Schneider National Kept My Employment Record For Over 10 Yrs

Packrat,

Isn't it Osama Bin Laden? So OBL. I don't even know what his viewpoints were, but I suspect we didn't overlap much at all.

Chris, I appreciate your interest in the book. I have got so many things going right now that it has taken a back seat in my priorities. I hope to have it available in about a month. I am formatting it right now, and there is some fine tuning to do to get it ready for publication. It will be available on Amazon, and I will update you guys when it is ready for purchase.

I hope it doesn't take me 4-5 years to get competent. If it does, I guess I just have to keep trucking. ;)

Trucking careers don't fall into place very quickly. That is one of the reasons there is so much driver churn in the industry. Drivers jump in here thinking they can get a grasp on this and do well. Then the realities of life on the road start to wear them down. It certainly took me a good four years before I felt I had gotten my stride and was confident I was doing a really great job at it.

I ask you questions only to make you think about your expectations. Most new drivers expectations are skewed. To earn 80K in trucking is possible, but you will have to get several years behind you to do it. Those first couple of years are defining ones for most of us. Don't let them confirm your bias against trucking companies. You have a lot more to overcome than some because you are already going in thinking the companies are stupid about their policies and the way they do things. We try to set your expectations on a realistic level because we know that will help you survive. We certainly can't force you to think a certain way, but we try to help you realize that maybe many of the things you hold as concerns are misguided and not helpful to your success.

There is no longer any risk for running a corporation now. If a corporation makes extremely poor business decisions, it can count on the US government bailing it out.

That's good Kerry! Corporations go bankrupt daily. C'mon man - let's get real.

Now, as far as what you say about the government propping up some businesses - I agree - they do that, and I don't think it is all that smart. I am no expert on economics, and I know they have justifications for it, but I still don't like it. I have been the primary stock holder in several corporations, Therefore I do not view them as some large and cruel entity that some people do. I started them to provide jobs and hopefully turn a profit. The real world of business is rough and tumble. I got no handouts just because I owned the stock in a corporation. So, please don't try that silly argument with me.

There will always be special interests and lobbyists who can wield influence in economic/political situations involving big business. The number of corporations who benefit from those activities are very few when you look at the total numbers of incorporated businesses.

So Schneider told you no.... Big deal. I got a bunch of nos when I started looking into this career (Schneider included)...I kept applying until I got a yes.

Fun fact, my current employer told me no the first time I applied. They told me when to reapply and on that day, they weren't hiring so I had to wait even longer.

Apply somewhere else and move on.

The recruiter didn’t blindly tell you that you were eligible for rehire. It’s their job to make sure of that before hand. So it wasn’t till after the interview that they told you were in fact not eligible. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that maybe the interview didn’t go well. Did they ask you about this safety violation at the interview?

They wouldn't have to ask. It's on record.

“ When you consider the behavior of corporations toward the workforce, how do you not consider it exploitation?”

WE ALL are greedy. We complain about corporate greed, but we expect maximum profits for our retirement packages. We complain when millionaires use the LEGAL tax deductions to their advantage, but who among us DOESN’T do the same for ourselves?

Who doesn’t use information on the internet, to try negotiating a lower price for a car? Is that exploitation?

When fuel costs (for trucking companies) shoot up, as is happening now, guess what; MY CPM HAS NOT DROPPED. Maybe the profits retained a few years ago mean I’m still being paid well. 🤔

Work hard, be safe, spend less than you make, save $ and be respectful. Please quit thinking your success will come from the punishment of others.

.... maybe the interview didn’t go well. Did they ask you about this safety violation at the interview?

Given most of this interaction, I would guess they did, and got the same tired responses we have. Rationalization does not go well on your interviewing for a job. Acknowledge it say I should have gotten out and looked, or whatever the buzzwords are, and move past it proved to them that you're not still going to follow the same unsafe habits.

Your job (manufacturing I think you wrote) in the interim was not a CMV driving job. Different worlds. Your 11 or 12 years of interim employment counts for employment time, but it proves nothing about your ability to operate a commercial motor vehicle in a safe and effective manner. Of course Schneider isnt going to roll over like a pibble waiting for a belly rub, all warm and fuzzy that you've returned to the fold. You left trucking for 12 years, after what you have described as being fired for a safety violation. I'm not sure about Orange, but I've met some drivers that have done some pretty dumb unsafe things that kept their jobs. Dropping trailers off the plate, dragging a trailer 2miles with brake lock, pulling an IM chassis with a wheel set missing spindle gleaming in the sun... i could go on. In each of these cases it was less the violation, and more the driver's response to THEIR actions, that kept the driver working with the outfit. I guarantee, a BFA was not part of their succesful employment retention plan.

