USA Today Article: 'Rigged Part II' Is Out. It's About Trucker Exploitation At The Ports

This is going to sound nasty to some...but...

They didn't speak nor read English. But most of the article had drivers who owned clunkers and couldn't qualify to finance a Hyundai. They thought it was like a mortgage, and one borrowed against his house but lost it.

So immigrants who couldn't read or speak English figured out how to become legal to work at the ports, buy clunkers that were traded in for the new trucks, use two log books, buy and borrow against houses, get CDLs and of course, sue the companies for wrong doing.

But none of them understood the contracts because they didn't read English. None of them said "hey, I'm losing at this truck thing...so.maybe I need to try something else before I lose my house which is worth more".

Funny these poor immigrants know how to do a lot. Except take responsibility for bad decisions.

Maybe I'm a heartless North Easterner, but IMO we are all responsible for our choices. They obviously researched how to get some things they wanted done but want to play the victim when things don't work out.

And Brett's right, not much different from a lot of lease companies. Its all about the drivers ability to read the contracts, make good decisions, and learn from mistakes.

Yes, you do sound nasty. This article focused on immigrants. But many English speaking, American born citizens get themselves in the same predicament with leasing as well. My 1st trainer when I started in OTR , was such a person. Never should have been leasing a truck in the 1st place. Didn't understand business, but was very proud to call himself a business owner and then blamed everyone but himself for how poorly he was doing. Would get angry at me because my training checks were more than his settlements. He wasn't the only 1 either at this company I used to work for and no, I will not disclose the company, there are many of them out there that are the same. Pick one. There are many good companies out there, like who I work for for now, JB HUNT, if anyone was wondering.

Many English speaking Americans just do not do their research on any subject, let alone leasing a truck. The companies sell people on leasing because it makes them money if they can't get the freight. They tell people how much they'll be grossing a week, a month, a year. But don't tell them about the expenses. Many English speaking American lease drivers don't get that the payments don't stop if you need to take time off, breakdowns, tires need to be replaced, general maintenance. Heck most English speaking American lease drivers don't even do a Pretrip. So when there broke down on the side of the road they can blame the pos truck they leased from the pos company they work for.

I agree, the drivers in the article need to take responsibility for there actions and decisions, but so do all drivers. Especially the ones that lease. English speaking American born citizens as well. Because, they can at least read the contract they are signing. Understanding it is something different.

This is going to sound nasty to some...but...

They didn't speak nor read English. But most of the article had drivers who owned clunkers and couldn't qualify to finance a Hyundai. They thought it was like a mortgage, and one borrowed against his house but lost it.

So immigrants who couldn't read or speak English figured out how to become legal to work at the ports, buy clunkers that were traded in for the new trucks, use two log books, buy and borrow against houses, get CDLs and of course, sue the companies for wrong doing.

But none of them understood the contracts because they didn't read English. None of them said "hey, I'm losing at this truck thing...so.maybe I need to try something else before I lose my house which is worth more".

Funny these poor immigrants know how to do a lot. Except take responsibility for bad decisions.

Maybe I'm a heartless North Easterner, but IMO we are all responsible for our choices. They obviously researched how to get some things they wanted done but want to play the victim when things don't work out.

And Brett's right, not much different from a lot of lease companies. Its all about the drivers ability to read the contracts, make good decisions, and learn from mistakes.

Yes, you do sound nasty. This article focused on immigrants. But many English speaking, American born citizens get themselves in the same predicament with leasing as well. My 1st trainer when I started in OTR , was such a person. Never should have been leasing a truck in the 1st place. Didn't understand business, but was very proud to call himself a business owner and then blamed everyone but himself for how poorly he was doing. Would get angry at me because my training checks were more than his settlements. He wasn't the only 1 either at this company I used to work for and no, I will not disclose the company, there are many of them out there that are the same. Pick one. There are many good companies out there, like who I work for for now, JB HUNT, if anyone was wondering.

Many English speaking Americans just do not do their research on any subject, let alone leasing a truck. The companies sell people on leasing because it makes them money if they can't get the freight. They tell people how much they'll be grossing a week, a month, a year. But don't tell them about the expenses. Many English speaking American lease drivers don't get that the payments don't stop if you need to take time off, breakdowns, tires need to be replaced, general maintenance. Heck most English speaking American lease drivers don't even do a Pretrip. So when there broke down on the side of the road they can blame the pos truck they leased from the pos company they work for.

