Yellow Trucking one of the largest and oldest Trucking companies in America told the Teamsters Union to Pound Sand and closed its doors instead of continuing to be extorted by the Mob.

30,000 workers will be displaced and the Union gets NOTHING and the brain dead workers get less.

Next will be to sell off their assets which will acquired by those that will never allow a Union Thug on their property, bring profits up, stability up and work ethic up.

ROCK ON YELLOW

Another death by labor union.

Captain cut n paste vs supposed expert . This should be good.

Some years ago, Yellow took over Roadway, the 2d largest, and renamed it YRC. I wonder if this applies to them, too. Roadway was unioni and I assume YRC was, too. Yellow also owns some non-union companies.

.......... A very accurate and concise analysis. We have a winner.

F*ck the Unions and those that support their extortion tactics.

Y'All remember when the union killed off Hostess?

I worked for a small trucking company in South Carolina, G&P. I drove over the road for 8 years.
We were non union and the company abused us. I had to stay out on the road for 14 days, sometimes as long as 20 days, and then I got 2 days off. For $65,000 a year.

At the same time UPS drivers were on the road for 5 days and off for 2, and making $105K a year. Teamsters. Roughly speaking, UPS did half the work for twice the pay.

UPS drivers earned every penny, but I should have gotten the same pay, and I wish my company had gone union.

Yellow and all the associated companies are bankrupt.

Recent events : Yellow leadership wanted more concessions to remain alive. Union said no.

Their top driver pay was 27 an hour. No where near top for industry. Yellow drivers did have a good pension and medical tho, why people stayed there.

Union said no more concessions.
Yellow misses 50m payment to health n pension fund. Don't have the money.
Union threatens to strike.
Yellow begs court for TRO against.
Denied - assumed Union strikes.
Pension fund grants 30 day extension.
Yellow basically starts drawing down operations as of last Wed with a push to get all freight out if system by weekend. (Ukn if they did. We're telling people to arrange pick up at terminals after Fri)
Stops all ops today at noon.

Before freight started being diverted from Yellow 10 days or so ago in earnest - it was estimated they were losing 4-10m a day.


Poorly managed company. Never should have bought Roadway. Roadway should have bought them. Better leadership.

Yellow got 700m 3 years ago to modernize and stay alive. IIRC, they've paid all of $230.00 in principle back to the .gov on that loan. They're 1.5b in debt with that all due next year.

Yellow's worth more in liquidation than operations at this point. Knight/Swift has already said they're interested in some of the real estate. 300 terminals. ABF and T-Force will likely be interested in some, tractors and forklifts and drivers as they're still Union.

Rachel had good article on it 3 weeks ago, before it all went down at speed.

MODES - Freightwaves

Outstanding.




GR

Typical Union/Mob tactic, Kick Them When They Are Down and most vulnerable.

So the OP is claiming what ?

Internal email from Tue last week at Yellow



4th largest barn they had last week - no freight getting tendered to them due to uncertainty = head shot to the company from about 1 inch.




Severance package

Neither side is without blame but there aren't enough concessions available to save Yellow. They should have been allowed to die 3 years ago.


ETA: From 2008-2020 they almost went TU 4 different times. Each time they were "saved" by government, lender and union concessions. All that happened here was they said "there will be no #5"

Random picture of Wilma and Betty walking out...



For no other reason than I felt like it...

Do a bit of research before you all jump on the union.


Yellow committed suicide through greed and expansion.

They bought up every competitor they could.
With no clear plan to either eliminate them or utilize them.
That lead to running multiple companies at less than capacity competing
with each other.

Times when the literally had 2 trucks hitting the same dock to pickup a couple skids.
Taking them to 2 terminals and reloading them into two different Linehaul trucks.
Which then took them to two different terminals in the same city.


The only role the union played in this was to repeatedly grant concession to
save jobs. Over the last 12 or more years. Which was an admittedly stupid decision for all concerned. Their compensation had fallen below what they would accept.

You all congratulate a poorly run company for going broke.

I congratulate the workers for not taking it anymore.

You might be more correct. The top management, the ones ultimately responsibly for success or failure, will be the only winners. They will walkway with pockets full.
29,900 of the employees will lose.



It's a sad day for this truck driver.
A way of life that used to be BlueCollar Gold got terminal years ago.
Yellow/Roadway closing eliminates all but one of The Big Dogs that provided
darn good employment for many thousands of folks for 100 years.



