I lost nearly 30 pounds in the last six weeks at Cypress Truck Lines. [size=3]The weight loss looks good on me, but medically it's totally unhealthy.
The lost weight was due in part to my own inexperience I'm sure, but I'm equally sure that it was at least equally attributable to the ancient, unsafe rattletraps they put inexperienced drivers in. "We're not going to risk having a decent truck wrecked by some rookie," they explained. "Once you prove yourself, we'll get you into a better truck." My 1989 KW labored so hard under an ordinary load that even on level ground it took nearly 2 miles to reach 40 MPH with cars zipping by and swerving to avoid hitting me. And just when I did finally get nearly up to speed, of course someone slows in front of me forcing me to brake and start over again from like fourth gear.
I did everything Cypress asked of me. Every single load was picked up and delivered intact and on time. But at what cost? Lots of skipped meals, missed sleep, and illegally extended hours. Twice I brought my truck into the shop to have major safety issues repaired. The first time they patched an oil leak that was spraying like aerosol onto the windshield from under the hood and wouldn't wash off. Using the windshield wipers was out of the question. The second issue, now noticeable with the first problem "patched," was some kind of etching or scoring on the windshield that was only noticeable at night. The etching scatters light, distorting night vision badly enough to make oncoming headlights appear to merge with others, even across traffic lanes. Every day I skipped supper to get as near as possible to my destination before running out of legal driving hours for the day, then ended up driving beyond the legal limit because every truck stop and rest area for miles around was full by that time. The second time it happened in a blinding night time thunderstorm when the windshield wipers suddenly failed. God preserved my life - and Cypress' precious truck and it's load.
The weather was clear the next morning, and after another restless night I delivered my last load and headed to the terminal to have these safety matters with the truck addressed. That was when things finally became clear to me (I'm a slow learner!): They told me to pick one of two other trucks from the so-called "ready line" to continue in while they repaired mine. Both of the alternatives were in worse shape than mine! Ancient, rusty rattletraps with parts missing or falling off and still full of trash from previous drivers who hadn't bothered to clean up after themselves. When I expressed my disgust and outrage over these unsafe and intolerable working conditions (they expect drivers to live in these buckets for five days at a time), they scolded me like a child. "Where do you think you can go and get a newer truck right out of the gate as a rookies driver? This is all you qualify for until you prove yourself." Their message was very clear. They care more about their precious decades-old equipment than they do about the men who operate it. It was okay to risk a driver's safety, but not okay to risk damaging one of their ancient, unsafe rattletraps that should have been retired years before.
I asked them why. They responded with a lecture about all the time and money they had invested in training me, all lost if I quit now. But that alleged training consisted mostly of ultra-cheap labor. There were several days when trainees did nothing but load and secure trailer after trailer in the yard without turning a wheel, even weeks beyond the normal one-week "load securement class." The training consisted mostly of fourteen-hour days of heavy labor (at "training pay" - less than minimum wage for the hours worked) and little actual truck driving. There's no way Cypress Truck Lines loses money "training" drivers who quit even immediately afterwards. Now they were trying to shame me into continuing to work under untenable, literally life-threatening conditions to "at least pay back their investment" in me. Sorry. Not worth dying for.
I just quit my first trucking job with the sound of their dispatchers' and "safety" supervisors' mocking words ringing in my ears: "You're giving up your whole career just for a little windshield wiper thing? You're a fool!"
To hell with them. But thank God for the lessons I learned during my six weeks in purgatory. Let me pass them along to anyone interested:
1. - Cypress is willing to hire inexperienced CDL school grads, but they expect to retain none of them. They simply use the "training pay" ($80/day) as super-cheap labor for as long as they can.
2. - Experienced drivers get decent, reliable trucks and even generous sign-on bonuses in certain parts of the country at certain times. Most of the drivers who have been there for a few years are content to stay.
3. - Most loads require two tarps. Cypress uses these huge 90-pound tarps and pay for tarping is $5. Most of the time a forklift operator will raise the tarps to the top of the load for you and it's not a big deal. But for this rookie, tarping took a good hour to get done right. More experience would have shortened that time, but the point is that Cypress pays $5 for the same work that better flatbed companies pay $30 for - and with much lighter tarps I might add.
4. - Cypress has become so infamous for overweight loads that all of their weigh station pre-passes have been revoked. And if you get an overweight ticket for a "live load," you pay the fine, not Cypress (you were there when it was loaded, so it's your fault if it's loaded wrong).
5. - If you're an inexperienced driver fresh out of CDL school, you are expected to endure intolerable and unsafe working conditions for your first few weeks or months and "prove" that you "deserve" a safe, mechanically sound truck to live and work in for days at a time. My family thinks I deserve to be safe all the time. Especially at the beginning of my career. If you agree with my family, steer clear of Cypress Truck Lines!
-Robin
my blog
