Who Represents Us???

I made a disturbing discovery this morning.

Correct me if I am wrong, but, it seems that the three million Commercial Drivers or so here in the good ol' USA are being regulated without due representation.

There seems to be only a few players that have been showing up at the public hearings and that are being heard by the FMCSA and non of them have the company drivers intrest at heart.

Those players are the OOIDA, (Owner/Operator Independent Driver Association) and the ATA, (American Trucking Association).

The OOIDA has a membership of approximately 150,000 or about 15% of all drivers and most of those are small company owners. The ATA has 37000 members who are all corporate size truck company owners. I didn't check any of the roll calls on the various regulatory hearings held by the FMCSA but did do a search for truck driver associations and didn't really find any that appeared to represent the company driver. Of course there is the Teamster who have branched out into other industrial divisions and boasts 1.5 million members but who really believes they are interested in the company driver.

You could say that the OOIDA members interest are similar to ours and in many respects you would be right but, it's still all about profit for their members. Of course the ATA is worse. They don't care about us company drivers trying to make a living, I do believe they are the ones promoting the lie that there is a driver shortage, there is actually far more drivers than the market can support which is part of the reason wages have fallen so far behind inflation.

Non of these organizations as far as I know have ever considered trying to get us reclassified by the government into our own labor class, consequently we are still treated as day labors as far as the labor law is concerned.

Meanwhile our wages have not kept up with inflation and now we are being saddled with Government regulations that makes it even harder for us to meet the demands of our jobs and the needs of our families.

I got no answers.

Wish I could retire.

Please visit my site and consider buying my book by clicking HERE

Blackballed!

Hi all,

Have you every heard of someone being "Blackballed"? Do you know what that term means? I didn't, but I have been using the term to describe something I have been finding in our industry during this job search. I had also been exposed to something similar earlier in my career.

According to Wikapedia, Blackballing describes a voting procedure that was common in Gentleman Clubs of the Victorian Age. It was a procedure used to vote in a new member. It only took one black ball in the ballot box to exclude the initiate. If you sponsored that initiate and they were blackballed, you would then suffer the same fate as the blackballed person. In this procedure fairness and explanations played no part, if you pissed one person off you could be blackballed.

In our industry (trucking) I have found there are two entities who are likely to "cast" you the black ball if you are trying to get a new job. The first is the Safety Dept. of your previous job and the second is (and the most likely) the Insurance Company of the job you want.

If you have been fired from your previous company for anything safety related you will be blackballed from many companies, period. The period of blackballing will last from 3 months to 5 years. And, it doesn't matter what your CSA score is or how much experience you have. With some companies just being fired for any reason is enough to get you blackballed.

I believe, though I can't prove it, I was blackballed from flatbed companies after I had gotten hurt while working for flatbed company in California. After that job, I could not get hired on with a flatbed company for a period of seven years and I am one of those fools who actually like "throwing rags". I began to get suspicious when one employer was all hot to hire me, then after the DAC was pulled, they wouldn't even answer the phone when I called. I pulled my own DAC and saw absolutely NO bad information on my "Consumer Report". After being turned down by a few more flatbed companies for no good reason, I gave up and went to work for JB Hunt for 6 months,(6 months too long).

There is another thing that can get you blackballed, take six months off of work and your blackballed from many companies.

I understand the companies have a great deal to lose if they hire the wrong guy, but when someone such as myself with 20+ years of experience, a clean MVR (Motor Vehicle Record) and a great CSA score knocks on your door at lest take the time to find out what happened and judge it in light of the aforementioned data not the data that some statistical genius in an ivory tower somewhere that's never even seen the inside of a truck has come up with.

Here is one of the things that is really wrong with this system. Dispatchers and Safety Directors know how this system works better than the average driver and will sometimes use the system to "burn" a driver they didn't like. It can be very time consuming and expensive to correct false data on your DAC, (the main tool used for blackballing) and the companies have little to fear in the form of reprisals if they get caught doing it.

