Truck driving remains one of the last few professions in America that can provide stable and decently compensated employment
Workers in this field are generally thought of as white men from the heartland of America. During the Covid lockdowns truckers have managed to keep stores stocked, yet at the same time, they have also been targeted for racial violence during black and anarchist riots in major cities since June.
They traditionally symbolize an American archetype: a solitary and independent man who makes his own rules and reaps what he sows — a modern day cowboy on the range.
The rise of large corporate carriers, immigration and surveillance is changing the profession for the worst.
The following is an interview with a veteran trucker, Jack, who has seen his industry change quite a bit in recent years.
Eric Striker: So tell me, first of all, is truck driving still a worthwhile gig?
Jack: At one point I would’ve answered ‘Yes’ without hesitation. Today, things get a little more complicated.
If you get a job with one of the major carriers dominating the market right now, like Prime, Stevens, or Swift, you can expect lousy pay along with all the downsides of being a trucker.
What I do is act as an independent contractor, which helps cut out the middleman. This has its own problems too, of course. My truck, which I finance, runs me about $4,000 a month plus my auxiliary generator, which I use to save on fuel costs. There’s also the insurance. You get paid a lot more, but you’re also getting into debt.
ES: What’s so bad about the megacarriers? Especially if they offer to train you on the job?
Jack: As these companies eat up more and more of the freight market share, they skimp more. They search for the cheapest crackhead hotels to put truckers up in.
I don’t know if these companies are run by Jews or just greedy scumbags, but never take them up on their offer to help you get your CDL.
They tell you “we’ll train you,” and it’s common for truckers to take them up on their offer, but don’t fall for it. It’s much better to take out a loan and go to school for your CDL.
When you get your training with these companies, you get on the road. As a new driver, you’re bound to have at least little things happen to you on the road, like a small trailer bump. It’s inevitable that at some point you’re going to hit something when you’re doing this for the first time. Megacarriers are totally unforgiving and will reach for any excuse to keep you in debt to them forever. Don’t take anything from them because you will be sorry.
ES: I’ve been hearing that truckers are hounded for little things today in ways they never were before. What’s changed?
Jack: When you work for these larger carriers, the safety department will be your bane.
An anecdote is a younger trucker I knew who hit a parked cars tail light in a narrow residential street. The trucker and the other driver exchanged information and you’d think that would be it for such a minor infraction.
Instead, his employer’s safety department — staffed by and large by blacks with a chip on their shoulder — were hounding him and never let him live it down, adding stress to an already stressful experience.
As an independent driver, I don’t have to deal with that crap. And while having to pay your own insurance can be a hassle, you get peace of mind without some minder who has never driven a truck in their lives breathing down your neck.
ES: I see, so everything’s a give or take. Is being an independent contractor not full of its own pitfalls?
Jack: Definitely. There are some good gigs for big carriers, like driving for Wal Mart which pays well, but the problem is they have off the charts surveillance and no respect for a driver’s privacy.
I work for myself at 50 cents a mile, which is a better deal when dealing with these mega corporations who force you into awkward schedules and pay significantly less. At a typical mega carrier you might clear 50 something thousand a year, but they do not treat their employees like human beings and thus have a high turnover rate. One case I saw was a driver for a megacarrier taking his girlfriend on the road with him, only to be punished by the company for not getting passenger insurance.
If you work for the big carriers, you will miss all the milestones in your kids life and grow estranged from your family. When the job starts taking a toll on you and you ask for a little time off, you will either be let go or they will retaliate against you by giving you terrible loads.
Smaller companies run by ethnic whites, like Poles or Serbs, tend to treat their drivers with more dignity, as the owners have more personal contact with their drivers and come from cultures with greater respect for family. So if you don’t want to go in for yourself, these might be a better bet.
Megacarriers go out of their way to wring you of everything you have. Small companies will set your miles and then you get to go home when you’re done.
ES: Truckers have a reputation for being right-wing, how true is this stereotype?
