Reply With QuoteGood info. I've been kickin it around for years because I 'd like to see the country, kids are all grown. Not much going on around here. Who knows maybe the time has come.
Did Highroller go out of business?....
I do 5,000 gallon liquid chemical loads from Parker, Az mostly to places in L.A. and return empty. Most of my trips are 525 to 550 miles and unloading generally takes an hour and a half.
The 600 mile trips were impossible to log in 10 hours at California's assumed average speed of 50 mph (log over 50 and be accused of speeding!) The new law gives us 11 driving hours on a shift, so I can now make all my trips pretty much legal. The problem I have with the new law is that 14 hours after you start, you are done. I'm left with only three hours for "other than driving" and half of that is burned up unloading. ANY delays count against the 14 hours, so I'm really not given the luxury of any naptime before the delivery, unless I'm willing to slide my start time forward ( Illegal, but better than being dangerous).
Highroller is right....Places where truckers pickup or deliver have got to cease the industry-wide conspiracy of using the truck driver as a slave-labor warehouse worker, and be held financially accountable for any delay time and any services that are required of the driver. Literally, it is a violation of a driver's civil rights when someone requires uncompensated (slave) labor from him and EVERY grocery warehouse in the country does this to hundreds of drivers every day. They claim it is a contractual requirement of the trucking company's assignment of the load and that is why a driver's company will require him to "do what the customer wants" under threat of termination, Even as they continue to pay him ONLY for the miles he drives. I don't see this problem ever being addressed by legislation because truck drivers are not considered an important constituency like grocery companies are, but I wouldn't be surprised to eventually see a federal "slavery" class-action suit against one of these warehouses. I'd be pickled-tink to see a boycott against places that do this, but I believe there would be enough bottom-feeders to replace the boycotters.
Trucking is a tough business, especially for owner/operators, that runs on rates that are pretty close to "cost". The only way I would ever buy another truck and get back in is if I could lease to a company that would pay my operation a reasonable salary in exchange for use or availability of my operation for the full number of hours that are legally allowed. Since I'd be getting paid for a number of hours of use, I'd handstack with a smile, wait around for unloading, or whatever else defined the job on a given day! If the industry had to start paying ALL drivers this way, the slavery would stop and the culprits would be billed!
Good info. I've been kickin it around for years because I 'd like to see the country, kids are all grown. Not much going on around here. Who knows maybe the time has come.
I have a friend who comes unglued when a truck changes lanes in front of him and slows him down. I have to remind him that guy is at work asshole! We are on the way to the lake or where ever. JUST CHILL!
Yeah, and tell your buddy while it takes him another 5-10 seconds to get back up to speed, it takes the truck a minute or more! AZDon, I didn't go out of business, just decided I'd had enough. Even as an owner operator you're still the guy loest on the totem pole when it hits the fan. And don't even get me started about grocery wharehouses. It is illegal to charge somebody to unload YOUR freight, but trucking companies sit there and take it. Do you know how many millions of dollars in labor are saved by these companies? All it would take is half of the drivers telling the warehouses to unload it themselves and the practice would stop. Not to mention the insurance ramifications. My workers comp does not cover me in the trailer... Until drivers start standing up for themselves they will continue to be abused. Add up the hours you spend away from home and use it to divide your pay. You'll find you're working for minumum wage as a company driver.
You drive a long distance and arrive on time and are assigned a door at the grocery warehouse. You back up and take your paperwork in and the clerk hands you a stack of 52 pallet stickers and explains that they will accept your 52 pallets when they are properly stacked, 3 high, and lined up on the dock...go over there and pick out an electric pallet jack. But there are only 26 pallets on the truck and they are stacked 6 high, you protest. The clerk tells you that they won't refuse the load, but neither will they accept it unless you do as they require. When you phone your company or the broker that produced the load, you are told that your relationship is over if you don't deliver the load. You aren't being paid a dime to do anything but drive. Still, you submit to being used as a slave, hoping that this will be the last time...WRONG!
I got out of general freight because as a driver or O/O you never have any recourse in these situations.
I ran over and broke my foot with an electric pallet jack at Fry's in phoenix and complained that they had required me to use their machinery without training. They refused to take an incident report, said they'd deny that it happened and have me and my companies banned from ALL grocery warehouses for life if I pursued a claim. At the time, I would've gone broke if I stopped running, so I sucked it up and let the dealio go!
I don't believe the grocery companies will ever face an effective boycott because there will always be enough bottom-feeding newcomers to fill the seats. It would be interesting, though, to see a lawsuit filed by mileage-paid truckers who are forced to provide slave labor by their company's customer under threat of termination. A conservative Supreme Court would probably refuse to hear the case though because of the power and stature of the grocery companies.
my mom 5 years ago calls me and tells me she is going to be a truck driver im like sure mom have another bud and call me in the morning.she lives in idaho so we talk once or twice a month.she was 58 years old at the time.i lived in lakewood then and i hear this big truck and im liek what the **** is a big rig doing on are street.it was mom just stopping by in her new big rig i couldnt believe my frigging eyes.i was like i guess your serious when you say something so i bouht her a little dog and they hit teh road for the next 2 years.she loved it but hated the time away from home.
i drive truck
I wanted to drive truck ever since I was a little kid. I always thought it would be cool. I worked several jobs that never really amounted to much. Then I had the chance to go to school for my CDL. That was 10 years ago. I worked for a large company for two years. I was home weekends. That sucked but they had a change and wanted everyone to stay out for two weeks at a time. That was when I looked for a new job.
I found the job I have now. I leave at 3-4 am and get home around 4-5 pm. Its a very small company. I run to New Jersey, New York city and Philly. Not the easiest places to drive. So far in ten years I have had know accidents or tickets. I have had plenty of close calls.....
I have people ask me all the time about getting a CDL. The thing is I don't think most of them have a clue what its all about.
Originally posted by Dans66Stevens
I have people ask me all the time about getting a CDL. The thing is I don't think most of them have a clue what its all about.
So what is it all about? I'm in Texas, and have thought long and hard about trucking. I've loved rigs since I could see straight, is it even worth getting into now?
Around here things are very bad. Not to many good jobs. Most of the big companys have gone out of business or just don't hire. So I decided to get my CDL. One thing I will say is you never ever have to worry about finding a job.
As far as driving for me its a pretty easy day most days. I have been to most places or someplace close by. That always helps when trying to find a place.
Im sure I could go to a different company and make more money. If I went back to the old company I couls make more but would only be home weekends....
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