Getting Really Frustrated At My Job - Not Enough Work To Keep Me Happy

Sorry I never responded much to the other thread I made a week ago—I’ve been busy but also haven’t been lol. I’m just not good about getting on here after work. One thing I will say about local is that even if it isn’t a labor intensive job, you will be so much more tired by the end of the week. You just don’t get as much rest when you go home every night as opposed to sleeping in the truck.

I do want to make a thread talking about what I do but in a nutshell I haul cement powder and fly ash. I get loaded at one of the loadouts by opening up the hatch on the top of the trailer and then I pull under a silo and they drop this chute into the hatch and load her up. Then I close the hatch and go to the customer, hook up my hoses and use the blower on my truck to blow the powder out of the trailer through the hose on the back of the trailer into the silo. It’s a really simple and easy job and I enjoy it.

Anyways we haven’t had much work over the winter, which is normal, but this winter was way worse than usual and last longer than we were expecting. Now that things have mostly warmed up we should be slammed and for some reason we’re just not that busy yet.

I understand things being slow but I’m starting to get frustrated when I see drivers that haven’t been here as long as I have and have been screwing up left and right running more than I am. For some context, we have Brighton drivers, Windsor drivers, and southern drivers. The southern fleet consists of Colorado Springs, Pueblo, and Canon City. When I started we only had a handful of southern drivers and at one point I was one of only three southern drivers. Now we have thirteen and I am second highest in seniority. I literally road tested and trained almost half of these drivers myself and was one of two leads for the southern fleet until I recently stepped down from that.

Other than a couple new faces we just got down here I know every single one of these drivers and am aware of the times they have hit things, been late and made messes at the customer (spilling powder), all of which cost the company either directly or indirectly. We have a driver who has been late so many times he should’ve been let go by now and yet he’s been busier than me lately. Another one in the Springs ran over a sign with a new trailer and already dinged up his brand new truck that he’s had for less than a month. I watched another driver from Brighton back into a wall and rip off his mudflap and bend the mudflap hanger right in front of me while I was literally spotting him. My point is, I’m not saying or trying to say I’m the best. I’m saying I literally don’t make all these screwups and I’m always on time and I literally do whatever load they give me no matter what and this week I’ve watched even my girlfriend who I just trained doing more loads than me while I seem to get the leftover crumbs. The worst part is some of these guys have the gall to complain about how early they had to start or how much they’ve had to work when I would be HAPPY to take the load. It’s incredibly frustrating.

I did talk to one of my dispatchers about it this morning and he understood and seemed to immediately start to make more of an effort to get me moving more so I’m hopeful things change. I’m just super frustrated right now. I don’t even know why it’s irritating me so much. I still get a decent minimum weekly guarantee. It’s not as high as it was—everyone’s went down during the winter and it hasn’t gone back up—but it’s a nice safety net. I think maybe I’m just stressed about bills. Idk

I’ve been thinking about looking around but I’m not sure how much better things will be elsewhere with the economy the way it is. Thoughts? If you got any tips to help me calm down too I welcome them. Like I said, it’s really stressing me out a lot more than I feel it should. I keep telling myself that I have a good job and things are just slow right now but it doesn’t seem to help my mood

I feel your pain man. I just recently left my company of 4 and a half years back in February. I could count on one hand how many loads I turned down. I took everything that was thrown at me no matter what. Worked Saturdays when a third of the other drivers refused. At one point even changed my day off from Sunday to Tuesday because they needed help. And it ended up being long days. Not ideal with two kids.

Among the local drivers only one had been around longer. When things slowed down we were all basically getting the same amount of work. I thought for sure they’d keep busier than the guys who were lazier than sh*t and constantly complaining In the end I was told they had to “spread the wealth” till it got busier. It never did.

In the month of February, I ran a total of 7 days. That's why I opted for the furlough. Keeping in contact with some of the people that passed on it, it hasn't gotten much better.

I'm expecting the fed to continue to raise interest rates, which will lead to less consumer spending and manufacturing.

My plan now is to accept the next furlough and get a CDL B job in trash. Most pay 20+ an hour and they seem to have plenty of work.

Like you, I'm uncertain about the amount of work these CDL A companies have.

You spoke to your dispatcher , so I'd suggest the wait and see approach. While it's hard, stop paying attention to what others are or aren't doing. That's not your concern and it's real easy to start feeling resentment making the workplace hostile and toxic (I hate using that word, but I can't think of a better one).

I feel your pain man. I just recently left my company of 4 and a half years back in February. I could count on one hand how many loads I turned down. I took everything that was thrown at me no matter what. Worked Saturdays when a third of the other drivers refused. At one point even changed my day off from Sunday to Tuesday because they needed help. And it ended up being long days. Not ideal with two kids.

Among the local drivers only one had been around longer. When things slowed down we were all basically getting the same amount of work. I thought for sure they’d keep busier than the guys who were lazier than sh*t and constantly complaining In the end I was told they had to “spread the wealth” till it got busier. It never did.

