Don’t worry so much about Spanish speaking drivers dominating the trucking industry. Drivers are needed and they’re coming from all over the world.

Why are drivers needed?  Are there no Americans who can drive?

My son drives a truck, and he has been out of work for most of the 6 months this year.
He has truck driver friends that are out of work too.

You see, you are being lied to on this matter too.

It is time Americans take the immigration concern to ther WHite House.

On other boards it is unanimouisly agreed that there is only one solution the the problem.

OhZone - 08 July 2007 07:11 PM

Why are drivers needed?  Are there no Americans who can drive?

My son drives a truck, and he has been out of work for most of the 6 months this year.
He has truck driver friends that are out of work too.

You see, you are being lied to on this matter too.

It is time Americans take the immigration concern to ther WHite House.

On other boards it is unanimouisly agreed that there is only one solution the the problem.

Extermination !!! 

Maybe your son and friends just don’t know haw to look for work or are unwilling to make sacrifices like relocation. In the bad old days, unions did that for you. Taking substantial dues with those job placements , but they got work for you. The economy is humming, especially transporting all of those good manufactured overseas. Isn’t Tamps/ St. a port town?

OhZone - 08 July 2007 07:11 PM

Why are drivers needed? Are there no Americans who can drive?

My son drives a truck, and he has been out of work for most of the 6 months this year.
He has truck driver friends that are out of work too.

You see, you are being lied to on this matter too.

It is time Americans take the immigration concern to ther WHite House.

On other boards it is unanimouisly agreed that there is only one solution the the problem.

I am sorry but if he’s been out of work for 6 moths there’s something your not telling us, or something he’s not telling you. The only reason I am not driving any more is because of health issues I can’t pass the DOT physical any longer. short of that, the only other things that keep a driver unemployed is too many tickets, accidents, drugs or a DUI. If he keeps his nose clean, gets the load there on time legally, learns how to keep the left door shut, he can find work. Course if he jumps ship every four months, it starts getting hard to find a job because his work history looks like sh!t.

As to foreigners being brought in, there is no shortage of drivers, there is a shortage of drivers willing to drive for less than 34 cents a mile, and stay out 2 and 3 months at a time. Average long haul driver gets 2,400 miles a week, thats $816 a week at a starting pay of 34 cents a mile. Out of that he has to feed him self while on the road and support his family. He’s usually out for 3 weeks and home for five days before going out again. Its a hard a$$ stressful and demanding job that requires a steady hand, a level head, more patience than a vulture, and a high level of intelligence. Its the one of the most dangerous profession in the country bouncing back and forth with commercial fisherman for being the most dangerous. But it was one of the most enjoyable jobs I ever had.

OTR drivers kick azz.

I watch you guys work and suddenly don’t feel quite as fatigued by either my residential gardening work nor my air conditioned office job.

OhZone - 08 July 2007 07:11 PM

Why are drivers needed?  Are there no Americans who can drive?

My son drives a truck, and he has been out of work for most of the 6 months this year.
He has truck driver friends that are out of work too.

You see, you are being lied to on this matter too.

It is time Americans take the immigration concern to ther WHite House.

On other boards it is unanimouisly agreed that there is only one solution the the problem.

Being lied to?  Perhaps you could illuminate us as to WHY they are out of work?  There is absolutely NO reason an able-bodied, licensed driver should be out of work for 6 months.  Not unless he cannot pass the physical, or unless his record is crap or he busted drug tests (in which case he only has himself to blame, not the economy or even foreigners) -no, if you’re story is as you put it, it sounds like the one being lied to is you, not the rest of us. 
I still hold a current CDL class A, with extensions (doubles tripples and tankers, hazmat as well) and I guarantee you that I could have a job driving next week if I wanted to -so long as I could pass the DOT physical (and its not THAT much of a physical).  Perhaps he can’t find work doing precisely what he wants where he wants?  Long-haul drivers are still needed -you can pick up job-wanted booklets free at pretty much any truck stop -and see positions available in classified ads in pretty much every major news paper.
If he cannot find work, and his friends cannot find work, I think you may be the one being lied to.  Perhaps they refuse to work because they cannot find the top wage, or the region with hours they want -but I have a hard time believing that any qualified driver with a clean (or relatively clean) record is having trouble finding work.
Perhaps thats the problem?

I agree, Dusty.  While I don’t see myself returning to the ‘big road’ in the near future -my current job pays better and has better hours and working conditions- I often reminisce about my time as an OTR driver.  I pulled reefers (53 footers) and I did enjoy my time out -even through all the less-than-admirable conditions that often plague a driver, and the crap often heaped upon a driver thanks to shippers or receivers -and its very much a thankless job.  But when you cut through the crap, I truly enjoyed my time behind the wheel -I soloed and teamed -but the team situation was brief -I much preferred being the only one in my rig.
My last rig on the long-haul scene was a ‘97 Pete with a 550 cat, Eaton 10-speed with upper2.  It was all air-ride, and one sweet driving machine.  I miss that truck (grin).
I came off the long-haul bit to drive fuel (bulk) locally -which is what put me through nursing school.
I still have my license -and had a good reputation for getting the load in on time and undamaged.  And I have no doubt that if I were in a pinch, I’d be able to get right back behind the wheel.
2 months out was about as much as I wished to be out -my attitude was that I’d stay out as long as the miles kept rolling in.  When things got slow, I was ready to head home.  A dispatcher can make your life great or make it hell -and when I had a good one, I did what I could to stay on his board.

