If it was that easy companies wouldn't need to hire recruiters. To get 3 or 4 a week you'd need to be talking to hundreds of candidates weekly. I just don't see that happening as a driver. Nice in theory, but then reality sets in.

 

quote]Those private testers are under the jurisdiction of the state. If you feel that they unfairly failed you, report 'em. That, "you flunked, but I really can't explain why" crap wouldn't fly with me...[/quote]

The way he explained it to me was (the angle parking test) I had to back between 2 cones and stay between the lines in an angle parking format. Ok I said. I back up between the cones, don't touch the lines but I'm a good 6'-8' away from the dock line. So I pull up, back up, trying to work the trailer closer to the dock line meanwhile not touching the cones or the lines that simulate the loading dock lane. Finally after 5 pull-ups I'm close enough to the dock to call it good.

He said if I'd parked it where the very first time I backed it in I would've been ok. I said but I was 8ft away from the dock line and he said that would've been good enough. Instead I tried to get it closer and each time I pulled up he docked me points. He stated in the real world what I did was the right way since I had to get closer to the dock to get unloaded but for testing purposes all I had to do was get within 10 ft. I said why didn't you tell me that then and he said as a state certified instructor he couldn't tell me as a "walk-on" tester but if I had been one of the students he could. I said what a bunch of bs that is. He asked if I wanted to reschedule the test and I asked do I have to repay another $275 and retake the entire test again or just the part he failed me on and he said I would have to repay another $275 and retake the entire test again, not just the part he failed me on. I told him not "no, but hell no" and I'd had it with this business and if I can't pass this thing twice with all my experience then I don't want to drive a truck anyways and get paid what I got paid 20 years ago with alot more b.s. involved.

So thats where I stand right now. Now that I've cooled off I'm still not sure if I want to fork over another $275 to take this thing for the third time just to get my CDL back. I'm embarrassed and pissed off at the same time. I shouldn't even be in this position to having to jump back into a truck anyhow after 10 years but thats the way the cards have fallen right now and I need to put food on the table and pay the bills right now and thats what I knew prior to owning my own business so it was an automatic reaction but I guess I'll keep looking at other options and if nothing else develops between now and mid January I'll reconsider taking the ridiculous CDL test again and reluctantly forking over another $275 to end the misery. Tomorrow is another day so who knows what other opportunities it'll bring and I can kiss the CDL bs goodbye and chalk up my $750 fees so far as another costly learning experience and nothing to show for it.

 

I wouldnt call it real easy. Recruiting isnt easy at all....but a driver with marginal sales skills and a good work ethic could do it. We have quite a few drivers over here who do it. Hell, I hired a driver 2 years ago. She recruits for me personally Instead of sending her drivers straight to the company she sends them to me and I split my commission with her. She probably sends me 5 a week. Of course, not all of them get hired. But just a little bit of work on her part equates to more money for her.
I would think drivers would listen to other drivers more than they would a recruiter. Fact is the opportunity is there for drivers to double their pay by recruiting drivers. Some can and do do it. Some could do it, but choose not to. And some just dont have the skills to do it.
I have my own personal recruiting website. I created it myself, paid for it myself and marketed it myself. I know for a fact that I could take 100-200 fliers with my website address on them. Hit some truck stops over the weekend, put out my fliers on trucks and get 4-5 hires from that. Now im not a driver, but im pretty sure you drivers spend time in truck stops. I dont see how a driver couldnt do that same thing with a website and fliers.

 

Maybe I should start recruiting. :P

 

The first rule in testing is to know what the examiner wants completed.

When I took my test years ago I ask the examiner what she wanted and what was a acceptable results. Only after I undersood what she wanted did I attempt to perform the tast. It worked for me and several other people I have taken down for their test.

The second point which is done in the real world but not done while testing is pull-up. Most examiners grade you down when you do a pull-up. They have explained it to me that when you make pull-up you have lost control of the procedure.

You said: "I said why didn't you tell me that then and he said as a state certified instructor he couldn't tell me as a "walk-on" tester but if I had been one of the students he could." If that is indeed true then I would file a complain with the state examiner board most likely the highway patrol. A third party examiner can not show favoritism of one group over another.

One other point I would make is the problem you may have getting employed even after you get your CDL. Many companies will not hire someone that hasn't driven for 10 years and doesn't have some kind of refresher course.

I wish you well whatever course you take.

kc0iv

 

The main problem is pay. It just dont add up to what it should. I will just stick with local get paid by the hr and OT over 40. Atleast i get paid for every last thing i do.

 

Well I've only been OTR for one week by myself, but it's obvious that if you want to look at strictly for the amount of work to amount of pay well the pay is certainly not commensurate with the work and responsibility.

