i once had a debate on the central cali rave scene with a "journalist" for the modesto bee. the feeling i got from him was that he was an egotistical ***** who didn't know what the hell he was writing about. when i took him to task on it, including offering to take him to some "parties"/"events", he declined, and resorted to name calling. "journalists" don't like having their work critiqued in a constructive manner. most of them get their info from the internet. it's like the episode of south park where the internet went out. the news stations had nothing to report due to the internet still being out.

very recently, i also had a run-in with some law enforcement friends. one of their colleagues tagged along for the lunch meet. i was mentioning the minnesota state police driver survey and how it's conducted, and basically saying it's total bullcrap. my friends hadn't heard of it. i showed them the stuff on that survey and how those a-holes are determining drivers to be fatigued. they all agreed with me that it's total bullcrap. the tagger-alonger, however, declined. i pwned his ass in the debate. he then called some chp inspectors to the t/s, and they served me with a level 3 credentials and mechanical inspection. it was all because his ego was bruised by a "POS trucker". the inspection turned up nothing. that pissed him off even more. :rofl: since then, i've been receiving more red lights on my pre-pass in california.

 

Well, it’s pretty snarky but that seems to be what he understands.

I think my biggest issue was the dishonesty in saying he was talking about trucking schools and not the trucking industry. Um, the two go hand in hand and if you’re going to do a story on how well the schools are doing (because they are), then you need to present the flip-side and indicate that your biggest challenge is going to be getting that job after you get that certificate. Most of those grads will NOT find an OTR job, period. Or they end up driving a garbage truck or selling Schwanns to hold them over and several months later, that school grad certificate is rendered useless anyway. It’s a lose/lose situation for the students while the trucking schools are raking in record profits. That’s sad enough, but when a reporter lends voice to that without considering the flip-side, that’s even worse.

If the reporter had integrity, he would have at the very least, acknowledged the misstep and agreed with the posters on both boards that he didn’t present the whole story. Had he done that, I would have absolutely accepted the reasoning that he only had a day to put a 90 second story together, because I recognize that as an outsider, it would have been a challenge for him. But instead of doing that, he decided to get defensive and go with the phantom “supporters.” Fact is, there’s not a driver in the country that would have supported his stance that the trucking industry is doing well.

Here in the last 5 minutes, I had a guy call up, a student with no experience. Told him we couldn’t work with the no experience thing. He asked “how can I get the experience when no one will hire me?” That’s pretty much question #1 on any students mind, because there is pretty much no one hiring newbies right now.

 

tell them to call swift, or knight/squire. at least with them, they won't be go pushing the l/o bullcrap from the beginning.

 

Alex sez:

I sez:

He responds:

We shall see. I'll be keeping an eye on new registrations tonight to make sure he gets approved.

 

Batman said:

It's not my fault, Twilight! BUSH made me do it! :lol2:

Besides.... you're wrong! I blame all the woes of the Alaskans on PALIN! :rofl:

Seriously.... I'm glad to see that Windy forwarded your post to Alex. But, I HOPE he made it clear that you are not just "one of the lowly" posters here. I hope he explained not ONLY your "revered" status, but also the fact that you ARE a recruiter and deal with the REALITY of this every day!

I ALSO got the "copy" of his latest reply, and I am dismayed. I thought he and I had a "bond" going there! In fact, I believe I have a previous email from him that I haven't had time to respond to yet. Through DIPLOMACY, I believe I can bring him around. I'm not as quick as SOME to dismiss a person simply for taking a defensive position. (Unless it's BUSH!)

Sorry, but I don't consider this dishonest. It WAS, as a fact, his assignment. His report WAS true in fact, but not his assumptions. His responses, his sources AND his obvious reliance on bogus emails, shows that he knows nothing about the industry as a whole. His DEFENSE of his postition of ignorance does bother me... but, no more than the responses we get from KEVIN! :lol2:

Heck.... "I" don't even have a total grasp yet on the ATA position vs. OOIDA, the TEAMSTERS or many of the other groups who CLAIM to represent truckers! How can we expect HIM to have "vetted" his sources?

At the risk of getting off track.... I'm concerned that his station is an affilliate of NBC, which is considered the most LIBERAL of networks. (Or are they the Conservative ones? I don't watch network news!) Is this a RARE occaission of liberal propaganda related to "selling" the stimulus package or its results? I'm confused.... because I am used to this type of network "salesmanship" coming mostly from FOX!

Oh, and did I say it was probably Bush's fault?? :thumbsup:

 

Alex's comment on the post from TF, that I did forward to him.


TF, you've been invited to give Alex a call, and he's willing to discuss it. For what that's worth...

 

We all understand, HOBO, you've been spending far too much time on line 5 and the majority of your brain cells have been assassinated. We fully understand.:lol2::smokin:

 

Oh, it seems I struck a nerve. Imagine that. :roll:

Let’s break it down and see where I was wrong.
Pretty much a fact. Nowhere on either board do I see drivers caught up in the emotional aspect of ‘defending’ themselves. And why should they be? They’re right in their assessment of both him and his story and they know it.