Jack: There is a lot of truth to this, but unfortunately there is a strong individualist conservative mindset that can be hard to break through.
Sometimes I’ll talk to them about my views, particularly on fighting billionaires, and many are under the impression that they’re billionaires in training and tend to see the world from the point of view of Jeff Bezos rather than…that of his truck driver.
Truckers by and large are extremely religious. Many stops have chapels.
This individualist mindset ends up putting these native white truckers at a disadvantage. They will often get mad at Slavic drivers for working together, like creating credit unions and solidarity networks to help them get on their feet and prosper. Rather than emulating this and realizing that individuals always lose to collectives, some of the truckers decide to get upset about it.
What’s particularly interesting is that many Middle Eastern truckers, largely Lebanese or Syrian, are highly conservative and big Trump fans. While they too have some silly views, the advantage here is that you can dependably hit issues about Jews with them and they are receptive.
ES: How much has changed in the trucking industry since the election of Trump?
Jack: I’m not a Trump supporter anymore, but his administration has done some good work in helping clean up some of the seedier elements of a trucker’s life.
One angle the federal government has done well on is to crack down on human trafficking, There are fewer prostitutes at stops and less shady activity in general in the industry.
On the I-10 near the Mexican border, young and white Border Patrol agents are more enthusiastic than before when it comes to looking for drug smuggling. Trafficking in contraband as a trucker has become very difficult due to aggressive enforcement of DOT rules, weight stations, and full inspections.
ES: How are truckers dealing with some of the racial violence going on? Is there tension between the races?
Jack: Generally speaking, older black truckers are pretty easy going. There was mutual respect. The most intense debate you’d see between them and white truckers is tits vs ass.
Some of the younger black drivers, on the other hand, often have a chip on their shoulder and like to pick fights with white people. The young black drivers like to go around saying things like “bruthas be taking over this industry!” , which is hilarious since they rarely ever last long.
#1: Lod To: Bill D Berger (#0)
Lod posted on 2020-07-25 08:18:32 Reply Private Reply
#2: Esso To: Bill D Berger, 4um (#0)
I've heard about that from the truckers I've worked for.
I guess they also have a habit of washing their feet in the sinks the other truckers are supposed to brush their teeth in.
They cut the hole right in the centerline of the truck over the driveshaft. The shit is flung all over the underside of the truck by the rotation. A lot of shops won't work on units anymore. I'm sure that they'll be shutdown for discrimination soon.
It's a fucking wonderful, diverse country now!
Esso posted on 2020-07-25 09:53:35 Reply Private Reply
#3: BTP Holdings To: Bill D Berger (#0)
When I was driving solo for IWX, I picked up this girl at Flying J on I-40 in Arkansas. She was out with some driver. He decided he was going home so he dumped her out there. She lived in Indianapolis.
I got her a shower at Flying J west of Nashville. Then she told me she wanted me to drop her off at the T/A in downtown Nashville.
I knew about that place. It was bad. I told her, "That would be a bad idea. You come up the road with me and I will find you a ride."
She asked again for me to drop her there. I said, "If you want to wake up dead or raped, go there." Every once in a while they would find a dead body out back.
So I went to the QT Fuel Stop at I-24 and I-75. I put out a broadcast on CB that I had a girl who needed to get to Indianapolis. The first one to come back was a black guy. She was shaking her head, "No", so I had to turn him down.
The next guy was a steel hauler, hauling coil steel from Ohio south. He was empty and headed back north and he was riding with his boy.
I told her, "He'll get you where you need to go." She gave me a big hug, jumped out of the truck and ran over and climbed up into the other tractor.
It was a good deed. And I do have some in me. ;)
BTP Holdings posted on 2020-07-25 09:56:49 Reply Private Reply
#4: BTP Holdings To: Bill D Berger (#0)
One time I pulled up in a rest area and popped the parking brake in front of the rest rooms. I ran inside and just made it.
Some security guard stuck his head in the door and hollered, "Driver! You can't park out here."
