Originally Posted by Twilight Flyer

All animosity aside, though, driver, I have nothing but respect for you and the other drivers that do what you do every day. It's a bloody industry - on both sides of the coin. But I'm not the enemy. I can actually be on the inside of the industry and be solidly in your corner. I've been there for a long time, particularly as I put more and more years under my belt doing this and saw things for what they really were. Keep it safe and if we ever cross paths, I'll buy the coffee.

Originally Posted by belpre122

Well oh well! The cornfields of IA are still there huh? Good to see you're still around TF!

A promotion perhaps? You're not possibly consorting with some fella that enjoys cold mugs of beer and loves expounding on and on about the joys of local work, and the drudgery of OTR..... Are you?

In reference to your CSA comment. I heard a "super-trucker" laughing yesterday after an Indiana State Trooper had given him a warning for 68 in a 55 zone. Another driver tried to advise him "still goes on your CSA." This guy had no idea what the other was trying to advise him of. I think that every driver at least owes it to themselves to pick up a pocket style copy of CSA guidance book available at most larger truck stops. I think that a lot of drivers would be quite alarmed at the seriousness of what some seemingly "minor" offenses end up costing you when tallied on the CSA scale. THIS ALSO APPLIES TO WARNING TICKETS ALSO SUPER TRUCKER!

I can see why your thoughts on the next 18-24 months being another crucial phase in the implementation of CSA are valid on many levels regarding a "new?" or "continued?" driver shortage.

Definitely, staying my course. My general feeling is the same. There is a driver shortage because of low pay and horrendous working conditions. To include the FLSA exemption and....lo and behold, electronic logging, which has indeed had the expected effect. Being that a job that is (and has been wrongly touted) as a $50,000 a year payday. Is truly, in effect a $23,000 TO $31,000 annual expected compensation in the "mega carrier" OTR world.

I'm back in the Indiana cornfields myself. I lucked on to a private fuel carrier. Running central Indiana. Love the job!

Just checking in. Happy to hear you were promoted/changed positions. I have a root canal at 0800 this morning. Hurts like hell right now. Maybe that's why I was thinking of ya!

Regards,
G

Originally Posted by golfhobo

Hey, Bel! I read about you on Yahoo today!

3.9 tons of marijuana confiscated by Texas Highway Patrol

That's what you get for going "out of route!" lol.

Originally Posted by belpre122

Wow Hobo! That's one hell of a buzz there. I still have to wonder how the law enforcement officer decided to start popping open dome lids. (Snitch....or something like that perhaps?) LOL

I thought about trying that once.

Do you think that my Bob Marley t-shirt along with the phrase "Loaded like a Freight Train.....Dispatched like an Airplane." Would that have raised any eyebrows down there with the Texas DPS?

OK.......no more "out of route" for this fuel hauler!. I'm gonna stay up here in Hoosier land!

Of course, waiting for your arrival this year. On a positive note: Indianapolis/Marion County officially removed 'public intoxication' from the books....as a nuisance charge that was just clogging the courts. Therefore, I think we're gonna be OK while you're here. We'll just have to revert to gangsta "trucka" mode and maybe roll someone on the walk back from Indianapolis Motor Speedway?

I'll bail you out. In 2 or 3 days...........maybe. Are you gonna be able to park that coolie carrier for a couple of days? Sounds like GMAN is going south on us. Something about the wife concerned about him. (And I do not blame her one bit. A great woman she must be!)

G

Originally Posted by Twilight Flyer

I was reading through a job searching post a little earlier from a driver with a pretty long list of "must have's" and it got me to thinking. The driver's first paragraph had me wondering why he didn't have a job. He seemed pretty solid, good history and experience, no driving issues. On paper, he looked golden and most companies should be moving quickly to snap him up. Then I got to his second paragraph with all the "must have's" and I realized why he was still looking. At first, I was simply going to roll my eyes and move on. Then I thought about PMing him with some constructive advice, before finally settling on something straight out to everyone because it seems to come up over and over again.

So here you go. What I am about to write is pretty even-keeled, non-emotional, and based on facts. Take it as you wish. It's long and while I am basically posting to the OTR crowd, it could just as easily apply to local guys.

