Comments By Shiva

Sambo, I have no issue at all with what you're saying but unfortunately a lot of trainers are lease drivers. In fact, that's part of the business model for these large carriers. This is how they help their lease drivers succeed. The company will supply the lease driver with a student to train at a reduced wage. The lease driver makes more money, the company gets more trainers, and the student gets trained. This is a pretty common practice now.

I don't know how that salary model would be worked out with a lease driver. A salary is always a "disincentive" to do more work, as opposed to mileage pay being an incentive to do more work. If you put them on salary they're going to want to drive a certain number of miles and then quit. There's no sense in driving any further if you can't make more money.

This has been one of those neverending issues in trucking that no one has ever really seemed to figure out. With all of the things the DOT regulates it amazes me that they won't set some sort of minimum training standards for truck drivers. Truck drivers should get a significant portion of their road training while they're still in school, not out in the real world hauling freight.

And it's odd because the trucking industry has always been clamoring for new drivers, and yet the length of private schooling is so short that the government won't back student loans the way they will for other trade schools. I went to school for a year for Harley Davidson mechanics and was given a full loan from the government for $12,000 to cover the entire thing. I had a part time job during schooling to cover my living expenses.

If the DOT would require a minimum amount of training time, private schooling would then qualify for federal backing and students could get loans to go to private schools. They would spend 3 - 6 months there, depending on how long the minimum requirement is. Then the students can relax and get their road training at school instead of in the real world trying to hustle and make money.

This has been an issue for decades. It doesn't seem like you'd need a team of rocket scientists to come up with a better system. But somehow here we are still to this day and everyone is walking that fine line between safety and productivity.

At JB HUNT, trainers are company drivers and get paid a bonus per day on top of the miles and stops made. I had 2 great trainers here at JB. 1 in regional and another when I switched to local.

1,if tendem get close to the fifth wheel when u backing 2,tendem get far from fifth wheel.. these two make different when u backing semi...

Yes, it does make a difference. When backing in tight quarters, I like the tandems slid all the way up towards the 5th wheel.

Short but simple from my 1st trainer "Don't hit anything "

I understand your points Bud. The one point I was trying to make is that I don't see OD or any other LTL lowering their already established wages, or offering lower starting wages to new employees if the unions go away. I just don't see that happening.

You don't see it happening, and yet it happens all the time. It's been happening in just about every blue collar industry in this country since the 80's. I just gave you an example of a plant in Buffalo that used to pay $29/hr and now they pay $14, and that's one of about 1,000 plants like that. Why do you think they call the Northeast and the upper Midwest "The Rust Belt?" Because it's loaded with old, rusted out dead factories that used to pay great money. Generations of people were raised on those awesome wages and benefits, and now they're all gone.

Do you think anyone saw any of that coming? And in fact it never should have happened.

What do you think Bruce was singing about?

Now Main Street's whitewashed windows and vacant stores
Seems like there ain't nobody wants to come down here no more
They're closing down the textile mill across the railroad tracks
Foreman says these jobs are going boys and they ain't coming back
To your hometown

Bud just gave you an example from a completely different industry, the packing business, where wages used to be high but aren't anymore.

The bottom line is simple. Your job isn't going to go away, but your job pays 50% more than almost any other trucking job in the country for one reason only - the unions. That's the one and only reason and that's not an opinion, that's a fact. And when the unions are gone, so is the one and only reason for your company, or any of the others in your sector, to pay 50% more than anyone else in the industry is paying.

You're home every night, you don't touch any freight, and you just shuttle trailers between terminals. Why would that pay more than any other trucking job out there? It shouldn't. And you know it, and I know it, and the people who run LTL companies know it.

Trust me, millions of families throughout the rust belt didn't want to see it coming either. Detroit, Buffalo, Cleveland, and many other cities are half dead now when they used to be some of the most thriving cities in the country. I lived through it when my dad and most of my extended family lost their jobs in the 80's. So you can call my personal life experiences conjecture if it makes you feel better about the long term prospects of your job. But I know first hand what happens when the unions lose their strength and you will too if it ever comes to that.

And I'm not being hostile in the least. I'm just telling you what I know from my personal life experiences.

What Brett said

I believe unions are good, help to create a living wage, get decent health benefits, PTO etc. I also believe unions help to make non union companies have competitive wages and benefits. Accept if something happens and you're called into the office to speak about an incident for example, you will not have representation. That is just 1 example

I've been getting loads that pick up in the evening and deliver next morning. Some are 11 hours away running at 60 mph. The reasoning for the 23hours being awake was we drove all night, from 2pm till 1am. Then was dealing with shipper issues. After I drove my full 11 with only 5 minutes left on my drive clock. After that I took an hour nap waiting for receivers to open. I had to wait for my dock to open then I got unloaded. This was 3 hours after. I off duty drove to a loves that was 5 miles away because they had no parking. And now here I am. This is one example of the loads I've been getting. These last 3 nights I've had to burn my 14 because I couldn't stay awake so I'd pull over and sleep. I just talked to my dispatcher and he completely understands and he apologized for giving me only hot loads. He's working to give me loads with more time so I don't have to burn up my clock and I can choose to drive day.

Have you tried doing an 8/2 split ?

Errol is my guy. Has great advice, great insight. And really helped me when was going through training and had gotten homesick

Right now I have an Obamaphone. It is a smart phone Android that is free to me. It has limited mobile features however.

I would not want to spend my earnings on a mobile telephone subscription and equipment that is expensive.

I would want something like Trucker Path to aid navigation over the road.

Can Trucker Path be built into on/in-dash GPS systems? Is it a smartphone app only?

I have a laptop, but those don't seem very handy behind the wheel.

I would think modern trucks would have an advanced GPS system built into the dash with something like Trucker Path built right in to the system.

Do truckers have to actually mount their smartphones on the rig's dash?

If Trucker Path is a phone-only app, what type of phone instrument and phone carrier would I have to subscribe to to have Trucker Path access on the road?

Will this phone also be able to have Internet access without a wi-fi connection?

Part of learning the trucking trade is to know what electronics and technology I will prudently need, how to use it fast and efficiently, who will provide them and who has to pay for them.

Are phones used by truckers on the job company-supplied?

You can get yourself a truckers GPS. But always, always refer to your truckers atlas first and be sure to read any road signs. You should be able to request directions from your dispatcher as well. Although you don't need a smartphone, I highly recommend it. Make sure you have good coverage. Cricket sounds good as well as straighttalk and for a contract phone Verixon being the best

A lot of customers like to use the trailers for extra storage space. At my company, they start charging the customers a fee after x amount of days if the trls are not mt and ready for us to take out.

When I was doing OTR, my truck was governed at 65. So I figured I could travel on average 600 miles a day if I had to. Also, an experienced driver gave me a good tip on how to run my clock. I would drive 10,10,10,8,8,8,8. That method worked great for me. Only had to do 1 34 hr reset in 6 months and that was because of the planner not listening to me about the time I had left on my clock.