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

I would personally love to see the industry more difficult to get into and much more closed so that it resembled pre-deregulation,

I'm curious why you'd like to see that.

It probably appears odd. What I mean by it is a theroy:

There's a boom bust cycle of high demand, then over capacity. But capacity is kept artificially high, even in bust cycles. If it was an organic free market, the carriers would shed capacity rapidly. But they don't.

Another issue is that in virtually every other marketplace, the service and or goods provider set their prices, then the market determines price/value point. Here, our customers set the prices. Part of the reasons they are able to do that is because there is such a surplus of drivers.

If the bar to become a driver was raised as it used to be through a process of apprentice, journeyman and master, the quality of the drivers would increase, the number of drivers would be reduced, both making the position much more valuable and expensive.

The other element would be to increase standards to get an authority and link it to knowledge and performance by having to posses a master CDL in order to be granted authority as well as a test.

The few trades such as electrical and plumbing that require formal apprenticeship, journeyman and master levels have kept their rates higher as a result.

The existing regulations allow for unfettered entrance to the industry relatively speaking and then like a snare, an ongoing source of potential violations that result in increased revenue to the government. If the issues were systemically prevented upon entering the industry it would benefit the industry but obviously not the government.

I certainly don't desire the regulations that prevented us from conducting business, but the result of a much smaller and more valued craft is something that I look at.

Carters deregulation though did benefit the consumer but at the cost of the driver.

Would you hold yourself up to higher entry standards for drivers?

I recall from your training diary that you had to hire a lawyer to get a speeding ticket reduced or dropped to get hired. You said that Prime pulled an offer at last minute and you then ended up at Knight? So you gamed the legal system to get in. Doesn’t change the fact that you were speeding.

This isn’t meant to be personal. Just that we all need to look in the mirror.

I would personally love to see the industry more difficult to get into and much more closed so that it resembled pre-deregulation,

I'm curious why you'd like to see that.

It probably appears odd. What I mean by it is a theroy:

There's a boom bust cycle of high demand, then over capacity. But capacity is kept artificially high, even in bust cycles. If it was an organic free market, the carriers would shed capacity rapidly. But they don't.

Another issue is that in virtually every other marketplace, the service and or goods provider set their prices, then the market determines price/value point. Here, our customers set the prices. Part of the reasons they are able to do that is because there is such a surplus of drivers.

If the bar to become a driver was raised as it used to be through a process of apprentice, journeyman and master, the quality of the drivers would increase, the number of drivers would be reduced, both making the position much more valuable and expensive.

The other element would be to increase standards to get an authority and link it to knowledge and performance by having to posses a master CDL in order to be granted authority as well as a test.

The few trades such as electrical and plumbing that require formal apprenticeship, journeyman and master levels have kept their rates higher as a result.

The existing regulations allow for unfettered entrance to the industry relatively speaking and then like a snare, an ongoing source of potential violations that result in increased revenue to the government. If the issues were systemically prevented upon entering the industry it would benefit the industry but obviously not the government.

I certainly don't desire the regulations that prevented us from conducting business, but the result of a much smaller and more valued craft is something that I look at.

Carters deregulation though did benefit the consumer but at the cost of the driver.

Would you hold yourself up to higher entry standards for drivers?

I recall from your training diary that you had to hire a lawyer to get a speeding ticket reduced or dropped to get hired. You said that Prime pulled an offer at last minute and you then ended up at Knight? So you gamed the legal system to get in. Doesn’t change the fact that you were speeding.

This isn’t meant to be personal. Just that we all need to look in the mirror.

That's not any different than complaining that wealthy people take advantage of the federal tax code to lower the taxes they pay. Are they "gaming" the tax laws (legal system) to not pay their taxes? After all, it doesn't change the fact they made lots of money.

I can get out of a fine and no traffic points for a speeding ticket if I take an online defensive driving class. Is that gaming the system too?

The system allows us to do that, but it doesn’t change the underlying facts.

I’d do it to save my job.

My point was that people who preach for higher standards often mean for other people but not themselves

I’m pretty ignorant on this sort of thing. But couldn’t you file for unemployment when you get major hour cuts? I thought I heard allot of road pavers and construction workers do this. But I never experienced this first hand.

I’m pretty ignorant on this sort of thing. But couldn’t you file for unemployment when you get major hour cuts? I thought I heard allot of road pavers and construction workers do this. But I never experienced this first hand.

No. Unemployment is when you are out of work. Construction workers, roofers, seasonal workers that pay into unemployment, who are out of work, can file for it when there is no work.

Laura

I don't take it personally at all, and it's a great question. My behavior prior to starting in the trucking industry nearly cost me getting into the trucking industry. I benefitted from luck certainly. Knight turned me down at first because of the speeding tickets. When as a last effort, they checked my records, two of the tickets, having been properly adjudicated fell off and I was able to be hired.

That's certainly not gaming the system. Since having my CDL , I incurred one speeding ticket in my personal vehicle, for 7 over, used an attorney to fight it, and won. The entire incident was dismissed. Using legal defense doesn't make the determination of a quality driver.

It also supports my theroy that having an apprenticeship, journeyman and master level license structure would build better drivers. While someone in their first two years of driving might be expected to incur an occasional speeding ticket, by the time they progress, they won't.

But moreover, the problems I'm addressing rather than red herrings are systemic issues like failures to understand English to the point that fatality accidents occur, such as the driver that killed several families on 70 in CO a few years ago. An abundance of drivers placed on the road without the basic skills required, a systemic lack of training and ongoing education.

