I Hate My Company.

You guys are really set in your ways. No disagreement is tolerated. All im allowed to do is listen and not talk back. "Whatever"

Without jumping all over the other stuff on this discussion - sounds like working for a small mom-n-pop, can be a nightmare.

With 14 months of experience, you should be able to move into another company - or back into the company you left the first time (assuming you left on good terms).

As OS comments - an ample demonstration of why the grass is not always greener.

Get back onboard with a national/large carrier - keep your head down and put a year in - not because you're under obligation to, but to start developing some stable employment history.

While it's understandable in the first few years, to do a little "shopping around" for a company that is a "best fit" for you. The best companies do want to see someone that shows they can stick things through.

These companies STILL have a 2-3 year OTR experience requirement for hire, higher pay and better equipment - because they want folks that have demonstrated a commitment to sticking around and getting the job done.

Rick

See, now that is a sound reply with good advice. I agree and i think i will stick with these guys 4 more months because the experience is important, but its hard for me to get past the poor maintenance that is really a major safety issue.

its hard for me to get past the poor maintenance that is really a major safety issue.

Do you think it's hard for them to get past the fact that you don't do a pre-trip inspection properly? That seems like it might "really be a major safety issue" too, don't ya think? Like.......

when i took off for a load today, the hood flew forward on the highway as i braked since the latch was not installed correctly

Nice......

Latch was not "installed" correctly or Latch was not " latched" ? Pre trip anyone?

Honestly, I'd rather be a truck number without a name and have nice equipment than on a name basis with crappy equipment. Also, I'm assuming smaller companies have smaller profit margins. So unless the truck is on fire it needs to roll. But I'm new so I don't know, just my 2cents.

I work for a big company and enjoy having nice equipment. My brother drives for a small company (something like a dozen trucks) and finds stuff going bad on his old million-mile Mack pretty frequently. When he does, he takes it to their shop and the owner or his mechanic fix it - maybe not to factory specs, but it works.

He doesn't complain about it, and he is very safety conscious. He actually does a more thorough pre-trip than any other driver I've seen out on the road, myself included, and he does it every single day.

Sometimes I think he has the life. I'm out four or five weeks at a time. He's home every night (but just to shower and sleep, really) and home every weekend. His truck is ungoverned. He doesn't ever hear a word about fuel economy. If he gets stuck out at some farm, the farmer or his wife gets a tractor and pulls him out and no one at the company thinks anything of it. If he forgets to dodge the chicken coop and gets an overweight ticket, the owner shrugs and pays it. They have a big Christmas party every year and everyone from the company goes to the local restaurant and has a nice time. Everyone there knows him, and he knows everyone, like a big family.

Sometimes he thinks I have the life with a two-year old Pete and getting to see the country "like a real trucker."

He started at this company and has been there a couple of years now. I've been at my company for a year and a half. My brother will probably stay there till he retires. I'm thinking of looking for something that gets me home more often. We both have options now, though, because we both made up our minds to stay put for at least a year.

Cleft, you may not realize it, but you tend to report everything as if not one bit of it is your personal responsibility. It's always about what everyone else is doing or not doing. It may make you feel good, but it's not realistic, and it puts people off because they know better. They've been there, done that. If you need to vent, ok, but don't expect anyone to take you too seriously with that approach.

If you're going to stay where you're at, just accept the fact that not everything on your truck is going to be perfect. It's an expensive machine to maintain and operate. No need to call it "ghetto." Call it an older truck and let it go at that. It's the tool that company has given you so you can make a living.

Do your pre-trips more thoroughly so you don't have to wonder if the hood is going to fly open if you stop hard. (And try to drive in a way where you won't have to stop hard.) if something is seriously unsafe, offer the company some solutions so you can roll safely. See if you can use all this energy to figure out ways to help the company make more money so they can upgrade their equipment.

Then in four months, if you're still unhappy, start looking around. Maybe you'll have to work a little harder where you're at to be safe, but it will make the cake job with newer equipment seem that much sweeter if you end up leaving.

I work for a big company and enjoy having nice equipment. My brother drives for a small company (something like a dozen trucks) and finds stuff going bad on his old million-mile Mack pretty frequently. When he does, he takes it to their shop and the owner or his mechanic fix it - maybe not to factory specs, but it works.

He doesn't complain about it, and he is very safety conscious. He actually does a more thorough pre-trip than any other driver I've seen out on the road, myself included, and he does it every single day.

