I think it was also brought up during the WWE episode, which pulls the same stunt so they can cut down costs of benefits and service to their emp- I mean contractors
I was a contractor for two years. My employers got away with so many questionable practices because we weren't considered employees of the company we worked for. Sure, we were salaried, but I was getting more than a little frustrated that I was making just as much as another guy in the CSP, but I worked twice as many hours. On top of that, HR fought tooth and nail against paying Workman's Comp whenever we got injured, and we were getting injured A LOT, especially during Peak. No benefits, no insurance package, very slight pay raises...oh, and I forgot to mention how often our checks bounced, and a third party had to ensure we got our wages, which was infuriating because the boss man drove a different sports car to work every day of the week. As for legal action, there really isn't much I can do without my contract, which boss man secretly absconded with months before I walked out. So yeah, contractors work hard, get fucked by management even harder.
Mine too! He has stories. None relating working conditions are good. They didn't even cover employers pressuring drivers to take illegal drugs to stay "alert" on the road.
This bullshit about being your own boss is a complete hoax. We've just had here in Spain a big 3 week truckers "strike" and shit got real. Food delivery services like Glovo and Uber use the same scheme to underpay and avoid paying their due diligences.
I never ever take the talk of "shortages" of workers seriously. Never. What it really means is, " We treat our workers terribly" and/or " We can't be bothered to train anyone". It always breaks down to those 2 things.
@@fetchstixRHD true.. but among the things bosses keep ignoring "what could we do to attract and retain more people?" .. it seems paying more is very much not top 100 of their thoughts
Worked at a place that lost employees by the handful every few months, turns out telling people theyre only numbers and replaceable during training wasnt such a brilliant idea
@@user-le2zv6go3v It's always about the pay. Every single shortage of workers or products can be boiled down to some executive who doesn't want to pay fair wages to the employees. They want to sweep it up and hand all the money to the shareholders while the rest of us fight for scraps. Start paying people properly and treat the workers fairly and magically, you'll have people lining up to be a trucker again.
As a truck driver of 15 years, this is the most accurate reporting of trucker life by far, thanks for educating and entertaining the public with this reporting John.
This is not how the US works. If you are poor in a bad job it is your own fault because you did not pull yourself up on your own bootstraps and became a millionaire. This is essentially the American ethos. Let's hope that the pandemic has really braught a new dynamic into the labour market and people wont fall for this modern day slavery anymore.
I agree with you. However I ran a crystal store in the mall where I was paying $14.75 to start, and the average was $16. I had a difficult time hiring people because they heard that they had to work too hard. Yes selling something that no one needs, that might sell for thousands is work. But boy is it fun when you do and you open that bonus check.
Every country, delivery folks are sleeping and eating on their scooters while getting yelled at by customers for missing sauce in my country. System is always stacked against the poorest.
Companies: "We have a trucker shortage." Everyone: "Have you tried paying them more and giving them better working conditions?" Companies: Companies: >:(
FedEx Freight kept throwing money at drivers... I do linehaul and I'm a dock worker with a company vehicle. I'm currently bidding on a run where I get 99miles roundtrip 5 nights a week, but have to clock in and work the dock for 4-6hrs every night.
Truckers: "How about getting the government regulations off our backs?" Everyone: "No you don't want that, join a union and then shut up like a good little pawn."
@@KKKtrucky2 that's more on the Ground and Express co-ops. With freight, we are home everyday and we are actually hired by FedEx freight. But regardless, I agree
@@Hybris51129 don't get me wrong companies are not perfect. but the mindset people have that companies are magically evil and the perfect angel of the state can swoop in and help when it can often be bad. also without being in the position of the company itself these people who offer their criticism free of charge don't really understand the realties the business has to work with. many people see "businesses" as these ultimate power that controls everything and if anything goes bad its because they wanted too not becomes of circumstances outside of their control. like lets say a trucking company trying to pressure its driver to meet a schedule. well if that driver fails to delivier in the time window the company could lose a contract and they would have to fire that driver anyways due to lack of work. also hourly vs by mile. you are not going to magically make more money if you go by hourly. i am not directly in the trucking industry but looking to join it soon. and from the info i have gathered so far there is a lot of pay diversity in the industry. not just mile/hourly but also raw percentage as well.
As a second generation truck driver of 9 years, this episode had me tearing up. For such big trucks we drive, we drivers have seemed to be invisible to the nation. Castaways and obstacles of the highway. Finally, at least for a moment. It feels incredible to be seen and recognized. Thank you John and to your crew for making us be seen.
@Mike Dalby Until the truck drivers get injured or can't pay for the rental on their trucks Amerika's story is about the American Nightmare I wish I can go back to Industrialize and Secularize Ancient Sumeria then none of this shit would occur Last Week Tonight already did an episode on Truckers
My dad is a trucker, long haul. We're Canadian, and a lot of what he said applies to him too. It's madness. As my dad likes to say: if you bought it, a truck brought it. We need our truckers and we need to treat them better
I’m a flight attendant and like truckers not getting paid for loading/unloading, we do not get paid for boarding/deplaning. In fact we only get paid for flight time. Often times we end up working 12 hour days and only getting paid for 6. I work full time and make less than 30k a year. Truckers obviously have it way worse than we do, but all of us are getting screwed by the Railway Labor Act. We should band together and demand a change for both of our industries! Also I would love to see LWT cover corruption in the airline industry to shine a light on the mistreatment of cabin crew.
That's insane. So you don't get paid for any time spent in the airport? I had no idea. I would happily pay a little bit more for a flight knowing that y'all would make a better wage.
@@167logan would you pay a little more for your groceries, clothes, and everything else you have so truckers can get paid by the hour and this be safer, so we’re not racing the clock.
@@martin9562 I and a lot of others happily would but the people making most of the profits should be the ones eating that cost. Passenger airlines aren't shipping product and I don't know enough about that industry to know if this applies there as well, but in a lot of industries the "prices will go way up for consumers" line is just fear-mongering to suppress wages. Like saying a big mac will go way up in price and I always say, "Do you have any idea how many burgers they make per day? Per hour? They could get paid two dollars an hour more if we paid 10 cents more for a big mac." But they would raise it a lot more than 10 cents and they'd blame it on the higher wages to turn the general public against their workers and the very concept of decent pay while using it to increase their margins. I think it's important people realize employers are blackmailing us and holding us hostage as a society at this point.
Unions are the best avenue we have to right this wrong. Companies like ABF, UPS, and Martin Bower are Union and people get paid for all time. Pilots can be Union as well. The solution exists.
as a driver myself I must say it's spot on... But in the case with the exhausted driver, the keyword is "fatigued" if you tell your dispatch that you are fatigued and they still demand you to drive either call your safety department or the state police because it's illegal for them to force a fatigued driver to drive and the fines are rather steep for the company Problem is a lot of newer drivers don't know the rules or are afraid to stand up for themselves Pro tip for newer drivers: get yourself one of those small green books at a truck stop that has all the FMCSA rules in it and read it and don't be afraid to quit a company that breaks the law or wants you to do it
@@Deno2100 it's illegal for them to fire the driver as well or to even retaliate in any way and judges consistently rule in favor of the driver in such cases Plus as a driver you can literally quit your job in the morning and in the afternoon you'll have already a new job
@Andrew McFadden yeah that's why they always settle for a few million.... I've been in several class action lawsuits with trucking companies and so far always got a check out of it... Btw if a trucking company repeatedly forces drivers to drive while unfit to drive they loose their authority to operate And every company I worked for so far rather fire the dispatcher than the driver in cases like this You also have to keep in mind that if the driver were to get in an accident while being forced to drive tired the company could loose millions in the ensuing lawsuit The problem is dispatchers who don't know the rules and just try to get more performance out of the drivers to look better themselves
@@uwekirschling9757 Fun fact: that's exactly what happened with this guy. He got fired (or they cut his miles so much he quit, I forget), he sued, he won. He even got his story added to training videos, so he made bank off of it.
In the desk job world we call it a 24/24/24 job. Get a 24 year old straight out of college work them 24 hours a day, for 24 months before they are let go or quit for a better job. Then recruit from newbies all over again.
"Its not a labor shortage its a profit shortage" could be used to describe every single industry in this country. People would happily do nearly any job but they are not going to do it for peanuts
I have been a OTR truck driver for 22 years. In that time, I have spent 80% of my life living in a truck. I have never had a dispatcher that doesn't wish it was 95%. Lol You have to understand, these dispatchers have been office workers their entire adult lives. They have no idea what we have to do out here to survive.
@@brmbklI was a former driver turned dispatcher/part owner and the myth that routes have to be so tight drivers are maxed out to the point they’re getting called about using the restroom. Or being a little lax with a break where they have cushion for the next delivery. When the owner went on vacation for two months it ended up radicalizing me because I had to price out the offers for him and I realized the stress was 99% greed
I worked for a certain company that I won’t name but it was out of Springfield Missouri and it rhymed with “Prime Inc” and my dispatcher there was awesome, from the guy himself to the load timing and everything. Whenever I wanted to go home I was there, if I was running late for whatever reason: “k” and it’d get rescheduled, and most of the time I was never really pressed for time even slightly… which can be a bad thing but if I was a day or two early “okay, drop it in X yard and we’ll have a someone repower it”, I never really had to wait for a load, he never called me to say something I likely already knew, he never told me “you have to run this” when I told him the weather was bad and I shut it down or because I was sleepy or whatever… I worked there for almost 3 years pretty much solely because of him, and I only left because I’m now in charge of myself working for a company that has never had a driver and they let me do my own thing making twice as much. When I got a night dispatcher or he went on vacation or something though? Completely different story. (I’m gonna ramble about a “funny story” for a bit so ignore this last part if you want) The way our home-time worked was we’d message dispatch and be like “hey, can i get a load to Chicago (in my case) on the 15th and take home time after” and when we’d drop the load I’d call him and reiterate that I was taking home time and to show me ready again on the 20th since we’d have 4 days at once. And I’d usually get my load the day before scheduled for the day I’d be leaving, so in this case I’d get a load on the 19th leaving the 20th… Well one time night dispatch missed that memo and sent me a load on the 16th, I checked it just to see where it was going assuming it’d be for the 20th but it was scheduled to be picked up on the 18th or whatever. I just ignored it until the next day my normal dispatcher called me and was like “hey… I see they sent you a load for tomorrow, you didn’t call and say you wanted to come back early or anything right? (I answered no) okay… well, then obviously you don’t need to take this load, not sure why the hell they’d give it to you but I’m taking you off of it, and I’ll put down you’re coming back on the 22nd if you’re fine with that “ which I absolutely was. And another time I needed to be home on the 22nd for my dad’s birthday, so I had home time ready on the 21st, shipper screwed around and I was running late, call the receiver and “if you’re late we can’t take you until the 22nd”, call my dispatcher and he was like “well, I know you needed to be home, so can either drop this in the yard on the 21st and we’ll get someone else to take it, or you can take the truck home for the 22nd, deliver it on the 23rd, and then take another 4 days and I’ll keep you “available” for the 22nd, and since you already have a load you can go home, do what you need to do and take home time starting the 24th… whatever you want to do” And those are just two examples out of the many times I’ve told him I was shuttting down because of weather or sleepiness or a shipper screwing around or whatever, but those two examples stuck with me just because when I hung up I was thinking “damn, that’s awesome that he would do that, I really lucked out with this guy”
exactly.. same goes for the food service industry right now. People are sick of shitty wages and resturant owners passing a servers salary on to the customer by expecting and hoping for a tip.
One of the interviewers in this episode is renowned trucker scientist Steve Viscelli. Steve was once commissioned by the governor of California to report on trucker shortages. Steve found that California needed 100k trucker jobs immediately. Steve also found that California had 400k extra people with trucking licenses that DIDN'T WANT TO WORK I wonder why 400k people would spend thousands of dollars and months of their life getting licenses to then turn around and not drive trucks... hmmmm....
Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but don't they have some crazy requirements for pilots? Like you can't have mental illness, and you risk your job by going to a therapist. Which, if true, is just absurd. Find me a person who has never needed a therapist (whether or not they went to one) and I'll find you the craziest person on earth.
I recently read about how the pilots in my country will soon go on strike due to the company trying to move towards a more "saving" approach where they want to get rid of the hired pilots and go with contractees instead that they don't have to pay all that extra benefits to. I guess if they don't manage to stand their ground, the truckers in America will look blessed compared to the pilots here.
@@philipfahy9658 there are no “crazy” health requirements for pilots. Pilots with severe mental health issues (psychosis, bipolar disorder and severe personality disorder) are prohibited from flying. Anybody here want to climb into a plane piloted by someone with a psychosis? Many pilots report issues with depression and other common mental health problems. It is a question of degree.
I'm a tour guide, and we are also hired as independent contractors and REALLY aren't. THIS is something that need to get addressed across all industries.
Needs to be addressed? This is by design, they won't address it. Unless we tear down this system that lets these companies and even nonprofits get away with this, that is...
@@cleokatra the way to stop it is by workers going on strike and refusing to work in such ridiculous conditions. As long as there are enough people willing to work these jobs the companies have all the power. I'm glad to see workers these days starting to quit and companies struggling to get enough employees.
@@levihalperin7649 by workers refusing to work in these conditions, they're reshaping this system of exploitation little by little... which is what I was getting at... we tear it down by force, or by collective action, or by whatever other means necessary... but we gotta stick together and stick to our guns... and things are promising, but I'm not convinced we're there yet...
@@cleokatra 💯. We can no longer count on Congress to change the rules because of the corruption and money in politics. We have to stand up. Don't let the stupid ass culture wars blind you. They want you to be focused on that while they steal and rob you blind.
FINALLY got my 70 yo father into John Oliver by watching this episode (he used to be a trucker in the 70s)! Now he's quoting him to me and mentioning other episodes he looked up today 💓💓👏👏🥳
He also told me the monkey from BJ and the bear was so protective of the main actor he has to be removed from the set during fight scenes because if the monkey watched it he would attack the actors fighting BJ 🤣🤣💖
Real fact: The first time I've ever learned of this trucker problem is from the Pixar movie Cars. When Lightning McQueen forced Mack to drive through the night without resting, my 11-year-old brain was telling me "This should be illegal."
to quote Tennesse Ernest Ford: "You load 16 tons, what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt St. Peter, don't you call me 'cause I can't go I owe my soul to the company store"
My husband is a trucker as well and after doing the math we realized he could be making just as much working at Starbucks and then at least he'd be home every night.
It's a sad thing to see oligarchy so enrooted in the political, regulatory and news system that you need to go to comedy shows to actually see an accurate portrayal of the truth.
When i was a kid- 8-9 years old- my dad cranked wrenches on weekends for Smiser freight service in Sacramento, CA. He loved that company, and had a personal relationship with drivers and the owner alike. In the 70’s, these drivers were considered the ‘knights of the highways’ and were all valued employees of their companies. Deregulation of corporations have created this mess. And it’s taken decades for their greed and mismanagement to finally come to a head. Eventually, this nation will literally shut down. And when it does, Americans will figure out that “freedom” means a strong regulatory system of rules that keep capitalism in check, and protect workers. Having a Class A CDL is difficult to achieve. It’s a skill that most will not be able to have, and must be treated with the same respect as any journeyman trade ( which, by the way, have been disrespected since the 70’s as well…). I have nothing but a massive respect for Long haul owner/operators and local drivers, having been one, as well as having Owner/operator family members.
Excellent. I have over 50 years in the business and wouldn't change a word you said. Thanks for the first accurate portrayal of the industry I've seen in a very long time. Sure, there is much more going on that your limited time could not allow you to cover, but this is a great start.
I drove truck for 30 years , and freakin Loved it and miss it and I truly belive it was because I was a TEAMSTER DRIVER. DEREGULATION FUCKED TRUCKING UP ! And John is telling you why the industry scumbags can’t keep drivers ! Lol John nailed the dispatchers !
I sent this to a trucker buddy in the lower 48 and asked how true it was. He sent back, and I quote, "I'm seventeen minutes in and this may be the best piece ever done about the problems in truck driving."
"Amazon" delivery driver here. They also use about a dozen different DSPs at each Amazon facility. Those DSPs then are encouraged to compete with each other for expanding their contract with Amazon, bonuses for # of packages delivered, and the safety rating of their drivers. The result being that you can't just be good or decent at the job. You need to go above and beyond, just to keep your job. All while trying to drive as quickly, and supposedly safely, as possible. The turnover is absolutely insane.
A coworker of mine put it perfectly. "We are the McDonald's of last mile delivery". It's like a scene out of a war movie where the grizzled vets don't even bother learning the names of the newbies.
I'm a fellow Amazon driver, and it's accurate. I've been here a year, and despite having decent performance, I have constant fears of job security, because sometimes I can't 100% finish a route and I have no clue how badly that hurts my scores, so I'm constantly on edge that I'll get the call from my boss that "Hey so your stats are too low to keep you, we're letting you go". With how hard they push us, it's simply unsustainable. Not to mention, an Amazon driver killed a kid within the last year and they added these cameras that pretty much watch the road in front, the sides, and you at all times and its absolutely insane. Look down at your phone to see where the GPS is leading you? That's a distraction, and it goes against your score. Did you stop just past the stop sign? That counts as a no-stop, goes against your score. Did you drive past a stop sign that was angled enough for the camera to see, but not on your road? That's another no-stop violation. Braking hard because someone cut you off? That's a hard deceleration violation bucko. Did you press the gas pedal a little too hard because your pressed for time more than ever? That's a hard acceleration violation. Or taking a corner too fast. It's ALL monitored. Safety is important, but then they push us to go as fast as inhumanly possible. Like I said, unsustainable.