Bottom line is, if you like driving truck for a living always be professional and realize it only takes one slip up to get blackballed.

Keep the rubber side down. God bless

Please comment, especially if you have ever been blackballed.

Leslie R Auger has driven truck for more than 20 years. He has written a book for the want-to-be truck driver called, "So, You Want to Be A Truck Driver", You can get it here by clicking on the title or visit his website at So, You Want To Be A Truck Driver? | Wix.com

Bluetooth Headsets

 Hi all,  

It's been  two years now since the Hand Free law for commercial drivers went into effect. In those two years, I have gone through two bluetooth headsets. Recently I have noticed more and more drivers NOT using their hands-free devices while driving. 

    Guys and gals, they haven't changed the law. It's still a crime to use your handset and it will cost you dearly if you are cited.

That being said, I will admit there have been times when I too have violated the law. Not because I wanted to, but because the d*#n headset I currently own does not live up to it's billing. 

I currently have a Plantronics Voyager (top photo). I am satisfied with it as far as performance is concerned. The noise canceling works extremely well and I have had no problem with hearing as long as I have it placed in my ear right. Where the problem lies is the amount of time on the battery and the screwy time remaining messages. It is extremely annoying when the message comes on and say's "Four Hours Remaining", then two minuets later you get the message "Charge Headset". Even if you don't make any calls, the 10 hour standby is only good for about 6 hours and the 6 hour talk time is a myth; it's more like 3 hours. One more complaint is the use of the micro USB plug on the charger; it's just too much of a distraction to try to plug it in while driving and the cord is way to short to be plugged in to the charger while in use.

With all that said, it is still far better than the Nokia I had before (middle photo). I got rid of the Nokia within a week of getting it because people I called said it sounded like I was talking down a tube and others complained it sounded like sandpaper in the background. Granted the sand paper sound was probably my beard, but why should I have to cut my beard to use my phone?

As I have not been very happy with either of the two headsets I have used, it is still better than a $1200 fine and the loss of my job, so use them I do.

The last photo is the headset I hope to buy sometime this year. It is the Roadwarrior Bluetooth by Blue Parrott. I have asked many drivers that own one and not one single driver had any complaints. It boasts having the loudest volume and 16 hours of talk time. I am not sure I like the over-the-head design but am willing to give it a try. I do like the long mic boom as mic placement is sometimes a problem with the behind the mouth mic designs. This headset is a bit more pricey than the other two, coming in around $120.00 retail and that is the primary reason I have not bought it already.

Keep the rubber side down. 

Thank-you

Got something to say, please comment.

Job Hunting

If your anything like me, you hate looking for a new job.

In today's truck driving industry it has become a bit simpler to search for work, as you don't have to travel around and log a bunch miles on your personal vehicle to put in apps. Now-a-days, you can just hop onto the internet and within a few hours have a hundred or more truck lines to check out.

With my experience, I also got about ten to fifteen phone calls from recruiters, but that might not be the norm, I don't know.

At any rate, thought I would write about one of the pitfalls I have been able to spot as I have been going through this process.

As I wrote in "So, You Want To Be A Truck Driver" our industry is filled with dishonesty and that is especially true when searching for work. Remember a recruiters job is to fill driver seats, the bigger the company the more likely they are to waste your time since you are just a number to them. If you are experienced with three or more years of driving and have a clean MVR (Motor Vehicle Record) and a 0.0 CSA (Compliance, Safety, Accountability) score the recruiters will work harder at trying to sign you up for orientation.

One way I have tried to cut through all the nonsense has been to seek driver comments on any company that I am interested in. I have been able to find driver reviews at several web locations; Rip-off reports   Indeed.com   Glassdoor.com  just to name a few. But, there are problems with relying on these reviews, especially if you only read the first one you come to. Often the first review you see is written by an angry disgruntled ex-employee who is not above lying about the company he/she just left, so read several, if they are all saying the similar things then stay away from that company.

You also should be aware that some company recruiters will check out these driver reviews and post good reviews that appear to be coming from a driver. So read as many reports as you can and watch for similarities in both kinds of reports, good and bad, only the most experienced writers can hide their style.

