Comments By JCTrucker

I do remember Y2K. That was much hype, little delivery, no proof. Scary unknown kinda thing. Went away in about 10 minutes once the clocks rolled over and nothing happened. lol.

I know that right now, Covid-19 seems small and unimportant in the larger scheme.

I'm a vet. I know all about the 22 a day. I work actively to help lower that number. It's a travesty. 800-273-8255 Veteran Crisis Line. Always open, always available. Please pass it on to your Vet friends.

I love the isolation of trucking. I got to do my first week of night driving this week. Holy smokes, I have died and gone to heaven. I got to reassure my family tonight that in 2500+ miles last week, I saw 4 people for more than 10 seconds. They think I'm weird when I say "I love this!"

I also have a degree in public health. I also spent 20 yrs active duty in some real **** hole countries preventing outbreaks of flu, foot rot, common colds, MERS, malaria, anthrax, yellow fever, Mediterranean fever, gonorrhea, syphilis, the clap, etc among my Marines and Sailors.

I'll tell you this and you can take it to the bank . . . things ARE going to get worse before they get better.

This week saw a tripling of the number infected outside of china. This. Week.

On the financial front, trucking stocks are getting crushed along with everyone else. Down an average of 25%. Heartland, KnightSwift, Schnider, Werner, etc. The Dow Jones was down 2300 just today. Hope everyone has moved their 401k's into govt bonds. Only makes about .5% a month but that's better than the alternative. Financially, Covid-19 is a stone cold killer.

I hope you are all right and this turns out to be. . . uneventful. Science, economics . . . they are telling a different story.

Stay frosty, my friends. It might be a bumpy ride. Or not. Maybe this will all go away. Please God . . . make it go away. People are suffering a lot in real life. I'd love to see this end. I hope it doesn't effect anyone here.

Well, it appears things have changed over the week. Let's recap for a minute:

WHO labeled it a pandemic NBA season postponed NCAA March Madness is now fan-less Travel from Europe banned Part of residential New York quarantined Over 118k infected Over 4000 dead Italy quarantined (that's 60 million people) China still partially quarantined (been 7 weeks now) Washington state businesses pushing for people to work from home schools closing And she's just getting warmed up . . .

Might be a good time to ponder what the next step will be. 2 million+ truckers traveling from coast to coast continuously. Might be a risk.

Whatever, though. If you guys don't think its gonna happen, I'll go back and put on my tinfoil hat and watch the news.

I new to trucking and am looking to older or more experienced truckers . . .

What does a quarantine mean for us? Will we still be able to travel in and out of zones? I'm assuming it will depend on your load. For example a load of food would be allowed to pass a quarantine checkpoint whereas a load of radios would be turned around?

Any thoughts would be appreciated. I'd hate to get stuck inside a quarantine zone 500 miles from home.

In China, they had truckers bring food up to a checkpoint, they would unload and reload into smaller distribution trucks. Initial truck would turn around and go to get reloaded. The distribution truck drivers were in full hazmat suits and made the actual deliveries into the q zone.

Wonder if Italy is going to follow that model as well and . . . .eventually . . . if we will also here in the States.

Thanks for your time and thoughts.

Jason

Kearsey,

I hear you. If this was a mom and pop shop, no doubt there would be that need to keep the trainer running to keep the doors open. That ain't the case here. 160 or so new trucks coming into the company per year, minimum. 1200+ drivers. And to be honest, the DID promise me a truck. The one I'm in. I totally expect and would demand loyalty from ANY company (as long as no wrongdoing) as a multiyear employee vs a 6 month chump. I'm realistic.

Just seems that making a new employee take a step back due to no fault of their own in order to benefit themselves while offering nothing to the new guy is a . . . well, it's bad business in my opinion.

I'm over it, gonna take my lumps as a new-bie, will move on when the time is right. Now ain't it. I'll make money for the company, for myself, and hopefully, for the customer.

Thanks, Turtle.

As angry as I am, I hate to admit it but I tend to agree with your view.

I won't be in line for a new truck for years, though.

I'm getting a lot of benefits from this company and don't want to burn the bridge. Or bite the hand that feeds me.

At the same time, I think it shows poor business decisions, a lack of loyalty, and short term vision. Those things bother me for the long term vision of my employment with them. Gotta admit . . . HUGE hit to be taken without any promise of "returning the favor" or "will keep an eye out for something good for you."

I've had to deliver hard decisions to good people. I have ALWAYS guaranteed them top priority for anything good that comes across my desk. And have delivered on that promise too. Not getting any kind of consideration such as that tends to make me reconsider my position with the company. Not going to do anything rash but will not be a long term player for them. Gonna pay my dues and when I reevaluate my career, I can guarantee that this will weigh HEAVILY on my future decisions.

Thanks for the sanity check, though. Much appreciated.

Just curious how everyone here would handle this situation.

New CDL driver (6 months). Training completed with new company. Things cruising along great . . . Get assigned a new-ish truck, good routes, good communication, good money, no problems, no disciplinary anything. Then . . . .

Out of the blue, get a call that new company trainers need a truck with a bunk in it. So they are taking mine. And I get reassigned to a 6 yr old truck.

Further info . . . the older trucks almost never meet the minimum requirements for the MPG bonus. Which basically means I am out $3-400 per month. Which is just adding insult to injury.

Should I: Call my manager for explanation? Quit? Take it and keep trucking? Take it and ensure that management is aware of my displeasure and reasons behind it? Other ideas?

I'm not a whiner. I'm a solid employee. I don't feel its right for a company to punish good employees for their benefit. I believe in win-wins. This is definitely not that.

Thanks for your thoughts and insights.

Anyone have any suggestions? I looked at Abacus but . . .

My tax rate just went from 12% up to 22%. Great that I'm making more money but ****ty that the gov't is getting so much.

Thanks in advance.

Do they only test for one random maneuver where you tested?

Nah, straightline back, off set back, and then either parallel or alley dock.

Not true. I see signs of God everyday all around me.

One of the best quotes I have seen. Thank you for that.

Rick,

Best objective description of the crash that I have heard in a while. I really appreciate the (mostly) leaving of politics out of it. The economy these days is either really great or really bad. Both sides have an argument.

China has massive debt. The rest of the world has massive debt. Comparatively, we have some debt. We'll see how it ends up. Your application of the supply/demand need is perfect in pointing to refrigerated loads. People gotta eat.

Thanks for your post. Best of luck for all. Hope the economy booms for everyone.