@@det.halligan isn't it a good thing that you're incentivised to drive well? Also why do you stay? Are there advantages? And what are the requirements?
I work for one of the largest Teamster health & welfare and pension funds in the country. My job is to research when one of our participants is appealing an adverse decision regarding his pension or health insurance benefits. I know how hard these men and women truckers work and that is the reason I go above and beyond to help them as much as I can. I feel like truckers are one of the most undervalued professions in this country. Thanks for shining a light on them, John.
Former driver here: I left the industry because I was sick and tired of being taken advantage of. The abusive dispatchers, not being able to get home for doctors appointments that I repeatedly reminded the dispatchers about, and having managers call me to cuss me out because I didn't want to haul an overweight load
That was a big one for me, too. Trying to reroute took more time and getting stuck at a weigh station waiting for the offload truck.... and it's MY points and license I'm risking!
It seems lately with not being able to get seats filled, when you ask (in advance) for home time to take care of stuff, they get the attitude you're putting them in a bind. Example: I received a jury duty summons. Put in to be home. My dispatcher was asking me if there was any way to get out of it. Turns out I could have IF they had gotten me through the house to where I could have submitted a hardship to the court. But, since they waited until the last minute, I was outside the window to file a hardship and I had to appear.
@@rogersmith7396 lol Western Express sends trailers with no brakes, no plates, rubbing/chaffing hoses, bent/broken/missing parts, non-functional lights, you name it
@@jacksong4886 It's almost like you clicked on the video just to argue in defense of the trucking companies without watching. No one would do that though, right?
Never forget a statement from a lawyer for a trucking company.."If you knew what I knew, you'd never get on the interstate again". Thanks for exposing this industry, John!
my older relatives are long hall and i know i just don't got what it takes to do the job safely as i fall a sleep or get drowsy on the same long road aka taking the same 20 hour tips 10 time in a year in hurry, 2x a year for the grandparents/holiday's i can do but as a job no as a 1-off road trip vacation yes at a slower pace and or days off the road in between longer driving days i have to sleep in my own bed that's quiet and be able to walk around some say on a ship doing maintenance or navigating as thats the closest to a trucker i can get
@@casawilliams6392 why? i can't be the only person that really doesn't do longer roadies that are repetitive without preparation smaller no rush hour traffic eran's in town/suburban i can do easy just not as a job like the mailman/pizza delivery as its sub-30m and then get up walk for about 10+m then go back or the next shopping experience
“Independent contracting” is the biggest scam on the working class. I’ve done those types of jobs and they always translate to lower pay and worse benefits.
When I sold insurance, we were taught to promote how it improves employee retention, productivity and moral. But as an independent contractor, the very company I was selling for would rather spend millions on training new people each year than provide insurance to retain employees. Is that fucked up or what?
@@EpictheEpicest What kind of insurance improves employee retention, productivity, and morale? I heard of home & car insurance, life insurance, & health insurance, but I never heard of an insurance that retains employees.
Truckers are irrelevant. Everything that you need can be made from Cannabis Sativa in your own state. No one cares enough to learn this, so you're stuck with some outdated bullshit system that imports cheap crap from China to be shipped across multiple states.
True and always wish greedy companies would start actually taking care of them better than stupid stock owners whose doing absolutely nothing than being deadweight for companies.
Except most of the coworkers in said condom are the most lazy people I have ever met, and I have to pick all the slack for them. Unions prefer to treat seniors with more respect, and don't take reports of working conditions seriously either way, they're not any better. Theres a reason unions are dying out like 50% over these past 20+ years, employers are treating their workers better over time.
Exactly, the problem is with condoms once it’s done it’s job we take it off and throw the damn thing in the garbage but for some reason with unions we keep the damn things around until it infects everything and leads to death.
My family runs one of these trucks and we are lucky to have some pretty good employers, my dad just retired at 65 but hes a trooper putting me through school with that hunk of metal. as someone whos done finances for him i know how hard it is in this line of work
As someone who has had several family members in the industry, mainly as OTR, but I have an uncle who hauls gas tankers, these bigger companies need to be spanked with a spike paddle with how they treat their drivers. I did a lot of work for my dad as an owner operator, and though he was treated a bit better, it was hell trying to get him loads with decent pay that would also cover fuel
You are happy that after Truckers showed themselves to be extremely effective and powerful political tool that John Oliver a puppet for those who fear you, gives you attention to make you believe they care and arent trying to replace you? No offense but you ought ask yourself "Cui Bono" all the time, especially when it seems like somebody is being awfully nice to you and wants the best for you.
John Oliver always hits it out of the park with major issues like this. I'm not a trucker, but I feel their pain thanks to people like John Oliver raising awareness of the issues.
It's worse than you think. I have a CDL but I won't get back into a truck until I can support my family without worries. I'm not risking my life for fucking peanuts. I'd rather live in a tent at this point than drive a truck for that bs pay.
It feels good to be seen, doesn't it? Drivers are often taken for granted in this country. Thanks for doing what you do! I know it isn't easy to sleep in a truck that keeps starting every 10 minutes to keep the cab cool enough to sleep!
Thank you for this John. I was a truck driver (US and Canada) for ten years and am happily retired. I still can work, but would rather stick needles in my eyes. Less irritating.
My father recently retired from trucking after 24 years. It left me puzzled because I always thought he made great money. I got very emotional after watching this video because I wasn’t aware of the struggle my father faced. Thank you John Oliver for spreading awareness.
@@onebadn8 You can know someone your whole life and in truth, they're a stranger to you. A trucker is on the road a lot. I'm going to guess that when they're at home, they're either sleeping or the family is taking care not to bother them so they can mentally relax as well. And lots of older men see complaining about anything as a weakness (and you'll still hear this today), so anything difficult their father faced, they likely kept it to themselves. And there's also the possibility that he found a company that treated him right and loved his job, so there were no complaints to be had 🤷🏾♀️
I had three uncles drove truck through the '70s and '80s, put numerous kids through college, had great houses, new cars every few years and at least one Harley in the garage. Deregulation destroyed trucking as a career.
Honestly the "contractor" abuse thing needs to be dealt with in general. That one is not just truckers, though it's pretty shit that they have to maintain their own equipment when they're not really independent contractors. Many industries pull this crap. IT is notorious for it for example.
Uber and Lyft drivers recently fought for the right to be labeled independent contractors, as they were not categorized as that under California law. Now they're in the same boat as these truckers.
@@TheJesselopez1981 drivers didn't ask for that. That was the lobbyists for those companies that did. Do you honestly think that someone would knowingly screw themselves out of better benefits and a living wage?
@@tylerkaufman6777 actually they did. The majority of drivers didn't want to be employees. They pushed for this and voted for this. They may have been uninformed on some things. I think most thought if they became employees they would no longer be able to make their own schedule. Those things are not mutually exclusive.
He's actually covered that before in some other stories where it affected the subject of the piece - the example I remember best is the WWE one, which is the same way. Categorizing them as contractors allows the company to exploit them and own them at the same time they don't have to be responsible for anything that happened to them. It's horrible.
My dads a long haul truck driver and has been for about 22 years. I’ve been on the truck with him and wanted to be a truck driver growing up. My dad always told me no, there’s better jobs. And as I got older and he explained more and more why he said no to me being a driver I realized that truck driving is a very thankless job. There’s countless times we’ve sat for days and he hasn’t gotten paid for it. He loves driving, but the waiting eats his time and he doesn’t get paid for it. Put also new rules and basically being made to go one place to another with the new monitor whether you’re tired or sick when sometimes you won’t seen a rest stop or truck stop for miles, it adds unneeded stress
For someone in this industry for over 30 years this is so spot on it is scary. I want to personally thank you for doing this spot on trucking. I have sat at a shipper in Seattle for over 14 hours and then had to be down in Southern California area 21 hours later. Now the math says, had I been loaded in just a couple of hours that would not have been a problem. 3 hours loading 11 hours driving, 10 rest break 11 hours driving. Boom we arrive on time with no other issues in-between. But alas no. Screwed at the initial dock, the shipper. Thank you again for this!!!
@@erickaps2937 The problem is that the shippers (AND receivers) sometimes “double book” loads, or they plan on loading, and have equipment breakdowns, at the factory. Walmart Distribution Centers are okay. They tend to have a rule that you can’t deliver more than two hours early, SO it makes it easier for the driver to plan when to go on duty, especially IF they are at a truck stop a mile away. Even then, they sometimes take four hours to unload.
@@erickaps2937 big facilities of renowned companies like Walmart, P&G and etc usually do the loading/unloading very fast. But then there is the rest - understaffed, poorly equipped and working only between 8-16 facilities. Sometimes the workers show an attitude, and sometimes there are no workers to speak off, and the queue can get ridiculously big in FCFS facilities
JESUS KNOCKS ON YOUR HEART AND LONGS FOR YOU TO ANSWER! HE DOESN'T WANT TO SEE ANYONE PERISH INTO HELL. GOD LOVES YOU SO HE GIVES YOU FREE WILL AND A CHOICE TO ACCEPT HIM OR REJECT HIM. TO LOVE HIM OR TO LOVE SIN/THIS WORLD. CALL UPON JESUS & ASK HIM TO FORGIVE YOUR SINS! SURRENDER YOUR WILL & YOUR LIFE TO HIM & HE WILL GIVE YOU ETERNAL LIFE IN HEAVEN! PICTURE YOUR BEST DAY ON EARTH TIMES A BILLION FOR ETERNITY, THAT'S HEAVEN! NOW PICTURE YOUR WORST DAY ON EARTH TIMES A BILLION FOR ETERNITY, THAT'S HELL! HE WILL GIVE YOU WHAT YOU WANT SO IF YOU REJECT HIM YOU WILL BE SEPARATED FROM HIM & HIS BLESSINGS (LOVE, PEACE, JOY, HOPE, REST, ETC). IN HELL YOU WILL BE ALONE WITHOUT GOD OR PEOPLE... YOU WILL BE HOPELESS, IN DESPAIR & AGONY FOREVER! GOD'S STANDARD FOR HEAVEN IS PERFECTION AND ONLY JESUS (THE SON OF GOD/GOD IN THE FLESH) LIVED THAT PERFECT LIFE! HE LAID DOWN HIS LIFE & TOOK THE WRATH OF THE FATHER ON THE CROSS FOR YOUR SINS! GOD IS JUST SO HE MUST PUNISH SIN & HE IS HOLY SO NO SIN CAN ENTER HIS KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. IF YOU ARE IN CHRIST ON JUDGEMENT DAY GOD WILL SEE YOU AS HIS PERFECT SON (SINLESS SINCE YOUR SINS ARE COVERED BY JESUS' OFFERING). YOU CAN ALSO CHOOSE TO REJECT JESUS' GIFT/SACRIFICE & PAY FOR YOUR OWN SIN WITH DEATH (HELL) BUT THAT SEEMS PRETTY FOOLISH! GOD SEES & HEARS EVERYTHING YOU HAVE SAID & DONE. YOU WONT WIN AN ARGUMENT WITH HIM & YOU CANT DEFEND ANY OF YOUR SINS TO HIM. YOU'RE NOT A GOOD PERSON, I'M NOT A GOOD PERSON... ONLY GOD IS GOOD! WE'RE ALL GUILTY WITHOUT ACCEPTING JESUS' SACRIFICE FOR OUR SINS! MUHAMMAD DIDN'T DIE FOR YOUR SINS, BUDDHA DIDN'T DIE FOR YOUR SINS, NO PASTOR/NO PRIEST/NO SAINT/NO ANCESTOR DIED FOR YOUR SINS, MARY DIDN'T DIE FOR YOUR SINS, NO IDOLS OR FALSE GODS DIED FOR YOUR SINS, NO ACTOR OR CELEBRITY DIED FOR YOUR SINS, NO ATHLETE OR POLITICIAN DIED FOR YOUR SINS! JESUS CHRIST ALONE DIED FOR YOUR SINS & WAS RESURRECTED FROM THE GRAVE! HE IS ALIVE & COMING BACK VERY SOON WITH JUDGEMENT (THESE ARE END TIMES)! PREPARE YOURSELVES, TURN FROM SIN & RUN TO JESUS! HE KNOWS YOUR PAIN & TROUBLES, HE WANTS TO HEAL & RESTORE YOU! TALK TO HIM LIKE A BEST FRIEND! ASK HIM TO REVEAL HIMSELF TO YOU & HELP YOU TO BELIEVE IF YOU DOUBT! DON'T WAIT TO CRY OUT! NO ONE IS PROMISED TOMORROW! HE LONGS FOR YOU TO INVITE HIM IN, HE LOVES YOU MORE THAN ANY PERSON EVER COULD, HE CREATED YOU! Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."-John 14:6 "But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven."-Matthew 10:33 “For the wages of sin is death (hell), but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”-Romans 6:23
I'm a big rig mechanic. I've seen everything on this episode first hand plus more. Worst story i can share is when i worked for swift. A guy died in his truck on the lot. Nobody checked his truck everyone thought he quit without telling anyone. After they got his body out of the truck they cleaned it up and re-leased it to another driver within a week. The drivers, dock workers, and mechanics are a dying breed. No one wants to do what we do anymore. Partly because of money, partly because of working conditions, but mostly because no one cares about us. In the industry we are human assets. Outside the industry we are invisible to the public. Just nameless faceless people that no one considers or cares about.
- "Outside the industry we are invisible to the public. Just nameless faceless people that no one considers or cares about" Unless you're in the entertainment industry, people really care about celebrities, that holds true for 95% of anyone with a job. I don't ever think about insurance agents, grocery store managers, warehouse workers, chefs, people working the lines at production plants, airport employees etc. I don't like to think I'm an uncaring asshole it's just that I have my own problems and my own priorities. If I spent time considering all the people in any job that are getting the shitty end of the stick, I'd never get anything done.
@@donmiller2908 it's kinda different for truckers because our whole country depends on them so much. Mainly for food. Most jobs could have their whole field take the day off and no one would notice a thing. Stop truckers and the whole system falls apart
Any suggestions for what us average folk could do? It’s not that I don’t care. It’s that I didn’t know this was an issue and I don’t know what to do. Horrible this is happening and if there’s anything we can do then please let us know
Bear was named after the great Paul "Bear" Bryant. The late head football coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide. I was a teenager when that show was on. My father was a truck driver for 35 years and he loved that show.
The issues with fast delivery are ridiculous, considering that consumers never asked for that in the first place. So the new thing now is “groceries in 15 minutes”. I live in NYC and there are delivery people running into pedestrians on the sidewalk in order to beat the clock. But just last year if I wanted groceries in a few minutes i just got them myself. If I did order groceries, they could be scheduled to arrive the next day during whatever 4 hour window that was available, and I was fine with that. The guys in the marketing room create these time constraints that no one asked for, then make it a problem for delivery people to fulfill those promises. Seriously - what’s wrong with ‘groceries in under an hour’ or ‘you’ll get your stuff in a week’?
I want this. And I love setting a stopwatch when I make the order - if it is late I report it. I could care less about the person delivering it. They are nothing more that a peon attending to me.
Imagine if those drivers formed like a group. A group that could use their leverage to bargain for better wages and conditions. If only we had something like that here... whatever could they do?
Republicans say they are on the truckers side . Republicans tell them unions are going to make you loose money and jobs . Truckers belive them....as no one else even mentions them . . And so truckers vote against their own interests and pass "right to work" BS
I've been yelling at every manager and boss I know to raise their pay rates and that the reason they're workers don't care about their jobs is not because of laziness and its because it isn't worth the effort any more. People are not getting paid enough. KNOW YOUR WORTH KIDS. The boss needs YOU to make his money not the other way around.
When workers organize themselves, instead of trying to attack these problems as a sole individual, that's when we start seeing potential. Don't expect anything to change without collective action that results in normal people taking power away from the current decisionmakers.
@@dirtydinero6622 No. This happened because they deregulated Capitalism Capitalism is so bad that if you do not regulate the filthy rich "privileged elite" they will bankrupt everyone and make them live in corporate towns And that corporate town trend is starting back up... go figure
This video is accurate for the most part. I've been driving a commercial truck for 34 years and never got treated well until I started driving for Walmart. Walmart Transportation is a very good job but they're strict and particular about how they operate, which is not a bad thing. They are adamant about following their rules and being safe.
@@ian3580 I think you misunderstood what I was saying. The truck drivers said it wasn't until they started working for Walmart that they were treated well by their employer. Walmart is not known for being a good company to work for. They very much treat their employees as easily replaceable. They're not as bad as Amazon ofc, but practically no one is as bad as Amazon. And that's why it's so damning that Walmart treats their drivers so much better than these trucking companies.
