trucking but I had a great company and eventually I became a decent flatbed driver. I had to learn a lot about running a flatbed rig before things got better though. As far as "uniting" etc. I'm all for it. We really should unionize to protect ourselves. I was born and raised in a right to work state & know firsthand that there is no "right" to work. Old schoolers may scoff at us for wanting to unionize & that's ok. Old schoolers are great drivers and know a lot more about trucking and the industry than I do. But where and old schooler might see trucking being a safe profession until they retire (5-10 yrs) I do not because I might see in my lifetime wages drop to unbearable levels or our jobs eliminated by automation if we don't protect ourselves now.

Hey driver some companies out there will treat you like junk and some will be great to you.

When you think about it, is it "the company" that treats people like garbage? Or are there maybe some individuals within a company that you might not get along with? Or maybe some individuals that do a lousy job?

But really, amongst the majors are there really "bad companies" that all drivers should avoid?

I was born and raised in a right to work state & know firsthand that there is no "right" to work.

You know what's funny? When someone accepts training from one of the Paid CDL Training Programs they have to sign a contract to work for the company for a specified amount of time, right? Do you know how often people come in here saying they don't want to be a "slave under contract"? A slave.

So on the one hand you have people screaming that we don't have enough job security. But on the other hand when a company tries to make sure you stick around people cry "slavery".

So are we slaves, or are we candles in the wind? Depends on what time of day you go into the driver's lounge probably.

That's why when you say "we have to unionize" I asked you how we would do that, what we would ask for, and who we would ask. Cuz if you go and demand job protections you're going to find a large group of drivers that think you just sold them into slavery.

The whole idea of truck drivers unionizing and rallying together gets more interesting the deeper you dive into it. On the surface it's easy to yell some basics: "We're underpaid!", "We need better job security!", "We want better laws!".....but when you start talking around to drivers and digging deeper into the issues you begin to see that one man's biggest complaint is another man's favorite part of the job.

You have more flexibility in trucking than almost any industry imaginable. You can quit a job today and have 10 more tomorrow for any number of different companies. That flexibility also comes because the industry is so fragmented. 97% of all trucking companies have fewer than 20 trucks. So there are literally a million companies to choose from, which is cool, but it makes it difficult to unionize. For one, how to you gather that many people from all different companies together, and 2) What do you ask for?

More hometime? Some people love living on the road for weeks at a time.

Fewer maximum driving hours available? Some people need every mile they can get to feed their families.

More regular or predictable routes available? A lot of drivers would get bored to death.

More money? Well that's a real toughy. First of all, pay by the mile or by the hour or on salary? Overtime? Layover pay? How would this all be structured?

So that's why when you say, "Hey, let's rally the troops and demand more!" I say ok, but come up with some specifics that will actually work first. How do we gather? What do we ask for? Who do we ask? It's an immensely complex and difficult proposition.

I have been working for about 47 years. I have done a lot of different things, from fixing airplanes to running a printing press to nursing. And I will tell you, based on those experiences, that we don't have it bad at all.

Could pay be better? You bet! But, you know what? My take home is comparable to what I made as a 20 year ICU nurse, saving people's lives on a daily basis.

I don't even know how to answer the respect thing. I work for the same company as Rainy and several others. When I'm at the home terminal , I can go play basketball with the CEO. I can also walk into his office anytime he's in there. The door is open. And people know me. I've been solo for 2 1/2 months and when I call dispatch, even the night and weekend people know me.

We work for businesses. They are I'm business to make money, not bow and scrape to us. What we do is performance based. Piece,work it's called. When I worked for an aircraft manufacturer, in a union shop, I wished it was that way. I made less than the guys who had been there longer, even though I busted my tail and they held their toolboxes down. I even got in trouble with the union for working too hard. Made others look bad. Maybe that's what you want, money for nothing. Not me, I like earning my keep!

My 2¢...

I've held many different jobs over the last 40+ years, from busboy to radio DJ to sales to corporate trainer to janitor to area representative to church choir director, etc. I can certainly tell you the good, the bad, and the ugly of each one, because they all had them. I'm 61 years old, I have a college degree, and a ton of experience in various fields. I've been unemployed for quite some time because few if any want to hire someone my age, so I became one of those unemployed statistics they don't put in the numbers - the ones who gave up looking. When the idea of driving came to light, it took less than a month to go from thinking about it to being in a truck.

If this industry perfect? Not in the least. Are there better paying jobs with better benefits lot there? I'm sure there are for the right kind of person. But here's what I found out about driving... They don't require a lot of education or experience, you can make a higher than average income, you can get some really good benefits, and, here's one of the best parts, once you acquire your CDL and get a little experience and keep your record clean, you are faced with an almost unlimited plethora of opportunities to grow and improve yourself and your lifestyle. No one cared that I was 61. They just said, "come on down!".

