It's a Team's Life
Elephant in the Room
The number of new CDL’s issued each year is staggering and yet we have a driver shortage. How can that be? Why do new CDL holders leave this awesome industry?
When someone asks me my recommendation of a company to start with as a new driver that wants to drive a tractor-trailer I cringe. Knowing what that first year is like at a “training” company makes me ill for that person. The first year is usually the toughest year to get through as not many companies want a new driver with less than one year of experience even with a clean record. The “training” companies churn through new drivers as if taking out the trash.
The “elephant” is too often the shippers and receivers that the company you are driving for or leased to sends you to over and over again. Some shippers and receivers have appointment times to check into the guard gate and then wait for hours to unload or to get the paperwork. The abuse of a driver too often starts at the guard shack and then continues on till you finally have your seal checked when leaving the facility.
The union-run facilities and some military bases seem to be the worst for driver abuse. Everyone's hands seem to be tied on firing or getting rid of an employee that does not do their job. The end result is the driver who has no recourse is the one who suffers at the hands of a gate guard and/or shipping clerk.
When arriving at one of these facilities your first hurdle is the gate guard. Do you drive up to the gate or park to the side and walk to the gate? Sometimes if lucky there are signs that direct you and at other times you risk the wrath of the gate guard for doing it wrong. Do not ever assume that all facilities are the same even if the same name is on the sign. If possible call ahead to find out the policy at that location if not err on the side of caution and keep fingers crossed. Do not arrive too early as you will be sent away and if you arrive late expect to be told now they dont know when they will be able to unload you and it could be days.
Let's say you get through the gate guard the first time and are told to go to a door number and check-in. You go inside with your paperwork in hand and too often you stand at the window or you get in line and watch as the shipping clerk chats with their neighbor or the worst is to watch them playing a game. Do not rap on glass or the counter as that might be you get to wait a few more hours to get a dock number or their paperwork for the load. Finally, you get a dock number and maybe you can stay with the truck, or maybe you will have to wait inside. If at a grocery warehouse the negotiation will begin on how much it is going to cost to pay a lumper to unload or load the trailer.
Once you back into the dock the red light comes on and the next wait begins to load or unload. You anxiously wait to feel the forklift enter the truck and then you wait, wait, wait… Maybe you try to lie down to get some rest and as your eyes shut all the sudden you feel the forklift enter the trailer and your eyes pop open! Yes, finally something is happening and then you wait, wait, wait for the forklift to come back. Just as your eyes shut again the forklift comes back and the process starts again. This loading or unloading can take a little while or hours depending on how fast they want the product. By hours I mean all day before finally the green lights comes on and you can pull out of the dock. Now to get the paperwork. You pull the truck forward and shut the doors and go back to the shipping office to get paperwork or to have paperwork signed.
What is interesting is the clerk will request you to sign their paperwork and often refuse to sign your paperwork. Don't argue are nothing gets done. This process of getting the paperwork can take hours and by now you are either out of hours or you have gotten your ten-hour rest break so you can now drive as you are well rested right? The whole day could have been spent waiting with no pay.
Now join the line to get out of the facility which can mean getting weighed to make sure you have the correct amount of freight on or it will be back to get another skid or two or yelled at as you weigh too much which is your fault as you have too much fuel or to much stuff. Finally, you get to the gate guard who checks your paperwork and puts on a seal and you are on your way to repeat the process. Well-rested and ready to drive, NOT. This whole time sitting at this shipper/receiver you are not being paid or maybe you might get a little detention but don't count on it the worst abusers have it in their contract they don't pay detention and the trucking company is ok with this.
Are all facilities like this, no but there are enough shippers and receivers that fall into this category of treating drivers badly so it is no wonder why people leave without exploring other options. Having a brand new CDL is an insurance risk and not many small companies can afford to put an over $150,000 thousand dollar truck and trailer plus the cost of the freight in a beginner's control. So the abuse continues and the cry of driver shortage continues. How much pay does it take to overcome being treated poorly day in and day out to make trucking a career for women, men, and now young drivers? Regulations are not going to solve this problem it is the carriers that have to stop allowing their drivers to be mistreated.
Bob & Linda Caffee
TeamCaffee
Saint Louis MO
Expediters since January 2005
[email protected]
Expediting isn't just trucking, it's a lifestyle;
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