My boyfriend is a driver, and you summed up everything he has gone through in his 9 yrs. The industry is criminal. Not to mention the awful stigma placed on drivers by people. Yeah some drivers fit the stereotype, but they work hard and a job that we cant live without, and no one deserves the treatment they get. Its horrible.
The stigma as far as I know it is the assumption that truckers are uneducated, ignorant, belligerent types who frequent bars when not behind the wheel. Think rednecks but with bigger trucks. I believe there's a connotation that they can't hold down other blue-collar jobs and just end up in the profession like the tide brought them in. I have a lot of respect for truckers. We are totally dependent upon them for everything we buy that isn't produced in our own town. They work crappy hours, and they have a lot more to consider while on the road than the rest of us. Every time I'm on the highway I see idiots in cars tailgating 18-wheelers, or cruising along in their blind spots (terrible idea in my state, where they actually need to change lanes once in a while), or cutting into the lane directly in front of them. The fact that more of those jerks aren't dead is due to the truckers' skills. When I was a kid in the 1970s, my best friend's dad was a long-hauler (I don't know the industry terms; he'd be out on trips for at least a week at a time). He was gone a lot, and when he came home he would sleep almost the whole time and we'd all have to play at my house so we didn't wake him up. He'd be super grumpy the first few days, then a somewhat involved dad for the next few, then he'd be off on another trip. The neighborhood kids used to line the street when he was coming home or heading out, because he would pull the horn for us. It seemed to me as a little kid that he was giving up a lot to take care of his family. I definitely formed the impression that truck drivers were sleep-deprived on the job.
@@nothingworksworks3511 There's a valuable lesson there. Truck drivers, like most working-class folks, would be much better off protesting for better pay, benefits, and working conditions. Naturally, their greedy bosses don't want that, so they feed them culture wars bullshit, telling them to blame people of colour, immigrants, foreigners, liberals, made-up conspiracies- anything to keep the people fighting each other, and distracted from who's really taking advantage of us. Divide and conquer.
I know that I thought about teaching high school math and then realized I could earn enough to live like a real adult if I taught college instead… Maybe I would have picked college anyway, but lack of a living wage is a sad reason to make a choice :(
@@pickledokra2963 If a company pays its help well and treats their employees with respect, most employees will recognize that and give their all! If a company doesn't give a hoot and shows you that every day, employees will just bide their time until they can go elsewhere..and do only what they have to, to get by until then! Sure, there will always be the odd jerk of an employee who doesn't care, no matter how well treated, but that guy will be the rarity and likely soon to get fired. It's pretty much like every other type of relationship people have in their lives..no one wants to be treated like a chump and will respond positively, if treated like they count!
And that there is the reason why unions are important especially teachers can’t tell you I got inspired but I knew some teachers that were cool and charming. Sometimes I think the future isn’t coming true pretty much a dystopian era is coming😳😰scary indeed.
When my kids were born, one of my great aunts gave us a huge treasure trove of vintage children's books from the 60s and 70s that she had, And one of them is all about trucks and trucking, Including the typical work day of a truck driver. What it describes is such a reasonably regulated and desirable blue collar middle class job that I almost cried when I first read it. In many ways, we have fallen so far when it comes to the dignity and rights of working people.
My dad, before the union busting, was able to provide for a family of six. Can you even imagine a job where a single person can buy a home, take vacations, have a retirement, good insurance including dental? What in the absolute fuck has happened to America?
As a former driver (regional and long-haul) I can't thank you enough for this piece. The industry has been broken for a long, long time. Shout out to Alex Knight (Gorilla Tango ABQ; Tricklock, etc)
My dad has been a trucker for over 25 years but he’s a local union driver with great benefits who gets paid by the hour. He’s definitely overworked but he makes nearly 150,000 a year. He’s been very lucky in the industry and he’s truly an outlier. I hear so many terrible stories from him about his friends who are long haulers and it just makes me so sad for them but also glad my dad is not stuck in that situation
My dad was a Teamster local driver from about 1973 to 2005. We grew up in upper middle class, brand new home, two new cars, vacation every year and mom stayed home with us four kids. He is now retired and his pension is close to $3k/mo and he gets SSI. Everything is paid off and he is sitting pretty. Ahhhh boomers have it made. He is fully aware of it and why he would never vote republican because they destroyed unions.
I had several truck drivers as patients when I worked in addiction recovery; each and every one of them had horror stories about being on the job, several of them told me straight-up they were never going to quit meth until they could find another job because it was the only thing that kept them awake on long hauls. Truckers have felt the pressure of how expendable their companies see them for a long time.
My grandpa died on March 31st of this year. In his possession was the original BJ and the Bear semi truck. Before he got Ill, he was actively using it for trucking. I rode with him across country one summer and every single stop we made, people came up to him to talk about the truck. RIP Grandpa Craig 🚛
@@vernicethompson4825 Same! I wasn't expecting that. That was actually the first clip from the show I've ever seen. After my truck trip with Gramps, I tried to look it up but this was "early" internet so no RUclips, wikipedia was in its infancy, and what little content the internet had at the time understandably made no mention of a decade old TV show that ran for two seasons.
The other thing about the lease purchase program: when I was working for a trucking company, i was one of the safety and compliance employees and spoke to drivers who would, at least when they got close to the end of their lease, the company would greatly reduce their loads, leaving them unable to pay their lease payments so the company could repossess the truck. They were told there were no loads available, given loads that required them to drive halfway across the country without a load -on their own dime- because there are no other loads available and since they are working for the company they are leasing the truck from, they are not able to search out loads from other company's or independent load boards. But its not just the preditory leasing, its the fact that the added pay for hazardous materials hauling isnt actually that spectacular anymore, that the added danger and the cost of additional insurance isnt worth it so much anymore, and many drivers, since they are in no-touch load situations, they pull up and have their truck loaded, some places not even allowed on the dock, they get a list of what they're carrying, but say a few batteries or cleanimg products make it onto the truck but arent listed on the cargo list- that driver can be fined, have their truck taken away, and have their entire future in trucking at risk because its found they transported hazardous materials. And they dont see if the products are loaded from being refused to be able to confirm their cargo, they have no idea what is really on the truck, or if what they received as their load is actually what it says on the paper that declares what they are carrying. But where the real money is being filed off from the truckers is in independant dispatchers. A company has a load, instead of having a service that will pick up the load every time (some still do, but its rare) they call up some dispatchers to make offers for that load, who can do it cheapest, or they have a load board where drivers regularly bid against other drivers for receiving lower pay, trying to offer the lowest price to carry the load so they have the load and can make money. Some boards allow drivers to access them, some are handed out to dispatchers who then bid for the load in the same way, then take their percentage cut for offering the load on their load board, or to their independant contractors to take for the low price the dispatcher bid to get access to filling the clients needs, and then takes a % off that amount before it goes to the driver so the driver makes even less. And if you lease a truck from the company you work for, which most even small transportation companies, or logistics companies as they usually prefer, have a leading program. Not only that, but drivers are often required to pay for their own gas and maintenance, their physicals, drug tests, they may be given a company gas card that has a couple hundred dollars on it, which, with the price of gas wont even get them cross country, and that amount will be taken off their check. They are required to turn in all their receipts for everything, something that always made me wonder how that would work for tax time, considering the company demands original receipts, not copies. And if the driver is at a place where they dont have any money for gas and need the company to advance some more money, ive witnessed an approval process at some places that can take a couple days potentially, not to mention that most logistics companies dont have regular weekend hours for their safety and compliance people, who usually field the added advanced for the drivers who need gas and dont have money to pay for it. I once had driver waiting over 10hrs, that was he called me to get help, get more money on his card so he could get the load to the drop off point, and I tried numerous times to get a hold of my supervisor, who could approve it, but she was on vacation, and the owner of the company, the only other person who could make the approval, was nowhere to be found and not answering his phone or numerous massages I left. So I stayed late, trying to go between the very panicked driver and trying to get a hold of someone to solve the drivers issue. I stayed about 3-4hrs after my usual clock out time simply to make sure the driver knew I wasnt forgetting about him or had gone home and left him in lurch. And between my fight to make sure he was taken care of and the good fortune that his load was not perishable, he made it to his drop only a few hours behind schedule, but still on the right day. But i knew it was a nightmare for him, and he left soon after, as I would as well if i thought that the company I signed on with didnt have my back like that. There are too many people trying to get a piece of the pie for themselves without doing any work other than copying a load from another load board to their own and thinking that this entitles them to 10% (+/-) of the amount the client is paying for the load, its a bunch of people who want to not actually do any of the work and get paid for someone else doing it for them. Personally, I call that preditory, since if these logistics brokers didnt take a bite first, the drivers would be making more and they arent doing anything other than ensuring - most times by contract, that loads wont be released to the drivers themselves but to brokers who then can make money from making sure the drivers cant do it themselves.
God bless you for bringing all of that to our attention! The general public needs to know about these things before anything can be done to help. Keep spreading the word!
JESUS KNOCKS ON YOUR HEART AND LONGS FOR YOU TO ANSWER! HE DOESN'T WANT TO SEE ANYONE PERISH INTO HELL. GOD LOVES YOU SO HE GIVES YOU FREE WILL AND A CHOICE TO ACCEPT HIM OR REJECT HIM. TO LOVE HIM OR TO LOVE SIN/THIS WORLD. CALL UPON JESUS & ASK HIM TO FORGIVE YOUR SINS! SURRENDER YOUR WILL & YOUR LIFE TO HIM & HE WILL GIVE YOU ETERNAL LIFE IN HEAVEN! PICTURE YOUR BEST DAY ON EARTH TIMES A BILLION FOR ETERNITY, THAT'S HEAVEN! NOW PICTURE YOUR WORST DAY ON EARTH TIMES A BILLION FOR ETERNITY, THAT'S HELL! HE WILL GIVE YOU WHAT YOU WANT SO IF YOU REJECT HIM YOU WILL BE SEPARATED FROM HIM & HIS BLESSINGS (LOVE, PEACE, JOY, HOPE, REST, ETC). IN HELL YOU WILL BE ALONE WITHOUT GOD OR PEOPLE... YOU WILL BE HOPELESS, IN DESPAIR & AGONY FOREVER! GOD'S STANDARD FOR HEAVEN IS PERFECTION AND ONLY JESUS (THE SON OF GOD/GOD IN THE FLESH) LIVED THAT PERFECT LIFE! HE LAID DOWN HIS LIFE & TOOK THE WRATH OF THE FATHER ON THE CROSS FOR YOUR SINS! GOD IS JUST SO HE MUST PUNISH SIN & HE IS HOLY SO NO SIN CAN ENTER HIS KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. IF YOU ARE IN CHRIST ON JUDGEMENT DAY GOD WILL SEE YOU AS HIS PERFECT SON (SINLESS SINCE YOUR SINS ARE COVERED BY JESUS' OFFERING). YOU CAN ALSO CHOOSE TO REJECT JESUS' GIFT/SACRIFICE & PAY FOR YOUR OWN SIN WITH DEATH (HELL) BUT THAT SEEMS PRETTY FOOLISH! GOD SEES & HEARS EVERYTHING YOU HAVE SAID & DONE. YOU WONT WIN AN ARGUMENT WITH HIM & YOU CANT DEFEND ANY OF YOUR SINS TO HIM. YOU'RE NOT A GOOD PERSON, I'M NOT A GOOD PERSON... ONLY GOD IS GOOD! WE'RE ALL GUILTY WITHOUT ACCEPTING JESUS' SACRIFICE FOR OUR SINS! MUHAMMAD DIDN'T DIE FOR YOUR SINS, BUDDHA DIDN'T DIE FOR YOUR SINS, NO PASTOR/NO PRIEST/NO SAINT/NO ANCESTOR DIED FOR YOUR SINS, MARY DIDN'T DIE FOR YOUR SINS, NO IDOLS OR FALSE GODS DIED FOR YOUR SINS, NO ACTOR OR CELEBRITY DIED FOR YOUR SINS, NO ATHLETE OR POLITICIAN DIED FOR YOUR SINS! JESUS CHRIST ALONE DIED FOR YOUR SINS & WAS RESURRECTED FROM THE GRAVE! HE IS ALIVE & COMING BACK VERY SOON WITH JUDGEMENT (THESE ARE END TIMES)! PREPARE YOURSELVES, TURN FROM SIN & RUN TO JESUS! HE KNOWS YOUR PAIN & TROUBLES, HE WANTS TO HEAL & RESTORE YOU! TALK TO HIM LIKE A BEST FRIEND! ASK HIM TO REVEAL HIMSELF TO YOU & HELP YOU TO BELIEVE IF YOU DOUBT! DON'T WAIT TO CRY OUT! NO ONE IS PROMISED TOMORROW! HE LONGS FOR YOU TO INVITE HIM IN, HE LOVES YOU MORE THAN ANY PERSON EVER COULD, HE CREATED YOU! Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."-John 14:6 "But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven."-Matthew 10:33 “For the wages of sin is death (hell), but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”-Romans 6:23
I am a truck driver, and I see a lot of drivers that are accurately portrayed. I am lucky to work with a very safety conscious company, but yes it is a very real struggle. Also there is not enough infrastructure to support the number of trucks out there now. When you see trucks parked on entrance and exit ramps, that means that could not find a place to park. Adding to this, many rest areas are closed, either for refurbishment or because of budget shortfalls. That is another 10-20 drivers hunting for legal and safe parking where we won't be robbed, vandalized, shot, or have wheels predatorally booted by towing companies. Some truck stops offer reserved parking for $10-$25 a night so there is another "trucker tax", on top of their inflated prices. Many drivers are multi-lingual, collage graduates, retired 2nd or 3rd career, or even play the violin or viola after working 8-11 hours a day over a maximum of 70 hours a week.
This is actually very true, I work at a truck stop and see the wear and tear on the drivers. But also what wasnt mentioned the cost to take a shower in the post, as the showers are not free for the drivers. And it always makes the drivers feel good when I can get them into one for free and help them out. Though we do get a lot of odd looks as we keep the police on the lot to help provide security and assist the drivers. From my time there I have seen our officers pull drivers out of burning trucks and clearing others away in an organized fashion before the truck turned into a fireball. Have seen them assist drivers across the parking lot giving them lifts, especially during poor weather conditions. Warn and wake up drivers during tornado warnings as well as give them a lift to the tornado shelters, have seen them stop people trying to break into the trailers. And basically assist the drivers with what they needed, even talking to the companies dispatch for the driver when they didnt feel safe enough to drive.
You sound like you truck out in California. They closed that rest stop on the I-5 near Buttonwillow at one point (it may have since re-opened, I'm not sure) but that was one more you couldn't count on. I guess they figured we could either park at Buttonwillow or keep going to Wheeler Ridge just before the Grapevine. That's also the reason I would drive at night whenever I could, so that parking at the truck stop would be easy in the morning. But I could sleep during the day. I know a lot of drivers can't do that though. One of the things not mentioned in the article was the loss of per diem. That was a huge tax writeoff that the Trump tax bill took away. I'm glad I was a local driver when that happened. I would've been out of my mind angry if I was still OTR.
Reminds me of the FedEx guy who comes to my job every month. They do a monthly cupcake event for drivers at the depot, so this guy comes and orders like 200 piece cupcake cake & gets me to put the FedEx logo on it, make it look fun. But even at the time, I thought, why not a little bonus? Rather than spending company money on a cupcake? Idk man. $200 a month for cupcakes is probably more cost effective than a $200 bonus to the top performer in the month.
@@SadisticSenpai61 But then, we see how much UPS is utilized by companies. FedEx is much better for next day shipments on a corporate level (i.e. techs visiting customers and needing next day parts). As a consumer.....I get 50 FedEx shipments to every one UPS shipment. So while I get what you're saying...clearly UPS is doing something that is hurting business. I guess if FedEx had a union, it would just mean Amazon would be doing even more deliveries....even for other companies. I'm not sure unionization is the answer here.......There needs to be better regulation overall to level the playing field, but I don't think the UPS union is doing itself many favors from what I've seen.
@@ian3580 When the retail store I worked for used UPS for everything, we got all of our shipments at the same time every day. The drivers also didn't have to worry about damage to the packages coming out of their own paycheck (damages that most of the time is not caused by the driver). Since we've switched to using FedEx for most things, the delivery time varies. And some days they never even show up, even though they're supposed to stop by to see if there are any outgoing packages. Notably, our store supplies that need to be delivered as quickly as possible (not next day, but within a few days of the order being placed) still come via UPS. The difference between the two companies is cost. FedEx is slightly less expensive than UPS - and that comes directly at the cost of their employees. They're not only paid less than UPS employees, but FedEx shoves the costs of doing business onto its employees every chance it gets - and in ways that frankly shouldn't be legal.
I just quit a "delivery service provider " for Amazon and I can tell you that everything that woman said is true. We pissed in bottles, we buckled the seat belt behind the seat, a bathroom break would put you behind, you'd get no breaks because it was just impossible to. They don't care about you at all
I'm an Amazon delivery driver and all this is correct. It's unfortunate but necessary because otherwise you can't make the 180 something stops a day. And God forbid something goes wrong on you're route and your suddenly behind.