Thanks Bird One. Like you I’ve gone above and beyond to help them out. I’ve taken out of state loads at the last minute, literally packing my bags and heading out the door as soon as I got the phone call even though I’m local and I’ve worked tons of extra Saturdays. I definitely expected the same as you did. It makes sense that they’d try to keep everyone busy and spread the wealth, and that’s what I would want if I were new here. I think part of the reason I’m sour about it is I watched them hire way too many people at the beginning of the winter when we were already slower than **** and then a month later they had to freeze hiring because we didn’t have enough trucks for everyone (recruiting and dispatch didn’t communicate until it was too late), and then a month or so after that they informed us they were cutting our minimum weekly guarantee down by a significant amount. I don’t run any businesses and I’m definitely not an expert but it’s still frustrating because the mistakes they’ve made are starting to directly impact my paychecks.

You’re right Banks, as soon as I read what I wrote I realized I’m paying way too much attention to my coworkers. I’ll admit it’s very hard not to because everyone knows everyone and people tend to talk about their day but I’ll try to ignore it.

Your experience right now is definitely part of why I’m extremely hesitant to switch jobs. Overall I still have a great job and the pay isn’t bad. I think i just need to accept that this job just isn’t the same as when I started here and it’s not going to go back to that.

I've had several loads canceled recently. Including one on Monday and my planned load for tonight. Luckily they found me another for the same time.

I asked yesterday if changing my schedule temporarily will help. Looks like I'm going to switch from being off Friday-Sunday to being off Thurs-Sunday.

I hadn't been affected by a lack of freight until this past month. I've had 6 cancelations in this time.

What I’m having to adjust to is this getting paid weekly with an uncertain amount coming in.

My prior career I was on salary paid bi-weekly. I knew the income and could budget the cash flow.

This past 4 weeks run I’m down about 1,800 miles. The first two weeks were very low. The last two have been above average for me. So will see what happens during my May/June 4-5 weeks run.

Kearsey told me that Prime drivers are telling her that they are only getting 1,800-2,000 miles weekly, down from 2,500-2,600. The wealth is being spread around to keep everyone running. Socialism in action. We will all be equally poorer together.

I've had several loads canceled recently. Including one on Monday and my planned load for tonight. Luckily they found me another for the same time.

I asked yesterday if changing my schedule temporarily will help. Looks like I'm going to switch from being off Friday-Sunday to being off Thurs-Sunday.

I hadn't been affected by a lack of freight until this past month. I've had 6 cancelations in this time.

Interesting. What do you haul again and where? I remember you being at Prime but I can’t remember if you still work there

What I’m having to adjust to is this getting paid weekly with an uncertain amount coming in.

My prior career I was on salary paid bi-weekly. I knew the income and could budget the cash flow.

This past 4 weeks run I’m down about 1,800 miles. The first two weeks were very low. The last two have been above average for me. So will see what happens during my May/June 4-5 weeks run.

Kearsey told me that Prime drivers are telling her that they are only getting 1,800-2,000 miles weekly, down from 2,500-2,600. The wealth is being spread around to keep everyone running. Socialism in action. We will all be equally poorer together.

Hey Dennis, yeah the pay having the ability to change so much from one week to another definitely takes some getting used to. I‘ve definitely gotten spoiled over the majority of the last year having essentially a weekly salary in excess of 80k a year with the ability to make more if my load pay exceeded my salary. Now that our weekly minimum went down it’s functioning more as a minimum guarantee (which is what it was intended to function as) and not as a salary so I’m now much more reliant on load pay. Like you I have to get used to the varying paychecks and the uncertainty all over again lol

I did talk to one of my dispatchers about it this morning and he understood and seemed to immediately start to make more of an effort to get me moving more so I’m hopeful things change

You've made a great case as to why you deserve a bigger share of the pie. If you made your case well with dispatch, hopefully it will pay off. Just remember, it doesn't last. Lobbying for more work is a never-ending thing. Keep doing great work and keep pushing them for more.

I don't like the idea of directly threatening to leave your employer, like, "Give me more work or I'm out of here!" What I do like is to present your case in a way that says you may have no choice, like, "Look, I love it here. You guys are awesome. I'll retire from here if I can. But I'm simply not making enough to pay my bills, and something has to happen quickly. What can I do to get more work? If I can make [give them your number] money per week, I'm good, but anything less than that and I'm in trouble. It's not an option for me. I have to make it happen."

Everyone has bills to pay. They'll understand that message. No one can fault you for looking around at other jobs after you've told your current employer they're not giving you enough work to pay your bills. Put a little pressure on them in a professional way and keep it on.

You might also remind them that giving everyone the same amount of work is not fair, considering some people are harder-working and more reliable than others. If someone outperforms someone else, they deserve more. It's unfair to treat everyone as if they're performing equally, when they're not. Believe it or not, many people don't see it that way until you point that out.

I’ve been thinking about looking around but I’m not sure how much better things will be elsewhere with the economy the way it is

That's true. You really don't know unless they put some sort of guarantee in writing, which is pretty rare. Leaving could be a gamble, but if you're not able to pay your bills, then you already have a losing hand. Leaving may be the only option.

i just need to accept that this job just isn’t the same as when I started here and it’s not going to go back to that.

Not anytime soon, it seems. I've been saying for a long time that they're lying to us about the economy. It's much, much worse than they're admitting, and almost everyone is feeling it. I would expect things to get worse as this year goes on, and the second half of this year will be worse than it is now. After that is anyone's guess at this point.