PS.
Was never a union driver.
Applied to Yellow once, and was gonna be drug tested and given a physical.
(Hired, if I didn't fail those.)
Then I ran into the wall that kept me out of those jobs.
Can't say if it was the companies or the union for sure, but they would never
hire you fulltime. It was always a call board, for years. By seniority.

The phone rang, you had 2 hours to go to work.
If it didn't ring for 4 days you didn't work.
It wasn't a game I was willing to play.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Read that severance policy!


You must acknowledge by 12PM of your last day!
How many drivers and dock workers will miss that in the turmoil of losing their job?




Max of 6 weeks severance for workers?
Guaranfuckingtee you they had many thousands of 20 and 30 years employees!

Being a director gets you 6.5.
A VP or above 13?

As usual, as I posted above,
The [bleep] who destroy a company ate the ones who walk away with the
largesse. Those nasty workers who literally gave money OUT of their pocket to keep Yellow afloat get nothing.

I saw a video where Yellow wouldn't even consider the workers laid off Friday so
they could start unemployment. They are letting them swing in the breeze.


Times like this I don't envy middle and low level management.
They are the ones who know and are close to the workers. They usually have to deal with those they manage while they go through this. Then they lose their own jobs.

UNFORTUNATELY, Yellow's issues were internal and not Union related. Their problems started in the early 90's once the 3rd generation took over operations and put all their buds, college roommates, etc in executive positions. The stock holders took over, fired Powell the 3rd and brought in Maury Meyers who ran it like a company and not a fraternity. He retired in early 2000 and the replaced him with Bill Zollars. Worse mistake ever. He tried to be smart but did not have the credentials. Biggest nail in the coffin was buying Roadway. Roadway at this time was no longer a reputable company and was heading to bankruptcy. Inheriting their incompetence is what ultimately caused today's final issues with Yellow. In 2009, they merged Roadway and Yellow, kicked Yellow 's executives out, put Roadways people in. They even had to use Roadway's computer system which was based on DOS...in 2009? To prepare for this, remaining management had to take a 15% pay cut. In 2011, they slowly incorporated Yellow people back in, but the smarts ones were gone leaving the ones promoted on who they knew and not what they knew. The Teamsters took a 20 % wage reduction soon after this to help cover the dept of buying Roadway and all the terrible upper management decisions that followed. Immediately after this cut, Yellow's ignorant managment created multiple executive positions, filled them with mostly dumbass and what is happening today is sadly the result of all this idiocincracy. I'm not a Teamster, but this issue was not caused by Teamsters. Piss poor management by Yellow's executives starting in the early 2000. I retired 5 years ago having spent 30 yrs with Yellow, all in management. I could give names and dates associated with all of this, but when I left....I left. A lot of good people....Teamsters and management are suffering today due to piss poor management.

I worked for 18 years for PIE Freightlines, which also went through a number of buyouts. It was also known at different times as Ryder/PIE, and PIE Nationwide. When they merged Ryder and PIE, all the top management slots went to Ryder execs who had already proved that they couldn't run a trucking company. They dragged it into the mud. Meanwhile, the company went through ownerships by several international holding companies. Each one skimmed off all they could and sold it to another one. The final straw was when the CEO of PIE stole millions to pay off the mob to stay alive. He went to prison and the company went under.
I sure wasn't a union man but I did work there long enough to be fully vested in the union pension plan. I've been drawing a pension check each month for 10 years now. It's not real big since I didn't work there long enough for a full pension, but it's been regular.

That happens when the mistreated workers continue to work under oppressive conditions.
You found that job! Go find another company that will treat you like a human being.

Why would you pay somebody to fight your battles for you?

Yes! I worked union for 14 years. Sleazy scumbags screwed me out of money, hours and my job. Allowed the company to run roughshod over us.
We never had union meetings. The only place to voice your displeasure was directly to the local chairman. THAT went nowhere!
A local in Corpus Christi got tired of the crap and elected a square union chairman.
The company fired him and reinstalled the previous crooked s.o.b. he replaced.
The company bought off union officials and did pretty much whatever they pleased.

They're still doing pretty much the same thing with transportation employees. Treat employees like crap and pay off the union officials to turn a blind eye.

That is secret squirrel intel. You don’t appreciate it being shared to the masses? It doesn’t matter it’s already had 5 million views before you saw it.

I too worked with Ryder, then Ryder/PIE for 7 years before I resigned and went to work with Yellow so I too feel your pain but am also blessed to have survived 2 major Trucking companies upper management quandrums

This is like Uncle Vilmer’s Hardware complaining about Dicks and Academy 15 miles away.