Any monkey can work assembly, I know, I did for two years. It is rote and sometimes mindless adherence to a process. Being a safe Professional Driver requires more than memorization, including a decent amount of humility.

As to why your comments are allowed by the moderators without blocking, yet your assertions are mostly rejected... all I can surmise is they are enjoying the s***show.

There is no longer any risk for running a corporation now. If a corporation makes extremely poor business decisions, it can count on the US government bailing it out.

That's good Kerry! Corporations go bankrupt daily. C'mon man - let's get real.

Now, as far as what you say about the government propping up some businesses - I agree - they do that, and I don't think it is all that smart. I am no expert on economics, and I know they have justifications for it, but I still don't like it. I have been the primary stock holder in several corporations, Therefore I do not view them as some large and cruel entity that some people do. I started them to provide jobs and hopefully turn a profit. The real world of business is rough and tumble. I got no handouts just because I owned the stock in a corporation. So, please don't try that silly argument with me.

There will always be special interests and lobbyists who can wield influence in economic/political situations involving big business. The number of corporations who benefit from those activities are very few when you look at the total numbers of incorporated businesses.

Companies go bankrupt daily, but corporations are propped up by the government because they are viewed as too important to fail.

There is no longer any risk for running a corporation now. If a corporation makes extremely poor business decisions, it can count on the US government bailing it out.

That's good Kerry! Corporations go bankrupt daily. C'mon man - let's get real.

Now, as far as what you say about the government propping up some businesses - I agree - they do that, and I don't think it is all that smart. I am no expert on economics, and I know they have justifications for it, but I still don't like it. I have been the primary stock holder in several corporations, Therefore I do not view them as some large and cruel entity that some people do. I started them to provide jobs and hopefully turn a profit. The real world of business is rough and tumble. I got no handouts just because I owned the stock in a corporation. So, please don't try that silly argument with me.

There will always be special interests and lobbyists who can wield influence in economic/political situations involving big business. The number of corporations who benefit from those activities are very few when you look at the total numbers of incorporated businesses.

I don't view them as as cruel entity, either. What I do view is that the largest corporations in the US have manipulated the system to exploit people because they want to maintain wealth and power. Profits over people. It's a market economy, so the responsibility of corporations is to maximize profits. The problem is that corporations are no longer held in check by the government. Consumer protections and labor protections have been in place for decades for a reason, which is to protect people from the harshness of a market economy. The last 20 years those protections have been virtually eliminated.

You are absolutely correct that the number of corporations that benefit are few. The problem is that they account for such a substantial number of those employed and for the customers served. There are too few choices for many products and services. Also, things like public utilities should not be monetized to the point that the corporations providing the utilities can take advantage of people who have no choice but to pay that provider. An example of people being taken advantage of is this past winter when the power grid in Texas failed. The consumer protections were not in place to protect people from price gouging. On top of that, the deregulation of utilities had enabled the corporations that owned the infrastructure to avoid paying the money for winterizing the power grid. The residents of Texas were exploited, which resulted in 210 people dying because power was out for a week or more in some places.

Old School, I appreciate you engaging me with integrity. We don't have to agree, and we often won't agree on many things, but I do believe that we can still have beneficial conversations about issues of all types. I wish that more people could engage me on this subject with such integrity.

“ When you consider the behavior of corporations toward the workforce, how do you not consider it exploitation?”

WE ALL are greedy. We complain about corporate greed, but we expect maximum profits for our retirement packages. We complain when millionaires use the LEGAL tax deductions to their advantage, but who among us DOESN’T do the same for ourselves?

Who doesn’t use information on the internet, to try negotiating a lower price for a car? Is that exploitation?

When fuel costs (for trucking companies) shoot up, as is happening now, guess what; MY CPM HAS NOT DROPPED. Maybe the profits retained a few years ago mean I’m still being paid well. 🤔

Work hard, be safe, spend less than you make, save $ and be respectful. Please quit thinking your success will come from the punishment of others.

I don't complain about those things. I expect billionaires to pay a fair tax because right now, most don't pay anything. They don't receive a salary and are therefore able to get away with not paying an income tax.

What you are describing is nothing the same as what I pointed out. It's disingenuous.

What made you think that I believe that my success comes from the punishment of others? You have said a whole lot, but none of it actually addressed the points I made. I have no problem at all defending my views, but please be relevant in your responses.