I was talking with my boss yesterday about the deplorable skills of many of the drivers we have been hiring lately-particularily those which come from around the Chicago area, but also in our northeast fleet. We have a few Polish drivers who emigrated on their own, and still have the last 2 of a set of South African drivers that were sponsored by an acestoral company that became part of our fleet, but most the rest of our drivers are home-grown. Unfortunately, we only seem to be able to attract drivers from the lowest strata of society lately, and the accidents, drug/DWI arrests and thefts are really getting bad.
I mentioned to my boss that there is no shortage of trained British drivers desiring to come work in the US, but I had no idea how this could work, having something like a company sponsorship for workers. I know a lot of you came here by marrying a citizen or by working the harvest, but how many of you came here on a company sponsorship?
My boss said that if I could come up with some decent info, he’d mention it on the next meeting, and maybe there might be a programme whereby we could test this out. So, if any of you know any specifics about how a company could sponsor British drivers to work in the US, please let me know.
BTW, my fleet has regional driving in the northeast and in the south-central US, some temp-controlled loads from Florida to the northeast, and a refrigerated division that does all 48 lower states. We also do some freight into Ontario and Quebec, and a very occasional load into Mexico. We drive all conventional tractors with medium sleepers and pull 53’ trailers about 95% of the time.
Well, my boss is under my department head, who is under a vice president, who talks to the owners and the CEO, so there are many layers of beurocracy to go through. I’m sure that any programme we’d even consider would involve only drivers with a decent amount of verifiable experience.
i did not think that the brits where allowed to go and work / live in the usa unless we married an american
i thought the only way for a brit to get in was through the green card lottery.
dave:
i did not think that the brits where allowed to go and work / live in the usa unless we married an american
i thought the only way for a brit to get in was through the green card lottery.
I don’t think British citizens are eligible for the green card lottery at the moment.
I’m not sure, but I think the NorthEasters get $.35/mile base, and most guys manage 2500+ miles a week. Benefits are so-so, UHC being the health insurer. We get a lot of grocery and home improvement store loads, pull mostly 53’ trailers, and we do a lot of NJ, NYC area and MA freight.
I believe that if you have Canadian citizenship it’s easier to move into the US for work, but not by much…
If you truly want to do this Alexx, I’d go phone up the INS and ask them… or an Immegration lawyer. But the lawyer will charge to even think about it, and the Ins will tell you to go stuff for free…
It MAY (only may) improve your chances of getting UK drivers in if you make it only a short term contract and promise to send us off back to blighty when it’s over.
That sounds like manual work is involved, we have a driver who quit US Foods ( a supposedly very good job) to work for us.
The problem with supermarkets and store deloveries here is that primative loading ramp and sack barrow
In the UK everything is in roller cages and the tail lifts make the ones here look like they were out of the ark
By the way Mate, you still havn’t said what town your depot is That may help a lot for me
Alex got any depots in Arizona ? Seriously, us Brits have next to no chance of working over there, worse luck, for some very strange reason. If I remember rightly, you might have to prove to immigration that you cannot find anyone locally to fill your vacancies. Then your company would have to sponser the Brit drivers you wanted and if and only if all that was acceptable to immigration, there would be the long slow process of applying for visa’s.
Maybe, your company could look into it and start the ball rolling. Whether us Brits could just get a work visa for that I dunno, but, I doubt it somehow.
I’ll bring some Liptons Tea Bags over for Pat. Oh I forgot, thats what he’s stuck with already.
The only thing I know about driving in the US is what I read on this site and it doesn’t sound that appealing ie out dated trucks, paid per mile not per hour, lumpers etc or have I misunderstood the situation?
Nope
You got it dead right mate Pay and conditions are crap, If you would like a recent example ;- One day last week I emptied in Wilmington MA at 8.00am, I got milage plus the $10.00 per delivery, which took 10 minutes to offload, ‘That aint bad, $10 for ten minutes’ I hear you say, then I went 20 miles to Ayer MA for a 9.00am pick up, for which I would get paid $15 ! On arrival some other geysey had been alocate the load so I was given another one at the same place, but it was a 1.00pm booking so I sat there for 4 hours before being given a door, I then sat on that door for another 3 hours, 7 hours with just $15 is bad When I complained I was told to contact the load broker who told me I would be paid from one hour after my booking, THE BOOKING FOR THIS LOAD not the previous one, so all I get is $15.00 + 2 hours pay for sitting for 7 hours. I work for a ‘GOOD’ company I know lots of companies that would not pay anything other than the miles, I know guy’s that sit for day’s waiting.
Although there is health insurance, you will always have to pay a ‘Co Pay’ per visit to the doctors etc. If you are off with something serious and can’t work you loose the health insurance because you get no pay and therefore can’t pay the premium
AlexxInNY:
I’m not sure, but I think the NorthEasters get $.35/mile base, and most guys manage 2500+ miles a week. Benefits are so-so, UHC being the health insurer. We get a lot of grocery and home improvement store loads, pull mostly 53’ trailers, and we do a lot of NJ, NYC area and MA freight.
Ok, I can cope with 53’ trailers and 2,500 miles a week, and the old crash boxes, and driving on t’other side of the road. I even managed to deal with going through red lights to turn right… but groceries? And do you run further than the Northeastern states?