No dog in this fight but I do enjoy my monthly retirement check from a union.

What?

How much has it decreased over the last 10 years?

So it wasn't the union that led them to shutter.

No. Most Union drivers were currently making less than non union drivers

And the UPS drivers still make less than the Walmart drivers, without the union, without having to work through the union hierarchy making peanuts for years and years.....

Unions are what they are. But they are good for neither productive employees nor productive companies.

Why didn't you quit and go to work for UPS?

zero

Speaking for myself.
UPS jobs come with a pile of baggage.
A lot of truckdrivers have a very stubborn independent streak.
UPS requires blind, mindless followership.
The uniforms are the first clue. They ain't optional!
Some are at their best in such an environment.
I never gave it a moments thought.

Apologies if that ruffles feathers for those who work(ed) for them.
JMO from observation and talking with drivers.
Heck, they often wouldn't get on the radio for fear of another driver dropping
a dime on them for something. That's no way to live.

What do you expect from a company with the name "Yellow" that uses Orange as their logo color?

And I enjoy the monthly pension I get for working in management for 39 years.

How does someone driving a truck 5 days a week “earn” $105,000? You ever hear all the folks bitching about what shipping things cost? That’s why it’s over priced, because those drivers are over paid. Sorry but there’s a value to a man’s labor and driving a truck ain’t worth $105,000 for 2080 hours of their time.

Good question. I started driving at age 60. After 2 years on the road I had a great driving record and I looked in to going to UPS.
UPS doesn't hire 62 year old guys. They want to hire 32 year old guys and they retire them at age 62.

In fact we had a retired UPS driver working for us at G&P. He had put in 30 years and they retired him at age 64. Even with that UPS pension, he still wanted to drive so he came over and worked for us at G&P.

Go put on that brown uniform & work a few weeks like them under weather conditions like now & report back. LOL!

May just be the first thing Yellow management has done right in a generation...

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.

I got my fill of the Teamsters way back in the late 70's. I was a new employee of a trucking company when their contract ran out. They'd been working on a new contract and the union president, Frank Fitzsimmons at that time, said he wanted the members to vote it down. The regional business agent came to our local and said we were going to vote it down. Period. He wouldn't even read it to tell us what we were voting on. He had a near riot on his hands as you don't tell conservative Idahoans how to vote blindly. Guys were coming in the doors with buckets of hot tar and feathers. He was finally forced to read it and it was actually a pretty good contract. It passed almost unanimously in our local but what's 30 members compared to the national membership. We were on strike for 2 weeks after that.

At that time, Teamster rank and file members couldn't vote for national officials. It was the aftermath of the Hoffa years when they picked our leaders for us. The feds finally broke up that mess and gave members a vote on their leadership. It didn't change much. The whole union was still totally corrupt.

yea, that's the kind of schit that will turn you off real quick

I was loading a truck and the veteran union guys (the lifers) worked sorting. If I was working too fast, they'd intentionally sort the packages wrong to slow me down. It was frustrating from day one.Then everyone is mad, you are mad at them, they are mad at you, they are shoving a bunch of wrong schit down the chute to your truck that you have to pick off - at some point you just start kicking boxes off the belt to the floor - brand new TVs, I didn't give a schit, I was behind and getting yelled at because the phugging Union guy wanted to get his 20 minutes of OT.

Lotsa poor info here.

I have been using Roadway / Yellow freight, later YRC for more than 40 years.

From time to time I would get into a disagreement with YRC over damage , or something or other.

I would leave them....for a while. We would get it straightened out.

We have several pieces of freight inbound and outbound now.

I have known many , many drivers , managers , salesmen, etc.

The biggest thing that hurt YRC tremendously was the union, and some goofy drivers , saying YRC was in trouble and constantly putting the lip on YRC. This cost YRC much billable invoices.

The employees were better off last week than they will be again.

How badly is this shutdown going to affect the supply chain?

There's currently a pile of excess capacity relative to demand. It's why freight rates are so low.

The freight that large shippers like Amazon/Walmart (2 largest allegedly for Yellow) moved their stuff to other players over the last, call it 2 weeks. Not everyone can handle it as a light switch of course, I've heard Estes is struggling in the west with the volume increase but Western ops are hard with less density.

That said - legitimately, right now, if it's delayed - it's not because of the truck. It's at the dock, not the truck. Not hard to find trucks right now, middle mile or OTR etc.

Realize that Yellow and LTL isn't the same as OTR/FTL.

