I would like to address a very important issue to everyone's attention: In past few years, MORE companies are requiring their applicants and even when hired, to pay for their own expensive "Drug Screens/Background Checks/Physicals".in other words, YOU have to "pay a company" to come work for them, as at one time, Dept. Of Labor was against this shaddy, greedy tactic. I have recently applied for an OTR truck driving job at Falcon Transport, as they kept me on "back burner" for weeks, THEN wouldn't honor my DOT Physical Card, even though it is still good for 2 years total, about to expire in May. The lady in office, who I will call "Angie" (not her real name), told me that to work for Falcon, I must go back to doctor's office I went to in 2006 to have him re-sign my DOT Card and paperwork, as he's now longer at that practice. After I told Angie doctor no longer works there, she then told me, "Well, the company (Falcon) will pay for your Physical, but on your very first paycheck, we will automatically deduct the cost from your pay." Here's what they offer new drivers: $75 FIRST WEEK, then when out with a trainer, $450/week (better than a lot of other carriers hiring new drivers, as most only offer $250-$350/week). As you can see, that measley $75 gets taken right back by "Falcon Misers", so you the driver end up "with zilch". Okay, now, I have a few months OTR experience, as I have worked previous driving OTR, but that's not the 1-2 years experience 99% of all carriers require, due to the insurance cos. Making it extra difficult on these companies, if they hire drivers before that time. Since these trucking companies KNOW there's very few chances a newer driver can choose from, they exploit their applicants to the max, then wonder why their turnover is EXTREME, lucky if same drivers stay no more than a few weeks or months at a time. I already had a diabolical company charge me $115.00 for their Drug Screen/Physical, as they can't keep people no more than a few weeks at a time; so, when laid off like I was or if quitting, employees are charged $115.00 for working there, as it's not a trucking company, but so hostile and unsanitary to work for, you can see WHY they can't keep workers! As you can see, I am fed up over my head with all these companies wanting to charge me and others "fees" for trying to get a job with them, or having worked for them! Temporary service agencies are notorious for only paying their employees $8.00/hour per assignment, but charging employees over $30 for Drug Screens/Background Checks just to go to EACH assignment, meaning for each assignment they send you on, you "pay them" fees for going there!
The truth of the matter is this: VERY FEW trucking companies will hire graduates from trucking schools. And if you, the grad, DO get hired by those few companies, you will make not even minimum wage to train for a few weeks, often times with a nutcase trainer, who don't know how to function around people, and then when you are finished, you make very cruddy mileage pay, usually between 26-28 cents per mile. Oh, I heard from experienced drivers how "we must all pay our dues", but with no Dention Pay; sitting a few days with NO loads to haul; etc., this is Starvation Work, as you can't afford to have a car; apartment; etc. Those first 1-2 years OTR, unless someone else like a spouse, etc., can afford picking up the tab while you're gone. Realistically, in contrast to the lies these trucking schools tell you about big money to be made driving a truck, I will proceed to tell you the truth: Within your first to second year, you are lucky to "AVERAGE" around $300-$350/week, driving 70 hours a week to achieve this! So with Falcon Transport and other carriers hiring newbies, they KNOW they can take perfect advantage of newer drivers, even though those same drivers are already in the "Financial Broke Zone" paying the high tuition to attend a trucking school and then having spent a few hundred dollars getting his/her CDL!
So far, Falcon Transport has been the ONLY trucking company, who wanted to charge me for my own DOT Physical; etc. Upfront, even though it's not set in stone in me actually being hired&I would have had to travel 6 hours one-way to Gary, IN for their Orientation, not knowing if I was really hired or not, but still them wanting me to pay for my own Physical; etc. I have looked into the very large trucking cos. That are known to hire students and believe me, they have hardly anything to offer: Some of these carriers will LIE to get you to their Orientation, saying you will be paid for your time there, then turn around and decide for what ever excuse, they are not going to compensate you for your time there. Other carriers take it to next extreme: Making you, the applicant, find your own bus ticket home, when you are over 100 miles from where you live, even though they first had you ride Greyhound up there.
How can anyone get that needed OTR experience of 1-2 years when there's very few carriers that will hire drivers under this time frame, and in order to work for these cheap outfits, you, the truck driver, must STARVE worse in wages than when you even had a low-paying $8.00 job on 40 hours? Then you have to make decision: You will live completely out of your truck OTR for 1-2 years, give up everything else, since you will be lucky to have enough to afford your meals and showers. Unless you run truck daily with loads offered, you will not be able to fuel up truck for at least $60 and get your FREE shower points: So expect to pay at least $9.00/hour per shower, unless you clean yourself the free way, which is via sink baths.
If you don't wish to PAY a company to go work for them, I would strongly advise you truckers out there to BYPASS Falcon Transport, just like a real falcon bird would a field, where there's no mice to be caught! Just like that falcon bird-of-prey, you, the applicant, need to keep flying, until you arrive at a better pasture filled with mice, which the "mice" are the companies that treat you with respect, whether you are just out of trucking school; have only a few months OTR experiece; or have drove trucks for years.
I have not driven a truck for months now, due to not finding a halfway decent trucking company to work for. I have a driving job set up to work in another week; but, it's not driving a truck OTR! This company seems to treat their employees with respect, so I look forward to working for them. I am done with OTR driving, as now when all the carriers cry how they can't find drivers, they need to look in the mirror at THEMSELVES and see WHY people don't drive very long for them or don't even want to work for them: Paying your own "fees" upfront to get a job isn't the answer, while these trucking cos., even if they pay for you to have Physical; etc., they pay so very low in mileage pay, that a truck driver can't afford remaining in the profession any more than a few months! 20-something cents per mile was what truck drivers made back in 1970 for average mileage pay, while cost of living was way lower than it is now! Some of these trucking companies hiring out of the schools only want to pay their "trainees" 18 cents a mile, as usually, you are lucky to get 2,000 miles a week, due to extra slow freight nowadays! Very insulting to anyone's intelligence, as getting your CDL license is very hard work, as many students never get to THAT point, so even today, I have fellow students calling me every now and then, telling me they have been out of trucking school over a year now, and still couldn't pass their State Tests to get CDL! It's not very easy at all getting CDL, while it's very expensive, so some people just give up on it, due to high costs.
So Falcon Transport, FLY AWAY, since with you charging applicants to work for, you definitely aren't a very reputable, respectful company to work for! Falcon Transport should be paying for their applicants' and employees' Physicals; etc.—not the other way around! If people paid EVERY employer to go work for them, imagine the hours of FREE labor each company can get off everyone! This all started with so-called "Homeland Security" which is a farce, and should be better known as: "Homeland Security for companies to rob their own employees"!
Ms. Disgusted
Anytown, USA
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