I've seen 9 dirtbags to every clean looking well spoken individuals since I've started. Again only one week out here and a month in training. It's like what the poster above wrote, about the way you dress etc. Of course these companies are going to pay dirt to people that look the part. Don't get me wrong, I am not better than any other human being, but most of the people I've seen out here look like they are working for beer money.

Of course you get on this website and you find very articualte individuals. I suppose these aren't the ones hanging out in a truck stop.

One thing I will say with regard to this whole thread and pay etc, is the reason I got into this in the first place. You can't put a price on not having to get up and go to the same workplace everyday. I drove local before this for a short while. I made good money just coming out of school, much more than I will be making now until I get my own rig, but to pull up to that terminal everyday at the same time, well that's slow death for me.

So in the end, maybe these companies know that there are many like me out there, that just need to get out of the same daily routine, and take advantage of them.

Just my thoughts on the matter

 

[quote="USXRecruiter4080"]Actually, it has little to do with "competitiveness"... Companies have figured out just how little they have to pay to get drivers. And "stupidly" they continue to chum and churn the water for new meat for the seat because at some point many drivers get tired of being taken advantage of. If a company sells its service "cheaper" than the next guy, thats their fault, not the drivers. Apparently the management mentality is still somewhat neanderthal, as they have yet to figure out what "value added" means. Most other industries have. When a number of companies are selling exactly the same thing.... what sets them apart and sorts the losers out is the level of service rendered. The best one gets the highest price.

Your other problems are that management pays itself well, builds monuments called the "corporate office"....and then whines about why they can't pay their drivers... go figure.

Too generic. The question is: Why did he or she get pissed off? If the driver was in the right on the issue....and the "limp wrists" in management rolled over and did nothing and protected the "miscreant" in operations or whatever department...what right do you have to expect a driver to "suck it up"??

If the driver was told he would get paid "X", but then got paid "Y", what the heck do you expect him or her to do? "Suck it up" and take whatever you toss him? Come now. If you got hired for "X", but they stiffed "you", what would you do???? Yeah, you'd just shrug your shoulders and take your bogus paycheck and be happy. Not if you're a human being with a brain. You'd get it right or find another job. But when that happens... do the companies ever investigate and locate the liar and fire them? I'd bet probably in less than 1% of the cases.

And so it is. SO what. The same practice is used in many industries to get employees, especially when there is a demand outstripping the supply.


No, its not too competitive. Management is just plain "stupid"!!

Now before you get your dander up and get all indignant... I come from the corporate world, worked my way up from Technical Services, to Sales, to Management, and owned three businesses of my own.

Some simple solutions would be:

1. Tell the freaking truth, all of the time! Put it in writing, all of it! Make the prospective employee sign the paper, and give them a copy, after it has all been explained.

2. Issue policy manuals that are clearly written. Standard english, not lawyer gibberish. Then "live by the manual". If anyone....including the boss's wife, daughter, son, brother, or whatever is caught violating it... FIRE them just like you would a driver.

3. Get off the freaking dime. Institute detention pay, and get rid of the asinine 48 hour lay over rule! Companies are little more than thieves when it comes to pay.... You let a driver sit for 48 hours or more then throw him a $50 or $60 dollar bone.... While the company managment wastes more than that on lunch. Companies let drivers sit at docks for hours...with no compensation... Is your time free? Does management give up their time free? Hell no, they're all on salaries, so they get paid even if they're golfing, ooops I meant going to a "meeting".

4. Your company is a first rate "hoser". That sliding scale of pay you have should be outlawed. Lower pay for more miles. That is beyond ludicrous!! Frankly, I think anyone that agrees to that pay schedule needs to be locked in a rubber room for their own protection!

Frankly, I don't think their is a single company in the van or reefer segment that really understands how much money they piss down the drain by allowing some piss-ant with an attitude in operations mistreat a driver in any number of ways.

For instance, take your recruiting departments entire P&L....and look at the waste. 90% of that money spent is wasted. Why? Because just about every van and reefer company hasn't figured out that drivers should be made happy, content, and actually part of the company, and paid accordingly.

If management was to actually look at the real problems, starting by getting their heads out of the clouds, and putting the money where it needs to be spent...and improving conditions...they could end up with a company with a waiting list of people wanting to work there...and not spend a freaking dime on advertising.

Consider this: Add up every damn dime you piss away in every one of the publications, all the billboards, radio spots, newspapers... then take that total and rework your budget where driver pay is concerned... and do some serious consideration for paying realistic layover, detention, breakdown pay, dispatch delay pay...and then do it! See how your turnover drops like a rock!

But it takes guts to do it. And it requires "honest" management to face the fact that their drivers are important to the company.

