Problems finding and retaining drivers

The optimum word here is DRIVERS! You can hire a steering wheel holder to make your truck down the road and tear up your equipment but to find a true truck driver is rare! Drivers today, coming out of schools and running with a trainer who is most likely as green as the recruit, are not taught the things a driver needs to know! I was taught to drive by my older brother when I was 14 years old. He put me behind the wheel of his 1972 freightliner cabover and I drove. He shifted the gears but I ran the peddles and steared! It was a proud day, after we stopped bouncing from the touchy foot feed on the big cam 400 cummins! Good times! He took me with when I could get away from school and taught me how to respect the truck and make it work for you, not just mash the gas and tear up the equipment! We need the more "Old School" instructors out there instead of book smart, common sense poor!

Good ole days! God I would like to go back! I am 55 years old and have been in this industry since I was 19. At this stage in life, my "give a damn" is busted and I zero f***s left to give. The drivers of today are not worth a damn and I can see a push to go to driverless trucks in the future.

I am now having mixed emotions on increasing my fleet. I was planning on buying my third one and interviewed a couple of men, one to run team with my nephew, until the new rig arrived. Gentlemen, you may have no idea how they came dressed for the interview.

I've purchased uniform shirts and jackets for my men. Flip flops are certainly not allowed. These fellows represent my company, as well as themselves, when dealing with customers.

Yes, I know the industry has changed, but the idea of showing professionalism, to me, is very important. One gentleman who was supposed to have five years experience did not show me very much. Especially since my drivers test includes backing up into several docks with different approaches to each. I won't hire steering wheel holders.

So, my expansion plan is on hold. I originally had the desire to have six rigs in the fleet. Five is the ideal amount to operate for a basic company, without the owner also being a driver. However, I have enough income with Social Securiy, my retirement account, and military disability stipend, that I don't pay myself from the "side" business. My ultimate goal is to leave the business to my nephew, once I meet the Great Dispatcher in the sky. All I need to do is find drivers who qualify to my standards.

Ed, your comments would be funny, if, unfortunately, they were not true. Thanks for the compliment. When I first saw that paint combination at my local Freightliner dealership, I fell in love. I ended up going through two Freightshakers and a K-100 with that scheme. I wanted to have our Stars painted like this; however, I made a deal with my nephew that I'd spec out the tractor and he could choose the paint. His favorite combination is two toned bright red and white. That's what he prefers for company colors. Oh well!

Us farm kids started driving as toddlers...I was hauling hogs in a straight truck at age 14... Right down 36 highway across N.MIssouri, never once pulled across that scale house..I did this about every 10 days as my Grandpa, Dad and Great Uncle raised pasture hogs...My Grandaddy's shotgun is locked in a closet and it never shot a thing that could have lived..Dead, Fat or Rich nobodies left to bitch about the goings on in Self Destructive Zones..

Must have been a replacement motor. If my memory serves me right the big cam motors weren't out in '72

My first and only truck I owned was a 1984 Freightliner cabover. It was and old TBI (Thompson Brothers) out of Fargo Nd. 350 cummins, direct drive 9 speed, no jakes, center point steering, spring ride suspension and air ride cab. I put 700,000 miles on in 5 years. It was no record but not bad. The truck ran all over the country and the only time it came in on a hook was when I hit a snow drift that was about as tall as the truck. Those old Cummins motors were good as long as your replaced the bearings about every 250,000 miles. Only downfall was I would set the idle with the rod and wing nut on the foot feed and by the time I would get back in the bunk it would either be at 800 rpm or 1400! Drivers of today have no idea what we drove years ago! Funny part is, the ones that came before us said the same thing about us! I have driven a lot of different trucks with various transmissions and I would venture to say that the driver of today would be totally lost trying to drive some of the trucks I drove, and I am by no means the best driver out there! I'm ok, but some of the old timers could and probably will still drive circles around me!

Keith

ET Trucking.