Tag Archives: trucking answers

New hybrid pay system taking over trucking | #158

Trucking, , , , , , ,

I am finding a new hybrid pay system in trucking.  This is where we as the driver get a guarantee for up to a certain number of miles and then get mileage past that amount.  What do you think?  I like hourly but this solves many of the same problems.  Drivers have an incentive to work more to get more pay and companies have an incentive to keep you moving.  Not bad and a big improvement over what trucking has been doing for over 30 years.

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A few common trucking urban myths debunked | #157

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They persist buy they are myths!  Don’t agree?  Show me in the green book!  I go through a few of these myths that I get asked about all the time.  The first one is can you drive barefoot?  Also, I discuss the white sheet myth.  Finally I talk about holding your breath when you pass a cemetery.  Yes!  I reminisce about my mom making me wait one hour after eating before I could get in the water.  Where do we get this stuff?

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Trucking is the best anti-poverty program in the country | #156

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A call to the Dave Ramsey show prompted this podcast.  With no high school diploma, felonies and never having driven a stick shift car you can become a truck driver and get your family out of poverty.  It doesn’t matter what color you are, if you are a man or a woman, fat or thin, any religion, tattoos or most other things that could impact you getting a job somewhere else.  Even most felonies don’t disqualify you.  If you need money trucking could be the job for you.  You may not want to do it for your entire life but it could save your house from being taken and get you to a better place financially.

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I am totally vindicated about my Smuggler’s Notch theory! | #154

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A recent article says yet another driver is stuck in the Notch.  The driver himself says, in another language, that he cannot read the signs and therefore did not heed the signs.  That rhymes!  Everyone in the United States, except tourists, should speak and read ENGLISH.  Period.  Don’t like that?  Tough.  LEARN ENGLISH. Plus, it is REQUIRED for the CDL license that you “know English sufficiently well to converse with an officer.”   Move here, learn ENGLISH.

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Get paid like it is 1999 | #153

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Trans Am Trucking has an ad running right now that says they pay 31 cents a mile for a new driver!  Wow.  I got paid that in the 90s.  Also, they need a low-paid local driver in Kansas.  I think even the Scarecrow could figure out how bad that pay is without a brain.  It is my considered opinion that they pay is so low the company should be bypassed.  New drivers can do way better.

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What to do if you are told you can’t have a day off for a funeral | #152

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Recently I had to get some time off for a funeral.  Not a fun day but it is something most of have to do at some time.  I was talking to someone who wasn’t coming because their employer would not give them the day off.  What?  This podcast is for employers and employees on what to do in this situation.

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Millis, CFI and Heartland want an exemption for less experienced trainers | #151

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Millis Transfer, Heartland Express and CFI want an exemption from the government for the entry level driver training program.  Currently trainers must have at least 2 years of experience in the industry and these 3 genius companies want that to be only 1 year.  The industry is not improved by having less experienced people training other people.  If anything the requirement should be increased to 5 years.  These companies should improve themselves and these problems will go away.  Everyone wants to recruit but no one wants to retain.  As usual I go off on a tangent about how drivers are treated at these training companies.

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Autonomous trucks will get exempted from weigh stations and roadside inspections | #150

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In what will be no surprise to anyone, Kodiak Industries has gotten exempted from roadside inspections and weigh stations in a pilot program.  So, it can bypass and you can’t.  All they have to do is certify that the truck is inspected and for the next 24 hours they are exempt.  Isn’t that nice?  Why can’t we do that?  I could inspect my truck and certify it safe.  We can’t because they don’t want you as a driver so this will allow Kodiak to be even more efficient and get you out of the truck sooner.  No more expensive parking for the government to build, either.  Win win right?  I say win win lose.

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Get a smoke detector today! | #149

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Recently a truck driver was found dead in his burning truck.  Don’t let this be you.  Get a combo smoke and carbon monoxide detector run by batteries today and put it in your truck!  It could save your life.  I need all the listeners I can get.  Seriously, it might save you and it costs very little.  Get one immediately.

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Know your worth AND let them close! | #148

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Do you know your worth in the industry?  Don’t let a company try to discount your accomplishments or tell you to be a team player to help the company.  Look at Yellow.  700 million dollars all gone and they still want their employees to take more cuts.  By the time this airs we should know how that turned out but the message still applies.  Don’t take cuts for the company, just go somewhere else.  Life is too short to be discounted.

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