I began my career in the transportation business working for a rather small company. Not very many trucks. I was told at least 50 but I think it was more like 20. I went in not knowing a thing, I left knowing probably more than what I ever really wanted to.

It is really amazing to see the different aspects of trucking when you are married to a driver. You get to see both sides of everything from payroll problems to log audits to dispatch trouble. I also think it is hard sometimes to adjust to trying not to take a company side of view when you are married to a driver. You always see both sides of the fence and try to make either side look more appealing to your spouse, but sometimes that does not always work!

I am very much a people person. So it was very easy for me to get along with the drivers in the company. Even when they had problems and would be screaming and yelling at me on the phone I would listen politely and stay calm in all situations. It seemed as if when they heard me still having a very relaxed, low key type of attitude, it made things better all the way around.

I think out of everything I encountered the worst were payroll problems. That is a big thing for me where I really teeter on the fence. I see the driver aspect of it because you haul the load and if they short you the pay for it - well my attitude is this: you have hauled and delivered the load as you were hired to do - now they need to do what they promised - pay you!! But because of ‘bookkeeping’ you usually have to wait a week. In some instances where things get REALLY messed up you can wait up to a month hoping things will eventually be resolved.

Payroll mistakes can be anything from something minor such as not sending in you BOL’s at the right time (or using Trip Pak or TransFlo) to rookie mistakes such as a green dispatcher/fleet manager not knowing how to put in for pay correctly. Then you have the automated systems that are supposed to be able to give you pay when a load number is put in and the paper work is received - sometimes that does not work, or how about the pay you are supposed to receive for training that someone “oops!” forgets to put in?

What it boils down to is disgruntled drivers that get upset because they feel they are not being listened to and that their job does not really matter to those who push buttons all day.

Then you have the office side of it. The screaming, whining (you know there ARE the whiners out there!) drivers who want everything right now. You do actually have SOME office personnel that try to help sort everything out, but the driver still wants to do things THEIR way. What they do not realize is that eventually the office personnel that tries to help, they will give up because the driver does not try to help themselves at all, instead they just hold the office personally responsible for everything bad thing that happens to them.

And what about the companies that pay the independent guys? Do they REALLY pay within 48 hours of delivery if you send in the required paperwork? I am very curious about that one because I know of at least one of the large companies that claims they pay within 48 hours.

So if a company would be a little more receptive to the idea of actually listening to a driver when they call in and a driver would actually listen when office personnel speak to them – maybe, just maybe, there would not be payroll issues.

Haha!! Yeah right!! It was a nice thought anyway!!