The other day I was at a TA getting fuel and a shower followed by breakfast and as I waited for my steak and eggs I picked up one of those small thick truck mags full of driving job ads and as I browsed through I got to thinking ‘Do these companies think drivers don’t talk to eachother ?’
They advertise highest pay, most miles, great homw time end great benefits etc but 90% are liars. I talk to lots of guys who work on lots of companies and even though the ads say how great you will be treated they are in fact treated like crap.
Heartland Express for example offer great pay and conditions with great home time but the drivers I speak to that work there are home 2 days a month if that, this is actually one of the better employers in the USA and the pay is very good … prbably to compensate for having never see your wife and kids again.
USA Trucking (the one with the USAF symbol) tell how great they are but the guys I speak to say the pay is rubbish, they spend weeks away from home and spend days sitting unpaid waiting for loads at some desolate truck stop.
US Express off high pay per mile untill you look deeper and find the more miles you do the lower the pay per mile so it in fact cancels that out and when I once applied I was told I would get only 34 hours off per week at base (in PA, miles from home) and during that 34 hours I had to get home many miles and gat back again which i worked out would give me about 20 hours home each week and rubbish pay for going further.
All these companies get hold of you and ruin your life if they can. I was once told by a fellow driver that companies like to get you into debt to borrow from them so you can’t leave.
Sorry to use two post for this but for some reason my lap top allows only limited space per post ?
I actually found and work for a good company but even so there are terminals on this company where I hear not so good conditions for drivers so maybe it’s because I stood up for my self from the start and they respect that because they no better than to even ask me to be away all weekend.
A fellow driver (owner op) recently left our company to move to wat he believed was a better job. Although he gets higher pay etc he is being sent out on return no matter how little time he has or if he has family things planned … so not such a good job then ?
I think my friend slightly regrets his move 
Pat Hasler:
The other day I was at a TA getting fuel and a shower followed by breakfast and as I waited for my steak and eggs I picked up one of those small thick truck mags full of driving job ads and as I browsed through I got to thinking ‘Do these companies think drivers don’t talk to eachother ?’
They advertise highest pay, most miles, great homw time end great benefits etc but 90% are liars. I talk to lots of guys who work on lots of companies and even though the ads say how great you will be treated they are in fact treated like crap.
Heartland Express for example offer great pay and conditions with great home time but the drivers I speak to that work there are home 2 days a month if that, this is actually one of the better employers in the USA and the pay is very good … prbably to compensate for having never see your wife and kids again.
USA Trucking (the one with the USAF symbol) tell how great they are but the guys I speak to say the pay is rubbish, they spend weeks away from home and spend days sitting unpaid waiting for loads at some desolate truck stop.
US Express off high pay per mile untill you look deeper and find the more miles you do the lower the pay per mile so it in fact cancels that out and when I once applied I was told I would get only 34 hours off per week at base (in PA, miles from home) and during that 34 hours I had to get home many miles and gat back again which i worked out would give me about 20 hours home each week and rubbish pay for going further.
All these companies get hold of you and ruin your life if they can. I was once told by a fellow driver that companies like to get you into debt to borrow from them so you can’t leave.
So the old “Company Store” is still alive and operating in the US then? I thought that died out in the Gold Rush 
Pat Hasler:
Sorry to use two post for this but for some reason my lap top allows only limited space per post ?
Blimey Pat, I’ve never heard that one before.
It’s no problem this end to use two posts, but you’d possibly get an explanation or suggestions if you post in the TN 'teccy forum here:
I’m not very technicallylogical, but I reckon you’ll get a good answer if you click the link and post a question cos there’s some very knowledgeable folks in there. 
Blimey maybe robbie was right. 
Some say the American dream is all it ever was just that nothing more which is why the Teamsters came into being.But the issue of not enough drivers doing too much work while others can’t find a decent job is nothing new and applies everywhere although it’s surprising to hear that owner operators are’nt able to just pick and choose whatever runs suit them best to get a reasonable rate and then home whenever they want to be. 
Robbie isn’t right, he’s just a looser. Things are bad in most companies but anyone comming over here should expect to be away for long periods and provided you go with a good compnay you will be fine.
I think that secretly Robbie is just very jealous of the drivers who came and have made a go of it, he just couldn’t hack the long drives and weeks away.
My comments were mainly aimed at the companies that advertase extremely good conditions and this nobody actually asks another driver what its like to work there ? I still prefer driving over here … apart from the complete idiots on the road
It’s just a matter of telling the company what you expect and if you don’t get it you move on … I did.
I don’t know where Robbie lives or lived over this side ? but does he have a $69k a year job with 2 full days off every weekend and own a large modern house with a swimming pool and a jaccuzzi ? … I do
Pat Hasler:
Robbie isn’t right, he’s just a looser. Things are bad in most companies but anyone comming over here should expect to be away for long periods and provided you go with a good compnay you will be fine.
