DAC does not work to our advantage. It is run by USIS, which, I believe, is under the auspices of the current administration. (BTW, USIS is in Iraq and has had complaints of wrongdoing there.) http://leiterreports.typepad.com/blo...ophersold.html

What this administration wants is a free pass to hire truckers from south of our border and put them (and their largely uninspected cargo and unsafe vehicles) on our roads at one quarter of the pay of American drivers.

DAC "violations", (which may not truly be violations at all), will prevent an American trucker from getting a job, (even if he or she has a clean DMV and DOT, no points and no violations.)

You'd better believe that DAC/USIS is an underhanded, unAmerican method of restricting American drivers!

Look out! You may be next!

 

Another thing is with so many factories, etc. closing hand over fist, there's a huge supply of older people who are totally unhireable otherwise. You're 55 years old, you just lost a job paying $25 an hour along with 1500 other people. Now there are 1500 people in a crappy job market trying to come close to what they used to make, in a sea of crap jobs that cap out at $8 an hour (and unemployment caps out at the equivalent of $9 an hour around here... I did not know that. I'm really lucky I had a skill to use to get some kind of decent paying work, or I would have been completely screwed. I used to make $16.50 an hour.) (And now I make about $15.50 an hour, and work a lot more hours, so I make an extra $80 a week for 20+ extra hours. What a deal. Sigh.)

The trucking industry eats these people for breakfast. At my orientation a bit back, I was the second most experienced driver in the bunch, and the second youngest. There was one older guy pushing into his 60s with half a billion miles under his belt, then me at 35 with about a million miles under mine. (He and I were both there because we got laid off from jobs we never otherwise would have left.) Then on the other side of the room, everybody was 50 or older, and most had 2-3 years of experience, a few less, a few more, but nobody else could touch 10.

(That older guy from Wichita Falls offered to buy my dinner. Fortunately I had enough severance money left to be doing OK, but that sure was nice of him. I wish I could remember his name. Drove an older Western Star, in black.)

I talked to a number of the 55ish set. One guy was a contractor who was getting put out of business by a new test he could never pass. A couple of them had been forced to take a buyout deal from a factory job, and so on, and so forth.

Um, I guess I just drove this discussion even further away from the stated topic. Oh well. It's not the first time.

 

 

To get back on track, you can resolve most of the problems with DAC by handling the issue correctly at the tiem it happens. I agree that there are companies that will "blackball" a driver but there are remedies if you handle the situation correctly.

If you have an accident and it is not your fault, always fight the ticket or a determination of fault by the company. A company can determine that you were at fault even if you do not receive a ticket or the police are not involved. Know what is on your safety record. You are entitled to see a copy and always get one prior to notifying them you are quittng. Always give a written notice and have someone sign for receipt. Same for turning in your truck, don't park it on the yard and walk away. Have it inspected and signed off on.

Getting mad and just leaving the truck on the yard will get you an abandoned load on your DAC and you will not get another CDL job anytime soon. If the truck is not safe and the company insists you go
on the road anyway, pull over to the side and call DOT. With the SAFER system, too may OOS's and they will shut them down.

If it is true, then it is true. If its not true you need to correct it right then, not two or three years down the road. Without documentation there is little you can do so write it down. Get witnesses and their names. Carry a camera at all times in the truck. Treat it like a business and keep good records. DAC is good and bad but its the system so you have to learn to work within it.

 

*Quote truncated!

Okay! I left without my safety record from that company. How do I get a copy of it if there is enmity between the manager and me?

 

*laughing at you*

 

Send them a letter CRRR requesting a copy. Legally they are supposed to furnish it to you. If you think they will ignore your letter, have your attorney send it.