WSJ did a really good hour long documentary on the current worldwide supply chain. As I recall, some DSPs are expected to make 20-30 deliveries an hour. They are also subcontractors so Amazon can't get sued. I get the convenience, but the point of this video, the WSJ, and your statement is that there are *hidden costs* to all this %100 available same-day delivery stuff we enjoy. Those costs are people :(. Definitely need more sunlight on all this. None of it is actually sustainable.
@@dreamcoyote it's highly dependent on the route but generally Amazon wants 20 to 30 stops an hour. Although it is possible to go 40 stops if you decent to run and if those stops are houses. If you have apartments naturally your stop count drops dramatically because they take much longer. Also because of other issues like gate access codes not working or security not letting drivers in. Usually I run some of my houses in order to create a "buffer" in case things go wrong later in my route and I need more time. But Amazon doesn't account for this.
@@allandill2033 If you are surprised, congrats, you bought into another capitalist lie: the lie that consumers could change the system by not using it. For your info: they can't and won't. Stop putting in on old aunt Betty, who doesn't have much choice on where to buy from with the tight budged she got. It's on Politics to regulate accordingly and the people's pressure via demonstrations, unions, strikes etc.
"Deregulating the market" always means take out the rules that decrease profit and make rules that put workers under pressure or give a false sense of security.
Deregulating means that businesses become freer to do as much as they can for as little as they can to make the most that they can. Pure, unregulated capitalism is not any worker's friend.
I really dislike the train of thoughts that says wages aren't profit. They are, they're just distributed profits. Just a way of looking at things I guess.
@@anneputseys4441 That's the kind of thinking you get when you're only interested in the contents of your own wallet, you start looking at the lion's share you're taking as "your share" and somehow separate from the general pool of available to the company assets. I agree, it's not.
The sad part with the dispatcher telling the driver to just power through, or that he doesn't want to deal with the driver's "bullshit" is completely normalized in nearly every company. It's just considered part of the job. Deal with it or get out. Not to mention the vast number of people who honk at trucks, flip off drivers, cut them off, tell them they are dumb, and hurl abuse at them. I see my husband once or twice a month. That's it. And that is a normal month for us. I consider it a lucky month if he is home every weekend. And when is, the paycheque suffers big time.
Same here, my dad's been a long haul trucker for the better part of two decades. And anyone who thinks it an exaggeration, it's not...literally ONE or TWO days a MONTH off, and that's NORMAL...and everyone on the road nowadays is so shitty to truckers. I think it actually gave my dad a form of PTSD. He's the nicest and most easy going dude (You'd have to be to do such a tough grinding job for so long) but when someone cuts him off in traffic or does something dangerous when he's in the car he becomes livid, with good reason IMO considering the death stats mentioned in the video. So many don't realize the basic rules and conditions that apply when sharing the road with heavy trucks...(I'm sure you're familiar, but for any other readers) #1. Many trucks have limiters that don't allow them to go above 65mph #2. Never follow closer than three car lengths behind a truck (If you can't see their side mirror, they can't see you) #3. Give extra clearance behind you when passing a truck in case something happens in front of you that you need to stop (Heavier object = longer stopping distance) #4. Always pass trucks on the left so the driver doesn't have to swivel their head to the right and take their eyes off the front and left side mirror to see you. #5. Try to be understanding when trucks block the street because they need to back into a dock or make an extra-wide turn...we should be appreciative, as they are making everything so convenient for the rest of us...and the company won't be, so it's the least we can do...
Thankfully there are carriers out there that don't do that, I mean I know if I get told that right now with my carrier the higher ups EXPECT me to start climbing the leadership ladder and tell them someone ain't doing things right. And really it comes from them understanding that even a week's worth of late fees are still cheaper than paying all the legal& administrative as well as recovery fees for a truck going off the road plus also having to pay for the driver's medical or death needs and buying a new truck& Trailer on top of that. If the driver doesn't feel safe to drive or that they aren't comfortable with the current road& weather conditions than you just shutdown and call them once you are safe.
@@GoldPicard sounds like Prime inc. I drove for them for three years and they do take driver safety seriously. They don't even force you to put snow chains on to keep moving. 👍
This hit really close to home for me because they recently got my brother with the lease to own scam. He was devastated when his first check was $50.. so glad he quit.
I remember being told once, "You don't have a choice." And I said, "Oh there's always a choice." And I drove back to the lot and dropped my keys off. I mean I was lucky to be in a position to do that, I know. It was still scary. It was my job.
Class A trucker here; I’ve been driving Over The Road for five years now and it’s truly a soul crushing industry. Every job has its tough days but, in trucking, the worst parts of the job are also the uncompensated ones. So you can’t fall back on the mentality of, “Well this sucks right now but at least I’m being paid.” Instead, you’re miserable and working for free. The effort you put in doesn’t match the reward - it’s the definition of being burned out. And then these trucking companies have the audacity to wonder why people don’t want to work for their shitty company. My longest days are also my least profitable. The days that begin with having to unload at a receiver for two hours immediately followed by loading at a shipper only to be detained again for several hours- all uncompensated… you end up working a fourteen hour day with very few miles driven, thus low pay. But then the days where all I have to do is drive for ten hours are my shortest, easiest, and most profitable days. So, in other words, the more you work in this industry, the less you’re paid. It’s garbage. I’ve had my regular Class C license for twenty years and my CDL Class A for five years without a single accident - ever. Not even a scratch. Trucking companies should be lining up to stick their tongue down my soft, Cottonelle-wiped ass but they’d rather hire first year students, pay them dog shit wages, lose them to a different trucking company within twelve months, and then repeat the process.
I never drove a truck, but I worked in a call center that dispatched repair vehicles to broken-down truckers. At first I didn't understand why they were so impatient, I was looking at it like "they are getting paid to wait on a repair vehicle" except of course they weren't getting paid. Oliver didn't even mention truckers that got charged fees for late deliveries.
@Tsrif Eman Well yes companies and people usually compete for people who do their job well. Would you rather a lawyer or doctor with a 75% success rate or 100%. I mean if you don’t mind if a scalpe and a few blood soaked napkins get left in yah go right on ahead. Yup I’m sure that the right mentality.
@@cubone44 For many, the price difference dictates which you pick due to business reality. But nobody says that, it'd shake confidence, cant have that.
I’m a truck driver, just hit my 5 years as a CDL holder. I’m on my SIXTH company. I went through 5 companies before I finally found one that was worth a damn.
@@jimjones5530 honestly, that's any job in any profession. The best one is always "you don't have enough experience", yet people won't hire you to gain the experience needed. Again, that is in any/all industries these days in America. So, we have people in their 30s, 40s, 50s working as a cashier or stocker in Walmart or burger flipper at McDonald's and 2 other jobs in order to barely pay their bills and take care of themselves and others. Damn sad is what it is. You have to have a piece of paper called a degree in whatever field in order to take a phone call from people, yet you may be the absolute dumbest person out there, but you have that degree that says you're hireable. And the degree doesn't even have to have anything to do with your chosen career. It helps, but nothing that really effects your chances.
@@josephsmith886 college is a rip/scam. Wasted most of my GI bill on ITT tech (was getting paid to go) only for them to entirely shut the place down, because it was a rip off. Used my GI bill again to attend the HCA Heavy Construction Academy (all the while knowing I had no interest in working in that industry (was paid to attend/free lunch/hotel. Something to do while looking for a CDL gig. That's a $20,000 school. Worked IT fresh outta the military -hated it. Telecomnications - hated it Manufacturing- hated it Food/service - hated it Local driver - hated it 37 yo and I can't think of any other industry Id want to work in other thank trucking. Can get fired and have a job lined up in a few days! Or even before you quit. Only thing matters is driving record. Companies will train you.
Being a long haul driver, I can tell you that's pretty accurate. Except left out a few things. Being stuck in Wyoming for a week because my trailer is to light to drive on l-80 when the winds are blowing. Make absolutely nothing for that week. Everybody in the company I work for gets paid holidays except the drivers. Working 14 hrs everyday with no days off for 3months. Have a dispatcher call and ask why your not rolling when you still have 1 hour left on your clock. Trying to find a place to park to take your mandatory 10-hour break, paying 20.00 for 10hrs at truck stops. I could go on but I'm tired of typing.
I ended up going back to Swift because they are paying me 60 cents a mile, (I'm experienced though) and at least $100 a day if I'm stuck due to bad weather. But they don't force me to drive if I'm tired either.
@@philhatcher9072 The one time that happened, I went into the truck stop and demanded they either refund me, or tell the guy to leave. They made the trucker park somewhere else, but hey, if you park someplace without permission, you're asking for trouble.
I was a contract truck driver for two years. They screwed me. I took on a drive across the country with assurances about the dispatch times because I had a very important event to attend. They left me high and dry at the loading facility for 11 hours, so I left before they could load me so that I could get home for the agreed upon time. When I got back home, they charged me $1,600 and "fired" me. And I even had a phone recording of them admitting to lying to me just so that I'd take the job. There was no recourse. And that's when I quit trucking for good.
I second that. I'd sooner see you do some minor investigation and locate the liars and commit some arson before I'd have you pay them the money. Make the corporate personal.
The dark side of the 80s was, and is, the impact Reagan's policies which set the stage to where we are today. "The Fairness Doctrine" is one that comes to mind.
Broke my heart to hear those truckers explain what their expenses were and how little they ended up with. As the video says, the average trucker makes about half of what they did 50 years ago. The idea that CEOs sit comfortably in their boardrooms making huge profits by making the actually essential workers poorer and their jobs more dangerous, absolutely sickens me.
"We are out of essential workers" yes, you are, because you ate them all. Dear (essentials) workers: unions, unions, unions. Or - cooperations. Which are unions of another, even better kind. We all live in predatory capitalism. Wealth distribution facts tell me that even if I am too stupid to understand the details this John Oliver is explaining here. However those Bezoses are smart, lucky, inovativne, genius etc. they are, the distribution of the wealth their companies are making is idiotic, as it doesn't reflect the core reality of what that company is now - much much bigger then him. If he, and the whole ceo level of Amazon dies tomorrow, nothing special will happen to Amazon. As they are NOT essential for Amazon. In just few days you could find the same quality of workers of that level for the small fraction of the price, and you can diss his function in Amazon all together, as he become just a giant flying leach of the company. But if all essential workers of Amazon die tomorrow, there is no Amazon. So, Amazon is actually in the hands ( literally) of it's workers, and to get that fact understood by everybody, Amazon essential workers just have to somuntaniusly cross their hands and not move till they get their fair share. That is the reality. One has to fight back, or work around it. One can't fight alone,and can't work around it alone. So first you have to recognise and acknowledge your class reality, and that your position in the class system is what is connecting you in the most profound way, and move together. That is what socialism is. Not gulag and I don't know what else Socialism is recognising your social place and the power of your social position. In the case of workers, employers let's call you, it is the waste number of you. You are the whole army. You are that majority.
And now when prices surge on everything, there will come a moment where truck drivers end up with a negative year income. That´s when America grinds down to a halt.
Someone actually went and got the industry facts from where it counts,the labor force! Kudos to you John Oliver. As a former trucker I agree with your observations.
Having family and family friends who drive trucks all across Europe, I can confirm that this is an American problem. EU you get: mandatory days off, you can't drive if you don't feel safe or are tired, much much more than minimal or even average wage, benefits and a lot of them, PTO, and the list goes on and on and on.
As a child of a coast to coast owner-operator father that hauled everything from Medical Waste for Stericycle to nitro, and produce, I’m glad I was recommended this video by a friend. Diesel prices are insane and cutting into profits and unless you wanna drive an automatic transmission truck with insane tracking and telemetry for a company there is no money to be made. Truck drivers keep the country alive yet can’t even make a living anymore. Boxcar Willie was ahead of his time when he said “Give me 40 acres and I’ll turn this rig around”
i have been a cdn trucker for 35 years, i renember when it was good and paid properly. THANK GOD FOR THIS EPISODE ! i wish that every one in North America with a tv or laptop would see this. THANK YOU JOHN
Same here from Guelph ON Thought our standards and compensation for Drivers etc. was way better than (Don't go there) south of the border? Guess I learned here something. Regards, Eh..
I still find it disgraceful that US legislators are allowing this to happen. Here in New Zealand, the law specifically says that if someone is working for one company, under the control of that company, then they are an employee, not a contractor. It further says that is is illegal to pretend that they are contractors; even if the company tries to get around it by calling them contractors and signing a contract as such, they are functionally employees and therefore the company is legally obligated to treat them as employees, with all the rights and protections which that brings. This has been taken to court a couple times, and the judges have consistently found in favour of the employees who were incorrectly labelled contractors. There is no reason the US can't do this.
if they want to be employee's they can apply for a company position. But these guys are sold on the fake dream that owning their truck gives them 'freedom' its bullshit. Trucks are so expensive to fix and keep on the road as that one O/O talked about... working for a company using their equipment under their MCA# is the only way to go nowadays.
This is the US. We’re a nation run by rich assholes that have somehow managed to convince half the population to take pride in being treated like absolute dogshit, and that demanding better for themselves is a sign of weakness. It’s why we only ever vote in rich old dickheads that see us as nothing more than a source of unlimited revenue in exchange for being treated like celebrities. No point in trying to understand us because we’re fucked beyond any repair.
"Independent contractor" is a bigger problem than just with truckers. A lot of companies hire "independent contractor" for employment job because it is cheaper for the company. The contractor are basically an employee but have no benefit of an employee. They are easily replaced and being treated like shit. In 2015 when I graduated I've worked as a service engineer but classified as "independent contractor", I had to work 17 hours a day without overtime pay and at ungodly hours, I had to start working at a moment notice meaning I'm on standby 24-7. The company on multiple occasion calls me to work at 3 am in the morning even after I already work the day before. I've had to use my own vehicle, pay for my own fuel in hopes that the company will reimburse me later. I've tried going to labor office but they can't do anything because I am technically not an employee so labor laws doesn't apply to me. Long story short, I quit after one year when I got the experience and apply for another company for employment. Sad thing is there's still my ex-coworkers who is still working there because they don't have the luck to get another job.
Even in a country with better regulations, we seem to glorify being an independant contractor, where-as I mostly see downsides. It's arguments like 'you decide your own hours' except if you don't put in the hours 'required' they'll replace you and if that's not the case, you still only get paid for the hours you make. If you get sick, you're fucked. If the industry gets fucked, you're fucked. (Corona showed this quite clearly where I'm from, benefits for bussiness and their employers, independant contractors, less so.) Few industries are the exception of course, but suddenly being a 'sheep' doesn't feel all too bad.
This explains a LOT of the rather questionable and downright dangerous driving I've seen by truckers especially since the supply chain breakdown started. It's made commuting on the highways is especially dangerous for truckers and regular drivers
Not only the pushing to hurry by companies along with the electronic logs telling a driver to drive even if they aren't safe to do so, but the beginning of the episode where turnover was mentioned is a big issue when you think about what that means. Experienced truckers are leaving each year because the industry as a whole beats them into the dirt. Their replacements are new drivers who are shoved through schools that aren't incentivized to produce a safe driver but rather just a driver who can pass the test. In just a month, a driver who has never touched the steering wheel of a big truck can be thrown out on their own. Now take everything an experienced driver had to deal with that was making things dangerous, and imagine that it is happening to someone brand new who was trained to pass a test rather than how to safely do a job.
I've been driving truck for 5 years, hauling fuel for 3 of them up and down the I5 corridor in the PNW. You're spot on about dangerous truckers and the complete lack of respect towards other drivers. In the last couple years, it has gotten exponentially dangerous on the highways, and it is making me second guess the job I love. Before I was always wary of 4 wheelers, and still am, but now it's constantly watching my mirrors looking for these guys doing 70+ weaving through traffic. It's dangerous enough hauling fuel by itself, now you have these 80,000lb trucks flying up from behind to pass you going 70mph within 15ft of your rear bumper while you're doing 55-60mph, grossing 105k lbs, with 11,300 gallons of gas, then sawing your hood off to get back in front of you, it is unnerving to say the least. Couple that with a huge downturn in State trooper patrol to keep these idiots in check, it's a recipe for disaster.
Because I did a beneficial professional job that needed to be done. So many folks tend to get into this profession and think you just ride across the country sightseeing. No you have to put in real work. I always did my best at whatever I done.. But you should expect to be treated like you're appreciated at your job and be properly compensated for what.you do. Drivers shouldn't have to push themselves beyond their limits on these dangerous highways to deliver every product known to man. Most truckers are here trying to make a living for their families and their selves. They also do their jobs because they enjoy what they do. Drivers just want reason compensation and respect for what they do.