Shouldn't need to be said, but, you can pretty much discount any report written by someone who doesn't know how to write, or tell the whole story. If you are not an experienced driver the whole story will be much harder to spot, but if the writer doesn't confess to some wrong doing on his or her part then they "ain't" telling all since we are all human and there is always blame enough to go around when there is a problem. Here is a good example of what I mean: Boyd Bros.Review

One more thing you might want to check out is the companys safety rating which you can get for free here. They use our safety ratings to determine if they want to hire us so let's turn the tables on them and use their safety data to determine if we want to work for them.

One last thing, you should know what you want in a job. How much home time do you want, is insurance important and how much are you willing to pay for it, and of course how much do you want to get paid as well as how many miles do you want to run weekly? These are important questions to answer before checking out any company, but don't buy their answer until you check them out or until they are willing to put it in writing.

Well, I am scheduled to start orientation with a company on Jan 6th 2014, but still have my ear to the ground.

Keep the rubber side down.

Your Fired!

Words no one wants to hear..."You're Fired!"

Well on Dec 10 2013 I got to hear those words for the first time in 10 years or so, and like then it wasn't unexpected.

Like ten years ago, my firing was due to an accident. Unlike, back then, someone did get hurt and man do I feel bad.

When you drive truck for a living accidents are something you do your best to avoid but lets face facts they do happen. All it takes is a split second of inattention, a wrong assumption, a misunderstanding, someone else's mistake, truth is when your a big boy or girl playing with big toys, at high speeds it is inevitable at some point in time you will have an accident. Mine was a misunderstanding between the loader and myself, he got hurt, he could have been killed, in which case I would have been jailed for manslaughter, so I thank my God that a few broken ribs and a broken collar bone was all that happened.

But that is not what I really want to write about today, it's the aftermath of being fired and trying to find a new job, that I want to focus on.

Our industry has become super sensitive to safety issues and being fired for an accident has some very serious consequences. Let's start with the CSA score.

Having a high personal CSA score (get yours here) will cause you some very serious problems because that is one of the first things prospective employers are going to look at. I have found out that being fired will in fact cut your prospective employers by at least one third. Many of the big carriers have told me that I would have to work for someone else from 6 months to 3 years before they would even consider me, even some of the not so big carriers have this policy. Oh, yeah, just being fired will do this, it doesn't have to be for a safety related issue.

If you have ever been fired then I don't need to tell you what it feels like. In short it feels like you have let your family down, like the word worthless is tattooed all over your body for everyone to see. It shakes your confidence in who you are and what you do right down to the foundation of your soul. So, what are you going to do, sit in the mire of self pity or get off your butt and find work.

Honesty, is going to be of great help in finding work, don't think for one second you can get away with a lie or omission with a prospective employer, remember CSA and DAC and don't forget your previous employers MUST be contacted before you can even be considered. Be courteous to the employers, it does cost them time and money to do this research so let them know up front if there are any problems and let them decide if they are willing to spend that time and money.

Finding a job is just like sales, most times it's a numbers game. Getting leads and tons of them is critically important. I have found the internet extremely valuable in this regard and it has gotten much better in just this past year for finding leads. My first application was placed on Layover.com this resulted in about 80 e-mails and 20 phone calls from prospective employers. My second app was placed on CAD and my app was sent to 28 employers and resulted in 5 phone calls with about 30 e-mails. My wife also helped by finding other employers to apply to while I was filling out online applications and taking calls.

The result of these massive numbers is that I am scheduled to begin orientation, January 6 and I still have many more people to talk to before then who may offer me a better deal. Believe me, my self esteem has recovered.

Bottom line don't let those words get you down. Just get it in gear, and plow forward.

PS. I could really use the money right now so please if you haven't checked out the book I wrote go and buy it NOW, please. Buy a dozen to pass out to those curious young people that think trucking is so cool. You can find it here http://augerles.wix.com/be-a-truck-driver.