They’re not just happy with cutting pay, either. Heaven help you should you end up in a city where the company has a terminal. They have fired nearly all their local drivers and are forcing OTR drivers to do back to back to back local runs, including teams like myself and partner. Oh, and they did all this AFTER they lowered the minimum a driver gets paid to do local runs. So this basically means that you work all day for what amounts to no more than $2-$4 an hour. Then after spending a day bouncing around city streets, you are expected to drive all night on a “real” load. Lovely way to treat drivers, isn’t it?

I simply cannot wait for the power pendulum to swing back the other way. If I don’t have enough money saved to be an owner operator by then, I’m not quitting my current company. I’m going to hold their balls to the fire, just like they have mine (well, they haven’t literally held mine, since I don’t have any, what with being a woman and all, but still … you get the point).

I can’t wait. “Oh,” I’ll say, “you want me to run a local for you because you don’t have enough drivers to cover all your freight? I think I’m going to be needed a little extra financial incentive to do that favor for you.”

One of these days …

For example – look at the way company trucks are spec’d out. Now you’re talking about an $80k tractor here – no heated windshield wipers, no built-in GPS systems, and 12 volt DC wiring instead of 110 volt AC. Seriously??? Absolutely unbelievable.

Also, the idea that “miles are miles” in the minds of dispatchers that have never driven before – 150 miles in Jersey is not like 150 miles in Arizona.

However, interestingly enough, driver turnover is way, way down during this latest recession. Why? Certainly not because drivers are being taken better care of and are happier where they are. If anything, it’s the opposite – they are not happy and not being treated as well as they would like. The lower turnover is the result of less demand for drivers and fewer choices for companies that are hiring. I drove for 15 years and I took advantage of the high demand by changing jobs whenever I liked, taking a few months off whenever I liked, and accepting lots of big sign-on bonuses. When driver demand is high, recruiting efforts are high, and it’s easy for most people to fall for the “grass is greener” thing and jump ship. I personally didn’t jump ship because I was unhappy with the companies I was with – I just wanted to try new companies and haul different types of freight. After I figured out what I liked I stuck with the last company for 6 years and was pretty happy overall.

Trucking is a brutal job and a tough lifestyle – people get fed-up quickly. I’d like to see a survey on what made drivers like myself get out of the industry – for me, the stricter scrutiny, drivers constantly taking the blame for everything, and the constantly increasing enforcement finally took all the fun out of it. When the first thing you think of when you wake up in the morning is “I hope I can just get this done without DOT bothering me, or a random drug screen, or a lecture from the safety dept, or someone else pulling me aside for something” – the fun is pretty much gone. Even in the early 90’s when I first started things were much less strict and you were left alone most of the time. Now, nobody will leave you alone for 5 minutes.

The new guys don’t know the difference – they don’t know what it was like to be left alone to do your job most of the time. Before my time it was even less strict – much less strict. If someone called me today and said, “Man, we need ya. We just talked to the DOT and safety/log department and they said you’ve earned the right to be left alone – come on back and drive for us – you can do your thing” – I’d do it in a heartbeat. But just the thought of going back out there brings a feeling of dread – too much enforcement, too much B.S. Great career for a lot of years but it stopped being fun after a while.

1. Driver Belief that the carrier is honest with the driver
2. Carrier Treats driver as an adult, with respect and consideration.(see 1).

Carriers that don’t do this have driver retention problems.

3. Pay is a distant third.