I've been a truck driver for 5 years and can't thank you enough for this informative segment on the hell we go through to deliver things like the cell phones that everyone who is watching this and reading my comment on are using. Unfortunately I don't see there being a huge difference made anytime soon. I believe that unless there is a huge change in attitude across the board you will be doing a "Truckers 2" segment in 5 years. So many young drivers are blinded by $$$$ and will honestly fight tooth and nail to say their companies lease program is amazing and anyone who fails it's because they just couldn't "cut it" in the industry. You missed out on a huge piece of information here in that the "answer", to the trucking "shortage" they have decided to go with for now is reducing the minimum age to drive cross country to 18 years old. It's allowed now in New York I believe for 18 year olds to get a CDL. I can not even begin to explain what a huge mistake this is going to be and the increase in unnecessary injuries or even deaths this will cause. The government is completely oblivious to the real problem here and they won't ever truly solve it because companies like Prime, Swift, CRST, Western Express are lining their pockets The biggest difference anyone can truly make as an individual reading this is to just be a little more compassionate on the road. We have tough jobs but whipping out your phones and posting to TikTok anytime one of us makes a mistake is not the answer. Be patient on the road, be respectful and to all my fellow truck drivers, always be safe. You are the captain of your ship. Don't let any voice on the phone convince you otherwise. Know your worth. There are 1000 more companies that will treat you much better. Thanks and love to all 🙏❤️
Official petition for a Last Week Tonight 'Don't confront me with the potentially lethal consequences of my decision making until after I've had my coffee' mug.
Glad he's bringing a little light to this. I worked for years for "FedEx" and people were always floored when I told them I had 0 benefits. Including no overtime for the 60 to 70 hour work weeks. Absolutely destroyed my joints and back. So thankful I got out
I was also at FedEx Ground when quarantine started, and our contractor had us fudge our hours to avoid legally going over, but gave us zero extra pay even though he was getting paid more
As a pick up and delivery driver for FedEx ground packages, I tell people I don’t work for FedEx Ground, I work for a third party contractor and their eyeballs expand so quickly. Thank you for covering this, it’s a huge issue.
I sometimes wonder how much the chewy pet food boxes damage the supply chain lol. We almost NEVER fully unload our trucks and it's not unusual to have 300 stops in a 15 foot box truck. Our "quit time" is when the sun goes down. We were paid by the day, 150 bucks. I never exceeded 12.50 an hour, due to the amount of hours I put in. That's in 2021 lol, kill me.
I worked for FedEx for 2 years as a package handler and the confusion was unreal, people always asked why I don't go to work wearing FedEx uniform like the drivers.
I worked with Amazon and I had to explain the same thing lol. I was a seasonal helper and then ended up a dispatcher. I would never wish the dispatch job on anyone, it was so bad
As the daughter of a truck driver, I’m glad someone is finally saying something about this. You’d be amazed at how crappy this industry can be to drivers. I’m glad my dad finally found a company that treats him well, but i still know that there’s a lot of people out there who are stuck working for companies that are betting on them to fail.
I can think of so many industries that desperately need workers but refuse to pay their workers a fair living wage and treat their employees like shit then act surprised when no one wants to work there. But company executives continue to receive huge salaries with bonuses and benefits. It’s ridiculous.
I've never been a truck driver, but many years ago on a paper route I called in because I wasn't safe to drive and was told that I would be fired if I didn't show up and do the route. I fell asleep at the wheel, fortunately only hit a parked vehicle. But the independent contractor scam is spreading well beyond driving jobs these days. If nothing is done about it everyone's job is going to become a low-paid no-benefit gig where workers carry the employers' share of taxes and other expenses. The impact on the economy must be massive.
That's awful. I was doing a paper route while doing full time college (bad combo) and luckily I never had an accident. But I was still an "independent contractor" getting payed a few cents per paper that added up to being well below minimum wage while still having to cover all my gas and vehicle maintenance, plus I had to buy all the plastic bags and rubber bands from the company. I did the job 7 days a week for 3 months before my car broke down when it happened I felt grateful despite loosing my job and my car at once cause Id at least finally get a good night's sleep. Looking at this comment section it seems like all these "get something/someone from point a to point b" type of jobs are increasingly unfair, unsafe and unacceptable
@@joeyschmitt2410 It's a gig that wears out your car, just like courier work (which I also did). You're basically transforming your car into cash in someone else's pocket. And now it's not just driving jobs; most work-at-home jobs are independent contractor gigs, too. (I'm doing one now.)
Another variant of this is where a staffing company recognizes you as their employee, but not the company you actually work for which controls your work and has the power to fire you at any moment without explanation. Occasionally this arrangement is good, but some staffing companies are so unethical that they lie to people about whether or not they were fired and leave it unclear whether they still work there.
I'm not a trucker but the "independent contractor" problem extends to MANY other industries as well and probably warrants its own segment.
It’s the entire US economy, and I believe he covered Trickle Down economics in another episode.
I think it was also brought up during the WWE episode, which pulls the same stunt so they can cut down costs of benefits and service to their emp- I mean contractors
I was a contractor for two years. My employers got away with so many questionable practices because we weren't considered employees of the company we worked for. Sure, we were salaried, but I was getting more than a little frustrated that I was making just as much as another guy in the CSP, but I worked twice as many hours. On top of that, HR fought tooth and nail against paying Workman's Comp whenever we got injured, and we were getting injured A LOT, especially during Peak. No benefits, no insurance package, very slight pay raises...oh, and I forgot to mention how often our checks bounced, and a third party had to ensure we got our wages, which was infuriating because the boss man drove a different sports car to work every day of the week. As for legal action, there really isn't much I can do without my contract, which boss man secretly absconded with months before I walked out. So yeah, contractors work hard, get fucked by management even harder.
When John said “independent contractor,” I said “oh no, not that again.”
@@guillermocalle2184 I came hear to say exactly that.
This is very personal to me. My dad is a truck driver and he’s been talking this stuff for years. I’m glad John Oliver mentioned this.
🙏
Same here
Mine too! He has stories. None relating working conditions are good. They didn't even cover employers pressuring drivers to take illegal drugs to stay "alert" on the road.
Tell him Thank You. I truly appreciate him.
I'm happy to see so many people showing how real this problem is!
"independent contractors" really should be looked into. From WWE to truckers, it stops a lot of workers from getting what they deserve.
This bullshit about being your own boss is a complete hoax. We've just had here in Spain a big 3 week truckers "strike" and shit got real. Food delivery services like Glovo and Uber use the same scheme to underpay and avoid paying their due diligences.
@@Ion1212g Eso si, les decías que iban a ser emprendedores y se les hacían los ojos chirivitas.
It’s actually forbidden in many countries. In Germany this kind of fake
independence is not allowed
Wait till you hear about "individual contractors" that have to pay to work there. Like strippers.
If you work for just 1 company they have to hire you as employee over here in 'communist Holland'
I never ever take the talk of "shortages" of workers seriously. Never.
What it really means is, " We treat our workers terribly" and/or " We can't be bothered to train anyone". It always breaks down to those 2 things.
and: we pay them abysmally
@@user-le2zv6go3v: Mind you, you could argue that poor pay falls under "We treat our workers terribly"...
@@fetchstixRHD true.. but among the things bosses keep ignoring "what could we do to attract and retain more people?" .. it seems paying more is very much not top 100 of their thoughts
Worked at a place that lost employees by the handful every few months, turns out telling people theyre only numbers and replaceable during training wasnt such a brilliant idea
@@user-le2zv6go3v It's always about the pay. Every single shortage of workers or products can be boiled down to some executive who doesn't want to pay fair wages to the employees. They want to sweep it up and hand all the money to the shareholders while the rest of us fight for scraps. Start paying people properly and treat the workers fairly and magically, you'll have people lining up to be a trucker again.
Every time there's talk of a "shortage" of workers in an industry, it's because that industry treats its workers like garbage.
@@cinemaparadiso5402 thank you for reminding us all that trump supporters are absolutely batshit.
This is correct.
@@cinemaparadiso5402 you have drunk the kook-aid of late stage capitalism devouring the spirit of good Americans.
Accurate
You're wrong. Truckers make great money but many of the younger people don't want to work for it.
As a truck driver of 15 years, this is the most accurate reporting of trucker life by far, thanks for educating and entertaining the public with this reporting John.
Do you have a pet chimpanzee?
Same (2 years) & same
Thank you for your work.
Drive safe
Have you seen Over the Top?
They just do the best reporting period vice has their moments though
The answer to, “people won’t work” is almost always “pay them more”
Honest pay for an honest day’s work
This is not how the US works. If you are poor in a bad job it is your own fault because you did not pull yourself up on your own bootstraps and became a millionaire. This is essentially the American ethos.
Let's hope that the pandemic has really braught a new dynamic into the labour market and people wont fall for this modern day slavery anymore.
Exactly. People don't want to do shitty jobs with shitty pay while being treated like shit by their employers
The problem is that people won't work pay them more the problem is people will work but they ain't going to work for free
I agree with you.
However I ran a crystal store in the mall where I was paying $14.75 to start, and the average was $16. I had a difficult time hiring people because they heard that they had to work too hard. Yes selling something that no one needs, that might sell for thousands is work.
But boy is it fun when you do and you open that bonus check.
It never ceases to amaze me how well this country gets away with pushing the consequences of shitty systems onto its poorest citizens.
MURICA the land of the free, you're free to fuckin' die, like we give a shit - signed, the 1%
capitalism is a plague
Totally unintentional system, of course...
Every country, delivery folks are sleeping and eating on their scooters while getting yelled at by customers for missing sauce in my country. System is always stacked against the poorest.
thats the oligarchy for you
There could be an entire episode on independent contractors. One of the biggest labor scams in the country
🤪
I think there is an episode on "independent contractors."
@@firstlast8258 are you going to add anything to any of these threads, or just dumb faces?
He also covered the topic in his piece on the WWE, but yeah a whole segment would definitely be informative.
@@firstlast8258 guess not
Companies: "We have a trucker shortage."
Everyone: "Have you tried paying them more and giving them better working conditions?"
Companies:
Companies: >:(
FedEx Freight kept throwing money at drivers... I do linehaul and I'm a dock worker with a company vehicle. I'm currently bidding on a run where I get 99miles roundtrip 5 nights a week, but have to clock in and work the dock for 4-6hrs every night.
Truckers: "How about getting the government regulations off our backs?"
Everyone: "No you don't want that, join a union and then shut up like a good little pawn."
@@vincintron7151 FedEx has bad working conditions for a lot of their drivers and a lot of the drivers don't see home very often.
@@KKKtrucky2 that's more on the Ground and Express co-ops. With freight, we are home everyday and we are actually hired by FedEx freight. But regardless, I agree
@@Hybris51129 don't get me wrong companies are not perfect. but the mindset people have that companies are magically evil and the perfect angel of the state can swoop in and help when it can often be bad. also without being in the position of the company itself these people who offer their criticism free of charge don't really understand the realties the business has to work with. many people see "businesses" as these ultimate power that controls everything and if anything goes bad its because they wanted too not becomes of circumstances outside of their control. like lets say a trucking company trying to pressure its driver to meet a schedule. well if that driver fails to delivier in the time window the company could lose a contract and they would have to fire that driver anyways due to lack of work.
also hourly vs by mile. you are not going to magically make more money if you go by hourly. i am not directly in the trucking industry but looking to join it soon. and from the info i have gathered so far there is a lot of pay diversity in the industry. not just mile/hourly but also raw percentage as well.
As a second generation truck driver of 9 years, this episode had me tearing up. For such big trucks we drive, we drivers have seemed to be invisible to the nation. Castaways and obstacles of the highway. Finally, at least for a moment. It feels incredible to be seen and recognized. Thank you John and to your crew for making us be seen.
Modern society wouldn't exist without you, thank you for all the work you do! I sincerely hope y'all get pay raises and better contract terms asap
❤
Join the club with the Vets, Homeless, Refugees and Minorities
Respect to you brother.
@Mike Dalby
Until the truck drivers get injured or can't pay for the rental on their trucks
Amerika's story is about the American Nightmare
I wish I can go back to Industrialize and Secularize Ancient Sumeria then none of this shit would occur
Last Week Tonight already did an episode on Truckers
My dad is a trucker, long haul. We're Canadian, and a lot of what he said applies to him too. It's madness. As my dad likes to say: if you bought it, a truck brought it. We need our truckers and we need to treat them better
All true!
I’m a flight attendant and like truckers not getting paid for loading/unloading, we do not get paid for boarding/deplaning. In fact we only get paid for flight time. Often times we end up working 12 hour days and only getting paid for 6. I work full time and make less than 30k a year. Truckers obviously have it way worse than we do, but all of us are getting screwed by the Railway Labor Act. We should band together and demand a change for both of our industries! Also I would love to see LWT cover corruption in the airline industry to shine a light on the mistreatment of cabin crew.
That's insane. So you don't get paid for any time spent in the airport? I had no idea. I would happily pay a little bit more for a flight knowing that y'all would make a better wage.
@@167logan would you pay a little more for your groceries, clothes, and everything else you have so truckers can get paid by the hour and this be safer, so we’re not racing the clock.
@@martin9562 I and a lot of others happily would but the people making most of the profits should be the ones eating that cost. Passenger airlines aren't shipping product and I don't know enough about that industry to know if this applies there as well, but in a lot of industries the "prices will go way up for consumers" line is just fear-mongering to suppress wages. Like saying a big mac will go way up in price and I always say, "Do you have any idea how many burgers they make per day? Per hour? They could get paid two dollars an hour more if we paid 10 cents more for a big mac." But they would raise it a lot more than 10 cents and they'd blame it on the higher wages to turn the general public against their workers and the very concept of decent pay while using it to increase their margins. I think it's important people realize employers are blackmailing us and holding us hostage as a society at this point.
Unions are the best avenue we have to right this wrong. Companies like ABF, UPS, and Martin Bower are Union and people get paid for all time. Pilots can be Union as well. The solution exists.
@@martin9562 absolutely.
as a driver myself I must say it's spot on...
But in the case with the exhausted driver, the keyword is "fatigued" if you tell your dispatch that you are fatigued and they still demand you to drive either call your safety department or the state police because it's illegal for them to force a fatigued driver to drive and the fines are rather steep for the company
Problem is a lot of newer drivers don't know the rules or are afraid to stand up for themselves
Pro tip for newer drivers: get yourself one of those small green books at a truck stop that has all the FMCSA rules in it and read it and don't be afraid to quit a company that breaks the law or wants you to do it
They will save money by paying the fee and just firing drivers to keep the draconian norm. They response has to be more organized than that.
@@Deno2100 it's illegal for them to fire the driver as well or to even retaliate in any way and judges consistently rule in favor of the driver in such cases
Plus as a driver you can literally quit your job in the morning and in the afternoon you'll have already a new job
@Andrew McFadden yeah that's why they always settle for a few million.... I've been in several class action lawsuits with trucking companies and so far always got a check out of it...
Btw if a trucking company repeatedly forces drivers to drive while unfit to drive they loose their authority to operate
And every company I worked for so far rather fire the dispatcher than the driver in cases like this
You also have to keep in mind that if the driver were to get in an accident while being forced to drive tired the company could loose millions in the ensuing lawsuit
The problem is dispatchers who don't know the rules and just try to get more performance out of the drivers to look better themselves
@@uwekirschling9757 Fun fact: that's exactly what happened with this guy. He got fired (or they cut his miles so much he quit, I forget), he sued, he won. He even got his story added to training videos, so he made bank off of it.
In the desk job world we call it a 24/24/24 job. Get a 24 year old straight out of college work them 24 hours a day, for 24 months before they are let go or quit for a better job.
Then recruit from newbies all over again.
"Its not a labor shortage its a profit shortage" could be used to describe every single industry in this country. People would happily do nearly any job but they are not going to do it for peanuts
Someone will. Get out of the way. I will.
As the saying goes, people would shovel shite all day long if the money is good enough
This country keeps talking about how bad slavery was, but this current work environment is not much better than legalized slavery.
@@dewmontain123 you should respect yourself more
@@UnbridledFinds i dont sit around and complain all day i though truckers were tougher than this. I guess not.
I have been a OTR truck driver for 22 years. In that time, I have spent 80% of my life living in a truck. I have never had a dispatcher that doesn't wish it was 95%. Lol
You have to understand, these dispatchers have been office workers their entire adult lives. They have no idea what we have to do out here to survive.
All dispatchers should be former drivers so they have more understanding of and empathy for what the drivers contend with.
@@joelmogensen579 then how would they be able to push the workers to make more money for the shareholders
I was with my husband when he drove otr. I had to frequently go in a bucket... one time the curtain opened and a guy saw me 💀
@@brmbklI was a former driver turned dispatcher/part owner and the myth that routes have to be so tight drivers are maxed out to the point they’re getting called about using the restroom. Or being a little lax with a break where they have cushion for the next delivery. When the owner went on vacation for two months it ended up radicalizing me because I had to price out the offers for him and I realized the stress was 99% greed
I worked for a certain company that I won’t name but it was out of Springfield Missouri and it rhymed with “Prime Inc” and my dispatcher there was awesome, from the guy himself to the load timing and everything.
Whenever I wanted to go home I was there, if I was running late for whatever reason: “k” and it’d get rescheduled, and most of the time I was never really pressed for time even slightly… which can be a bad thing but if I was a day or two early “okay, drop it in X yard and we’ll have a someone repower it”, I never really had to wait for a load, he never called me to say something I likely already knew, he never told me “you have to run this” when I told him the weather was bad and I shut it down or because I was sleepy or whatever… I worked there for almost 3 years pretty much solely because of him, and I only left because I’m now in charge of myself working for a company that has never had a driver and they let me do my own thing making twice as much.
When I got a night dispatcher or he went on vacation or something though? Completely different story.
