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Estes | Where's the safety?

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steercrazee

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All these companies preach safety first. This arctic blast has snow and ice all in the south and yet the trucking companies won't close for a day or two. You can refuse to drive but they take your vacation or personal day from you because you don't want to drive in 7 inches of snow then ice. Why take a workers earned time off for a weather related safety issue? Just about all these companies are concerned of one thing and its not safety its the green back. There has been over 70 accidents today alone in the county i live in. Was told you have to use one of your days for not working. I can't work i can't make it in the news is saying stay off the roads it is dangerous. Safety my are.
 
steercrazee said:
All these companies preach safety first. This arctic blast has snow and ice all in the south and yet the trucking companies won't close for a day or two. You can refuse to drive but they take your vacation or personal day from you because you don't want to drive in 7 inches of snow then ice. Why take a workers earned time off for a weather related safety issue? Just about all these companies are concerned of one thing and its not safety its the green back. There has been over 70 accidents today alone in the county i live in. Was told you have to use one of your days for not working. I can't work i can't make it in the news is saying stay off the roads it is dangerous. Safety my are.
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What a bunch of wimps these days. Back in the day at Maislin the company painted white lines on the sides of the trailers and told us we had to run until the snow level reached the line! :hysterical: :hilarious:

mais_syr.md.jpeg
 
steercrazee said:
All these companies preach safety first. This arctic blast has snow and ice all in the south and yet the trucking companies won't close for a day or two. You can refuse to drive but they take your vacation or personal day from you because you don't want to drive in 7 inches of snow then ice. Why take a workers earned time off for a weather related safety issue? Just about all these companies are concerned of one thing and its not safety its the green back. There has been over 70 accidents today alone in the county i live in. Was told you have to use one of your days for not working. I can't work i can't make it in the news is saying stay off the roads it is dangerous. Safety my are.
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What gets me is they want us to make an attempt , turn around and come back ,with zero pay
 
Thats really good pay.

We were a Blood Plasma Team while I was getting trainer pay at 1550 net every 7th day running 6100 pay miles at a rate of about 38 for me and 30 for the co driver being trained. But FFE paid me I think 2100 gross and the co driver trainee only 300 gross and saved several thousands each week.

It took me a few years to digest the loss in such a good plentiful miles environment. In the miles pay for the two of us it would have totaled 4400 and change every 7th day divided between the two of us. Since we were married it goes into the same house. We did this for a number of months at a loss of approximately 14000 dollars a month gross.

We will never be involved in that kind of situation again. Theres no money in trucking. Thats over 25 years ago. And they are still trying to pay new hires not much more than what I earned per mile in my last year on the road.

Remember one lesson kids. Company keep costs down. Importing arabs for 30 cents a mile does it. Americans are too expensive.

Put another way, both of us filed jointly about 70000 gross income that year. It came out to 4.54 a hour for 8400 hours and change between both of us. Less than 1/3 todays minimum wage. Perdiem paid us 13200 against taxes liability and we bypassed truckstop spending by cooking on the move and made a profit on the food flat rate. So thats a saving grace that year.
 
drummerforhire said:
Driver, we’re up to 80cpm now and $10.00 for a hook. That’s at least $11.60 you can make if you hook a set, leave, turn around, and come back. $21.60 if you put the equipment back up.
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As bad as the snow is here i bet you don't make it to the terminal unless you have a 4 wheel drive. Getting to the terminal is part of driver safety as well. Not to mention if you end up in a wreck is Estes going to help you, and that would be a big no.
 
A trucker lost his life monday on i 75 near Knoxville he slid into another truck from the snow and was killed. Leaves behind a family. I wonder if his company will take care of his family? I try not to let things bug me, but corporate greed is at an all time high in this country. They holler safety but we all know better and have seen some stuff if you have been in the industry long enough.
 
I have a four wheel drive thats rather adequate for pavement.

When I worked a auction house as a crew boss I would tell my higher boss people that they will need to find another day boss for the 30 or so on the crew pending the ice storm thats developing. I will not show up to work that day of storm.

Why not? Because at that time the minimum wage paid 7.25 for 5 hours work and one of that is already gone in gasoline. It does not pay me enough to offset the risk to life, property and so on driving down to a dead end job for a few hours in conditions better avoided. Theres no profit in that.

They always threaten to fire me. To bully me into showing up. Ive told them I dont give a damn, fire me or not. but I. Will. Not. Be. there. that day.

And sun rises on a land covered in ice, they looked for me and I was not there. Eventually they learned to adjust to the situation. They never did fire me.

But they will fire at least two temps for trashing a rear quarter panel on one vehicle and destroying the front end of another for failing to swing wide adequately coming out of a parking spot for the barn. I refuse to be responsible for such stupid workers. During ice storms.
 
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