I also work for the same company as others have mentioned where I can stroll into the CEOs office at anytime and chat or play basketball with him. I will be rewarded for my hard work, honesty, and common sense. In all my years in the workforce, I have I seen a tiny number of opportunities available like this for the "average Joe or Jane".

My company didn't have to offer me free transportation to their location, a hotel room for the duration of my training, three meals a day, extensive job training, and a guarantee of employment if I accomplish my goal. What other industry does that? The only one that immediately come to mind is the military... Been there, done that... Trust me, this is much better, especially for an old veteran like myself.

Again, is it perfect? Nope... But it is one hell of an opportunity for anyone who's willing to work for it and not expect someone else to simply plop it in their lazy lap. I am very proud to say that I and a professional commercial truck driver and that I work for, in my opinion, one of the best companies out there, Prime, Inc. And I would be proud to refer even my children to Prime. Again, I don't have rose-colored glasses on, I know even Prime isn't perfect, but by God they sure are a damn good company with whom I am very grateful to be employed.

Like I said, just my 2¢ worth...

When you think about it, is it "the company" that treats people like garbage? Or are there maybe some individuals within a company that you might not get along with? Or maybe some individuals that do a lousy job? But really, amongst the majors are there really "bad companies" that all drivers should avoid?

I would say from my experience there are some companies that do truly treat people like nothing more than a number. I know this is true because i am still trying to break myself of the habit of referring to myself as a number. Some of the larger companies out here (rhymes with Berner & zchneider) don't have a good reputation for treating drivers well. The company I am at is a smaller flatbed company and I love it. They treat me like family and have really been there for me through some hard spots. So yes I think I can say that not all companies are going to be equal when it comes to taking care of drivers.

You know what's funny? When someone accepts training from one of the Company-Sponsored Training Programs they have to sign a contract to work for the company for a specified amount of time, right? Do you know how often people come in here saying they don't want to be a "slave under contract"? A slave.

So on the one hand you have people screaming that we don't have enough job security. But on the other hand when a company tries to make sure you stick around people cry "slavery".

I can't speak for all drivers but when I heard of company sponsored training programs I was very wary of them. These programs are not for everyone and in fact of you have to attend one of these programs trucking may not be for you or at least it may not be the right time for you to try your hand at trucking. Some people may have had great experiences through these programs but there are lots of con's that come with them. One of the biggest con's is that other companies don't honor whatever training certificates you recieved from the previous company. So if you ever leave the company you may have to pay out of pocket for third party training or sign into another training contract. These contracts aren't usually free either, you the driver end up paying for them in some shape or form. I think its great for young single people who have no other options or just want to see the world for cheap. I paid CASH MONEY for my training and I'm very glad that I did because I definitely made good on the investment.

So there are literally a million companies to choose from, which is cool, but it makes it difficult to unionize. For one, how to you gather that many people from all different companies together, and 2) What do you ask for?

1) Yes it will be EXTREMELY difficult to unionize trucking but not impossible. Plus from what i understand you can have local organizers meet as representatives instead of having EVERY SINGLE TRUCK DRIVER meet across America. Telecommunications technology and internet has made it possible to "gather that many people together". I can have a face to face conversation with 10 different people on my smart phone! Technology can be utilized as a tool to include as many people as possible. Plus there will always be holdouts meaning not all companies or drivers would unionize so they don't have to be represented. 2) What do we ask for? You listed quite a few things which drivers may want. Truth is one driver can't answer for all drivers so I can't tell you what we should all ask for. I do know that we need to secure our jobs so that they cannot all be automated. I dont think we should ask for more pay or more hometime or more regulation. We should ask for protection just so we don't lose what we have already.

When I worked for an aircraft manufacturer, in a union shop, I wished it was that way. I made less than the guys who had been there longer, even though I busted my tail and they held their toolboxes down. I even got in trouble with the union for working too hard. Made others look bad. Maybe that's what you want, money for nothing. Not me, I like earning my keep

I worked for the state gov for a year and it was a lot like what you described here. Thats not what I envision for unionizing trucking. I grew up in the south and there is no protection for workers there so I have no experience with unions yet. Having worked and lived in the south however and trying to feed a family I can say that i wish i had protection from time to time. I was terminated from a great paying job years ago because I took time off when my father died to be a pall bearer. Thats how it works in a right to work state. Notherners pick on southerners all the time but have no idea how difficult life in the south actually is. I have had to work for everything I ever had and I don't expect that will ever change. I don't want something for nothing, I just want to protect what I already have & to have the "right" to work. I don't want some silicon valley billionair or greasy haired insurance agent eliminating truck driving jobs or taking away what we have already earned.

People want to own guns so they give to the NRA who lobbies for gun ownership on their behalf to protect the 2nd ammendment right to bear arms. That's not something for nothing. Why is trying to protect our jobs & careers any different?