I think that secretly Robbie is just very jealous of the drivers who came and have made a go of it, he just couldn’t hack the long drives and weeks away.
My comments were mainly aimed at the companies that advertase extremely good conditions and this nobody actually asks another driver what its like to work there ? I still prefer driving over here … apart from the complete idiots on the road
It’s just a matter of telling the company what you expect and if you don’t get it you move on … I did.I don’t know where Robbie lives or lived over this side ? but does he have a $69k a year job with 2 full days off every weekend and own a large modern house with a swimming pool and a jaccuzzi ? … I do
It’s never been a place for an easy option but that’s what I was told about working there when I wanted to go and being paid mileage under DOT regs instead of working under euro regs and when limiters were introduced,for the money I was being paid here,I’d have been a lot better off there than working here if I could have got in at the time.A lot of people forget to factor in the exact comparison of hours worked and money earnt versus the cost of living in both places.The fact is there’s never been many North American drivers looking for work here unlike the east europeans which says everything about the issue.If it was that good here then the Americans would want to work here and no one would want to work there.However the Americans expect you to work for the money.
But I’d have been happy with a smaller house no swimming pool or jacuzzi just like here and trade the 2 days off every weekend for a week off every month. 
That reminds me of working for Tesco I had the seventh week off all the time on annual hours.
I am lucky here because I don’t get paid by the mile, I am on a minimum weekly wage and although on my pay advice each week it shows each trip paid miles, the amount never reaches the minimum so they have to make up the difference. my company realise that nobody with any sense is gonna work out of NYC for just the miles they travel. We need drivers and they know nobody will apply to work there for less than the pay they offer.
When I was first offered the job all others said there is no way they would continue to offer that deal forever but after almost 5 years they have been true to their word.
I told them I would not work weekends and they have also honoured that too. i am home friday by mid day usually and start again monday.
Even that is too much for me
I reckon we’ve got it better north of the border, my job is, what I consider to be a very good place to work, but there are many others the same, there are bad companies, but they’re the exception rather than the rule
99% of the time I get to do a trip that takes a week, that gives me plenty of miles, ergo plenty of money, I start and finish from the yard most trips so I only have to tip and reload once, therefore eliminating a lot of the hassle in the job 
I do work hard for my money, no question, take the trip I’m doing now, I went to Mississippi, unloaded, bounced over to Dallas, reloaded and I’m now in Montana on my way to Calgary, from there I’ll drop the loaded trailer and pick up a preloaded one for Winnipeg, then home, I’ll knock that out in a week, so plenty of 11hr driving days, I’d do it in almost the same time in the winter too, when it’s really hard work. I could be home now, but I asked if I could run this load instead of taking it to the yard, I have an appointment on Wednesday at a hearing clinic (tinnitus 
) so it worked better for me, work were more than happy to accomodate me, you don’t get that kind of flexibility at most of the US companies
I worked 251 days last year, so plenty of home time and still put $58k in the bank after tax, but I don’t have a swimming pool, not a lot of point up here when it would be a block of ice for 5months of the year & I don’t need a jacuzzi all the while I can get Heinz beans
I believe you are right Mark. Drivers in Canada have a far better deal and workers rights.
US companies in the main just regard drivers as pieces of equipment and disposable because they can always find another driver and I got that straight from the mouth of one of our dispatchers a week ago when a drive walked out in a rage … “We’ll just put another mug in his truck” was the comment I got when I spoke up about how he was treated.
Thing is … there are only so many ‘mugs’ out there and eventually mugs talk to a previous mug who has experience of that company.
Pat Hasler:
I believe you are right Mark. Drivers in Canada have a far better deal and workers rights.
US companies in the main just regard drivers as pieces of equipment and disposable because they can always find another driver and I got that straight from the mouth of one of our dispatchers a week ago when a drive walked out in a rage … “We’ll just put another mug in his truck” was the comment I got when I spoke up about how he was treated.
Thing is … there are only so many ‘mugs’ out there and eventually mugs talk to a previous mug who has experience of that company.
Sounds just like it was working for the local council and most jobs here in UK. .Except if I’d have been working in the States I’d still hopefully have managed to find a job like nmm is doing but still been able to call the guvnor exactly the same thing everytime I was far enough away for him not to have heard what I said 
.But the difference is that I’d probably have been earning a lot more,in a place where the cost of living was a lot lower,driving a better wagon,on better,less boring,long haul work,for the privilege. 