I hollered back, "What do you want from me? It was an emergency."
When I came out he was still bitching. :-/
BTP Holdings posted on 2020-07-25 10:24:51 Reply Private Reply
#5: Bill D Berger To: Lod (#1)
No problem...my BIL drove gasoline tankers for Sohio and Sunoco for a long time.
Bill D Berger posted on 2020-07-25 10:36:06 Reply Private Reply
#6: Lod To: Bill D Berger, Artisan, 4um, Penguinite doding notice (#5)
That was an interesting article. I'm familiar with striker's work, he is pretty good. I'd have to address the truckers points because surely that was his opinion , but to me any self employed owner operator who accepts 50 cents per mile is beyond bat shit insane . That's what company drivers (employees with experience) earn.
Its stunning that any self employed person would say such a thing .
They don't pay per mile, but just to explain in the same context, Typical load for me,, my minimum standard,, even in this covid scamdemic, is 90 cents to 1.60 per mile AFTER expenses (fuel, insurance , etc).
I've been busy with my new site NoMask.info , it's been featured in lew rockwell several times including this one 😅 http://www.lewrockwell.com/2020/...rt-without-a-mask-videos/
Lod posted on 2020-07-25 14:53:04 Reply Private Reply
#7: Lod To: Penguinite, 4um (#6)
I need a spell-check notice!
Lod posted on 2020-07-25 14:56:20 Reply Private Reply
#8: Dakmar To: BTP Holdings (#3)
It's coming to America...sharpen your knives, load up on powder. Install a supercharger on your Australian built Falcon...
Dakmar posted on 2020-07-25 15:07:29 Reply Private Reply
#9: Esso To: Dakmar (#8)
I could never figure out how to hook up the switch that turns the blower on & off. Damn, 13 years of college down the drain.
I'm pretty sure that I slept through all the shit about the brake wires.
Esso posted on 2020-07-25 15:14:07 Reply Private Reply
#10: BTP Holdings To: Esso (#9)
When I worked for State of Illinois and we would haul a trailer like for a roller or something larger, the trailers had electric brakes. We always had to inspect the connector a the beginning of he construction season.
One time I let the heavy chain up the roller. I didn't check the chains. They came loose and I had to stop and rechain everything. That heavy was a dumb shit. ;)
BTP Holdings posted on 2020-07-25 15:26:19 Reply Private Reply
#11: Esso To: BTP Holdings (#10)
That's crazy talk, B! What are you going to try to sell me on next? Electronic points & condensers, computers in cars, air conditioning?
You can't flummox me you whippersnapper!
Esso posted on 2020-07-25 15:44:46 Reply Private Reply
#12: BTP Holdings To: Esso (#11)
I wouldn't try to flummox you.
The facts were that we had to inspect the trucks in spring before the construction season started. We had electric brakes on the trailer we pulled with the roller.
If the connection was corroded from salt over the winter, the brakes and lights on trailer were not going to work.
It is really simple and if you did not follow up on the things that mattered, you were behind the eight ball right at the start.
Even when driving the big truck we had to inspect the lights on the trailer when we hooked it. If there were any lights out we had to fix them before we went out on the road. ;)
BTP Holdings posted on 2020-07-25 15:51:49 Reply Private Reply
#13: Esso To: BTP Holdings (#12)
Esso posted on 2020-07-25 16:00:09 Reply Private Reply
#14: Dakmar To: Esso (#9)
It's the intake manifold that's the tricky part. Hollywood magic!
Dakmar posted on 2020-07-25 16:03:58 Reply Private Reply
#15: BTP Holdings To: Esso (#13)
When I operated the front loaders the brakes were different. The 5 ton trucks had air brakes and one of the loaders was air over hydraulic. ;)
BTP Holdings posted on 2020-07-25 16:08:05 Reply Private Reply
#16: Esso To: Dakmar (#14)
W-what?
