XPO | Do You Think That You Are Highly Skilled???
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wonderring99
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It is skilled labor..
I agree with you - if we could just get the U.S. Department of Labor to agree , we would be in business. Even if the government wanted to reclassify drivers as skilled labor , I think companies would lobby big time against it.
wonderring99
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In canada it is skilled labor.. that is why the canadian drivers get to top scale in 2 years
highspeeds
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We are grunts with a fancy license. A **** test here or there don't make you skilled. Anyone can do this job. That is why it should not be considered skilled. Most people capable of doing it won't even stoop so low as be a truck driver. Leaving the least qualified as the best available canidates. I was working in a grocery store before I caught on to this. I speak from first hand experience. Ask bottomfdrking. When I started is was completely green.
I am pretty sure we were all GREEN when we first started driving.It took me along time to get the idea in my head to steer towards the problem and not away.No problems now but I can't back my car up anymore, I get out and let the wife do it.:LMAO:
highspeeds
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I turn the wheel and the damn thing goes the wrong way !
What is considered skilled???I see guys that still cant back a trailer up or drive a forklift,and then there are the guys who can back sets up into docks and move a bundle of steel in one move......Thats what i consider skilled....At least in our company/industry..Just cause you carry a CDL doesnt make you skilled...
rattlehead
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stoop so low? wtf you talking about? I have never thought of driving a truck as stooping low. I don't consider anyone that gets up and goes to work to provide, and be a productive member of society as stoopng low. If it's such a bad thing then why are you doing it? The least qualified in what? I have worked with older drivers that have full college educations but could make more when they got out of school driving a truck. You are still green when it comes to knowing exactly what it is you do. How long have you been doin it, and why don't you get out if you think it's such a degrading job? You are an idiot. I speak from first hand experience as well here. All trades are easy to learn and become second nature, been there done that. I'm not saying it's a hard job, but neither are the "skilled" trade jobs out there. But then what does someone who's only other job has been a grocery slinger know? lol
rattlehead
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No a CDL doesn't make you skilled, just qualified. Being an apprentice doesn't either. Everyone has to learn it before they become "skilled". I haven't seen anyone in my ltl career that can't back up a trailer except the subservice guys that only drive forward. You don't know what they can do moving forward through the mountains in the snow just because they can't go backwards. I have seen a lot of unproffesional drivers on the road speeding, following too close etc..... but then when I worked construction there were guys there that were unprofessional too, taking short cuts, doin thins backwards, etc.... I don't want to be on the road with the bad drivers, and I sure as hell wouldn't want to buy a building made by some hurry up and get it done contractor either. Like I said before, if a plumber screws up someone might get wet, if a driver screws up someone might get killed.
You are entitled to your opinion. I disagree. Many others that drive professionally disagree. As long as people continue to share your opinion that drive , CDL drivers will have a major problem.
highspeeds
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Oh yeah we got all kinds of doctors and lawyers that were like, screw it. I'm gonna drive a truck. NOT ! LOL You guys crack me up. Grocery store clerk is one of my many jobs. Being uneducated and unskilled. I spent my 20's doing whatever, wherever. I have stood with the mexicans to do simple labor. No shame in making a buck. But I am not the average person. Most people look down on truck drivers. My wife tells people I work in a wharehouse. Society thinks we are dirty, prideless theives and worse. After becoming a truck driver. And meeting some of the people I work with. I totally understand why.
highspeeds
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The problem isn't MY opinion. The problem is the COMPANIES opinions. What is happening to us happened to the pilots. All the deregulation. Lost benefits. Lost wages. This is not a one time occurance. Wal-mart is a great example. Horrible benefits. Terrible wages. Miserable if not horrifing treatment of employees. The single largest employer in America. So ridiculously profitable they are completely untouchable. It is a cultural problem. Welcome to America 20whatever.
Con-Way thinks that we are unskilled. It shows too much. They hire trainees and teach them to drive, hire FOS's right off the street and train them. These are people that don't even know what the inside of a truck looks like. Their mentality is that anyone can do there jobs.
To to the job well requires skill, just getting by and flying under the radar not so much. I think more focus should be on how safety sensitive our job is. The dock is just as dangerous as the road, we have to be extremely responsible and careful every minute of our work day. IMO that justifies our good pay more than someone's opinion on skill.
I guess not having any knowledge of hazmat, RQ, placarding, UN #'s, what you can and cannot load together takes no skill. Distance perception, unfamiliar routes, bridge height, just an overall safety awareness to the yourself and the general public. I just think your just stirring the hornets nest trying to get people fired up. It worked for a second!!! But im done, this is silly. It is a skill
HARLEYRDKING01
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:TR10driving03:Anybody can go fast but can you stop it?
I am the only semi-skilled vote so far. I do not agree with highspeeds that "anyone" can do this job. But I cannot consider what we do as a skilled trade either, not when compared to electricians, plumbers, and other journeyman level tradesmen. I know a guy who teaches electician apprentice classes, he let me borrow a copy of an entry level textbook he uses and I have to admit, once I got past the first chapter, I was lost. I think electricians for sure, need to know way more than truck drivers in order to do their job properly. Just the math alone is hard to get through, let alone all the theories and formulas. And just to throw a bone to my pro-union pals out there, I would only hire a union electrician to work on my home or business. I would not, however, as a business owner, make the same distinction regarding what trucking company I hired to haul my goods.
You make a very good point.I think that for most drivers to survive in the LTL business, they must be highly skilled and have a little luck as well. Those that fail to develop the skill get the axe sooner than later.