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

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.