Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Way To Go…. Yellow Trucking

Like many reading this thread I had a typical broad brush knee-jerk "screw the unions" initial reaction but am very thankful to hear the other side on this. Always grateful for some eye opening and hearing an honest two-way. Thank you few posters for enlightening me on the real score. As for $100k being too much pay I have ZERO gripe with that pay. $100k is not 'rich' these days. Being on the road for so many hours, away from family, is tedious and dangerous so guys that pull it off safely and efficiently deserve something. Just how I see it.

I certainly applaud our Canadian friend drivers for what they endured.

This UPS driver thing brings one back. In the 80's, I worked for a major freight line in Twin Falls, ID. UPS moved to town. On their 1st day of operations, a couple of our local drivers were sitting in a cafe having their afternoon coffee break. A new UPS driver, apparently brought in from somewhere else, walked up to them and asked how to get to Jarbidge, NV. He had a package to deliver there. ONE package. Their new operating rights specified that they would service every town in their area every day and Jarbidge is sort of a town. It's an old mining town in remote northern NV, population about a dozen.

Well, from Twin Falls to Jarbidge is about 95 miles, at least 1/3 of it on a gravel road. The only other town between them is 200 people and Jarbidge is 80 miles from there. The driver had more than 4 hours of driving ahead of him and it was already after 3PM so much of the trip would be on overtime. They made some good money on that one.

Typical gripe about drivers: they ain't worth it.

Try starting your day at 3 AM, loading at some Godforsaken meat packing plant, which takes six hours. Because that screws up your driving clock, you have to find a truck stop and do your "10", mandatory minimum rest time. Then you get to hammer down 9 1/2 hours, including driving into the setting sun, battling Atlanta rush hour, well, because the Government thinks that's "safe".

Then you get to sit at a grocery store distribution center for four hours, waiting for some union lumper to get around to unloading your truck. Yay unions!

2080 hours? In your dreams. Basically twice that, but only getting paid for as little as half of it. All away from home, which you get to see for a day or two every two or three weeks. With cameras in your face to monitor you while driving, DOT wired into your truck monitoring and recording everything you do, the fleet manager telling you where and how much fuel to buy, and satellites tracking your every move and reporting it back to dispatch.

Then, once you are established and making a decent buck, two speeding tickets or one accident, and the insurance company drops you and you're done driving. It's no wonder less than 25% of new drivers make it longer than a year in the "profession".

UPS has never had a reputation for being easy on drivers. At one time, maybe now, too, I don't know, they had a policy that if a driver had any accident, he was fired. Period. There was a case in northern NV where a line of trucks was slowed way down for construction. The wind was howling, 50 mph gusts. A UPS set of triples was moving at 15 mph in the middle of a line of trucks when a wind gust blew one of his very lightly loaded trailers over (you haven't lived until you've pulled triples in the wind). He was immediately fired. There was nothing he could have done to prevent it other than stopping completely and he'd probably get fired for that, too.

Sorry Jack, but this is way off base. Don't know of any of our delivery drivers working 40 hours a week, and they are local.

My son works for UPS. I know first hand the hours he works and under what conditions. 100-120 degrees in those brown trucks. It is his chosen profession, and he can always find another job, but 40 hours a week????????



Clyde

On a side note. There is a product call Liquid IV. Sold in bulk packs on Amazon. It's a powder you add to water. Puts back in what you sweat out. It's way better than a sports drink. My youngest used it for football practices during the summer, and the oldest uses it while on the job. They work!!!!!

Anytime a company tells Organized Crime they will no long pay their extortion fees, it’s a good thing.

Without a doubt. Fugk the unions.

is a shame unions have such a bad rap. they are responsible for so much quality of life for the average American worker.

it seems some of you all need to come work on a farm year-round and all conditions and then also the sideline job of heavy excavation work moving equipment and dealing with all kinds of other issues. you'll be glad to jump in your truck and drive down the road...

Funny Schit Right There, Funny Schit

Don't cry about what they make if you aren't willing to do their job? I can't wrap my head around some monkey holding a steering wheel earning six figures.

Horse crap!

I farm, and own a trucking company. The drivers make right about twice what any farm employee makes, and not a single farm worker is willing to get their CDL and switch. And our drivers are home 3-4 nights a week and never have to wait to load or unload.

It's all fun and games until you're rolling around on your back in the slush hanging chains while being sprayed with ice water from a-hole 4 wheelers zipping by three feet away without a care in the world. While missing your daughter's school recital.

I can drive, and do when someone is out or the schedule messes up, but I'll spend a day on the farm in 90 degree heat in black waders before dealing with all the crap that comes with piloting 90K lbs over the Oregon Blues.

Everyone deserves every dollar they can get someone to pay them. If not for their actual abilities then for their negotiation abilities.

well guess what buddy I have a CDL I move heavy equipment all over the damn place as well as the farm stuff. you come out here in the hot humid [bleep] you live in Oregon you do not understand what hot and humid is. and you just prove my point driver makes a lot more money than a farmhand a lot easier money than a farm hand. during harvest season you think farmers get to everything a kid does? not kind of are you with you there's definitely two sides to it...

At one time that was true. Working conditions with the railroads, steel factories, meat packing plants, etc. were horrible. The unions changed a lot and got new laws passed protecting the workers. Now, though, all that protection isn't necessary, as demonstrated by all the non-union shops with very good working conditions. Now days, the unions' major 'duty' is getting more and more money and making big paydays for union officials.

Why shouldn't they make $105,000? It's what the market will bare and there's little to no competition in what they do. Same as power and petroleum companies. There's thousands of builders and if wasn't for the government mandates there'd be a lot more people who'd just build themselves.

Organized Crime saw this coming a long long time ago, so being the criminals they are, they went to their partners in Crime, The Democrat Party and organized Public Employees.

With public employees, teachers, LEO, etc. Organized Crime no long has to negotiate with private businesses trying to make a profit, now they just Lobby the Democrats, get their money and raise our taxes to pay for it.

It’s the ultimate scam on the American Taxpayer.

Does anybody besides me find it odd that Law Enforcement would pay Organized Crime to negotiate for them and protect them.

Lunch box Joe and Pot hole Pete. Neither ever picked up a phone.

Hope all you Union people noticed that.

Not much of a fan of labor unions myself, but based on what I've witnessed here in my area over the past 50+ years, any company / business needn't be concerned with employees voting for union representation as long as they provide a safe as possible workplace, pay a fair wage, offer aqueduct benefits, treat employees equally and with respect... There's simply too many employers who's employees have voted no on union representation time after time BECAUSE apparently their employers are doing the right things.'

Those that won't, ... well,... you get what you get...




As always, though,... YMMV

yea that's pretty much it, but places like Amazon and Walmart - those folks could really use a union, and all the other people who work at competitors would benefit.

I've worked at UPS and saw the down side of the union, but then again, I was working a job that paid $9 an hour when everyone else was paying $3.85. So while I really disliked the union guys who always had to be involved in every facet of how I chose to work, I also was able to have a better quality of life putting up with it.

Also, I think there is a big divide over public versus private unions. No way in hell should a public union exist where terms are negotiated with elected officials using taxpayer money.