Biggest questions:
1 What’s the deal on longer distance loads? Do you do any?
2 What trucks do you run? How old? Spec?
3 Decent detention pay… it’s a must
4 Lumpers - what’s company policy on them? Are lumpers a common problem in that sector?
5 What’s your DOT number, some of us would like to look up your company record before getting your hopes up.
6 Your proposed hiring policy for hiring foreign types? Experience requirements?
Yes - Some of us have heard about Saferweb I’ve worked for a company who have a 50% out of service record… I don’t want to do it again. But if you’re flexible, have a resaonably organised company, I’d take another shot at it.
allikat:
Ok, I can cope with 53’ trailers and 2,500 miles a week, and the old crash boxes, and driving on t’other side of the road. I even managed to deal with going through red lights to turn right… but groceries? And do you run further than the Northeastern states?
Biggest questions:
1 What’s the deal on longer distance loads? Do you do any?
2 What trucks do you run? How old? Spec?
3 Decent detention pay… it’s a must
4 Lumpers - what’s company policy on them? Are lumpers a common problem in that sector?
5 What’s your DOT number, some of us would like to look up your company record before getting your hopes up.
6 Your proposed hiring policy for hiring foreign types? Experience requirements?
.
Longer distance loads only go to drivers who have proven their abilities with the company. Same as the turnpike doubles runs. We are a 48 state carrier, and we do a few regular runs to Ontario, Quebec, and occasionally to BC.
2)International conventionals with medium sleepers, and a few old Freightliners. Most 2003 and newer, a few old 200 Freightshakers.
Fair to middling detention pay. sorry, just being honest.
4)Lumpers are paid, some places we use lumper services.
I’m not giving out DOT number publicly. There is as of yet no bona fide offer, and I’m not about to have my company swamped by job seekers.
6)I doubt we’d look for anybody with less than 5 years verifiable experience with HGV’s. A scheme like this has a good bit of risk involved, and we have no problem hiring poorly qualified drivers here-it’s just that they are running us into the ground. We need experienced drivers, not trainees.
BTW, Allikat, right-on-red is not legal in the surrounding counties in the NYC region, or in the province of Quebec.
Alexx,Could also be an idea to try for Australian drivers as well,familiar with US gear and distances etc.
There is agencies that recruit Aussies for US trucking,but agencies have left a sour taste and a lot of wary people after the “Trek USA” fiasco.
If you could find a way to recruit direct with visa’s you might be on a winner.
The pool of good operaters is shrinking here as well and I have to question on why so many people are allowed to operate $250,000.00 combinations when it is obvious that they can’t operate as a human being.Wonder why trucking gets a bad rap when there are so many so called "Proffesionals’ that are only in trucking on account of that they cannot grasp any other occupation.
A thought is to set the barrier high i.e.high entry requirements,standards that must be met and adhered to,reviews etc and the trade off is a higher remuneration that equals your qualifications.
How many doctors,lawyers etc would agree to their pay scale being that exactly the same as an inexperienced 6 month operater or of an incompetent practitioner?Do airlines have the same problems as trucking with a shortage of pilots?Its a different field I know but it is basically the same principal.
Well, Boots, from what I’ve read (including a couple books talking about modern Aussie society as well), truckies over there are pretty similar to those here, namely, mostly uneducated malcontents. Britain, OTOH, still has drivers that consider it to be a profession, not just a way to get from one bordello/pub to the next. Actually, from people who I know that have been down under in the last few years (including 1 aussie expat and one kiwi), the truck drivers in Austraila are considerably worse than ours.
Alexx,too true in your post about the malaise of the Aussie truck driver.in some part it can be found that the Australian Trucking companies recruiting and treatment of their staff have followed the American ethos.The worshipping of the dollar comes at any cost and has resulted in no foresight.
As long as there are bums on seats and drivers are the lowest form of society and shall be treated as such, everything is OK-And yes I have been employed in USA and the feelings of deja vu were outstounding in regards to drivers wellbeing.
So with that attitude it becomes a bit rich when companies can’t recruit quality personell.
It perplexes me of the trucking companies,in Australia and USA, that bemoan the fact that the "Right"type of people will not enter the trucking industry.
Off course Australian trucking attracts those who are unfit for any other industry.
It is so easy to blame everyone else but shouldn’t there be an industry push to offer those who have the right attributes an offer to drive?Instead of the above mentioned reasons of how trucking is operated in USA and the rest of the world,how about some changes?
Why do burger flippers at McDonalds make more money than trucking?
Why do unskilled labourers make more money,better conditions?
If transport companies wish to continue to bury their heads in the sand about the problem it wont go away.
But it is a lot easier to grandstand about how their employees are woeful,lazy etc.
Simple solutions but no one wants to try.
Frankly, Boots, anybody with 1/4 of a working brain can make $30k/year here and get home most weekends. If you don’t care about getting home, $40k/year is easy. Unfortunately, there are a lot of ‘steering wheel holders’ driving here who don’t have even that much brainpower working. I talk with them every day-people who call and don’t have a clue where they are broken down. People who didn’t notice that their trailer tire blew off 250 miles ago, and now the outer tire is gone as well. People who can’t see that the fuel gauge is below 1/8th of a tank, but still try to go an extra 100 miles to make the delivery before filling up. Drivers pulling a reefer who don’t have a clue how to start the thing. And on, and on…
If I remember rightly, you might have to prove to immigration that you cannot find anyone locally to fill your vacancies. Then your company would have to sponser the Brit drivers you wanted and if and only if all that was acceptable to immigration, there would be the long slow process of applying for visa’s.
Oh I forgot, thats what he’s stuck with already. 