Like you said.  If you have a clean record (relatively) and aren’t known for jumping ship every couple of months, there is absolutely no reason to be unemployed as a driver.  None at all.  Anyone who says otherwise is just priming your pump.

Mike S,
Unfortunately most folks never get more of History than what is taught in schools, which is the censored, sanitized version.  HIstory is also continually rewritten. Currently “Honest” Abe Lincoln and Geo. Washington who “could not tell a lie”, have had their hero gloss removed.  This is sad, as it gives us no heros. 
The history you have read does not tell you many of the key issues regarding the fall of Rome.  H.G. Wells does mention it, but does not go into great detail.  The same “key” is involved in the fall of other Kingdoms/empires.  The same “key” has been turning in the whole “Western” world for the last 100 years.

Unless you are very young, you would know that American “diversity”, until recent years, has all come from Europe.

The instintive “distaste” for out Southern neighbors, has nothing to do with their being “indian”.  It is more the fact that they are primitives.  Why, exactly, does the US need 100 million uneducated, unskilled, diseased primitives who do not even know how to use the toiltet?

Contrary to what you may think, Royal Lines are doing quite well.  Most of them have simply dropped their titles, in favor of Mr. & Mrs.  They are rich and as powerful as ever.  They contol your life.  Your are still a serf.

“One World government put in place over the objection of the multi-national corps”????
*****Mike, you are confused on that one—those multi-national corps are the government.

As ot moving businesses to Mexico - we have auto assembly plants down there,as well as plants of one kind or another in other SO American countries..  Yeah, we could have invested more there, instead of China couldn’t we.  And the costs to the corps that did ould have been less and oversight a whole lot easier.  Don’t you wonder why they didn’t go to Mexico instead?  Maybe they wanted these waves of immigrants to come here?  It does them well to break the American spirit. 

Nightbiker, tell me how 300 million people can “stagnate” as a society.  And as to keeping up with the rest of the world—are you forgetting that it is the rest of the world who was not keeping up with us?

Yeah Dusty, what I didn’t mention is that my son owns his truck and is in the construciton end of trucking.  He won’t haul hazardous materials.  He does have a Class A CDL.  Actually he hates driving.  I wanted him to be a lawyer.  34 cents a mile?!  $816 a week?!  That’s not enough!  He’s holding out to make that much in a day. 

The solution extermination?  Not quite, just a few serious warning shots and an intimidating presence.

I give you China, over the last hundred years.  Many times they closed their borders and people didn’t get in or out -not as a general rule.  They are a society that has been far more advanced than the rest of the world for centuries -and then would close themselves off, as the rest of the world caught up and even surpassed them -they would then open their borders again, catch up and in some cases surpass the rest of the world, then close their borders again, etc.  Now they are opened up again, and they are making up for lost time.
A society that walls itself off from the rest of the world is doomed to stagnate from the lack of influx of fresh ideas and perspectives.
Of course, having no borders at all, and no standards, will have the effect of ruining a society as well -and even faster than walling itself off does.
$800 a week is better than none at all.  And Dustys’ figures were NOT for owner/operators, they were for company drivers.  Someone owning his own does not work for 34cents a mile. 
If he isn’t working, he doesn’t want to work.  This is especially true if he owns his own truck and its in any kind of decent working order, and he has any kind of decent record.  You certainly don’t have to have hazmat to make a good living driving.  I chose to get Hazmat and doubles/tripples/tankers only because it would open up as many opportunities as possible.  For much of my driving career I didn’t haul anything more than food product in a refrigerated trailer (though it is true that once in a while I DID have a placarded load, they were rather rare).  The difference is attitude.  I must work, so I WILL work.  Even when its not something I really want to do -so long as it allows me to pay the bills and get going long enough to try to find something better.  I know many younger folks today will refuse work if its not precisely what they want or doesn’t pay exactly what they expect to make -and thats THEIR problem -one of their own making- and reflects greatly on how they were raised.  If you have the attitude that you MUST make your way -you are more likely to be working -if you expect to be able to refuse to work unless all of your own needs are met, you’re going to spend your life in debt and quite possibly on the street homeless.
I grew up farming.  I know what hard work and low wages are all about.  Difference is, I chose to do something about it.

These aren’t ‘immigrants’.  They are illegal aliens.  First you apply, speaking English.  Then you wait your turn and comply with immigration laws.  Then you become a U S citizen when you forsake your former nationality.  If this isn’t done, you’re not an ‘immigrant’.  So sneak back out and change your own sorry country if you want to really change something.

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