Industrys failing

[houts]

I dont know to laugh or cry. I go to these vehicle plants, GM-Ford-Toyota..etc. and they wonder why they are closing. I am standing there with a "HOT" load and no one will acknowledge that I am standing there. I have walked through plants asking person after person, "can someone unload me?" I have had people tell me "thats not my job" "thats not my department" etc. I actually have a picture on my phone, where there must be 15 people outside on a "smoke break" while I stand with the paperwork waiting and waiting. Then you have "BOB" who makes like
65 dollars an hour, whos been working there since 1919 driving a forklift around the plant ignoring you. I even had a guy who had to finish the article he was reading in the recent "PENTHOUSE" before he would unload me. ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!!!!
We wonder why these jobs are leaving? They are going to places where people WORK! We wonder why other countries are saying Americans are lazy? The work ethic is just not the same anymore. There is NO sense of urgency anymore. I bust my butt, taking LIMITED bathroom breaks to get this load there, only to WAIT AND WAIT!!! Maybe we have ourselves to blame for some of these companies leaving... High Labor prices, Low output, inferior quality.

 

[redytrk]

Will it never occur to the average union union worker, that every time they vote to bring the company down to its knees , it would eventually come back to bite them in the ask?

When they go down with the ship I find it hard to drum up any sympathy.

 

[ATeam]

Contrast this with an automotive pickup we did once at a Toyota plant (we do very little automotive freight). We were in and out in no time and treated well by dock personnel. When I commented on the cleanliness of the plant, the non-union worker spoke of his happiness as an employee and told me how each Friday, everyone in the office, including the big boss, picks up a broom and together they sweep the entire plant. This happy employee was U.S. citizen who considered himself fairly compensated. He had no desire to see union work rules imposed on him or a union in the plant.

 

[houts]

YES, I should have NOT said Toyota... they are VERY responsive there. IN and OUT!!!!

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Honda I've found quick and pleasant...They actually like thier jobs and happy to do it.....

 

[BillChaffey]

In the late 70's or very early 80's "Brockway" trucks which had been taken over by "Mack" Trucks, had a Plant either in Syracuse or Rochester N.Y. ( I had a Route from N.Y.C. to Rochester) but I can not remember which. In any case the Union decided to Strike for higher wages, Mack said we can not afford it and will have to close if a Strike is instituted. The Union struck anyway, Plant closed. So long Brockway.

 

[layoutshooter]

Union are socialist at best, very left wing. So are the Democrats. They don't like us having a broad powerful industrial base. That keeps us competitive on the world market and a military power. They don't like us being a super-power. Destroy the industrial base and that takes care of that. The plan all along. The plan is coming together. Layoutshooter

 

[OntarioVanMan]

No surprise here...seen this coming...Circuit City just announced Chapter 11.....

 

[Pilgrim]

I dont know to laugh or cry. I go to these vehicle plants, GM-Ford-Toyota..etc. and they wonder why they are closing. I am standing there with a "HOT" load and no one will acknowledge that I am standing there. I have walked through plants asking person after person, "can someone unload me?" I have had people tell me "thats not my job" "thats not my department" etc. I actually have a picture on my phone, where there must be 15 people outside on a "smoke break" while I stand with the paperwork waiting and waiting. Then you have "BOB" who makes like
65 dollars an hour, whos been working there since 1919 driving a forklift around the plant ignoring you. I even had a guy who had to finish the article he was reading in the recent "PENTHOUSE" before he would unload me. ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!!!!
We wonder why these jobs are leaving? They are going to places where people WORK! We wonder why other countries are saying Americans are lazy? The work ethic is just not the same anymore. There is NO sense of urgency anymore. I bust my butt, taking LIMITED bathroom breaks to get this load there, only to WAIT AND WAIT!!! Maybe we have ourselves to blame for some of these companies leaving... High Labor prices, Low output, inferior quality.

You must be referring to one of the Big 3 plants - Toyota, Nissan, Honda are not like that at all. I waited to unload last year along with about 7 or 8 other drivers at a Ford plant for almost 45 min because the UAW member responsible for processing us in was taking a nap. We were told by one of his buddies that the driver that wakes him up will be unloaded last, so we just stood around while this fool was getting paid to sleep. Now these clowns are asking for a Govt. bailout - they deserve no mercy whatsoever.

 

[LDB]

Stupid union fools just like the fools that voted in Obama. Back in the 80's I had a friend whose sister worked at a GM plant. Her job was to sit on a stool and monitor a certain line using a stopwatch. Certain notes were to be made at certain times on a form she held on a clipboard. For that, due to 23 yrs service etc., she got $42 per hour. That's a lot of money now but in the early 80's it was huge money. Unions and liberals, nothing but fools.

 

[mrgoodtude]

Stupid union fools just like the fools that voted in Obama. Back in the 80's I had a friend whose sister worked at a GM plant. Her job was to sit on a stool and monitor a certain line using a stopwatch. Certain notes were to be made at certain times on a form she held on a clipboard. For that, due to 23 yrs service etc., she got $42 per hour. That's a lot of money now but in the early 80's it was huge money. Unions and liberals, nothing but fools.

