i have a thought, albeit i'm not yet a driver so if you guys give me heat just be easy and tell me if i'm wrong or not and i'll accept it..
I'm in school right now to get my cdl and so on.. i've been wanting to be a truck driver since i was 3 years old, from my dad, to 3 uncles, and a few cousins i've always been around and riding in trucks. Since i was a kid i was never the type to just sit and play video games or jump back in the sleeper and go to sleep in the truck, i was always up and asking questions (not to the point to get on my family nerves), so i've known about the industry and what i was about to get into since i was young..
The point i'm trying to get to is that so many of these "Coolie Carriers" put ad's in the paper saying free training, make up to $45,000 your first year and get great hometime!! Little do the general public knows who calls to respond to that ad, that don't usual know about the one year contract and if u break it you owe up to $6,000, and if they recruiter tells them, he usual does he's job and sells him on, little do they know that making up to $35 to $45 thousand is nearly impossible unless they run team with some person they don't know or never go home for months at a time, and the recruiter also tells them that yeah "you will be home every weekend" little do he know that means getting in sometime saturday and leaving on early mid day sunday... Once that driver who went through all that mess from training to on the road training, and found out 3 to 4 months down the road that if he's not going to make no more than $400 to $500 dollars a week for sometime (and i hear thats for a good week at .30 cents a mile), get's tired of only being home 34 hours on a weekend which he thought he would have the whole weekend off and see's that another coolie carrier will offer him better which they won't he'll get mad and quit his current job.. cause little did he know he didn't know what he was getting into and went on some guy word who odds are have never even been inside of a truck before and neither did he..
Me on the other hand, i know the questions to ask these clowns and i also know what i'm getting to.. another is i'm looking around both local and otr position which i know could best suit me. Since i'm 21 and i live in a remote area in virginia i know OTR is a big possibility for me. I've heard other trainees talk about how their going to make such and such money when they first get out that it's funny!! sure u can make hell of money so what i've heard by first starting delivering cokes, propane tanks, and being a local P&D drivers, but they see those orange pumpkins and the big blue going up and down 95 and based on what that guy told them on the phone that they are going to make over 40 just starting off.. and i just laugh... for example schenider has the wal mart dedicated in zion cross in virginia.. the recruiter came to my school and told me that i could make over 35 my first year!! i looked at him and said "dude i did the research, how could i make 35 first starting off at .30 cents a mile only running 2000 a week if i'm lucky with no stop or drop and hook pay??" i got pure silence from him and all he could do was look at my trainer and go "where did you get this kid from" Cause i did my home work, know what i'm getting into, and be damn if i'm going to go with a company i'm going to quit 3 to 4 months down the road..
PLAIN AND SIMPLE, NEW DRIVERS NEED TO DO THE RESEARCH OR ASK SOME FAMILY AND FRIENDS BEFORE GETTING INTO THIS TYPE OF WORK.. KNOW WHAT YOUR GETTING INTO.. DON'T SAY TRUCKING SUCKS OR YOU GOT SCREWED CAUSE YOU DIDNT KNOW WHAT YOUR GETTING INTO... I'VE READ PLENTY OF STORIES ON THIS BOARD AND FACT OF THE MATTER WAS IT SOUNDED LIKE IT WAS THE NEW DRIVER, NOT THE COMPANY, WHO WAS PROMISED EVERYTHING THE RECRUITER ONCE TOLD HIM AND HE HATES TRUCKING TO A T!!! DONT GO ON THE WORD OF A DORKY TEENAGE GUY OR GIRL SITTING BEHIND A DESK READING A COMPUTER...
Thats the reason i think the turnover rate is so high
guys you can tell me if i'm wrong or not...