I agree, the drivers in the article need to take responsibility for there actions and decisions, but so do all drivers. Especially the ones that lease. English speaking American born citizens as well. Because, they can at least read the contract they are signing. Understanding it is something different.

This article mentioned immigrants and failed to mention all those you just mentioned for one reason and one reason only...to pull at the heart strings.

"Oh, those poor people who came to america to improve their lives and were taken advantage of by the big bad trucking companies" is nothing but victimhood outcries.

The article was more emotionally charging that way. I'm sick of this perpetual victimhood declaration. My problem isn't with the immigrants, it is the slant of the article, almost as if the reader can't see we are supposed to be manipulated into outrage. "Let's boycott the companies that cause this! Its not the drivers fault!". Our entire society is so dismissive of personal responsibility.

I feel no more or less compassion for a guy who goes straight from training to leasing then cries he never researched and is thousands in debt. No excuse. I didn't sign my training contract until I read it thoroughly and asked questions. Others just signed without reading. And surprisingly, I was the only one of my 76 student class who asked for a copy! Ridiculous.

I'm not saying I don't make bad choices or have had debt, sure I have. But I don't go blaming others, sue people, or expect sympathy for my poor decisions.

Trucking is all about taking responsibility. And like you said, more people are interested in a title or so called status than reality.

Another common theme I hear from lease drivers is "The company doesn't want me to succeed ". How on earth does that benefit the company. They want you to succeed, because they want their payments. Taking your truck away costs them money, because they have to find a new driver.

Rainy, the issue I had with your comments is that you focused on the fact that they are immigrants, or at least a majority are. We both know that the real issue is drivers not taking responsibility for their own decisions. No one can make you do anything. No one can force you to run 2 log books, work longer then you want or force you to go on another run, when you're out of hours. I work for JB HUNT Local Intermodal , we set our ETA, to let dispatch know how much time we have left on our clock, and they figure out how far they can send us and still make it back to the yard on time and if we feel that we cannot do it, we let dispatch know and they take the load off, give us something else shorter. If there is nothing else, then we just go home. Also, if all we wanna do is 2 loads, they have no problem with that. No penalty for playing it safe. We however do get penalized for running out of hours or over hours and not telling dispatch. I only had to be rescued once, and that was because I got a flat tire 60 miles from Chicago, 3 hours left on my clock and road service couldn't get to me for a couple of hours.

I've gotta say I agree with holding the drivers accountable for not doing their research. At the same time though I think companies need to be held accountable for their entire supply chain, especially because they have made the effort to spend large amounts of money in overseas inspections of manufacturing facilities so they can say they are not affiliated with "inhumane" practices. In my mind all parties are at fault as follows,

Drivers- failure to read, understand, and/or seek legal advise about the lease program.

Trucking companies- failure to ensure the contract being presented is understood by the prospective leasee. For example, when leasing an apartment from a reputable company they go through the lease with you to make sure you understand what you are signing. It is their way of covering their a** so they can with no question protect their interests.

Retailers- if you are going to spend money to ensure fair practices outside of the USA you should be safeguarding your supply chain in the USA as well even though you have reason to believe the regulations and enforcing authorities will be providing that safeguard from taxes collected.

Again the media strikes, depicting a group of Americans, which is often referred to as a minority, in a position of being exploited. I'm not trying to say it isn't happening, but I feel like there is missing information. Like I have found out in the past there is an individual responsibility to do your own fact checking so you can see the bits left out of the published article or broadcast(TV or radio.) Take my opinion for what it is worth though, and it's just that... my opinion.

Brad C wrote:

Again the media strikes, depicting a group of Americans, which is often referred to as a minority, in a position of being exploited. I'm not trying to say it isn't happening, but I feel like there is missing information. Like I have found out in the past there is an individual responsibility to do your own fact checking so you can see the bits left out of the published article or broadcast(TV or radio.) Take my opinion for what it is worth though, and it's just that... my opinion.

The media,...you mean the 4th branch of the Federal Government?

"Missing information"; exactly why Brett started this website in the first place; because of the volumes of feckless content, opinions and reviews presented as fact. This entire business is a numbers game, a depreciating scale of success as you get further along. The graduation rate of Paid CDL Training Programs is not much higher than 30%. Out of that number, only about half make it through their first 3 months of professional driving. At the one year point...arguably about 10% of the original trainees survive. Information and knowledge is King. Unfortunately there are only a small handful of trusted sources producing anything of quality. Although I have tremendous bias, I firmly believe Trucking Truth is the only source that can be trusted.