(I’m gonna ramble about a “funny story” for a bit so ignore this last part if you want)
The way our home-time worked was we’d message dispatch and be like “hey, can i get a load to Chicago (in my case) on the 15th and take home time after” and when we’d drop the load I’d call him and reiterate that I was taking home time and to show me ready again on the 20th since we’d have 4 days at once. And I’d usually get my load the day before scheduled for the day I’d be leaving, so in this case I’d get a load on the 19th leaving the 20th…
Well one time night dispatch missed that memo and sent me a load on the 16th, I checked it just to see where it was going assuming it’d be for the 20th but it was scheduled to be picked up on the 18th or whatever. I just ignored it until the next day my normal dispatcher called me and was like “hey… I see they sent you a load for tomorrow, you didn’t call and say you wanted to come back early or anything right? (I answered no) okay… well, then obviously you don’t need to take this load, not sure why the hell they’d give it to you but I’m taking you off of it, and I’ll put down you’re coming back on the 22nd if you’re fine with that “ which I absolutely was.
And another time I needed to be home on the 22nd for my dad’s birthday, so I had home time ready on the 21st, shipper screwed around and I was running late, call the receiver and “if you’re late we can’t take you until the 22nd”, call my dispatcher and he was like “well, I know you needed to be home, so can either drop this in the yard on the 21st and we’ll get someone else to take it, or you can take the truck home for the 22nd, deliver it on the 23rd, and then take another 4 days and I’ll keep you “available” for the 22nd, and since you already have a load you can go home, do what you need to do and take home time starting the 24th… whatever you want to do”
And those are just two examples out of the many times I’ve told him I was shuttting down because of weather or sleepiness or a shipper screwing around or whatever, but those two examples stuck with me just because when I hung up I was thinking “damn, that’s awesome that he would do that, I really lucked out with this guy”
As a pilot I’ve heard about the “pilot shortage” for years. What it really is, is a shortage of smart people willing to work for shitty pay
exactly.. same goes for the food service industry right now. People are sick of shitty wages and resturant owners passing a servers salary on to the customer by expecting and hoping for a tip.
One of the interviewers in this episode is renowned trucker scientist Steve Viscelli.
Steve was once commissioned by the governor of California to report on trucker shortages. Steve found that California needed 100k trucker jobs immediately. Steve also found that California had 400k extra people with trucking licenses that DIDN'T WANT TO WORK
I wonder why 400k people would spend thousands of dollars and months of their life getting licenses to then turn around and not drive trucks... hmmmm....
Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but don't they have some crazy requirements for pilots? Like you can't have mental illness, and you risk your job by going to a therapist. Which, if true, is just absurd. Find me a person who has never needed a therapist (whether or not they went to one) and I'll find you the craziest person on earth.
I recently read about how the pilots in my country will soon go on strike due to the company trying to move towards a more "saving" approach where they want to get rid of the hired pilots and go with contractees instead that they don't have to pay all that extra benefits to. I guess if they don't manage to stand their ground, the truckers in America will look blessed compared to the pilots here.
@@philipfahy9658 there are no “crazy” health requirements for pilots. Pilots with severe mental health issues (psychosis, bipolar disorder and severe personality disorder) are prohibited from flying. Anybody here want to climb into a plane piloted by someone with a psychosis?
Many pilots report issues with depression and other common mental health problems. It is a question of degree.
I'm a tour guide, and we are also hired as independent contractors and REALLY aren't. THIS is something that need to get addressed across all industries.
@@resikchanel843 Stop posting spam. No one wants that shit.
Needs to be addressed? This is by design, they won't address it. Unless we tear down this system that lets these companies and even nonprofits get away with this, that is...
@@cleokatra the way to stop it is by workers going on strike and refusing to work in such ridiculous conditions. As long as there are enough people willing to work these jobs the companies have all the power. I'm glad to see workers these days starting to quit and companies struggling to get enough employees.
@@levihalperin7649 by workers refusing to work in these conditions, they're reshaping this system of exploitation little by little... which is what I was getting at... we tear it down by force, or by collective action, or by whatever other means necessary... but we gotta stick together and stick to our guns... and things are promising, but I'm not convinced we're there yet...
@@cleokatra 💯. We can no longer count on Congress to change the rules because of the corruption and money in politics. We have to stand up. Don't let the stupid ass culture wars blind you. They want you to be focused on that while they steal and rob you blind.
Sadly, there is no driver shortage, only a shortage of trucking jobs that pay a living wage.
labor shortage = pay shortage
Yes this. The industry has been claiming driver shortage for decades.
Seems to be a running theme of America
Tomato/tomato
Union
Only if there was a way for a group of workers that perform the same job to get organized and protect themselves from unscrupulous employers
@teduppercut
That is what the Teamsters' Union was supposed to do.
@spaceman081447 Reagan classified truck drivers as essential and it is illegal for them to perform a general strike.
@@scottlemiere2024
Of course Reagan was known for union busting.
🤔🤔🤔
The idea that strikes can be legal/illegal is such nonsense.
'its illigal for you to not work' how tf that make sense
FINALLY got my 70 yo father into John Oliver by watching this episode (he used to be a trucker in the 70s)! Now he's quoting him to me and mentioning other episodes he looked up today 💓💓👏👏🥳
He also told me the monkey from BJ and the bear was so protective of the main actor he has to be removed from the set during fight scenes because if the monkey watched it he would attack the actors fighting BJ 🤣🤣💖
@@malindabful that's cool
🥳🥳🥳
This males me smile
You're doing the lord's work.
Oh yay! A Last Week Tonight episode about my job! I'm sure this won't be depressingly accurate!
Even your sarcasm is too optimistic.
And? how was it?
Lmao 🤣 it’s really not funny but idk what else to even say!
Can we watch the moment your soul gets crushed (assuming you still have one)?
How accurate was this segment from your point of view?
Real fact: The first time I've ever learned of this trucker problem is from the Pixar movie Cars. When Lightning McQueen forced Mack to drive through the night without resting, my 11-year-old brain was telling me "This should be illegal."
And what's more is that if he had just let him get even a few hours of sleep he would've made his destination on time.
now that you bring this up i totally had the same thought as a child watching that movie...like seriously poor Mac
Lightning didn't deserve Mac
My mind was blown as an 8 year old that the Pokemon center was free. Even at that age I knew hospitals in the US were far from free
@@alastairhewitt380 ok
to quote Tennesse Ernest Ford:
"You load 16 tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
St. Peter, don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store"
Ernie was a prophet (even if his song technically was about working in a coal mine)
@@RichardX1not a prophet, just goes to show that nothing has changed.
My husband is a trucker as well and after doing the math we realized he could be making just as much working at Starbucks and then at least he'd be home every night.
Exactly
Nonsense
And he would smell like delicious coffee beans!❤😂
as a barista, your husband is doing harder work than I ever could. blessings to you and yours
@@KraigwithaK2112 nonsense? You’ve read their finances have you? Little man on the internet knows better I should’ve guessed
As a trucker this is very accurate, probably the most accurate reporting on trucking I ever seen.
It's a sad thing to see oligarchy so enrooted in the political, regulatory and news system that you need to go to comedy shows to actually see an accurate portrayal of the truth.
When i was a kid- 8-9 years old- my dad cranked wrenches on weekends for Smiser freight service in Sacramento, CA. He loved that company, and had a personal relationship with drivers and the owner alike. In the 70’s, these drivers were considered the ‘knights of the highways’ and were all valued employees of their companies. Deregulation of corporations have created this mess. And it’s taken decades for their greed and mismanagement to finally come to a head. Eventually, this nation will literally shut down. And when it does, Americans will figure out that “freedom” means a strong regulatory system of rules that keep capitalism in check, and protect workers. Having a Class A CDL is difficult to achieve. It’s a skill that most will not be able to have, and must be treated with the same respect as any journeyman trade ( which, by the way, have been disrespected since the 70’s as well…). I have nothing but a massive respect for Long haul owner/operators and local drivers, having been one, as well as having Owner/operator family members.
@@rrs_13 the unfortunate truth
At this point independent dispatchers are making more money then truck driver
I hope things are working out better for you. This is crazy.
Excellent. I have over 50 years in the business and wouldn't change a word you said. Thanks for the first accurate portrayal of the industry I've seen in a very long time. Sure, there is much more going on that your limited time could not allow you to cover, but this is a great start.
I drove truck for 30 years , and freakin Loved it and miss it and I truly belive it was because I was a TEAMSTER DRIVER. DEREGULATION FUCKED TRUCKING UP ! And John is telling you why the industry scumbags can’t keep drivers ! Lol John nailed the dispatchers !
Jimmy Hoffa contributed to the corruption as well.
I sent this to a trucker buddy in the lower 48 and asked how true it was. He sent back, and I quote, "I'm seventeen minutes in and this may be the best piece ever done about the problems in truck driving."
"Amazon" delivery driver here. They also use about a dozen different DSPs at each Amazon facility. Those DSPs then are encouraged to compete with each other for expanding their contract with Amazon, bonuses for # of packages delivered, and the safety rating of their drivers.
The result being that you can't just be good or decent at the job. You need to go above and beyond, just to keep your job. All while trying to drive as quickly, and supposedly safely, as possible. The turnover is absolutely insane.
I can only imagine. There is no love loss for Bezos with me.
Yeah, it's ridiculous. The KPIs are designed so that you have to always be on super high intensity and you have no chance with the competition
A coworker of mine put it perfectly. "We are the McDonald's of last mile delivery". It's like a scene out of a war movie where the grizzled vets don't even bother learning the names of the newbies.
I'm a fellow Amazon driver, and it's accurate. I've been here a year, and despite having decent performance, I have constant fears of job security, because sometimes I can't 100% finish a route and I have no clue how badly that hurts my scores, so I'm constantly on edge that I'll get the call from my boss that "Hey so your stats are too low to keep you, we're letting you go". With how hard they push us, it's simply unsustainable. Not to mention, an Amazon driver killed a kid within the last year and they added these cameras that pretty much watch the road in front, the sides, and you at all times and its absolutely insane.
Look down at your phone to see where the GPS is leading you? That's a distraction, and it goes against your score. Did you stop just past the stop sign? That counts as a no-stop, goes against your score. Did you drive past a stop sign that was angled enough for the camera to see, but not on your road? That's another no-stop violation. Braking hard because someone cut you off? That's a hard deceleration violation bucko. Did you press the gas pedal a little too hard because your pressed for time more than ever? That's a hard acceleration violation. Or taking a corner too fast. It's ALL monitored. Safety is important, but then they push us to go as fast as inhumanly possible. Like I said, unsustainable.
@@det.halligan isn't it a good thing that you're incentivised to drive well?
Also why do you stay? Are there advantages? And what are the requirements?
Truck driver here, and if I could give John Oliver a hug for this segment, I definitely would. This is all 100% accurate.
friends of the road
I work for one of the largest Teamster health & welfare and pension funds in the country. My job is to research when one of our participants is appealing an adverse decision regarding his pension or health insurance benefits. I know how hard these men and women truckers work and that is the reason I go above and beyond to help them as much as I can. I feel like truckers are one of the most undervalued professions in this country. Thanks for shining a light on them, John.
Former driver here: I left the industry because I was sick and tired of being taken advantage of. The abusive dispatchers, not being able to get home for doctors appointments that I repeatedly reminded the dispatchers about, and having managers call me to cuss me out because I didn't want to haul an overweight load
That was a big one for me, too. Trying to reroute took more time and getting stuck at a weigh station waiting for the offload truck.... and it's MY points and license I'm risking!
It seems lately with not being able to get seats filled, when you ask (in advance) for home time to take care of stuff, they get the attitude you're putting them in a bind. Example: I received a jury duty summons. Put in to be home. My dispatcher was asking me if there was any way to get out of it. Turns out I could have IF they had gotten me through the house to where I could have submitted a hardship to the court. But, since they waited until the last minute, I was outside the window to file a hardship and I had to appear.
Swift used to send trucks out with no brakes.
@@rogersmith7396 lol Western Express sends trailers with no brakes, no plates, rubbing/chaffing hoses, bent/broken/missing parts, non-functional lights, you name it
@@Greenchazm The government should have a whistle blowers program with rewards.
It’s not a “driver shortage”, it’s a “drivers self worth surplus” that’s happening. And I’m all for it 🤙
“Reasonable wage shortage”
Drivers make anywhere from 60-120k. Far better than you will see getting a 4 year degree. But 👌🏻
@@jacksong4886 Did you even watch the video? they don't generally make that much after expenses...
It's all about turnover.
@@jacksong4886 It's almost like you clicked on the video just to argue in defense of the trucking companies without watching. No one would do that though, right?
Never forget a statement from a lawyer for a trucking company.."If you knew what I knew, you'd never get on the interstate again". Thanks for exposing this industry, John!
my older relatives are long hall and i know i just don't got what it takes to do the job safely as i fall a sleep or get drowsy on the same long road aka taking the same 20 hour tips 10 time in a year in hurry, 2x a year for the grandparents/holiday's i can do but as a job no as a 1-off road trip vacation yes at a slower pace and or days off the road in between longer driving days
i have to sleep in my own bed that's quiet and be able to walk around some say on a ship doing maintenance or navigating as thats the closest to a trucker i can get
I'd you knew. What John & his buddies did at Hollywood parties.
You wouldn't watch these shows anymore.
@@richardprice5978 Get tested for narcolepsy. Seriously. Kindly meant.
@@casawilliams6392 why? i can't be the only person that really doesn't do longer roadies that are repetitive without preparation
smaller no rush hour traffic eran's in town/suburban i can do easy just not as a job like the mailman/pizza delivery as its sub-30m and then get up walk for about 10+m then go back or the next shopping experience
@@I_like_turtles_67 Hookers and blow. I don't see a problem with that.
"...What is it, 10 degrees? That'll wake you right up..."
Biology would like to speak to the manager...
“Independent contracting” is the biggest scam on the working class. I’ve done those types of jobs and they always translate to lower pay and worse benefits.
It’s techno-corporate speak for ‘serf.’
I’m a history teacher and the description of “independent contracting” reminds me of the tenant farming that existed in Europe in the 1300s. 😔
When I sold insurance, we were taught to promote how it improves employee retention, productivity and moral. But as an independent contractor, the very company I was selling for would rather spend millions on training new people each year than provide insurance to retain employees. Is that fucked up or what?
@@EpictheEpicest What kind of insurance improves employee retention, productivity, and morale? I heard of home & car insurance, life insurance, & health insurance, but I never heard of an insurance that retains employees.
And possible Income Tax issues!
Truckers are such an under-appreciated group of professionals. Things MUST improve.
Truckers are irrelevant. Everything that you need can be made from Cannabis Sativa in your own state.
No one cares enough to learn this, so you're stuck with some outdated bullshit system that imports cheap crap from China to be shipped across multiple states.
If they won't do it for our teachers what makes you think they'll do it for these people?
Video estetik ruclips.net/video/u0tBa4kDHvg/видео.html
They'll be replaced by robots
True and always wish greedy companies would start actually taking care of them better than stupid stock owners whose doing absolutely nothing than being deadweight for companies.
Unions are like condoms, if someone is trying hard to convince you that you don't need one, you definitely need one.
I read union like unicorn and was so confused.
Not according to my trucker friends. Many independent truckers stay! But government is trying to shut down the happy independents!
@@goodenergy11 “happy independents” he says
Except most of the coworkers in said condom are the most lazy people I have ever met, and I have to pick all the slack for them.
Unions prefer to treat seniors with more respect, and don't take reports of working conditions seriously either way, they're not any better.
Theres a reason unions are dying out like 50% over these past 20+ years, employers are treating their workers better over time.
Exactly, the problem is with condoms once it’s done it’s job we take it off and throw the damn thing in the garbage but for some reason with unions we keep the damn things around until it infects everything and leads to death.
My family runs one of these trucks and we are lucky to have some pretty good employers, my dad just retired at 65 but hes a trooper putting me through school with that hunk of metal. as someone whos done finances for him i know how hard it is in this line of work
As a box truck driver classified as a "contractor," I'm glad he's finally shining a light on this fucked up industry.
Unfortunately it probably won't cause the cockroaches to come scurrying out.
As someone who has had several family members in the industry, mainly as OTR, but I have an uncle who hauls gas tankers, these bigger companies need to be spanked with a spike paddle with how they treat their drivers. I did a lot of work for my dad as an owner operator, and though he was treated a bit better, it was hell trying to get him loads with decent pay that would also cover fuel
As a contracter, they dont have to pay benefits I imagine.
You are happy that after Truckers showed themselves to be extremely effective and powerful political tool that John Oliver a puppet for those who fear you, gives you attention to make you believe they care and arent trying to replace you?
No offense but you ought ask yourself "Cui Bono" all the time, especially when it seems like somebody is being awfully nice to you and wants the best for you.
@@terretulsiak I believe that is what Oliver said.
John Oliver always hits it out of the park with major issues like this. I'm not a trucker, but I feel their pain thanks to people like John Oliver raising awareness of the issues.
The pain is felt by all laborers around the world. No protection for employees and never getting out of DEBT
It's worse than you think. I have a CDL but I won't get back into a truck until I can support my family without worries. I'm not risking my life for fucking peanuts. I'd rather live in a tent at this point than drive a truck for that bs pay.