You know it is funny..
I call a guy a douche in jest and I get banned yet this cat has free reign to drop "fool" bombs everywhere..
Not an isolated incident seems to be a pattern here.
That being said..
Guys are running truckload at .95 a mile plus some pittance of a fuel surcharge should they fuel in a company network and we as expediters scoff at a buck and a quarter plus FSC..
Do we have a union mentality?
I personally think we have milked the gravy train for awhile and just like the housing market a little correction is inevitable..
Not bagging on the industry and as for the UAW I have complained about the "entitlement mentality" for a few years, I just think that there are some better people doing the same thing I do for a lot less.
Going forward I am confident expedite will make up a smaller portion of the transportation pie and the portion it holds will produce even lesser returns.
Don't believe me?
Be prepared to tighten the belt and live like no other.
Paid for trucks and the super frugal will be your competition and be ready to earn your pay cause some people showed up with sleeves rolled, alert and ready to save the farm.
Postscript
Expedite has not failed but evolution will not allow for the great wave some of us have surfed.
Tude

 

[x06col]

Ahh Tude, don't worry bout how they treat ya on this site. If they ban you it'd be
their loss. I got a nasty gram recently for a comment about paychecks. The recipient translated that as my calling her a "money hungry ". I guess it's all in your translation. Ya know douche versus some other similar word. Guess douche must refer too close to the unspeakable parts, or sumpin.

Anyway, yes, there are way better folks doing this job for way less than many douches in this business. Been my experience with "expediters" is that they come here because they don't wanna "work", or they are running away from something else. Believe your correct in tagging many with the elusive title as "roast goose hunters". So to type.

 

[moose]

I had a Delivery into a large Christmas tree nursery run by a union.
upon Del. the new small trees ,
i stumble across this 2 union workers .
one was digging a hole in the ground , and a few seconds later , his buddy will fill up the hole with the same dirt .
looks strange to me , so i asked the supervisor for what is going on , and he say :
well , normally we have 3 workers in this shift , but john ,that his job is to dump the new tree in the hole , have called sick today...




Moose.

 

[miker]

I used to have a friend in Ohio that was a heavy equipment operator and was realitively new at this as he had been doing it for maybe 3-5 years, he was in the local unioin ,made probably 28$ per hr and I tell ya I never heard someone complain so much about anyone asking him to do the slightest little thing other than drive that dozer, we saw a guy one time in a new nieghborhood running a dozer and this guy got off to move a medium sized tree log out of his way, it wasnt a big deal, and my friend commented on how this guy was crazy for doing this and how he was stealing jobs because he obviously wasnt a union operator because if that wouldve been my friend on that dozer there is no way he wouldve moved that tree limb no matter how easy it was it's not his job and anyone that doesnt like it he didnt care he would call his business agent in the union and tell him. That was all he ever talked about was calling his BA and getting things straightened out, it was amazing how lazy he made the industry seem. Needless to say he doesnt work for the union anymore as I can only imagine they were just fed up with his petty complaining. I havent talked to him in about 5 yrs but have heard that he does absolutely nothing anymore no job no nothing, it's a shame to because this is not what unions were designed to accomplish

 

[LDB]

The pot always loves to call the kettle black, even if the kettle might be copper or aluminum or enamel or something else and only the pot is black. My brother in law worked at the GM plant in OKC. I don't remember the exact details but they had a bunch of guys shut down for nearly an hour as they all stood and watched the electrician twiddle his thumbs. The union electrician had to access some wiring behind a panel in the wall. He just stood there doing nothing while they waited on the union carpenter to come remove the panel. I don't know how many thousands of dollars were lost because a union electrician couldn't use his screwdriver to remove a panel.

 

[hdxpedx]

I REMEMBER delivering to the KOKOMO Chrysler plant in the wee hours of the night, and the receiver was ALWAYS reading a newspaper- AND NEVER LOOKED UP - NEVER SAID HELLO - BUT CONTINUED TO READ!! NOW YOU WANT ME? TO FUND YOUR ATTITUDE!! What GOES around as BITTEN newspaper reader!! Die and go to TOYOTA! HAAAAAA

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Had a mechcanical part for the Sterling assembly Chyrsler...10 pound box...Carried to receivers office...he told me to put it back in my van it's HIS job to take it off...I said when..."after break" Mechanic comes out looking for the part...receiver says he's on "break" Mechanic says they need it for the line and proceeds to sign and take part...receivers swears at him and says he's putting ina greivance...mechanic flips him the bird....

Yeah ok...let MY tax dollars help this guy!!! NOT!!!

 

[hondaking38]

and receiving is just a small part of the overall operation...i say let them all fail!!!!!

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Honda..yup...let business take care of business...the bad sectors will go under and the more profitale parts will be bought by entrepeneurs....it'll be absorbed...

 

[Oilerman1957]

Dang, This is one union bashing site. Whether you like the unions or not they helped raise the pay and benefits of all the working class. Does anyone really believe that Toyota would pay the hourly pay and benefits they do if it wasnt for the big 3 having unions? How many times have your deliveries gone without a problem? As far as the unions guys pay, all they wanted was a piece of the pie, Gm, Ford Chry, all the executives continue to make millions. Would u like to make just 35% of the linehaul while ur company made all the money or do you want a piece of the pie to?