Esso posted on 2020-07-25 16:09:26 Reply Private Reply
#17: Esso To: BTP Holdings, Dakmar (#15)
Now I know you're pulling my leg for sure!
There's NO WAY the air will stop a big truck!
Esso posted on 2020-07-25 16:12:20 Reply Private Reply
#18: BTP Holdings To: Esso, Dakmar (#16)
The big trucks had a turbo charger that would heat the fuel before it was injected into the cylinders. You did not have a spark plugs on diesels. When the weather was cold you sometimes had to shoot a squirt of ether into the air intake tot get the diesel to start.
The City of Chicago left 5 trucks outside during winter at the Dunning yard on NW side. They used ether to start them and blew the heads off three of them.
Oooops. Too much ether. LOL
BTP Holdings posted on 2020-07-25 16:17:16 Reply Private Reply
#19: BTP Holdings To: Esso (#17)
The air engages the brakes when you step on brake pedal. If you lose air pressure the brakes will lock up. I've seen that happen too.
Generally, when the pressure drops below 60 PSI the brakes will lock. 60 PSI is considered minimum pressure to make the brakes work properly.
I hope this does not seem like I am beating a dead horse. I know these things from times past. I need to know them for when I take the written test to get back my CDL. ;)
BTP Holdings posted on 2020-07-25 16:21:24 Reply Private Reply
#20: Dakmar To: BTP Holdings, Esso (#19)
George Westinghouse came up with that idea for railroad cars back in 1870s (or thereabout). By default, the brakes were applied, it required steam line pressure from locomotive to release them.
Dakmar posted on 2020-07-25 16:25:13 Reply Private Reply
#21: BTP Holdings To: Dakmar (#20)
That was why they had the air hose which ran from car to car. Since it was a steam engine, they likely had to hook up a steam powered air pump to the brake system. ;)
BTP Holdings posted on 2020-07-25 16:29:42 Reply Private Reply
#22: Dakmar To: BTP Holdings (#21)
Dakmar posted on 2020-07-25 16:36:13 Reply Private Reply
#23: Esso To: Dakmar (#20)
Oh great. Now you're talking crazy shit now. You were supposed to back me up.
Everybody knows Westinghouse invented lightbulbs. "GE, we bring good things to light!" Duh.
Lightbulbs AND miniguns.
Esso posted on 2020-07-25 16:36:41 Reply Private Reply
#24: Dakmar To: Esso (#23)
Dakmar posted on 2020-07-25 16:37:55 Reply Private Reply
#25: Esso To: Dakmar (#24)
Dammit man! That's supposed to be a secret! You want that Tesla nut to make inroads with his new-fangled "alternating current" nonsense?
I swear, if you don't learn to keep your mouth shut, you're gonna mess up our whale oil company. Sheesh.
Esso posted on 2020-07-25 16:48:38 Reply Private Reply
#26: BTP Holdings To: Esso (#23)
Is it that crazy? Westinghouse actually invented air brakes for railroad cars in the 1860s. But who is counting? ;)
www.britannica.com/biogra...rge- Westinghouse#ref54603
BTP Holdings posted on 2020-07-25 16:55:33 Reply Private Reply
#27: Dakmar To: BTP Holdings, Esso (#26)
I commend both of you. we must be driving our DNC assigned FBI hall monitors nuts today! :)
Dakmar posted on 2020-07-25 17:05:57 Reply Private Reply
#28: Esso To: BTP Holdings, 4um (#26)
Certainly not me. Counting is racist. (This IS worth watching)
"Don't call me Ann, I'm a doctor." Good Lord.
Esso posted on 2020-07-25 17:06:03 Reply Private Reply
#29: Esso To: Dakmar (#27)
I'M JUST GETTIN' WARMED UP!
Esso posted on 2020-07-25 17:08:17 Reply Private Reply
#30: Dakmar To: Esso (#29)
Sorry, friends, just picturing dweebs afraid to abandon their posts. :)
Dakmar posted on 2020-07-25 17:13:14 Reply Private Reply
#31: Esso To: Dakmar, 4um (#27)
There you go again, with your crazy shit, watch "Mad Max" or whatever it was, there's a switch on the gearshift, dopey.
