You work 100 to 120 hours each week. Pay is $700 to $800. You're all filthy dirty. Away from your family. Eating trash and drinking coffee to stay awake. Every ticket come out of your pocket. You can die horribly at any time. All for less than minimum wage! Gee, I can't imagine why there's a shortage! Can you?

A truck driver may do better financially than a machinist but he has to work 70 hrs a wk vs a machinist's 40 hrs per wk to do so. Oh, did I mention a truck driver is expected to work holidays,weekends etc for regular pay while management are home with their families and/or friends golfing and BBQing. If the machinist works holidays or weekends he is compensated accordingly.So the poor truck driver gets his big mileage but has to sit for a couple of hours at a border crossing cause most of the customs agents are looking after four wheelers. Depending on the border crossing the driver may get a dose of radiation from an inspection by US Customs as they start their x-ray machine focused on the driver. Customs don't care nor does management cause they won't speak up when you voice your concern. You get through that BS then run all weekend to get to your destination. Monday morning employees come in to work with a mug of coffee and a start time of 8AM. They sit down and discuss their weekend and drink their coffee. Meanwhile you've slept at their dock and they don't give a rat's ass about you. At 9AM they start on your load. 10AM you phone in M/T and you're told to call back in an hour cause they're waiting for a call.(Guess they're waiting for the fax machine to go off) You might be lucky after the hour or you may have to call back every hour for a while.(they only dispatched you on that load last Wednesday or Thursday but nobody bothered to look for a reload. Guess they were busy planning their weekend. If you're lucky you get reloaded the same day. If not you layover.Oops. Forgot to mention your waiting time was free. Your layover is paid at $50.00 but it must be after 24hrs. Another snag. It's only 22hrs. Another freebee! You get your reload on and head to consignee. You've got 24 skids on and you arrive at consignee at 4PM. You had asked dispatch to call customer with ETA cause you were held up at Customs due to a Broker error. Unfortunately receiver goes home at 4PM even though load could be stripped in 30 mins. Nobody gives a shit and they go home to their lives while the driver sits again. You left Thursday and you should be home Monday night but because of some incompetant person or persons you get home Tuesday night. Wednesday afternoon dispatch is calling to try to get you to go out Thursday AM. Gosh, I have more stuff to do around home and I,ve not got my hours back. Well we need you to go cause we're busy. Do the best you can! Sound familiar to anyone? I challenge management to walk into their office and tell their people that from now on they'll be working the first 2-3 hours per day for free or maybe 1 day per week for free. Then walk out to their shop and tell their mechanics the same thing. I wonder how many people would stick around? I have 3 grown-up kids that went to college/university cause they wanted nothing to do with this industry. They all earn tons more money than I ever thought of earning but wages appear secondary. They want a life. As well they are treated with the utmost respect. Their employers would never dream of treating them the way a truck driver is treated. Can't speak for Trucking Co employees outside of Ontario but I've been mistreated several times in my 42 yr career especially by certain companies. Look at the ads for Drivers and draw your own conclusions. Same old, Same old

The world of work lacks a sexy image. A truck driver, however, does better financially than a machinist, another trade in need of help, who might have to go to a community college for two years before starting work. The free market works, that is, if it is allowed to remain free.