It's actually funny how the people of this country stay at each others throats ( union vs non union, gay vs strait, Dem. vs Rep., anti gun vs second amendment, etc, etc, etc) while the UNIPARTY gleefully marches on. What a bunch of dumb #$ucks we are.

So why haven't we acted on G. K. Chesterton's idea about politicians?

Our office furniture supplier dumped Yellow a little over a year back[mostly LTL] Thank GOD

Worst service/speed/equipment etc
Loads would sit for a week or more on leaking trailers, half the trailers that came here were like a Rubiks Cube to get the door up.

R/L been carrying since last summer.
A different world!

I'd like to see where that 700 million went I bet you the top people in the business and in the Union got pockets full...

So more BS from the OP. The company failed on its own.

^^^^This^^^^

Unions became "big" when the railroads grew up.
Working conditions were horrid.
A brakeman had to walk the top of a moving train to set and release brakes.
There were no automatic couplers.
No hours of service.

As union progressed, tge engineer became the highest paid crew member. Since they only ran the engine, their working conditions were relatively safe, so their union fought for wages.
Brakemen, on the other hand had to fight for working conditions AND wages!

George Westinghouse developed airbrakes and someone else invented automatic couplers.

The railroads have bought out Unions left and right.
A crew historically had
1) conductor (foreman)
2) engineer
3) two brakemen, one on each end
4) fireman - basically, an engineer trainee

The railroad now has two man crews and F.R E.D.*!

The railroad wants one man crews and/or remote controlled engines, or no human crew!

* - Flashing Rear End Device

not really kept up this situation but I kind of wonder if it's not in the play of like many other businesses have been. the file for bankruptcy and reorganize without Union help...

20 Year Death Spiral

I’ve seen it before here in MN Union Mining country.

This sounds a lot like what happened to Consolidated Freightways. Corn Flake had over a thousand trucks on the road, and shut down over a weekend. They had rolling stock stranded in truck stops nationwide- - - -fired all the drivers. There was a pretty good rumor for many years that CF was a money laundering operation for the mob. One of my former students worked in one of their maintenance facilities, and he was always offering to "deal with" any students who gave me trouble- - - -"We've got people who do that, and they're good at it!"

Being happy an outfit goes broke is the dumbest fùcking thing I have ever heard.

That's chit.

How much should they get paid?


Monkey make more than you do ?

All of you boys that think you should determine a working mans pay, are welcome to put your hands on the wheel and grab a gear !

No, I am not a truck driver.

Some may say you’re stupid but in reality, you are just ignorant.

How many friends do you have that work there ?

^^^^^^^^This, in spades^^^^^^^^

Clyde

Unions did a lot of good early on but they have evolved into a political organization. They're a huge money pit. They're a lot like government in some ways. They can waste more money that anyone can imagine. They fight hard to dumb down the workforce to the lowest common dominator. In the 80's the company I worked for had a decent offer on the table and the union walked away. We struck and three weeks later we came back with a contract worse than the original that was offered in the first place. On the other hand, most companies' management works hard to enhance profit for the shareholder at the expense of the workforce and the plant. Railroads are a good example. Not only do they want to get rid of the two-man crew they have constantly upped the loads trains haul until we now have huge derailments to deal with. They ignore safety in order to maximize profit. In many ways companies are their own worst enemies allowing their plant to deteriorate so they can take advantage of government regulations that pay them more to replace instead of repair. They shut down car shops in order to hire contract labor to repair cars laying off hundreds of men.
Our own government is at the root of a lot of troubles with many companies. Too many rules and regulations made by people that know nothing about what they are doing.

Public employee unions should be outlawed period.... it's not fair to the customer (taxpayer).... there is zero competition for an alternative provider.

Private employee unions.... if you believe in Capitalism you should not care..... if the service they provide is too expensive then a competitor will rise up and take that business (in theory).

If I lived there I'd be hauling fish!


There are those who will think your scenario is fake. Or a list of things that might
happen over time. It is very possible to enjoy all of that in one trip.


A Friday morning I emptied New Milford CT.
The computer beeped, "My load home! I might be there before dark!!!".


Pickup, New Milford.
Deliver to "Albany NY. 100 miles. @1800.
GROCERY WAREHOUSE 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

I was literally sick. I knew what this meant.
Hours and hours. Hand unload 1000 boxes, stacking them on pallets while they screwed with me.


More beeps.
A load home to pick up near the unload.

Got to the delivery early, hoping to unload.
Nope. Normal deal. Park and wait for a radio call.
It came around 2200.