Esso posted on 2020-07-25 17:16:39 Reply Private Reply
#32: Esso To: Dakmar (#30)
I had s_x with a girl once. :P
Esso posted on 2020-07-25 17:18:51 Reply Private Reply
#33: Dakmar To: Esso (#31)
LOL, it's a portal. It makes 4-stroke ICE engines ignore ICPE cycle.
It's anti-IC! They've fucking solved laws of thermodynamics! Praise Jesus (Or would hollering that get me beat up?)
Dakmar posted on 2020-07-25 17:25:08 Reply Private Reply
#34: Esso To: Dakmar (#33)
(Edit) Like, I said, 13 years of college down the drain. I didn't even get the commie mind-fuck 40 years ago. I think I need reparations.
Esso posted on 2020-07-25 17:28:46 Reply Private Reply
#35: Dakmar To: Esso (#34)
Dakmar posted on 2020-07-25 17:29:55 Reply Private Reply
#36: Dakmar To: Esso (#34)
You need to smash a bunch of commies in the face with an empty Jim Beam bottle, same as the rest of us.
Dakmar posted on 2020-07-25 17:40:28 Reply Private Reply
#37: Esso To: Dakmar (#35)
SCIENCE!
Esso posted on 2020-07-25 17:40:59 Reply Private Reply
#38: Esso To: Dakmar (#36)
Yeah, like I'm gonna hit someone with a bottle with my name on it.
I don't have room for any more awards.
Esso posted on 2020-07-25 17:43:58 Reply Private Reply
#39: Dakmar To: Esso (#38)
Dakmar posted on 2020-07-25 17:46:34 Reply Private Reply
#40: Dakmar To: Esso (#38)
Dakmar posted on 2020-07-25 17:51:31 Reply Private Reply
#41: Esso To: Dakmar (#39)
Esso posted on 2020-07-25 17:53:21 Reply Private Reply
#42: Dakmar To: Esso (#41)
Dakmar posted on 2020-07-25 17:57:49 Reply Private Reply
#43: Esso To: Dakmar (#42)
(Edit) You need to hurry up and come home, big fella. Your groundhawg & possum stew is getting cold.
Don't give me any precursor this or chemical that nonsense, I've been slaving over the crock-pot all damn day!
Esso posted on 2020-07-25 17:59:02 Reply Private Reply
#44: Dakmar To: Esso (#43)
Dakmar posted on 2020-07-25 18:23:04 Reply Private Reply
#45: Esso To: Dakmar (#44)
Esso posted on 2020-07-25 18:52:13 Reply Private Reply
#46: Dakmar To: Esso (#45)
Dakmar posted on 2020-07-25 18:54:03 Reply Private Reply
#47: Esso To: Dakmar (#46)
This one has been a long time coming. I finally made myself put together my last flight with my best friend, Gid. We always had a blast in everything we did together, whether for work or fun. It's hard to believe it's already been a year tomorrow. I almost didn't mess with the cameras that day since it's always a pain and we were going out for fun, but now I'm so glad I did it. Only weeks later we lost him. Until we see you again, brother. Chop on! Disclaimer: If you knew this awesome dude, you may want to wait. It may cause happy tears! - Eric the pilot (right seat w/o gun).
Esso posted on 2020-07-25 19:03:18 Reply Private Reply
#48: Lod To: Esso, Dakmar, others still here (#47)
Lod posted on 2020-07-25 20:11:35 Reply Private Reply
#49: Esso To: Lod, Kayleigh (#48)
Thank you, Loddy.
Kayleigh, this one's for you...
Esso posted on 2020-07-25 20:31:05 Reply Private Reply
#50: BTP Holdings To: Esso (#47)
BTP Holdings posted on 2020-07-25 21:17:10 Reply Private Reply