@@r.d.9399 The worst part is the 'enforcer' class of people, that make us poor sods do whatever the rich and powerful want.
As a driver, I'm so glad to see someone with an audience as large as John is bringing this topic up.
It feels good to be seen, doesn't it? Drivers are often taken for granted in this country. Thanks for doing what you do! I know it isn't easy to sleep in a truck that keeps starting every 10 minutes to keep the cab cool enough to sleep!
Thank you for this John. I was a truck driver (US and Canada) for ten years and am happily retired. I still can work, but would rather stick needles in my eyes. Less irritating.
My father recently retired from trucking after 24 years. It left me puzzled because I always thought he made great money. I got very emotional after watching this video because I wasn’t aware of the struggle my father faced. Thank you John Oliver for spreading awareness.
Maybe you should actually talk to him… you know, your dad?
Sounds like a proud man, and like one that can make a lot from of a little.
Reminds me of my grandpa. He never complained about farming, but he could of. He loved it and thats all that mattered. Thats an old school mentality.
What does it mean that John Oliver's RUclips clip helped you know your father better than actually knowing your father has??
@@onebadn8 You can know someone your whole life and in truth, they're a stranger to you. A trucker is on the road a lot. I'm going to guess that when they're at home, they're either sleeping or the family is taking care not to bother them so they can mentally relax as well. And lots of older men see complaining about anything as a weakness (and you'll still hear this today), so anything difficult their father faced, they likely kept it to themselves. And there's also the possibility that he found a company that treated him right and loved his job, so there were no complaints to be had 🤷🏾♀️
My father was an owner operator in the 90's through the early 2000's. I can't tell you how much this video means to me.
I had three uncles drove truck through the '70s and '80s, put numerous kids through college, had great houses, new cars every few years and at least one Harley in the garage.
Deregulation destroyed trucking as a career.
@@ridetillidie8090 whaaaaaa?! Deregulation is all about #FREEDOM, tho.
@@christaylor9095 :D thanks for the laugh. I needed one today.
@@ridetillidie8090 I'm here for you, bro 😆
Honestly the "contractor" abuse thing needs to be dealt with in general. That one is not just truckers, though it's pretty shit that they have to maintain their own equipment when they're not really independent contractors. Many industries pull this crap. IT is notorious for it for example.
Uber and Lyft drivers recently fought for the right to be labeled independent contractors, as they were not categorized as that under California law. Now they're in the same boat as these truckers.
@@TheJesselopez1981 drivers didn't ask for that. That was the lobbyists for those companies that did. Do you honestly think that someone would knowingly screw themselves out of better benefits and a living wage?
@@tylerkaufman6777 actually they did. The majority of drivers didn't want to be employees. They pushed for this and voted for this. They may have been uninformed on some things. I think most thought if they became employees they would no longer be able to make their own schedule. Those things are not mutually exclusive.
And OTR drivers don’t see their families all week.
He's actually covered that before in some other stories where it affected the subject of the piece - the example I remember best is the WWE one, which is the same way. Categorizing them as contractors allows the company to exploit them and own them at the same time they don't have to be responsible for anything that happened to them. It's horrible.
My dads a long haul truck driver and has been for about 22 years. I’ve been on the truck with him and wanted to be a truck driver growing up. My dad always told me no, there’s better jobs. And as I got older and he explained more and more why he said no to me being a driver I realized that truck driving is a very thankless job. There’s countless times we’ve sat for days and he hasn’t gotten paid for it. He loves driving, but the waiting eats his time and he doesn’t get paid for it.
Put also new rules and basically being made to go one place to another with the new monitor whether you’re tired or sick when sometimes you won’t seen a rest stop or truck stop for miles, it adds unneeded stress
For someone in this industry for over 30 years this is so spot on it is scary. I want to personally thank you for doing this spot on trucking. I have sat at a shipper in Seattle for over 14 hours and then had to be down in Southern California area 21 hours later. Now the math says, had I been loaded in just a couple of hours that would not have been a problem. 3 hours loading 11 hours driving, 10 rest break 11 hours driving. Boom we arrive on time with no other issues in-between. But alas no. Screwed at the initial dock, the shipper. Thank you again for this!!!
Did you make it?
where in the hell does it take people 14-18 hours to load a truck? how common is this problem? what are ways to potentially fix it, im amazed by it
@@erickaps2937 The problem is that the shippers (AND receivers) sometimes “double book” loads, or they plan on loading, and have equipment breakdowns, at the factory. Walmart Distribution Centers are okay. They tend to have a rule that you can’t deliver more than two hours early, SO it makes it easier for the driver to plan when to go on duty, especially IF they are at a truck stop a mile away. Even then, they sometimes take four hours to unload.
@@erickaps2937 big facilities of renowned companies like Walmart, P&G and etc usually do the loading/unloading very fast. But then there is the rest - understaffed, poorly equipped and working only between 8-16 facilities. Sometimes the workers show an attitude, and sometimes there are no workers to speak off, and the queue can get ridiculously big in FCFS facilities
It's refreshing to see someone involved in the inconvenient truth
our dependence on these supply chains is terrifying
@@hornedgoddess8191 More specifically, it's our dependence on these corporations that I find terrifying.
hurry, look over there - away from big pharma & their "vaccine" lol
JESUS KNOCKS ON YOUR HEART AND LONGS FOR YOU TO ANSWER! HE DOESN'T WANT
TO SEE ANYONE PERISH INTO HELL. GOD LOVES YOU SO HE GIVES YOU FREE
WILL AND A CHOICE TO ACCEPT HIM OR REJECT HIM. TO LOVE HIM OR TO LOVE
SIN/THIS WORLD. CALL UPON JESUS & ASK HIM TO FORGIVE YOUR SINS!
SURRENDER YOUR WILL & YOUR LIFE TO HIM & HE WILL GIVE YOU
ETERNAL LIFE IN HEAVEN! PICTURE YOUR BEST DAY ON EARTH TIMES A BILLION
FOR ETERNITY, THAT'S HEAVEN! NOW PICTURE YOUR WORST DAY ON EARTH TIMES A
BILLION FOR ETERNITY, THAT'S HELL! HE WILL GIVE YOU WHAT YOU WANT SO IF
YOU REJECT HIM YOU WILL BE SEPARATED FROM HIM & HIS BLESSINGS
(LOVE, PEACE, JOY, HOPE, REST, ETC). IN HELL YOU WILL BE ALONE WITHOUT
GOD OR PEOPLE... YOU WILL BE HOPELESS, IN DESPAIR & AGONY FOREVER!
GOD'S STANDARD FOR HEAVEN IS PERFECTION AND ONLY JESUS (THE SON OF GOD/GOD IN
THE FLESH) LIVED THAT PERFECT LIFE! HE LAID DOWN HIS LIFE & TOOK
THE WRATH OF THE FATHER ON THE CROSS FOR YOUR SINS! GOD IS JUST SO HE
MUST PUNISH SIN & HE IS HOLY SO NO SIN CAN ENTER HIS KINGDOM OF
HEAVEN. IF YOU ARE IN CHRIST ON JUDGEMENT DAY GOD WILL SEE YOU AS HIS
PERFECT SON (SINLESS SINCE YOUR SINS ARE COVERED BY JESUS' OFFERING).
YOU CAN ALSO CHOOSE TO REJECT JESUS' GIFT/SACRIFICE & PAY FOR YOUR
OWN SIN WITH DEATH (HELL) BUT THAT SEEMS PRETTY FOOLISH! GOD SEES &
HEARS EVERYTHING YOU HAVE SAID & DONE. YOU WONT WIN AN ARGUMENT
WITH HIM & YOU CANT DEFEND ANY OF YOUR SINS TO HIM. YOU'RE NOT A
GOOD PERSON, I'M NOT A GOOD PERSON... ONLY GOD IS GOOD! WE'RE ALL
GUILTY WITHOUT ACCEPTING JESUS' SACRIFICE FOR OUR SINS!
MUHAMMAD DIDN'T DIE FOR YOUR SINS, BUDDHA DIDN'T DIE FOR YOUR SINS, NO PASTOR/NO
PRIEST/NO SAINT/NO ANCESTOR DIED FOR YOUR SINS, MARY DIDN'T DIE FOR
YOUR SINS, NO IDOLS OR FALSE GODS DIED FOR YOUR SINS, NO ACTOR OR
CELEBRITY DIED FOR YOUR SINS, NO ATHLETE OR POLITICIAN DIED FOR YOUR SINS!
JESUS CHRIST ALONE DIED FOR YOUR SINS & WAS
RESURRECTED FROM THE GRAVE! HE IS ALIVE & COMING BACK VERY SOON
WITH JUDGEMENT (THESE ARE END TIMES)! PREPARE YOURSELVES, TURN FROM SIN
& RUN TO JESUS! HE KNOWS YOUR PAIN & TROUBLES, HE WANTS TO
HEAL & RESTORE YOU! TALK TO HIM LIKE A BEST FRIEND! ASK HIM TO
REVEAL HIMSELF TO YOU & HELP YOU TO BELIEVE IF YOU DOUBT! DON'T
WAIT TO CRY OUT! NO ONE IS PROMISED TOMORROW! HE LONGS FOR YOU TO
INVITE HIM IN, HE LOVES YOU MORE THAN ANY PERSON EVER COULD, HE CREATED YOU!
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."-John 14:6
"But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven."-Matthew 10:33
“For the wages of sin is death (hell), but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”-Romans 6:23
Meanwhile shareholders get richer,,,
I'm a big rig mechanic. I've seen everything on this episode first hand plus more. Worst story i can share is when i worked for swift. A guy died in his truck on the lot. Nobody checked his truck everyone thought he quit without telling anyone. After they got his body out of the truck they cleaned it up and re-leased it to another driver within a week.
The drivers, dock workers, and mechanics are a dying breed. No one wants to do what we do anymore. Partly because of money, partly because of working conditions, but mostly because no one cares about us. In the industry we are human assets. Outside the industry we are invisible to the public. Just nameless faceless people that no one considers or cares about.
- "Outside the industry we are invisible to the public. Just nameless faceless people that no one considers or cares about"
Unless you're in the entertainment industry, people really care about celebrities, that holds true for 95% of anyone with a job. I don't ever think about insurance agents, grocery store managers, warehouse workers, chefs, people working the lines at production plants, airport employees etc. I don't like to think I'm an uncaring asshole it's just that I have my own problems and my own priorities. If I spent time considering all the people in any job that are getting the shitty end of the stick, I'd never get anything done.
No one wants to do anything anymore. Country full of bums
@@donmiller2908 it's kinda different for truckers because our whole country depends on them so much. Mainly for food. Most jobs could have their whole field take the day off and no one would notice a thing. Stop truckers and the whole system falls apart
@@capealio Oh I know, and I appreciate truckers. I'm just giving a reason why people rarely think of truckers and their problems.
Any suggestions for what us average folk could do? It’s not that I don’t care. It’s that I didn’t know this was an issue and I don’t know what to do. Horrible this is happening and if there’s anything we can do then please let us know
I recommend reading "The secret Life of groceries" for a deeper look at the trucking and retail industry. Excellent book and a great read.
Bear was named after the great Paul "Bear" Bryant. The late head football coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide. I was a teenager when that show was on. My father was a truck driver for 35 years and he loved that show.
The issues with fast delivery are ridiculous, considering that consumers never asked for that in the first place. So the new thing now is “groceries in 15 minutes”. I live in NYC and there are delivery people running into pedestrians on the sidewalk in order to beat the clock. But just last year if I wanted groceries in a few minutes i just got them myself. If I did order groceries, they could be scheduled to arrive the next day during whatever 4 hour window that was available, and I was fine with that.
The guys in the marketing room create these time constraints that no one asked for, then make it a problem for delivery people to fulfill those promises. Seriously - what’s wrong with ‘groceries in under an hour’ or ‘you’ll get your stuff in a week’?
Absolutely this!
Our wonderful, investor driven economy which is trying to squeeze blood from every stone.
Spoiled Americans and their “convenience”
I want this. And I love setting a stopwatch when I make the order - if it is late I report it. I could care less about the person delivering it. They are nothing more that a peon attending to me.
@@nekonatauzanto1758 Cringe. Go and do your homework, child.
Imagine if those drivers formed like a group. A group that could use their leverage to bargain for better wages and conditions. If only we had something like that here... whatever could they do?
Maybe like a team...yeah...that's the ticket...truck driving worker's team enthusiasts ...may need to work on the name...
Maybe they could form some sort of convoy and drive across America and bring attention to all these issues?
Republicans say they are on the truckers side
.
Republicans tell them unions are going to make you loose money and jobs
.
Truckers belive them....as no one else even mentions them
.
.
And so truckers vote against their own interests and pass "right to work" BS
.... a union guys he has referring to a truckers union.
Funny thing is, it's literally illegal for truckers to have a union.
The absolute brilliance of this show never fails to amaze me.
I've been yelling at every manager and boss I know to raise their pay rates and that the reason they're workers don't care about their jobs is not because of laziness and its because it isn't worth the effort any more. People are not getting paid enough. KNOW YOUR WORTH KIDS. The boss needs YOU to make his money not the other way around.
My dad used to tell me this all the time.
Have you convinced a single person to raise pay rates?
@@Gogoroth2 it’s about changing the culture. People will follow the trend. That’s why this happened.
When workers organize themselves, instead of trying to attack these problems as a sole individual, that's when we start seeing potential. Don't expect anything to change without collective action that results in normal people taking power away from the current decisionmakers.
@@dirtydinero6622 No. This happened because they deregulated Capitalism
Capitalism is so bad that if you do not regulate the filthy rich "privileged elite" they will bankrupt everyone and make them live in corporate towns
And that corporate town trend is starting back up... go figure
So glad he is talking about the exploitation of workers. It's everywhere in this country and we need to put an end to it.
When a businessman can go to the moon on his own, civilian dime, there’s clearly an issue.
This video is accurate for the most part. I've been driving a commercial truck for 34 years and never got treated well until I started driving for Walmart. Walmart Transportation is a very good job but they're strict and particular about how they operate, which is not a bad thing. They are adamant about following their rules and being safe.
The fact that it took working for freaking Walmart to be treated well... Walmart isn't exactly known for being good to employees either.
@@SadisticSenpai61 They're not? Generally they seem to do pretty well. What makes you make that statement?
@@ian3580 I think you misunderstood what I was saying. The truck drivers said it wasn't until they started working for Walmart that they were treated well by their employer.
Walmart is not known for being a good company to work for. They very much treat their employees as easily replaceable. They're not as bad as Amazon ofc, but practically no one is as bad as Amazon.
And that's why it's so damning that Walmart treats their drivers so much better than these trucking companies.
My boyfriend is a driver, and you summed up everything he has gone through in his 9 yrs. The industry is criminal. Not to mention the awful stigma placed on drivers by people. Yeah some drivers fit the stereotype, but they work hard and a job that we cant live without, and no one deserves the treatment they get. Its horrible.
Honey, if your man stayed on with this shit for 9 years, you need a smarter man.
What is the stigma placed on them?
You better service your bf the way he wants it for his hard work
The stigma as far as I know it is the assumption that truckers are uneducated, ignorant, belligerent types who frequent bars when not behind the wheel. Think rednecks but with bigger trucks. I believe there's a connotation that they can't hold down other blue-collar jobs and just end up in the profession like the tide brought them in.
I have a lot of respect for truckers. We are totally dependent upon them for everything we buy that isn't produced in our own town. They work crappy hours, and they have a lot more to consider while on the road than the rest of us. Every time I'm on the highway I see idiots in cars tailgating 18-wheelers, or cruising along in their blind spots (terrible idea in my state, where they actually need to change lanes once in a while), or cutting into the lane directly in front of them. The fact that more of those jerks aren't dead is due to the truckers' skills.
When I was a kid in the 1970s, my best friend's dad was a long-hauler (I don't know the industry terms; he'd be out on trips for at least a week at a time). He was gone a lot, and when he came home he would sleep almost the whole time and we'd all have to play at my house so we didn't wake him up. He'd be super grumpy the first few days, then a somewhat involved dad for the next few, then he'd be off on another trip. The neighborhood kids used to line the street when he was coming home or heading out, because he would pull the horn for us.
It seemed to me as a little kid that he was giving up a lot to take care of his family. I definitely formed the impression that truck drivers were sleep-deprived on the job.
@@nothingworksworks3511 There's a valuable lesson there. Truck drivers, like most working-class folks, would be much better off protesting for better pay, benefits, and working conditions. Naturally, their greedy bosses don't want that, so they feed them culture wars bullshit, telling them to blame people of colour, immigrants, foreigners, liberals, made-up conspiracies- anything to keep the people fighting each other, and distracted from who's really taking advantage of us. Divide and conquer.
This reminds me of when people talk about “teacher shortage”. It isn’t the shortage but the turnover rate due to absolute burnout and horrible wages.
Absolutely!!
Idk certain companies don't pay worth a shit but they're usually shitty workers. IE Swift, Schneider etc.