They ask if I wanted a lumper, $120.
The load paid me $30. $50 to unload it.

So, I had a decision.

Unload it. Bust my ass until 2 or 3am, then face a 10 hour drive home.
Basically not get home.


Or pay the lumper, losing $40 for my days work and time.
Including time lost at home.
But salvaging sleep and being awake enough to leave there and get home.

I lost $40 for my day.


Idholton,
With all due respect, you don't know crap.
I've been a farm hand, logger, construction worker, mechanic, factory worker...

Have driven, dump trucks, log trucks, van trailers, flat beds, tankers.
Hauling all kind of stuff.

Loved farming and logging, went to trucking for money and adventure.

Long haul trucking is by far the most taxing, tiring, frustrating job I've done.
Averaged 3100 miles per week driving a 57mph limited 350hp truck.
Some very easy math will show that being 60+hours behind the wheel.
Likely over 70. Add in time loading, unloading, waiting...all unpaid.
More than once I went home Saturday morning wearing the clothes I left in Sunday.
Load requirements and dock time leaving 3 or 4 hours a day for me. Sleep is
more important than the shower that usually took 1 hour. No sense changing shirts when the body is dirty.

It is absolutely nothing like hauling equipment around.

How many JIT loads have you picked up at 3, not loaded until 6 and expected
at 0800 500 miles away? When you haven't had 4 hours sleep and up all day?

Unions and lawyers have prevented the mistreatment and killing of untold numbers of employees. Even non-union companies pay and treat employees well to prevent unionization. Off shore oil rigs maimed and killed thousands until lawyers made that financially not feasible. Drilling companies didn't get strict on safety because they cared about their workmen. At one time they could 100% disable a man, pay him about $50K and pawn him off on SS disability for a life of poverty and pain medication.

Go anywhere in the country where old mining and farming machinery is displayed. It was all built in the USA by union labor. It was after the anti-union Taft-Hartley Act was passed over Truman's veto that American heavy machinery manufacturing went down.

If there were strong unions instead of these evil "right to work for less" laws we would not have all this illegal immigration.

The people that labor unions represent after all are working people hence the appellation "labor" union.

At my company I stayed out a minimum of 14 days. After 6 full days of driving, you have used up 65 or 66 hours. You then have to take a 34 hour break. This was usually in Texas. I might make the delivery at 10am on a Tuesday, then I got to sit in the parking lot of the TA Truck Stop of Laredo all day Tuesday, and again all day Wednesday, I could not roll until 8pm on Wednesday. In August, it is 106 in the shade in Laredo.

My pay for 34 hours in the hot parking lot? Zero.

Fourteen days in a row, sleeping in those noisy truck stops, the nearby diesels or APUs running all night. Noisy as hell.
You can drive 11 hours a day and work a total of 14 hours, and usually you do work 14 hours a day. Fourteen days on the road, then I got 2 days off.

I was paid 44 cents a mile. Get stuck in a Houston traffic jam, and roll 2 miles in 3 hours, not at all uncommon, I made 66 cents an hour for those 2 hours. Don't get me started on Atlanta traffic jams, Spaghetti Junction is rated the worst intersection in America, I had to drive through it 3 times a week.

I didn't begrudge UPS making $105K a year, they deserved it, I just wish my company had paid as much.

lmao . if you had a clue I made a living the last 40 years you wouldn't say that... am I over the road super trucker [bleep] no I'm not never want to be never will be. if you want to drive in trucks to make more money than you did as a farmer or heavy construction you work doing a very good job.. geographic location may change some things...

Don't have a clue what you even really do, or f you are happy?
If so, great!



I just know anyone saying drivers aren't worth every nickel they get are
being petty.



Before 1980 trucking was very well compensated.
That all changed with deregulation, the decline of unions, and the decline of manufacturing.


Just a kid then, but I remember hearing talk of an acquaintance who drove for
Eastern (shut down now) bringing home $500 weekly checks in the early 70s.
That's 4 new Cadillacs per year on after tax dollars.

What happened to the $700 million Covid loan money that they got back when Trump was president?

You might as well stick your retarded neck into this thread too. Sheesh

X2

Anybody that feels the least bit of resentment toward truckers for their exorbitant pay could go be a truck driver. There is hardly a company out there that wouldn't love to have a QUALIFIED driver show up at their door seeking employment.