The cost of living here is not as low as people think. when we visit England and buy our groceries at Tesco for our stay we rarely break the 100 quid mark, here we spend about $250 for a weeks grocery etc, our satelite TV (500 channels), phone, cell phones and internet combined cost us over $300 a month, the different taxes we pay on our property run into about $400 a month and if we want our dustbin empty thats $25 a month extra.
House may be cheaper and steak may be cheaper, the rest is astronomicaly expensive, tolls on highways in this area a bank breaking to say the least. My wifes medical treatment every week costs about $100 for a small injection. Medical cost in themselves are outragous so don’t ever complain about the NHS mate because you have the best health service in the world.
I talk to my son weekly and listen to him complaining about the cost of living in the UK and he tells me of him very costly internet/phone/cellphone and satelite Tv package at 48 quid a month
Belive me the cost of living in the USA is outragous mate.
Pat Hasler:
The cost of living here is not as low as people think. when we visit England and buy our groceries at Tesco for our stay we rarely break the 100 quid mark, here we spend about $250 for a weeks grocery etc, our satelite TV (500 channels), phone, cell phones and internet combined cost us over $300 a month, the different taxes we pay on our property run into about $400 a month and if we want our dustbin empty thats $25 a month extra.
House may be cheaper and steak may be cheaper, the rest is astronomicaly expensive, tolls on highways in this area a bank breaking to say the least. My wifes medical treatment every week costs about $100 for a small injection. Medical cost in themselves are outragous so don’t ever complain about the NHS mate because you have the best health service in the world.
I talk to my son weekly and listen to him complaining about the cost of living in the UK and he tells me of him very costly internet/phone/cellphone and satelite Tv package at 48 quid a month
Belive me the cost of living in the USA is outragous mate.
I was talking about it all as it (still) was in the 1970’s/80’s before Reagan managed to zb up their economy like ours by listening to that mad old bag Maggie Thatcher.
As for the NHS.It’s anyone’s guess if you’re unfortunate enough to need it wether you’ll even survive to make a complaint about it. Much better to have the American idea but in a pre Reaganomics America.
Pat Hasler:
The other day I was at a TA getting fuel and a shower followed by breakfast and as I waited for my steak and eggs I picked up one of those small thick truck mags full of driving job ads and as I browsed through I got to thinking ‘Do these companies think drivers don’t talk to eachother ?’
They advertise highest pay, most miles, great homw time end great benefits etc but 90% are liars. I talk to lots of guys who work on lots of companies and even though the ads say how great you will be treated they are in fact treated like crap.
Heartland Express for example offer great pay and conditions with great home time but the drivers I speak to that work there are home 2 days a month if that, this is actually one of the better employers in the USA and the pay is very good … prbably to compensate for having never see your wife and kids again.
USA Trucking (the one with the USAF symbol) tell how great they are but the guys I speak to say the pay is rubbish, they spend weeks away from home and spend days sitting unpaid waiting for loads at some desolate truck stop.
US Express off high pay per mile untill you look deeper and find the more miles you do the lower the pay per mile so it in fact cancels that out and when I once applied I was told I would get only 34 hours off per week at base (in PA, miles from home) and during that 34 hours I had to get home many miles and gat back again which i worked out would give me about 20 hours home each week and rubbish pay for going further.
All these companies get hold of you and ruin your life if they can. I was once told by a fellow driver that companies like to get you into debt to borrow from them so you can’t leave.
Remember this?
44 Tonne Ton:
Pat Hasler:
The other day I was at a TA getting fuel and a shower followed by breakfast and as I waited for my steak and eggs I picked up one of those small thick truck mags full of driving job ads and as I browsed through I got to thinking ‘Do these companies think drivers don’t talk to eachother ?’
They advertise highest pay, most miles, great homw time end great benefits etc but 90% are liars. I talk to lots of guys who work on lots of companies and even though the ads say how great you will be treated they are in fact treated like crap.
Heartland Express for example offer great pay and conditions with great home time but the drivers I speak to that work there are home 2 days a month if that, this is actually one of the better employers in the USA and the pay is very good … prbably to compensate for having never see your wife and kids again.
USA Trucking (the one with the USAF symbol) tell how great they are but the guys I speak to say the pay is rubbish, they spend weeks away from home and spend days sitting unpaid waiting for loads at some desolate truck stop.
US Express off high pay per mile untill you look deeper and find the more miles you do the lower the pay per mile so it in fact cancels that out and when I once applied I was told I would get only 34 hours off per week at base (in PA, miles from home) and during that 34 hours I had to get home many miles and gat back again which i worked out would give me about 20 hours home each week and rubbish pay for going further.
All these companies get hold of you and ruin your life if they can. I was once told by a fellow driver that companies like to get you into debt to borrow from them so you can’t leave.Remember this?