That said...

First of all, I'm a recruiter. I get paid by salary, so I don't have a dog in the pay-by-hire race. I've been doing this here for nearly seven years and have seen my share of changes. I like this industry and I know this industry because I pay attention. But even before entering this industry, I've been involved in a management or human resources aspect of business since entering the work force back in the mid 80's, so I'm not talking out of my azz.

The bottom line is simple...if you are looking for a job, any job, you look for a job that will meet maybe 70% of your "requirements" and then deal with the remainder. There is no perfect company out there for anyone, period, not even a union gig. If the company is not for you, move on and find one that closer matches what you are looking for. If you cannot find one that does, then perhaps you are looking for or asking for too much and it would behoove you to re-evaluate your demands. But by all means, do NOT lay a list of those demands at the feet of a potential employer. Find out what they have and mentally calculate if it's what you want. If you phrase your wish list and must haves as demands, that's the quickest way to get shown the door with a polite or not-so-polite "you're not for us."

Now, what about your must have's? Let me tell you why your must have's will get you passed by.

"I'm looking for a long-haul job. I want to run coast-to-coast and none of that short haul crap."

Most companies are moving toward eliminating long haul runs and going more to the short to medium haul freight. That's where the money is. Technically, it's been where the money has been for a long time. It's just that in today's market with fuel being what it is, the profit margin for long hauls has completely vanished.

"I want a long-nosed Pete."

If you've been paying attention to fleet changes, you're seeing a lot of major companies going with the shorter nosed fuel-efficient tractors if they're not already there. Those smaller companies with long-nosed tractors are simply going out of business because they are failing to adapt.

"I want to be able to run the speed limit."

Most fleet trucks today are governed and that is at one set speed across the board, not for specific states and areas. And most of the major companies have already scaled back their trucks to 60 and 62. It's to the point now that 65 is a fast truck. Another 6 months and people won't know what an ungoverned truck is anymore. Get used to getting passed. And save the argument that it's not safe...that argument doesn't wash, period. It's proven safer and the cost savings is enormous. As long as a governed truck meets the minimum speed limit (usually 45) of the road, then the safety of the 4-wheeling public falls to Joe Motorist to slow down when coming up on a slower moving truck. Period.

"My truck must have an APU."

Granted, it would be nice for all trucks to eventually have APUs and perhaps someday we'll be there as an industry. But APU's are still a wild card. Several states have banned them and/or considering banning them. Most of the larger companies are taking a wait and see approach until they know what the eventual standard is going to be. By the same token, though, if a company doesn't have APU's on their truck, their idling policy needs to be along the lines of "use common sense."

"I need to take my dog Scooter with me."

Pet policies will soon be a thing of the past. Most companies are getting rid of pet policies due to the excessive idling that is needed to maintain a safe and comfortable environment for said 4-legger when you are not in the truck... ie. showering, eating, playing video poker, etc.

"I must be able to use an inverter. I can't afford to eat out all the time."

Inverters are another animal. A few companies still accept them, but that is a dwindling list. The fire hazard that inverters create have pushed a lot of companies to banning them outright. On top of that, there is a pretty big liability involved, too. If a company still allows them and has their shop install them, there is still that human element. If a shop-installed inverter malfunctions and burns the truck to the ground with the driver in it, they might as well hand over a blank check to the family of the dead driver.

As to the issue of not being able to afford to eat out all the time, go buy a 12V cooler. I know a lot of guys that go that route, pack it with the basics every week and then eat healthy and well the entire time they are out on the road. If you want an inverter for your microwave, George Foreman grill, coffee-maker, Belgian waffle maker, and espresso machine, go buy your own truck.

"I don't do the northeast."

New England freight is at a premium...New York freight even better in most cases. Some companies stay out of NYC as much as possible, but even the smaller companies recognize that there will sometimes be runs up there that pay a pretty penny. And as far as the northeast goes, if you don't want to do it, don't live anywhere near it and look for a regional run that will keep you out.

"I'm not interested in forced dispatch."

