Do you have what it takes?

[Southern Fried]

I was being sarcastic ...... sheeesh ...... look at my avatar picture !!

I know..... was being your "straight man". You do got a "punch line" dontcha????

 

[Pullin2]

I know..... was being your "straight man". You do got a "punch line" dontcha????

Don't pressure me ..... it's late ...... I'm old ........ and I forgot to go to the stupid liquor store before it closed !

 

[Duck]

If he's anyways smart he'll be working for the Central Committee...... or a criminal.... which is about the same thing.

Not to worry because they'll educate him so well that he'll not remember either you or your son. The State is the All-Father.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

 

[ironpony]

I see a lot of prospective drivers on here looking into the industry for a job. There's nothing wrong with that, but let me fill you in on how it'll play out for you:

I started at CR England almost 10 years ago. Most people think they're going to live a smokey and the bandit reality and enjoy big money on the open road from day one. NOT!

Let's say that 100 people start at the same time, working for the same employers driving similar equipment under similar circumstances.

The training schools you'll go to to get your A are very fast paced, because there's a lot to learn in a short period of time. Some schools will work with you if you fall behind, but most won't. Most programs are roughly 4 weeks. That's 4 weeks to learn the regulations, logs, pre trip inspections, and oh yeah, learn how to drive a 80,000 lb truck.

Of the 100 people that started school, 75 'graduate'.

Next, I'll pick on CR England since that was my starter.

Of the 75 that graduated and applied, 68 showed up for orientation. 4 failed the drug screening, 3 couldn't complete the hiring process, and one had to quit due to personal reasons.

Of the 100 that started school, we're now down to 60, and we haven't even started yet.

It's training time. When I went to CR England, Phase I training was a month and Phase II lasted 2 months. If you wanted to lease a truck you could opt out of Phase II. Phase I and II is basically 3 months to home in what you learned in school. You may or may not get home time during this training, and it's recommended that you don't take any home time to make the process smoother and easier.

Of the 60 applicants, 10 don't make it passed the first week. 50 make it passed Phase I. Half decide to lease and bypass Phase II, the other half stays in training.

The ones that opted to lease:

10 wreck within the first 3 weeks. 10 take 2 weeks off work and then are rudely awakened by a large debt when they come back to work, as you still gotta make truck payments. They quit. 3 more quit after 2 weeks. 2 might make it passed 6 months.

The ones that stayed company:

10 didn't make it through Phase II. 5 quit because they had to wait 3 days for a truck. 5 had wrecks within 3 weeks. 3 more quit within 2 months. 2 might last longer than 6 months.

Why the turnover?

There's no 'open road' and no big money for new drivers. You're on a very short leash with everyone and their brother watching you. If you so much as fart, the safety department would know about it. You can't go any faster than 65 mph, you have electronic logs counting down your time and a piece of crap truck that'll break down on you at least once a month. You might get stuck for days on end waiting for a load. You'll be lucky to gross $700 a week as a company driver and even luckier to gross that as a IC.

As you gain time with electronic logs and governed trucks, most will develop the mentality that those who aren't using elogs or governors are outlaws and evil.

We're down to 4 drivers left after 1 year from the 100 that started.

The 4 drivers all get a local union job. Happily ever after? Nope.... This ain't Disney.

Welcome to working 14 hours a day, 7 days a week as a casual. Expect to work every holiday and weekend. Got plans? Oh well, cancel them. The union is your new family now. And all that work is only for $40,000-$60,000 a year. To make the good money and get a set schedule at a union, you need to be high enough on the seniority list and bid on a run with hours and off days you want. It may take you 5-10 years to get to that point.

Of the 4 that started the union job, 2 quit within 6 months. 1 stays long enough to retire and 1 leaves after 8 years.

The 1 that left went to a small trucking company using loose leaf logs. That 1 became the evil outlaw they hated as a rookie, and looks back at their rookie days in laughter.

What's my point? Trucking is not a job. It's a lifestyle. If you come into this industry needing just a job to get by, you're going to be one of the 99 people that didn't make it. If you're looking into it as a career because you love to drive, then you'll be the one driver that does make it.

First, none of this is intended as a slam at @THBatMan8 - he's as much a victim of CRE as anyone else who goes there. CRE is a rolling disaster area, the lowest of the bottom feeders. I suppose the washout rate for failed drug tests would be much higher if they could keep the prospective testee's there long enough to provide a sample.

@THBatMan8 has a limited perspective of training companies, and looking from the bottom up, I'd probably feel the same way. The mistreatment of employees at CRE is endemic to this carrier, and is not that way throughout the industry. This is a carrier whose CEO brags to other industry leaders about how much money he makes ripping off unsuspecting, uneducated new drivers lured into one of the worst leasing scams in the industry.

You can't get any lower or worse than CRE.

As for turnover industry-wide, you better believe it. Yep, the training companies in general have a huge problem with it, and yeah, there's a huge washout rate at every training carrier. Its a good thing... not everybody was meant to drive a big rig. That's from idjits that drive like they think the interstate is Talladega, to unstable mental cases that could go postal in the isolation of an OTR truck cab at a moments notice. The first couple of years see many new drivers who make it through training leave for a variety of reasons... a lot of it due to overly romantic expectations of the life, unrealized financial expectations, family pressures, you name it. Then there's grass is greener syndrome, and sometimes it is. I had some ex-Prime chick chide me about still being there, and tell me what a fantastic 50-penny per mile deal she had at Crete. Sorry, I'm not willing to take a humongous pay cut to be a company driver anywhere. Sometimes that green grass is just brown grass with a new coat of green paint.

It doesn't make heads roll anywhere. That's the most disturbing part. The large training companies like CRE, Swift and whatnot actually love the high turnover because it keeps fresh meat in their classrooms. They don't care if you make it or not. They make soo much money from the government for their training programs and they make even more from their lease programs. It benefits them to have a high turnover.

Again, a perspective from the bottom looking up.

I have to agree with @Duck - what subsidy? And how would you get the current Congress to cozy up enough to actually pass something like that? Outside of displaced worker reeducation benefits, or use of the GI Bill to cover the costs of an accredited driving school, there just ain't no such animal.

 

[Giggles]

you guys make my head hrut when u make long posts....


hurt* the reason i didnt fix the actual word? cuz then my next post wouldnt make sense.. HUSH!!!!!! @Duck

 

[Giggles]

seeeeee. i cant even spell right now ?? ^^^^^

 

[GAnthony]

you guys make my head hrut when u make long posts....


hurt* the reason i didnt fix the actual word? cuz then my next post wouldnt make sense.. HUSH!!!!!! @Duck

My post............



da end.....

 

[Giggles]

My post............



da end.....

ahhhh much better. thanks

 

[ironpony]

...hobbits are short on erudition apparently.

 

[Giggles]

...hobbits are short on erudition apparently.

kiss off,

 

[ironpony]

kiss off,

Lesseee, what in the world? Oh, yeah... it's in here somewhere...

Yeah, here we go...







Bite me baby!

 

[Giggles]

Lesseee, what in the world? Oh, yeah... it's in here somewhere...

Yeah, here we go...







Bite me baby!

mark the spot...dont make threats you cant keep

 

[ironpony]

mark the spot...dont make threats you cant keep

Ms @Injun won't let me post the pic! Spoilsport!

 

[Injun]

Ms @Injun won't let me post the pic! Spoilsport!

No shit, there I was...sittin' on the couch, mindin' my own biz and some metallic equine hollered my name...