It makes no difference wether you borrow from the employer or not.A big British mortgage or rent and British taxes and cost of living to pay versus typical British wages and dole payment rules just means exactly the same thing at the end of th day.There’s no way of just walking out of a job that does’t suit.The difference in North America is that at least you can earn more money to pay for it all by spending more time actually driving a wagon,over larger distances,and enjoying the changing scenery than being lumbered by boring time spent in a warehouse or yard.
Pat Hasler:
The cost of living here is not as low as people think. when we visit England and buy our groceries at Tesco for our stay we rarely break the 100 quid mark, here we spend about $250 for a weeks grocery etc, our satelite TV (500 channels), phone, cell phones and internet combined cost us over $300 a month, the different taxes we pay on our property run into about $400 a month and if we want our dustbin empty thats $25 a month extra.
House may be cheaper and steak may be cheaper, the rest is astronomicaly expensive, tolls on highways in this area a bank breaking to say the least. My wifes medical treatment every week costs about $100 for a small injection. Medical cost in themselves are outragous so don’t ever complain about the NHS mate because you have the best health service in the world.
I talk to my son weekly and listen to him complaining about the cost of living in the UK and he tells me of him very costly internet/phone/cellphone and satelite Tv package at 48 quid a month
Belive me the cost of living in the USA is outragous mate.
I think living in Arizona is cheaper than New York State…except for medical, its the same all over.
One of my best friends moved to AZ about 6 years ago, in january he moved back to NY because the cost of living in Pheonix was too high
On the NHS theme… My Wife has a faulty liver, without treatment every month she would just die after a bout 90 days. % months ago our insurance company decided her treatment was too expensive to cover and denied further treatment … it was a case of ‘Go away and die now’ luckily the CEO of my company stepped in and got her treatment re-enstated. In the UK they would not have withdrawn life saving treatment because insurance refuses to pay, another effect of her treatment causes bad oral protection and needed a root canal, our part of the payment for one tooth was $800.
Believe me NHS is amazing mates
The Canadian NHS is pretty decent, not so the dentist though, I need a crown sorting out, nothing major, just a bit of dicking around with the post it fits on to, the quote was over 2 grand, so they can poke that until it’s absolutely necessary
The cost of groceries is a little on the high side too, especially chicken, $25 for 6 skinless breast pieces and it ain’t nowhere near as good quality as we used to get from Sainsburys, if I chop it up for a ruby or whatever, I end up chucking half of it in the bin 
TV packages are expensive here too, they’re also crap, an hour long show is 40mins of programme and 20mins of adverts, if you think that Go Compare bloke is annoying you should hear the English bloke trying to sound American who advertises Cillit Bang
Overall though the standard of living is higher, I would need to earn significantly more than I ever did as an employed driver to have a similar life in the UK, but the main thing is not money, not for me, it’s the quality of life, in my opinion that’s much better for me and my family, so even if financially we’d made a straight swap, we’d still be better off
The issue of medical cover costs is the same wherever you’re working.The NHS has it’s funding problems too.The problem is the massive difference between what the medical profession and medication suppliers charge for their services and goods and the wages most people earn.One way or another that’s got to be paid for and if that difference is too big even the NHS or health insurance cover can’t afford to cover it.
The ironic thing is when you think about the scenario of a volunteer part time US or relatively low paid British fire service crew saving the life of a surgeon or medication provider and/or their family but when it comes to a memeber of that fire crew needing that surgeon’s or medication supplier’s services they’d be be happy to sit back and let that person die unless a (very) large amount of money changes hands first. 
Pat Hasler:
I believe you are right Mark. Drivers in Canada have a far better deal and workers rights.
US companies in the main just regard drivers as pieces of equipment and disposable because they can always find another driver and I got that straight from the mouth of one of our dispatchers a week ago when a drive walked out in a rage … “We’ll just put another mug in his truck” was the comment I got when I spoke up about how he was treated.
Thing is … there are only so many ‘mugs’ out there and eventually mugs talk to a previous mug who has experience of that company.
All most of the big companies want is ‘bodies in the seat’ preferably warm, drivers are ‘ten-a-penny’ to them. I was at a Schneider National yard once when the managers were haveing a cookout for the drivers, just another oppertunity for more company B/S, when one of them asked the drivers what the most cost was to the company. I was thinking of fuel or tyres but the biggest cost to these managers were drivers wages.
They did’nt think drivers were an asset but a cost to be kept as low as possible
A new driver would start out at a lower rate per mile and get an increase every year up to the top rate. They would run the arse off the new guy the first couple of years then his miles would start to drop as he reached the top rate.
I thought i’d have lots of adventures as a trucker over here like that old tv show ‘bj and the bear’ but im getting tired of ending up with the monkey all the time.