Listen to your father!! The only difference between your father and myself, is the wording.

Long haul, short haul. If irregular-route coolie OTR trucking is involved, it is over. Too much waste. Inherently inefficient. Burn job for the driver (CPM scam).

Short and medium haul trucking will not only survive, but flourish. But not in the current configuration.

The driver will only benefit from these changes. Bye bye Coolie Carriers

 

This is very true.I drove local for marten until i left earlier this month.During the last few months,Id say I the amount of loads I picked up locally and took to the rail too be shipped across country on train, about doubled towards the end of my employment.Alot of OTR drivers are completly clueless or just dont get it.They view any driver who has something too say against OTR driving as simply a disgruntled driver.I made a post about this a view weeks ago,short-medium length haul is where trucking is headed,all this OTR coast to coast nonsense is going to be over.All you have to do is look,and you will see how these coolie carriers are pushing and advertising alot more for there "regional" fleets.This isnt because theyre trying to cater to drivers,its because its a sign of the times,with fuel and driver inefficiencies.And look for a major paycut,when youre FORCED to go regional,the miles wont be what they are for you now,which to most isnt much anyway.

 

I put "Coolie Carrier" in google, and this thread came up first.
what the hell is a coolie carrier? And did a coolie carrier run over belpre122's dog or something?

 

LOL Phreddo.

All of you doubters out there take note. Coolie Carrier is now an official term.

You can fill in the rest?

 

I could not agree with you more. Mind you, these are the people we deal with on the road everyday. Two parents, two SUVs, two jobs, one person per SUV, ten trips a week each to earn the money to take their seperate SUVs in two different directions to shop and keep the kids entertained for the weekend. Those environmentalists.

The "stow my mountain bike up in the roof rack and never ride it" environmentalists; or the " . . then drive it 600 miles to Moab and ride it there" environmentalists.

The short attention span, instant gratification "it better be in the store when I want it" environmentalists. The "I support the truckers except when I'm trying to pass or being passed by one" environmentalists. The Schnieder "cleanest, greenest fleet in the land" environmentalists.

Remarkably, I've only been to California once since the newer, tougher idling laws were enacted, idling openly and conspicuously the whole time I was parked. Noone said a word. Have things changed? Maine, New York, Atlanta, Dallas, Phoenix and probably a few places that have laws I don't even know about, idling openly and conspicuously.

The truth is, if and when they/we/you stop to think about it, idling laws are ridiculously unfair, bordering on cruel and largely unenforcable at least until someone comes up with an alternative. Ultimately, the alternative, in what ever form it may take, will have to be legislated.

 

Uturn asked:

I'll take a stab at this difficult math problem!! Let's see, assuming we could say that first figure was an average of $2.50.... hmmm... $5 just happens to be DOUBLE that, so..... hmmm..... HALF of 6 months to a year is..... let me think..... uh..... 3 to 6 months!!!

Did I WIN???? :shock: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Oh, I'm sorry.... was that a rhetorical question? 8)

 

heavyhaulerss said:

Then, neither would the TRUCK.

Then, you wouldn't need to idle the TRUCK, either.

I can't see why! The only thing that affects how quickly the APU pays for itself.... is how much truck idling is reduced and the price of diesel. (fuel saved.)

If the APU is programmable to cut in and out by a thermostat, that is even BETTER, since in most cases, drivers cannot wake up and turn the truck on and off to keep pace with cab temperatures.

I admit I know very little about APUs, but I just don't see the logic in your statement, unless of course, you meant that NEITHER of them needed to run all the time.

 

They WON'T have when us "coolie carriers" refuse to enter their state to haul away their goods to Eastern markets!!

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Well.... I GUESS they could hire a bunch of LTL slaves (glorified lumpers) to haul the stuff to Arizona where they'll have to build huge warehouses for us to get our loads from! :wink:

Might be a good time to start buying up some of that desert outside of Needles and Blythe! :lol: :lol:

 

I guess i haven't been mistreated badly enough by my company yet.
but i don't know what my company would qualify as. Are tankers included under "coolie?"

As far as idling goes, Schneider taught me to be very stingy with the idle, and I've found that, during moderate climates, i only have to run the truck if i've been sitting long enough to drain the batteries ie 24 hr layover or something.

The worst part is when i go to sleep and it's warm, and the temerature drops overnight and i wake up at 4AM freezing my ass off. I have some sort of arctic sleeping bag, but if it's warm when i get in it, I'm sweating my buns off at first.

My basic rule is if it's below freezing I idle the truck while sleeping in it. I rarely get in enough heat that i need to run the AC, usually opening the window and running a fan gets me by. fortunately i have one of those windows with a screen, as the holes in that little vent thing allow mosquitos in.

And california, i would love to see how long they last with only electric trains coming in and out of the state.

 

If you work for Schneider then yes your company is coolie. Coolie isnt about what type of truck you drive. It is all in how you get paid. Most OTR outfits(99%) of them are coolie outfits. 35 cpm is coolie. No lay over pay. Not getting paid for waiting time at docks. etc etc etc. get my point.