That is if you can pass the physical and drug test, get a CDL, and be willing to herd 40 tons down the highway and through city traffic in places like Detroit. And be willing to stay away from home days at a time and the majority of the weeks in a year. As to UPS, I know enough UPS drivers to know they work under very tight scrutiny and they have to meet some pretty high standards or it is out the door.

The Teamsters do have a history of corruption and violence but they do look after their own and they have been up against corruption and violence. As have the mining, railroad, and steelworkers unions.

Actually, it was the Teamsters that wanted the company gone so they refused all accommodations . And why you ask? Because trucking demands are at an all time high and the 30K employees who lost their jobs will get picked up by the other companies that have sold out to the union thuggery...

While everybody is bitching...

Some are making a 65% payday...

LOL.

^^^^THIS!^^^^

Back in the day, FDR and George Meany (first president of the newly formed and powerful AFL-CIO*) BOTH stated publicly that union had no place in the public sector work force.
* - American Federation of Labor/Congress of Industrial Organizations

As great a POTUS as history makes him out to be, it was JFK who eventually signed legislation allowing government employees to form (SEIU) unions.

EVERYTIME somebody brings up "union", I like to bring the "Enmons Decision" to the forefront.
During a coal strike, Jerry Lowe (a striking coal miner) brought his hunting rifle to the picket line.
Non-union contract driver Eddie York was returning to the mine for another load of coal.
Jerry Lowe shot and killed Eddie York.
Due to the Enmons Decision, even the WV State Police could not arrest Lowe!
Why?
The Enmons Decision stated that Lowe was merely "protecting his job" and couldn't be charged with murder!
Lowe was eventually arrested and charged with "obstructing a public thoroughfare" because York's truck was left blocking the road!

Later, a group of striking workers shot up a transformer station in Louisiana, leaving a wide area without power!
They were caught, but due to the Enmons Decision, they couldn't be charged!

Another group did the same thing to an Alaskan transformer station on the dead of winter!! Again, broad blackout but no charges filed on the guilty parties!!!

The Taft-Hartley Act says that a company "can not" keep unionizers from coming into their business.
Unions that were having difficulty getting their foot in the door at non-union facilities, would get union friendly people to hire out until they could vote and pass "union"!
Once "union" is established, getting rid of it is like curing cancer.
Can you imagine? A company that you established with your own blood, sweat and tears and you're unable to tell your employees what they can and cannot do?
i.e. - a business owner CAN NOT tell union "NO!"!!!!


I am aware that "union" was instrumental in bringing safety to a lot of industries, but anymore, union brings unbendable, communistic tactics to the workplace.
Can't state how many times I've seen workers who were completely inadequate in their job performance, but couldn't be terminated due to "union".
I knew one guy who decided he would no longer pay union dues. He was ostracized by both his fellow workers and management!

I've also seen union members who were terminated because union leadership didn't like them.

A friend's son joined the IBEW as an apprentice.
Every time he went to the union hall, he was denied work. All his friends were working every day.
WTH?
Somebody finally told him to stop wearing "non-union" made clothing (I think it was "Lee's" jeans?) to the union hall! (????) He began to get more job assignments!

I can't imagine a group telling me I can't work because of the brand of clothing I'm wearing! **
A bit dictatorial, don't you think?
If you go into a "union hall" wearing an item of clothing that the union has boycotted, they can refuse to allow to let you work....and they don't have to tell you why!

If you think I have a dim view of union....you'd be right!

They might get hired elsewhere but they will lose all seniority. In union trucking, seniority matters. It gets you the best runs and the fewest layoffs. It gets you a higher choice on overtime, too. A guy who has 20+ years of seniority really doesn't want to go all the way down to a new hire.

Right. I dont know anyone that wants to go from a permanent bid back to casual and dealing with an xtra board. I went from pbid at CF to casual at Roadway yrs ago. "You here for 4 or 8??..." No thanks

In a merger, they'll usually integrate seniorities. The put both crews together and line them up by date of hire. This rehiring is real crap for the old guys.

Not all OTR fleets (if they decide to go that way) consider LTL as experience. Stupid as hell I know but it's a thing. It's not OTR experience, doesn't count - even tho it's class A experience.

And we're not, currently, at an all time high for trucking demand - especially relative to supply. Still too much capacity relative to demand keeping rates down - tho they are improving.
Local food place actually has no open driver jobs and has a wait list for people wanting to become drivers - that's for OTR Reefer - always dealing with grocery warehouses (CRAP) positions.

Spot market rates rise on demand relative to capacity. ATRI says average cost per mile to run right now is like 2.26 a mile.