For all LTL hands, union or not.....

[USLoneStar]

Im just sitting here reading and watching the videos of all the companies that went out of business.....all the LTL's that went under, and it makes me think.......
after all the cutbacks, renegotiations, wage cuts, etc, I can truly say: we are a rare breed of worker, comrades in a true sense. I can truly say that as a non union LTL driver, worked for many different companies, union and non union, I have never caught an attitude by a fellow driver that was not a one time occurence. As we go through the city, pulling up by one another, Ive had guys help me get a pallet off my truck, let me in the hole ahead of them, if I only had one pallet and they had half a pup.......union or not.....I think we all have a genuine good sense of attitude overall. Sure, every now and then some guy has a chip on his shoulder, but in these bad economic times, when it seems like our companies want to steer us in a certain direction, we still boil down to a city man mentality, you see the same guys every day, theyve had their hard hand freight stops, you see them in the alleys delivering to the guy you went to last week who gave you a hard time over a crushed box, and you feel for him, (or her), and you want him to have a good day, after that crappy stop. We all know what drivers make, their benefits, their bad or good trucks, their 12 or 6.5 hour days.....their peddle runs, grocery unloads, and overall, Id say that most times we all respect each other. Nowadays with forums like these, we all get home and would like to rant about our company, union, management, fellow workers, trucks, etc, and it gets to be a really interesting forum. Bottom line, when I back up to a dock, the other drivers who are there are just a driver like me, they want to work thier day and go home, sure.... your a teamster and are on your 5th hour of overtime, but you have sacrifices too......Im a non union hand who will be lucky to make 5 hours today.....maybe the other guy is a contractor who pays his own truck bills....but we all have respect for each other... when were on the street we are a special breed.. the guys who bring America to the shelves, to the plants, to the warehouse, to the homes of the American people, and they dont realize what sacrifices we make. To them we just bring them more work to do.....but without the service we provide, there would be a lot more hard times to endure. In this bad economic environment, all Im saying is that as a LTL City man, I think that we all have our setbacks, and what ever happens to our companies, and organizations, in the end I hope we dont lose that comraderie that is seeing your fellow driver who is having a bad or good day, and just saying "Hello man, hows it going?"

[renegade313]

......

[hooty]

Originally Posted by USLoneStar

Im just sitting here reading and watching the videos of all the companies that went out of business.....all the LTL's that went under, and it makes me think.......
after all the cutbacks, renegotiations, wage cuts, etc, I can truly say: we are a rare breed of worker, comrades in a true sense. I can truly say that as a non union LTL driver, worked for many different companies, union and non union, I have never caught an attitude by a fellow driver that was not a one time occurence. As we go through the city, pulling up by one another, Ive had guys help me get a pallet off my truck, let me in the hole ahead of them, if I only had one pallet and they had half a pup.......union or not.....I think we all have a genuine good sense of attitude overall. Sure, every now and then some guy has a chip on his shoulder, but in these bad economic times, when it seems like our companies want to steer us in a certain direction, we still boil down to a city man mentality, you see the same guys every day, theyve had their hard hand freight stops, you see them in the alleys delivering to the guy you went to last week who gave you a hard time over a crushed box, and you feel for him, (or her), and you want him to have a good day, after that crappy stop. We all know what drivers make, their benefits, their bad or good trucks, their 12 or 6.5 hour days.....their peddle runs, grocery unloads, and overall, Id say that most times we all respect each other. Nowadays with forums like these, we all get home and would like to rant about our company, union, management, fellow workers, trucks, etc, and it gets to be a really interesting forum. Bottom line, when I back up to a dock, the other drivers who are there are just a driver like me, they want to work thier day and go home, sure.... your a teamster and are on your 5th hour of overtime, but you have sacrifices too......Im a non union hand who will be lucky to make 5 hours today.....maybe the other guy is a contractor who pays his own truck bills....but we all have respect for each other... when were on the street we are a special breed.. the guys who bring America to the shelves, to the plants, to the warehouse, to the homes of the American people, and they dont realize what sacrifices we make. To them we just bring them more work to do.....but without the service we provide, there would be a lot more hard times to endure. In this bad economic environment, all Im saying is that as a LTL City man, I think that we all have our setbacks, and what ever happens to our companies, and organizations, in the end I hope we dont lose that comraderie that is seeing your fellow driver who is having a bad or good day, and just saying "Hello man, hows it going?"