Just so you know, I work for a non-union tanker company. I get paid 40 cpm for every loaded mile regardless of length of haul. I get 34 cpm for bobtail and empty miles with all miles paid as "Practical miles", not HHG rip-off miles. I get paid $20.00 to get the tank loaded, and if it takes more than 2 hours I get $13.30 an hour after that, I get paid $20.00 while the tank is unloaded, whether I pull hoses, run the pump, or air off, and if it goes over two hours I get $13.30 an hour. If I sit for 15 hours without a load I go on the clock for up to 8 hours at $13.30 an hour ($106.40 for 8 hours), then I only wait 10 more hours and then get $13.30 an hour up to 8 hours, and then repeat if I am there longer. If I have to sit to wait to be unloaded...I go on the clock after 2 hours at $13.30. If my truck goes in the shop or breaks down I get $13.30 an hour from the minute it begins until it ends. I get 9 paid holidays at $106.40 each and don't have to be on the road to collect it. I also get 2 personal days a year at $106.40 each. I also get paid to sleep in the truck at $10.00 a night, which isn't much but if I'm out for 7 days... its $70.00 extra. I am also able to use company paid motels if I will be stationary for a couple of nights, and never see the bill. Theoretically, if I sit for 7 days straight doing absolutely nothing... I'll get paid $744.80. I'm usually home every week unless I choose otherwise, for at least two days.

I had a lousy week last week...only 1634 miles!!! But I still grossed $996.00! And that was a 5 day week. From Nov 1st of this year to Dec 7th of this year I made $5900.00, and can account for more time at home than one of your drivers probably gets in 4 months! The company I work for is proud to say that they have A TURNOVER RATE OF LESS THAN 25% SYSTEMWIDE!!! My terminal has only lost two drivers this past year. One let go for undisclosed reasons and one who's husband got transferred. We've got guys who've been here forever, and not going anywhere.

And yes, my company also is offering a "referral bonus" because they are growing the fleet. Who knows, maybe some of your drivers will wake up and smell the coffee....and maybe they'll contact me and get more information on how to get paid better, and not get taken to the cleaners on a regular basis.

Your company could do it, just as all the rest...but they all lack the willingness to act upon whats right. They will probably die still wondering why they had to piss so much money away to find "new meat for the seat", when all they had to do was fix some simple problems.

Please don't take any of this personal....your company is really only different in one aspect...the crappy sliding scale, beyond that, well you're right in line with the rest....except for CFI, which is a far better company than 99% of the van companies.

 

One of the biggest reasons driver wage and compensation levels are so low is because the federal government subsidizes training companies, which artificially keeps driver pay low by maintaining a cheap and steady supply of new drivers.

Compensation levels are simply a function of the law of supply and demand. The higher the demand for drivers and the lower the supply of drivers, the greater the wage and compensation levels will be and visa versa the lower the demand for drivers and the greater the supply of drivers, the lower the wage and compensation levels will be.

The big training companies that are subsidized by the federal government are all making a killing, which is utterly absurd when you consider the fact that the unemployment rate today is hovering at only around 4.5 percent and it cost the federal government and the taxpayers a ton of money to fund these programs.

The way these training companies milk the federal government is to keep the recruiting pipeline going and pumping in a steady supply of new trainees, while at the same time once the government subsidies starts to run out on the eventual more experienced drivers, they start screwing them over till they get pissed off and either quit or go drive else where, opening the door up for more new recruits. It’s an ongoing and never-ending cycle, and they could care less if the turnover rate is astronomical and through the roof, since the federal government is footing the bill anyway! Hell, the more they can recruit into the program, the more money they can and will make!

Why does the federal government fund this program? Well initially it was originally a legit training program to help get people transitioned to new careers during bad economic times, but the higher ups soon realized that by artificially keeping the wage and compensation levels down for drivers that it had some very beneficial side effects. Like, for instance, helping to keep the cost of goods low for American consumers, demand up, and inflation down.

Personally, I think it’s totally absurd that the federal government is subsidizing training companies during these peak economic times. Moreover, I believe if the federal government got out of the subsidizing business altogether that in very short order we’d see the wage and compensation levels for drivers take an abrupt hike up, as recruiting and training would cease being a profit stream and revert back to being a traditional cost of doing business.

This in effect would soon dramatically raise the cost of training for new trainees, which would severely impact the steady stream of willing trainees willing to incur the additional expense, and as the steady supply of new trainees would as a result sharply decline, wage and compensation levels would soon rise higher and higher as companies would would be forced to switch resources from recruiting and training to keeping and retaining experienced drivers. Moreover, these beneficial effects would take place industry wide.

 

Wow!

Can anyone argue with that logic? :shock:

And I mean that in the utmost respect. I wish I was able to say it so concisely.

Good Job!!