More and more companies are going to forced dispatch if they are not already there. Why? Because companies make money and earn bigger and better contracts by being on time with their deliveries. In a JITD dominated world, on-time delivery is a company's biggest and best bargaining chip. Personally, I think everyone should be a forced dispatch and it's probably not going to be that much longer before everyone is forced dispatch. Companies are going to want to know the driver that is WORKING for them, is going to cover their freight. As a driver, you're there to do a job, period.

"I do not go to Canada. It's too much of a hassle."

You would be right in that Canada is a major hassle and a lot of companies have stopped hauling Canadian freight because of that. That said, though, a few companies still do and if you hire on to one of those companies, you'll be expected to haul where they tell you to.

"I'm a driver, not a lumper."

Once more, if lumping the occassional load is part of the job description, then expect to do the job when asked. The only people that consistently lump freight are a lot of the LTLers and local day-cabbers. Most of the regional and OTR gigs will have the occassional fingerprint load, but not a lot.

"I don't run at night, period."

Then you should not be driving a truck. In the first place, driving at night is preferrable to driving during the day. There's less traffic and fewer idiots on the road. It's generally less stressful. Still, some people cannot drive at night...I'm one of those. Doesn't matter how much sleep I have, right around midnight, I'm going to be out. Still, if you can't drive at night, it might be time to hang it up as a truck driver. Companies have night driving. It's part of the nature of the beast. Ask around, but good luck finding a company that does zero night driving.

"I have to have my wife, spouse, 3 children, and/or great grandmother with me at all times."

I'm not against rider policies, but when you are driving for a company, you're there to do your job. Most companies have rider policies that kick in after a certain amount of time; few have policies that are immediate. But don't expect to pack up your family for an extended vacation. When you're driving your truck, you're not on vacation. You're working.

"I homeschool my child on the truck and won't work for anyone that won't allow me to."

Contact child protective services and tell them that. At the risk of opening up yet another huge debate on the subject, the truck is not a home. It is not a suitable environment to raise a child. Sure, it's great to take your child out for short periods of time, but the operative word there should be "short". If you have no one to watch your child, then it's time to get off the road for while.
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Those are a few of the must-have's and reasons why they will get you nowhere. I'm certain there are more but it should be real clear that when looking for a job, don't make demands of a potential employer. You don't own the company...someone else does. A company is not going to change their policies because of your demands. Instead, they'll chuckle at you and forget about you. So do your homework when searching for a job. Understand that there is no perfect company out there and that you are going to have to make concessions, no matter where you go.

There have been some of the most significant changes ever in the industry over even the last year. In the very recent past, it was a driver's market. Driver's could pick and choose any one of hundreds of different companies and if they got pissed off about something, all they had to do was pick up the phone and move to the next one.

It's not like that anymore. You can't keep up with the number of companies going out of business today. For every major company like Jevic or JDC or WH Transportation or Rush that simply abruptly locks the doors, there are thousands of the smaller outfits that are also folding, but don't make the news. Fuel is not going to go down by any signficant amount to save companies that are on the edge. Companies that are still in business and hiring are doing so by going through operational changes in order to survive what is bar-none the most difficult time ever in the industry. And they also have the luxury of picking through thousands of qualified drivers to fill a precious few slots. Those drivers that are going to get hired are going to be those drivers that are going to do the job they were hired to do.

I am not, nor have I ever, advocated for a driver to be a doormat for a company. But you are also an employee of said company and as an employee, you are expected to do the job you were hired to do, even if you don't like it at times. If that means you have to help lump a load, then you lump it. If that means you have to run a load at night, then you run it...providing, of course, you can do so legally.

It's a fine line you will skate as a driver today and we definitely don't live in a perfect world. Unfortunately, some companies or dispatchers might look at it as an opportunity to take advantage of a driver because they know the driver's choices are limited. But by and large, those will be the exception to the rule. Understand the flip side to that, though. The company hired you to do a job. If it doesn't violate rules or laws, then do the job they hired you to do. If you don't like it, there's always buying your own truck.

Originally Posted by Always Stuggling

Originally Posted by Twilight Flyer

I don't disagree with you at all; doesn't make what I said any less true, though. The industry, as a whole, has a really big problem staying out of its own way and it's only getting worse. I'm pretty damn concerned myself at what we're all going to be looking at in about 18 to 24 months - driver and non-driver alike.