In my terminal we have about 19 road drivers. I am 3rd from the bottom and have only worked 3 days in the last two weeks. And two of those days were people that called off, not because freight levels were higher on those days.
You may find this hard to believe, but I do not have anything against those road drivers that have more seniority than I do and are in that group you have designated as being in the top 50% to 70%.
Fortunately or unfortunately, depending upon your point of view, capitalism will always have people who are working all the time and making money hand-over-fist, while others are only getting to work a little or not at all. The opposite is socialism. And that is something I am 100% opposed to. I'd rather have the chance to make more than someone else and create my own happiness, than to have all of us make the same amount of money and work the exact same hours.
Personally it sucks for me, but I am not the type to complain or feel that those with more seniority should have to give up any part of their bid to help me out. In fact, I wouldn't want it that way, because I would like to be in their position, and will certainly be glad if I ever make it that far or stay that long.
My approach has been to burn all of my vacation and personal time before filing for partial or full unemployment. As of this past week I have burned all of my vacation and personal time. So this Friday will be my last full paycheck.
In Pennsylvania, if you work less than 40% of your normal work hours per week, you qualify to file a claim for partial unemployment. This past week has been as follows: Monday - Sat at home, Tuesday - Shuttle Run/Dock Work, Wednesday - Sat at home, Thursday - TBD and Friday - TBD. At this rate it is likely that I may not get to that 40%+ and will have to file for partial unemployment.
In my opinion, some pay is better than none. And if they aren't going to allow us to work inbound or outbound if we are cancelled, put some of the freight from purchase trailers on our pups so that we can work or let more senior drivers who want to volunteer to take off to help us out, then I have no problem filing for unemployment. As the law states, I am willing and able to work, and there is no work available through no fault of my own.
What really sucks is that I'd love to tap my 401K monies to live off of instead of having to file for unemployment, but the plan rules only allow it under certain circumstances. And unfortunately right now I am not in danger of foreclosure, in need of money for a medical procedure, burial expenses of an immediate family member, etc. You get the idea.
I was just at the point of getting some things squared away financially and the economy went south. But that is the case for a lot of people. So I am not alone. Worse case is that I have to collect full unemployment benefits and look for a new job. I have already started getting my resume in order as I am old hat at this game. And it won't be a total loss, I have my CDL free of charge thanks to FedEx Freight.
At 39 years of age I am getting used to this thing called life...
P.S. I knew I should have never dropped out of that astronaut program!!! LOL