Fact. Hobo needs serious deprogramming and we all know it. :nana:

Other than the point that reporters are supposed to be objective and thorough (which is fact), the rest is opinion, so is neither right or wrong. It is my opinion and I stand by it.

Until he produces these “e-mails” in their entirety, then he is lying. Until he produces proof that these alleged 1st year money makers are making what they claim, then he is lying. I’ve been at this a long time. I know what drivers make. His $95K wonder boy is no company driver. That’s union-gig money from the past and only from guys that have been doing it for 20 years or so. He might be a lease purchase driver with Swift, in which case, he is a lousy one at that. Most owner operators are going to gross $125K to $150K on average per year, if they don’t take a lot of time off. Rev can correct me if I’m wrong, but I think that’s a fair range. That’s also gross and nowhere near net. $95K? Are you kidding? He’s $20K in the red just on truck payments and fuel for the year. :roll:
Fact.
Fact.
Fact.

How am I doing so far?
This may be the only thing I am wrong on. I am operating on second hand information, but I believe that information indicated that Sage is an advertiser. If that’s the case, then it falls to our intrepid reporter to prove me wrong regarding Sage paying his salary. If I am wrong about Sage or any other trucking school being an advertiser, then I am wrong, but it does not change the fact that I am right about everything else.

Opinion. Substantiated opinion, but opinion nevertheless. And again, opinion is neither right or wrong.

Fact.

Fact. Mrs. Kersenbrock would have probably given me a week’s detention for trying that one out.

Fact. Fact. Fact.



Look, I’m not going to call him. If he wants to defend himself and his story, he can do it on the board and address everyone. Everyone here deserves at least that much and probably more so than I do, because the majority of you are out there doing it, while I drive a desk. He’s been invited to participate here and has guaranteed himself a platform to speak from and we will listen, but I would expect him to listen, too. I absolutely will not take it to the phones and simply relay messages. You guys deserve much more respect than that.

And I’ll clarify my stance, since he seems to be a bit confused. I don’t disagree with his story. I know his story is on trucking schools and I know they are doing extremely well and banking record profits. I know many people in a variety of occupations that are losing their jobs or have lost their jobs, are flocking to the trucking schools, hoping to ‘strike it rich.’ That’s his story and he is sticking to it and I take no exception to that.

But where I have a problem is that he doesn’t tell the WHOLE story. The starry-eyed newbie hopeful is nothing new, but in today’s industry, they are only hopefuls. The industry is down and at a low point that it has never been at before. Most companies do not foresee a measureable increase in freight until 2nd quarter of next year and that’s an optimistic view at that. This reporter could have spent 10 seconds or less and finished with a one-line warning at the end of his story, simply speaking to the difficulties these students will have trying to get a job coming out of school. His rosey presentation and subsequent defense of it simply adds to the issues in the industry. It propagates the issues of predators in the industry, taking advantage of those that simply don’t know better, from schools, to lease purchases, to the 3-card Monty scammer in the truck stop lot. And it jades those that go through it, making them bitter and resentful before they’ve ever even taken their first load. How many of these students might have turned out at any other time to be a fantastic driver and an long-time asset to the industry, but get angry and upset when they cannot find a job and give up right away or leave when they experience their first hurdle? It’s a form of the “hot stove” rule – ‘I got burned once, I’m not going to do it again.’

In short, the story does a disservice to the entire industry, whether directly or indirectly.

That’s where I take issue with his story. He’s probably a good reporter – those jobs are not easy to come by. He was given an assignment and he put it together. Great. But he missed a key part of the story. And rather than see and understand that, the reporter has resorted to emotionally defending an indefensible position. That’s not something a good reporter should do.

Again, Alex is more than welcome here and should he accept the invitation to discuss these things with the board, I trust he will be treated accordingly. This is a good opportunity for both him and for you guys on the front line. He could learn something and at the same time, provide a little bit of illumination to the real struggles the industry is facing right now, from drivers to companies. And the starry-eyed newbie hopeful might reign in his lofty expectations and approach things from a more logical and grounded standpoint. And if he does that, he might become an exceptional part of the industry turn around and that benefits everybody.

 

I don't recall any one of us saying that the schools were not packed. I think every one of us has issues with the implied suggestion that they all find jobs, and the money to be made. We all know the truth, out here. And, we all have a problem with the fact that the story becomes a fairy tale because it's incomplete.

As to the call, I was simply passing that on. Not up to me to put a gun to your head, TF, and force you to make the call. Actually, I thought about calling himself, but I only have a driver's viewpoint. I think he needs to get a viewpoint from someone that really does drive a desk at a trucking company to let him know the hiring stats.

I also sent him the link about hiring freezes on another thread. Those comments have nothing to do with his story or him. They are completely independant of him. But they do state the case for the lack of employment opportunity. I seggested that it was the other side of the story has already aired. We'll see if it does anything.

 

I just don’t feel like making a call to simply argue over the emotional points of integrity of lack thereof. If he shows up on the board and joins the discussion, then I would consider calling him to give him the desk point of view. There certainly is a story or longer expose on the flip side of the driving schools and what they don’t tell you. But if Sage or another trucking school is indeed an advertiser, what chance would that story have of making it to air?