Sometimes I think he has the life. I'm out four or five weeks at a time. He's home every night (but just to shower and sleep, really) and home every weekend. His truck is ungoverned. He doesn't ever hear a word about fuel economy. If he gets stuck out at some farm, the farmer or his wife gets a tractor and pulls him out and no one at the company thinks anything of it. If he forgets to dodge the chicken coop and gets an overweight ticket, the owner shrugs and pays it. They have a big Christmas party every year and everyone from the company goes to the local restaurant and has a nice time. Everyone there knows him, and he knows everyone, like a big family.

Sometimes he thinks I have the life with a two-year old Pete and getting to see the country "like a real trucker."

He started at this company and has been there a couple of years now. I've been at my company for a year and a half. My brother will probably stay there till he retires. I'm thinking of looking for something that gets me home more often. We both have options now, though, because we both made up our minds to stay put for at least a year.

Cleft, you may not realize it, but you tend to report everything as if not one bit of it is your personal responsibility. It's always about what everyone else is doing or not doing. It may make you feel good, but it's not realistic, and it puts people off because they know better. They've been there, done that. If you need to vent, ok, but don't expect anyone to take you too seriously with that approach.

If you're going to stay where you're at, just accept the fact that not everything on your truck is going to be perfect. It's an expensive machine to maintain and operate. No need to call it "ghetto." Call it an older truck and let it go at that. It's the tool that company has given you so you can make a living.

Do your pre-trips more thoroughly so you don't have to wonder if the hood is going to fly open if you stop hard. (And try to drive in a way where you won't have to stop hard.) if something is seriously unsafe, offer the company some solutions so you can roll safely. See if you can use all this energy to figure out ways to help the company make more money so they can upgrade their equipment.

Then in four months, if you're still unhappy, start looking around. Maybe you'll have to work a little harder where you're at to be safe, but it will make the cake job with newer equipment seem that much sweeter if you end up leaving.

This is a great post Bud A. I don't have his issues but great reminder and good to know there are also some mom & pop operations that can be good places to work. Nathan's for the perspective.

I remember this character well. Top 3 discussions we've ever had in my opinion. I completely agree with Brett. Most of the time it's the driver's fault but they never seem to realize it.

As far as advice, I can't give any because you know a lot more than me.

That's because you are just a local tanker yanker. Everyone knows that OTR drivers are better than local drivers....

I work for a small mom and pop carrier. Do they cut corners? Yeah sometimes I think so, but the equipment passes all inspections. I am reading a of "I want" and "I don't" in the original post. I was in 5 different trucks last year before I finally landed in the one I am in now. It seemed like every time I turned around my truck was being given to someone else. It was not because my truck broke down. Others ended up breaking them and they would get the one I was currently in until the shop finally got caught up.

I started the first year in a 94 w900. A driver quit and I got their truck then got pushed out of that one then it broke and so on all year last year. I even had to drive one truck with straight pipes and the AC was out for 2 days. I was pulling double belly dumps at the time from one exit to the next so it was foot to the floor up the hill and jakes all the way down the other side. After the 2nd day with the window down my head was pounding.

You have to put up with the little stuff. If you let it make you miserable you make posts like this. The check engine light does not mean it has to go to the shop right away. Last year I was grossing 210k with a bridge beam when mine came on and I did lose some power but it sounded ok and the oil pressure was fine. I was also 1/2 way up the east side of Homestake pass so there was no way I was going to stop being that heavy I would not get rolling again. As it was I was down to 12 mph by the time I got to the top. Took 3 weeks before it went into the shop and I ran every day because my boss wanted me to make him a profit.

It turned out to be an intake actuator. A guy I used to work with had a check engine light come on in his Honda Accura, he took it to the dealer and all it was is that he did not put the gas cap back on correctly. So a check engine light does not mean squat when the oil pressure and engine temps are fine.

I worked for a small outfit until recently. And had the sane sort of maintenance issues. Heres what I did, I started refusing to drive the illegal truck. I would tell them about the problems, and give them time to act, when they didnt I refused to drive the truck as it didnt pass a ore trip. this resulted in them fixing the truck. It happened several times and I had to endure grief from other drivers there as being a whiner. Issue I had were illegal cracked windshield, expired registration, too old of tires, bald tires, burned out headlight, no left front turn signal. I helped do the repairs I could b ut they had to buy the parts and pay me hourly. At some point i just got fed up with their lack of concern for my CDL. This owner also never changed motor oil or air filters in the 70,000 miles I drove the truck. They didnt fix leaks so you go leaking oil everywhere. It wasnt for me so I started refusing to drive the illegal trucks, and eventually found the situation intolerable so turned in my 2 weeks notice.

Phil