I've never said much about Knights training time, but two weeks OTR training is woefully short, it worked in my case, yet many fail with it, especially if they required a more structured and hands on approach. My first 30000 miles were listed as training miles, but they were solo miles in all reality. I love working for Knight, but it highlights a systemic failure in the industry.

Truck driving, like any other skilled trade and craft takes years to master.

I tend to agree with Davy that training periods for new drivers are too short. Unfortunately, it’s an economic issue for the trucking companies because it costs a lot of money to train a new driver. My company estimates that they have invested about $10,000 in a driver before he or she even starts generating any return on investment. Their method is to only hire drivers with at least 6 months experience, give them 4 days of orientation and turn them loose as solo drivers. Personally, I would have welcomed a week or two out with a company driver before I went solo with my own truck. It’s impossible to master all company methods and policies in 4 days. I think some drivers wash out because of this when they might have been successful with a little more training up front.

And besides the economic aspects of driver training, there is the even bigger issue of safety, but that could be a whole additional discussion.

Truck driving, like any other skilled trade and craft takes years to master.

It certainly does.

I realize they don't categorize trucking as a skilled trade, but in my opinion it is a skilled trade, and I'll refer to it as such.

I think two problems that truck drivers face, but other skilled trades do not, are stress and lifestyle. Carpenters, electricians, welders, and mechanics do not drop out of the trade because of stress or lifestyle. They are fairly routine jobs with reasonable hours, minimum stress, and require no significant change in your lifestyle.

Trucking, especially regional and OTR , is far more stressful and requires a complete change in lifestyle.

If you choose 100 people at random in a mall, a much higher percentage would do better in most of the skilled trades than they would in trucking. Trucking requires a certain type of person looking for a particular type of challenge and a unique lifestyle. There are very few people like that, and you won't really know who can handle it until they try it.

So I don't think the trucking industry is failing people in the way they do their training. I think they'll give almost anyone a shot to see if they're willing and capable, and therefore the dropout rate is very high.

Imagine what the dropout rate would be in the military if you gave almost anyone a shot and let them walk away if they wanted to. Why do you think they don't give you the option of walking away? Because 90% of the people would quit within a week! Would you blame the military for that? No. You would recognize that a very tiny percentage of people are cut out for that type of stress and lifestyle. Fortunately for the military, they don't have to give you the option of quitting, so the "success rate" is very high.

For about 50 years, every trucking company in the nation that brings in new drivers has tested every form of screening and training imaginable to prevent wasting resources on those who don't belong, but no one has ever found a system that works. To this day, they simply line everyone up, give them all a shot, and let people sort themselves out.

I don't believe that extending the training cycle and holding hands for newbies would give better overall results. More people would get through the training, but many of them would not be cut out for the stress and lifestyle of the job, so they would soon drop out of the industry anyhow.

Brett,

I agree with you that trucking is cut out for a very specific person. Some people are just not cut out for the trucking life. It is that simple. But, do you really think there is no way to weed out certain people that wont make it. Your saying all these companies have tried this and that to try to figure out a may to reduce turnover, but no one has found away so they just take a random approach of allowing everyone to give it a shot. Seems pretty pessimistic to me. I feel like if you look back at all your years trucking you will find some commonalities between the people who made it and went on to have long careers in the business. Or, there are certain people where you are like no way. There is no ****ing way that dude makes it and 9 times out of 10 you are right. What do you think some of these things are?

But, do you really think there is no way to weed out certain people that won't make it? What do you think some of these things are?

Most companies have identified a few things they believe will matter statistically. For instance, some companies won't hire anyone who was fired from their last job or has been unemployed for more than a couple of months.

They'll also consider your level of personal responsibility. Companies will avoid hiring people who blame others for their mistakes because those people do not learn as well as they should, and they have a built-in excuse for their mistakes and failures. Companies want people who accept personal responsibility at a high level.

Naturally, they look at your criminal and driving histories, as well.

I've been in this industry for 30 years, and I can tell you the level of diversity within this industry is incredible. You will meet people from every imaginable walk of life. Anyone can have a million reasons why trucking might suit them perfectly, or might be a complete disaster.

For instance, you'll find people who have retired from other professions, including professions like the military, law enforcement, stock trading, and teaching. You'll find 21-year-olds looking for adventure, 45-year-olds looking to retire from their previous career and do something completely different, and 65-year-olds who want to stay active and see the country doing something they've always dreamed of doing.

I think it's incredibly difficult to figure out who will do well in this career and stick around for a while because:

1) The stress, job duties, and lifestyle are impossible to imagine without experiencing them firsthand.

2) It takes a highly motivated person to succeed in this career, and motivation is nearly impossible to gauge ahead of time. Everyone says the right things in interviews. You won't know how motivated they are until they face hardship.

3) There are no personality types or job histories you can absolutely count on or exclude. Everything from Type-A's to Betas, from introverts to extroverts, from white collar to blue collar. You'll find plenty of successes and failures in every personality type and worker type.

4) The solitude of life on the road is a huge X-factor. Very few people have ever been isolated from their family and friends for long periods of time. You're even isolated from strangers most of the time because you'll often spend 18+ hours a day alone in that truck. You just don't know how people will react to that until they experience it.

5) Life changes fast. When you're spending a lot of time away from home and something major happens, or something changes, it can be reason enough to come off the road and do something else. A child is born, a family member gets diagnosed with a serious illness, a new opportunity pops up in your previous career, etc. Even the people who are perfectly suited to this job and lifestyle will often decide to come off the road because of an unexpected change or opportunity.

Trucking companies all have a set of rules that will remove some people from consideration, but they're not exhaustive. They don't have a complete picture where they can give you a list of traits and exclusions and determine with relatively high certainty who will work out and who won't.