Well said my friend! Something for me to think about.

[loopy105]

Very well said USLoneStar, I often what goes through a costumers head when they see me talking to another driver on the dock while we are waiting for freight, and the other driver happens to be a FEDEX driver.....

[ranger309]

Originally Posted by USLoneStar

Im just sitting here reading and watching the videos of all the companies that went out of business.....all the LTL's that went under, and it makes me think.......
after all the cutbacks, renegotiations, wage cuts, etc, I can truly say: we are a rare breed of worker, comrades in a true sense. I can truly say that as a non union LTL driver, worked for many different companies, union and non union, I have never caught an attitude by a fellow driver that was not a one time occurence. As we go through the city, pulling up by one another, Ive had guys help me get a pallet off my truck, let me in the hole ahead of them, if I only had one pallet and they had half a pup.......union or not.....I think we all have a genuine good sense of attitude overall. Sure, every now and then some guy has a chip on his shoulder, but in these bad economic times, when it seems like our companies want to steer us in a certain direction, we still boil down to a city man mentality, you see the same guys every day, theyve had their hard hand freight stops, you see them in the alleys delivering to the guy you went to last week who gave you a hard time over a crushed box, and you feel for him, (or her), and you want him to have a good day, after that crappy stop. We all know what drivers make, their benefits, their bad or good trucks, their 12 or 6.5 hour days.....their peddle runs, grocery unloads, and overall, Id say that most times we all respect each other. Nowadays with forums like these, we all get home and would like to rant about our company, union, management, fellow workers, trucks, etc, and it gets to be a really interesting forum. Bottom line, when I back up to a dock, the other drivers who are there are just a driver like me, they want to work thier day and go home, sure.... your a teamster and are on your 5th hour of overtime, but you have sacrifices too......Im a non union hand who will be lucky to make 5 hours today.....maybe the other guy is a contractor who pays his own truck bills....but we all have respect for each other... when were on the street we are a special breed.. the guys who bring America to the shelves, to the plants, to the warehouse, to the homes of the American people, and they dont realize what sacrifices we make. To them we just bring them more work to do.....but without the service we provide, there would be a lot more hard times to endure. In this bad economic environment, all Im saying is that as a LTL City man, I think that we all have our setbacks, and what ever happens to our companies, and organizations, in the end I hope we dont lose that comraderie that is seeing your fellow driver who is having a bad or good day, and just saying "Hello man, hows it going?"

Amen to that!

As a driver who has been both non-union, union and in a partnership in a trucking business, I concur.

Most non-drivers look at us driving down the streets or highways, never knowing how much we do or what new laws we have to deal with on an ongoing basis, while they get upset at us for "getting in their way" while they are "driving", if you want to call it that.

No, we are just "rif-raff" to most of them; until we save then from their own mistakes on the roadways when we just KNOW, after years of driving, what they are going to do ahead of us before they even do.

No way do I look down on other drivers, as I have seen it all after all these years on the road.

[dockgirl]

Years ago when I worked the dock at USPC, my overnight driver was and old school mate, my Estes driver was the dad of elementary school mates, my Dugan driver was my husbands cousin, Roadway driver bought me a pop everyday for having his freight ready and lined up the way he wanted to check it before I loaded it, my OD driver brought me a Harley Davidson Pig in exchange for a Harley Davidson Tin I bought him, my AF driver would help out wrapping his freight, and I had the greatest UPS driver in the world. They were always nice to each other, pulling out to let one skid get loaded before half a van. They were all a great bunch of guys. Now I can't say that for my OTR guys. If they didn't stink, they were high on coke, and not the one you drink, or they were asking me to go to Vegas. I had the same one a lot, he looked like Waylan Jennings, so that's what we called him. He always called me blondie. He was the only one I could tolerate because he didn't sit around and complain about having to wait for my local guys to get loaded first. I always took care of my drivers, and they returned the respect.