[Bumper]

If you count in the 41cpm I make as a company driver and the money I get from my retirement, Im doing pretty good. :wink:

[Smooth]

41 cpm is solid , but's it not 54 cpm......

GL with the open road , Crete is a good company overall .

[Cluggy619]

Originally Posted by Bumper

If you count in the 41cpm I make as a company driver and the money I get from my retirement, Im doing pretty good. :wink:

You know, I'm looking forward to retiring 15 years from now... the kids will be on their own...maybe me and the old lady can put a few miles seeing the country side...

Sounds like your happy. And if your happy where ya at, why go anywhere else?

Happy trails.

[Ian Williams]

Originally Posted by ColdFrostyMug

Yes, that's well-stated and very true. When you think about it, we have more in common with the parcel carriers than we do with Werner, Swift, Schneider, etc.

Some have tried to bypass the traditional hub/terminal system by using "breakbulk-free" LTL ala Jevic/New Century. Didn't work out too well. Trains? Nope. O/O's & fleece-purchase scams? Nada. Central broke the Teamsters by going all O/O's and then went back to company drivers. Ditto for FedEx when they bought Watkins.

From the driver's seat, LTL is kinda like OTR before the market was deregulated: wages that keep up with inflation/cost-of-living. Top-notch bennies. People who speak English. Much better working conditions.

The numbers tell the tale - our turnover rates are nowhere near the astronomical churn-rates of the OTR carriers. That's why I always tell people to go LTL. But does anyone listen? Noooo. They're all in a big hurry to bankruptcy court and going through the Big "D" don't mean Dallas via Lease-Purchase scams.

I should also add the most LTL companies run their equipment into the Ground. Some of this cost savings finds it way to the employees.

When you only spend 6-10 hrs M-F with the thing rather than living on it most folk would rather have older equipment and better pay.

By LTL standards Con-Way has a new fleet and our equipment turns over on about a 10-12 year cycle. UPS gets 20 years out of package cars, Yellow has city tractors that I suspect are older than me. You can run equipment thats older than dirt when its never more than 100mi from a shop.

I spent a the better part of a year lurking on here and talking to drivers before getting into trucking.

IMHO you can't turn back the clock to before deregulation. While it offered better pay and working conditions for us it was costly and inefficient for society as a whole.

We should just apply the FLSA to trucking. If long haul companies had to pay for ALL of the drivers time they would find ways to become a lot more efficient.

[chico39]

I did P$D work for 2 years and i went crazy .If you like pushing and pulling, counting frieght endind up at lake homes, Trailer parks, any place theirs life, You will deliver stuff like T.Vs beds anything you my order on e-bay let's say you will deliver it. That's P$D work.Oh ya you my goto some warehouse and get to watch someone load some frieght.

[fasttruck]

Originally Posted by Bumper

But not all of us want to drive around town all day and get up at 3 am to be at work when I am already at work and sleeping at 3am in my truck.

I want to be out there driving the highways and seeing the USA because I havent been doing that for the past 30 years, I have been driving around town doing something else.

I dont need your big pay and bennies...I have my retirement and bennies.

So dont paint us all as dummies just because we dont want to make ur preceived bigger bucks and be home every night.

Im making larger bucks and enjoying my time on the road.

To each his own.

https://www.myyellow.com/dynamic/ser...ings/wiify.jsp

https://www.myyellow.com/dynamic/ser...ngs/uwages.jsp

[fasttruck]

Originally Posted by chico39

I did P$D work for 2 years and i went crazy .If you like pushing and pulling, counting frieght endind up at lake homes, Trailer parks, any place theirs life, You will deliver stuff like T.Vs beds anything you my order on e-bay let's say you will deliver it. That's P$D work.Oh ya you my goto some warehouse and get to watch someone load some frieght.

https://www.myyellow.com/dynamic/ser.../roadriver.jsp

[feederfred]

I like my union. I wouldn't work here without one. And we do set the standard for pay and health and welfare. And while my Sterling isn't the fanciest thing on the road, it is assigned and well maintained. We don't operate junk at UPS. No offense, but it seems like there is an anti union bias here by people who have never had to struggle on a picket line before..At Brown, we all hang together for the good of all UPS employees. It's why in this day and age of "give backs", poor health-care and non-existent pensions and driver exploitation, that doesn't happen where I work. Nobody in the trucking industry "gives" you anything, you have to be willing to fight for it. The "Swifts" of the world only exist, because no one will stand up to them and demand better treatment. They count on a willing stream of warm bodies who won't look too close at the fine print on the raw deal they're getting. And as long as those warm bodies keep coming and your not willing to stand up and say you are worth better, the economic "race to the bottom" will continue. I'm proud to call myself a Teamster.

[Smooth]

Originally Posted by feederfred

I like my union. I wouldn't work here without one. And we do set the standard for pay and health and welfare. And while my Sterling isn't the fanciest thing on the road, it is assigned and well maintained. We don't operate junk at UPS. No offense, but it seems like there is an anti union bias here by people who have never had to struggle on a picket line before..At Brown, we all hang together for the good of all UPS employees. It's why in this day and age of "give backs", poor health-care and non-existent pensions and driver exploitation, that doesn't happen where I work. Nobody in the trucking industry "gives" you anything, you have to be willing to fight for it. The "Swifts" of the world only exist, because no one will stand up to them and demand better treatment. They count on a willing stream of warm bodies who won't look too close at the fine print on the raw deal they're getting. And as long as those warm bodies keep coming and your not willing to stand up and say you are worth better, the economic "race to the bottom" will continue. I'm proud to call myself a Teamster.

I agree 100% , very well put .

Originally Posted by chico39

I did P$D work for 2 years and i went crazy .If you like pushing and pulling, counting frieght endind up at lake homes, Trailer parks, any place theirs life, You will deliver stuff like T.Vs beds anything you my order on e-bay let's say you will deliver it. That's P$D work.Oh ya you my goto some warehouse and get to watch someone load some frieght.

Who did you pull for? Rent-A-Center? I don't mess with anything if it ain't on a pallet. And you spent 2 years dealing with that crap? I wouldn't put up with that BS for 2 days.

Some of you people work for some really dog-crap companies. I have a set peddle-run which is 90% bumping docks at customers I deal with on a day-to-day basis. It's like a dedicated city run.

Just yesterday, I showed up to one of my regular stops and there were sleeper trucks everywhere. No problem, talked to my man inside and he bumped me to the front of the line. In and outta there in 15 minutes flat. Those other guys were sitting there for hours on end waiting to get loaded. Probably still sitting there for all I know. Exactly why I'll never go back to runnin' the road: too many freebies.