I know that I thought about teaching high school math and then realized I could earn enough to live like a real adult if I taught college instead…
Maybe I would have picked college anyway, but lack of a living wage is a sad reason to make a choice :(
@@pickledokra2963 If a company pays its help well and treats their employees with respect, most employees will recognize that and give their all! If a company doesn't give a hoot and shows you that every day, employees will just bide their time until they can go elsewhere..and do only what they have to, to get by until then! Sure, there will always be the odd jerk of an employee who doesn't care, no matter how well treated, but that guy will be the rarity and likely soon to get fired. It's pretty much like every other type of relationship people have in their lives..no one wants to be treated like a chump and will respond positively, if treated like they count!
And that there is the reason why unions are important especially teachers can’t tell you I got inspired but I knew some teachers that were cool and charming. Sometimes I think the future isn’t coming true pretty much a dystopian era is coming😳😰scary indeed.
When my kids were born, one of my great aunts gave us a huge treasure trove of vintage children's books from the 60s and 70s that she had,
And one of them is all about trucks and trucking, Including the typical work day of a truck driver.
What it describes is such a reasonably regulated and desirable blue collar middle class job that I almost cried when I first read it.
In many ways, we have fallen so far when it comes to the dignity and rights of working people.
Amen.
The 1980s ruined America.
My dad, before the union busting, was able to provide for a family of six. Can you even imagine a job where a single person can buy a home, take vacations, have a retirement, good insurance including dental? What in the absolute fuck has happened to America?
@@andreabradley5837 Jimmy Carter unfortunately.
@@andreabradley5837 The 80s began and it all went downhill from there.
As a former driver (regional and long-haul) I can't thank you enough for this piece. The industry has been broken for a long, long time.
Shout out to Alex Knight (Gorilla Tango ABQ; Tricklock, etc)
My dad has been a trucker for over 25 years but he’s a local union driver with great benefits who gets paid by the hour. He’s definitely overworked but he makes nearly 150,000 a year. He’s been very lucky in the industry and he’s truly an outlier. I hear so many terrible stories from him about his friends who are long haulers and it just makes me so sad for them but also glad my dad is not stuck in that situation
U.N.I.O.N.
UNIONS! So Very F___ing Under-Appreciated!!!
My dad was a Teamster local driver from about 1973 to 2005. We grew up in upper middle class, brand new home, two new cars, vacation every year and mom stayed home with us four kids. He is now retired and his pension is close to $3k/mo and he gets SSI. Everything is paid off and he is sitting pretty. Ahhhh boomers have it made. He is fully aware of it and why he would never vote republican because they destroyed unions.
I had several truck drivers as patients when I worked in addiction recovery; each and every one of them had horror stories about being on the job, several of them told me straight-up they were never going to quit meth until they could find another job because it was the only thing that kept them awake on long hauls. Truckers have felt the pressure of how expendable their companies see them for a long time.
My grandpa died on March 31st of this year. In his possession was the original BJ and the Bear semi truck.
Before he got Ill, he was actively using it for trucking. I rode with him across country one summer and every single stop we made, people came up to him to talk about the truck.
RIP Grandpa Craig 🚛
BJ and the Bear was a great show! I am glad that John Oliver mentioned it in this video. I had thought that it had been forgotten.
♥️🤘🏽
@@vernicethompson4825 Same! I wasn't expecting that. That was actually the first clip from the show I've ever seen. After my truck trip with Gramps, I tried to look it up but this was "early" internet so no RUclips, wikipedia was in its infancy, and what little content the internet had at the time understandably made no mention of a decade old TV show that ran for two seasons.
@@fellzer I hope you can find all the episodes somewhere. I don't think I or my brother missed any. It was a fun show. RIP your grandfather.
That’s a great story-thank you for sharing!
This was great. I hope they make a similar segment about aircraft maintenance.
Haha
The other thing about the lease purchase program: when I was working for a trucking company, i was one of the safety and compliance employees and spoke to drivers who would, at least when they got close to the end of their lease, the company would greatly reduce their loads, leaving them unable to pay their lease payments so the company could repossess the truck. They were told there were no loads available, given loads that required them to drive halfway across the country without a load -on their own dime- because there are no other loads available and since they are working for the company they are leasing the truck from, they are not able to search out loads from other company's or independent load boards.
But its not just the preditory leasing, its the fact that the added pay for hazardous materials hauling isnt actually that spectacular anymore, that the added danger and the cost of additional insurance isnt worth it so much anymore, and many drivers, since they are in no-touch load situations, they pull up and have their truck loaded, some places not even allowed on the dock, they get a list of what they're carrying, but say a few batteries or cleanimg products make it onto the truck but arent listed on the cargo list- that driver can be fined, have their truck taken away, and have their entire future in trucking at risk because its found they transported hazardous materials. And they dont see if the products are loaded from being refused to be able to confirm their cargo, they have no idea what is really on the truck, or if what they received as their load is actually what it says on the paper that declares what they are carrying.
But where the real money is being filed off from the truckers is in independant dispatchers. A company has a load, instead of having a service that will pick up the load every time (some still do, but its rare) they call up some dispatchers to make offers for that load, who can do it cheapest, or they have a load board where drivers regularly bid against other drivers for receiving lower pay, trying to offer the lowest price to carry the load so they have the load and can make money. Some boards allow drivers to access them, some are handed out to dispatchers who then bid for the load in the same way, then take their percentage cut for offering the load on their load board, or to their independant contractors to take for the low price the dispatcher bid to get access to filling the clients needs, and then takes a % off that amount before it goes to the driver so the driver makes even less. And if you lease a truck from the company you work for, which most even small transportation companies, or logistics companies as they usually prefer, have a leading program.
Not only that, but drivers are often required to pay for their own gas and maintenance, their physicals, drug tests, they may be given a company gas card that has a couple hundred dollars on it, which, with the price of gas wont even get them cross country, and that amount will be taken off their check. They are required to turn in all their receipts for everything, something that always made me wonder how that would work for tax time, considering the company demands original receipts, not copies. And if the driver is at a place where they dont have any money for gas and need the company to advance some more money, ive witnessed an approval process at some places that can take a couple days potentially, not to mention that most logistics companies dont have regular weekend hours for their safety and compliance people, who usually field the added advanced for the drivers who need gas and dont have money to pay for it. I once had driver waiting over 10hrs, that was he called me to get help, get more money on his card so he could get the load to the drop off point, and I tried numerous times to get a hold of my supervisor, who could approve it, but she was on vacation, and the owner of the company, the only other person who could make the approval, was nowhere to be found and not answering his phone or numerous massages I left. So I stayed late, trying to go between the very panicked driver and trying to get a hold of someone to solve the drivers issue. I stayed about 3-4hrs after my usual clock out time simply to make sure the driver knew I wasnt forgetting about him or had gone home and left him in lurch.
And between my fight to make sure he was taken care of and the good fortune that his load was not perishable, he made it to his drop only a few hours behind schedule, but still on the right day. But i knew it was a nightmare for him, and he left soon after, as I would as well if i thought that the company I signed on with didnt have my back like that.
There are too many people trying to get a piece of the pie for themselves without doing any work other than copying a load from another load board to their own and thinking that this entitles them to 10% (+/-) of the amount the client is paying for the load, its a bunch of people who want to not actually do any of the work and get paid for someone else doing it for them. Personally, I call that preditory, since if these logistics brokers didnt take a bite first, the drivers would be making more and they arent doing anything other than ensuring - most times by contract, that loads wont be released to the drivers themselves but to brokers who then can make money from making sure the drivers cant do it themselves.
Damn good points!
God bless you for bringing all of that to our attention! The general public needs to know about these things before anything can be done to help. Keep spreading the word!
JESUS KNOCKS ON YOUR HEART AND LONGS FOR YOU TO ANSWER! HE DOESN'T WANT
TO SEE ANYONE PERISH INTO HELL. GOD LOVES YOU SO HE GIVES YOU FREE
WILL AND A CHOICE TO ACCEPT HIM OR REJECT HIM. TO LOVE HIM OR TO LOVE
SIN/THIS WORLD. CALL UPON JESUS & ASK HIM TO FORGIVE YOUR SINS!
SURRENDER YOUR WILL & YOUR LIFE TO HIM & HE WILL GIVE YOU
ETERNAL LIFE IN HEAVEN! PICTURE YOUR BEST DAY ON EARTH TIMES A BILLION
FOR ETERNITY, THAT'S HEAVEN! NOW PICTURE YOUR WORST DAY ON EARTH TIMES A
BILLION FOR ETERNITY, THAT'S HELL! HE WILL GIVE YOU WHAT YOU WANT SO IF
YOU REJECT HIM YOU WILL BE SEPARATED FROM HIM & HIS BLESSINGS
(LOVE, PEACE, JOY, HOPE, REST, ETC). IN HELL YOU WILL BE ALONE WITHOUT
GOD OR PEOPLE... YOU WILL BE HOPELESS, IN DESPAIR & AGONY FOREVER!
GOD'S STANDARD FOR HEAVEN IS PERFECTION AND ONLY JESUS (THE SON OF GOD/GOD IN
THE FLESH) LIVED THAT PERFECT LIFE! HE LAID DOWN HIS LIFE & TOOK
THE WRATH OF THE FATHER ON THE CROSS FOR YOUR SINS! GOD IS JUST SO HE
MUST PUNISH SIN & HE IS HOLY SO NO SIN CAN ENTER HIS KINGDOM OF
HEAVEN. IF YOU ARE IN CHRIST ON JUDGEMENT DAY GOD WILL SEE YOU AS HIS
PERFECT SON (SINLESS SINCE YOUR SINS ARE COVERED BY JESUS' OFFERING).
YOU CAN ALSO CHOOSE TO REJECT JESUS' GIFT/SACRIFICE & PAY FOR YOUR
OWN SIN WITH DEATH (HELL) BUT THAT SEEMS PRETTY FOOLISH! GOD SEES &
HEARS EVERYTHING YOU HAVE SAID & DONE. YOU WONT WIN AN ARGUMENT
WITH HIM & YOU CANT DEFEND ANY OF YOUR SINS TO HIM. YOU'RE NOT A
GOOD PERSON, I'M NOT A GOOD PERSON... ONLY GOD IS GOOD! WE'RE ALL
GUILTY WITHOUT ACCEPTING JESUS' SACRIFICE FOR OUR SINS!
MUHAMMAD DIDN'T DIE FOR YOUR SINS, BUDDHA DIDN'T DIE FOR YOUR SINS, NO PASTOR/NO
PRIEST/NO SAINT/NO ANCESTOR DIED FOR YOUR SINS, MARY DIDN'T DIE FOR
YOUR SINS, NO IDOLS OR FALSE GODS DIED FOR YOUR SINS, NO ACTOR OR
CELEBRITY DIED FOR YOUR SINS, NO ATHLETE OR POLITICIAN DIED FOR YOUR SINS!
JESUS CHRIST ALONE DIED FOR YOUR SINS & WAS
RESURRECTED FROM THE GRAVE! HE IS ALIVE & COMING BACK VERY SOON
WITH JUDGEMENT (THESE ARE END TIMES)! PREPARE YOURSELVES, TURN FROM SIN
& RUN TO JESUS! HE KNOWS YOUR PAIN & TROUBLES, HE WANTS TO
HEAL & RESTORE YOU! TALK TO HIM LIKE A BEST FRIEND! ASK HIM TO
REVEAL HIMSELF TO YOU & HELP YOU TO BELIEVE IF YOU DOUBT! DON'T
WAIT TO CRY OUT! NO ONE IS PROMISED TOMORROW! HE LONGS FOR YOU TO
INVITE HIM IN, HE LOVES YOU MORE THAN ANY PERSON EVER COULD, HE CREATED YOU!
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."-John 14:6
"But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven."-Matthew 10:33
“For the wages of sin is death (hell), but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”-Romans 6:23
Thank you for sharing this info. It’s awful.
GOD bless you dear!
I am a truck driver, and I see a lot of drivers that are accurately portrayed. I am lucky to work with a very safety conscious company, but yes it is a very real struggle.
Also there is not enough infrastructure to support the number of trucks out there now. When you see trucks parked on entrance and exit ramps, that means that could not find a place to park. Adding to this, many rest areas are closed, either for refurbishment or because of budget shortfalls. That is another 10-20 drivers hunting for legal and safe parking where we won't be robbed, vandalized, shot, or have wheels predatorally booted by towing companies. Some truck stops offer reserved parking for $10-$25 a night so there is another "trucker tax", on top of their inflated prices.
Many drivers are multi-lingual, collage graduates, retired 2nd or 3rd career, or even play the violin or viola after working 8-11 hours a day over a maximum of 70 hours a week.
band playing on the titanic
Holy. Shit.
and yet there are men in America who are rich enough to own their own NASA. let that sink in.
This is actually very true, I work at a truck stop and see the wear and tear on the drivers. But also what wasnt mentioned the cost to take a shower in the post, as the showers are not free for the drivers. And it always makes the drivers feel good when I can get them into one for free and help them out. Though we do get a lot of odd looks as we keep the police on the lot to help provide security and assist the drivers. From my time there I have seen our officers pull drivers out of burning trucks and clearing others away in an organized fashion before the truck turned into a fireball. Have seen them assist drivers across the parking lot giving them lifts, especially during poor weather conditions. Warn and wake up drivers during tornado warnings as well as give them a lift to the tornado shelters, have seen them stop people trying to break into the trailers. And basically assist the drivers with what they needed, even talking to the companies dispatch for the driver when they didnt feel safe enough to drive.
You sound like you truck out in California. They closed that rest stop on the I-5 near Buttonwillow at one point (it may have since re-opened, I'm not sure) but that was one more you couldn't count on. I guess they figured we could either park at Buttonwillow or keep going to Wheeler Ridge just before the Grapevine. That's also the reason I would drive at night whenever I could, so that parking at the truck stop would be easy in the morning. But I could sleep during the day. I know a lot of drivers can't do that though.
One of the things not mentioned in the article was the loss of per diem. That was a huge tax writeoff that the Trump tax bill took away. I'm glad I was a local driver when that happened. I would've been out of my mind angry if I was still OTR.
As a trucker for 11 years, I approve of this message!
Yes you are correct
@sokin jon Stop stealing comments. If have nothing original to write, write nothing.
Are you okay, Josh?
17
Reminds me of the FedEx guy who comes to my job every month. They do a monthly cupcake event for drivers at the depot, so this guy comes and orders like 200 piece cupcake cake & gets me to put the FedEx logo on it, make it look fun. But even at the time, I thought, why not a little bonus? Rather than spending company money on a cupcake? Idk man. $200 a month for cupcakes is probably more cost effective than a $200 bonus to the top performer in the month.
Unlike UPS, FedEx isn't unionized. That's all the difference right there. FedEx employees desperately need a union.
@@SadisticSenpai61 But then, we see how much UPS is utilized by companies. FedEx is much better for next day shipments on a corporate level (i.e. techs visiting customers and needing next day parts). As a consumer.....I get 50 FedEx shipments to every one UPS shipment. So while I get what you're saying...clearly UPS is doing something that is hurting business. I guess if FedEx had a union, it would just mean Amazon would be doing even more deliveries....even for other companies. I'm not sure unionization is the answer here.......There needs to be better regulation overall to level the playing field, but I don't think the UPS union is doing itself many favors from what I've seen.
@@ian3580 When the retail store I worked for used UPS for everything, we got all of our shipments at the same time every day. The drivers also didn't have to worry about damage to the packages coming out of their own paycheck (damages that most of the time is not caused by the driver).
Since we've switched to using FedEx for most things, the delivery time varies. And some days they never even show up, even though they're supposed to stop by to see if there are any outgoing packages.
Notably, our store supplies that need to be delivered as quickly as possible (not next day, but within a few days of the order being placed) still come via UPS.
The difference between the two companies is cost. FedEx is slightly less expensive than UPS - and that comes directly at the cost of their employees. They're not only paid less than UPS employees, but FedEx shoves the costs of doing business onto its employees every chance it gets - and in ways that frankly shouldn't be legal.
As always, the cruelty is the point
I just quit a "delivery service provider " for Amazon and I can tell you that everything that woman said is true. We pissed in bottles, we buckled the seat belt behind the seat, a bathroom break would put you behind, you'd get no breaks because it was just impossible to.
They don't care about you at all
I'm an Amazon delivery driver and all this is correct. It's unfortunate but necessary because otherwise you can't make the 180 something stops a day. And God forbid something goes wrong on you're route and your suddenly behind.
Amazon does not care about its employees. I'm surprised people will give a monthly subscription to such a horrible corporation.
WSJ did a really good hour long documentary on the current worldwide supply chain. As I recall, some DSPs are expected to make 20-30 deliveries an hour. They are also subcontractors so Amazon can't get sued.
I get the convenience, but the point of this video, the WSJ, and your statement is that there are *hidden costs* to all this %100 available same-day delivery stuff we enjoy. Those costs are people :(. Definitely need more sunlight on all this. None of it is actually sustainable.
@@dreamcoyote it's highly dependent on the route but generally Amazon wants 20 to 30 stops an hour.
Although it is possible to go 40 stops if you decent to run and if those stops are houses. If you have apartments naturally your stop count drops dramatically because they take much longer. Also because of other issues like gate access codes not working or security not letting drivers in.
Usually I run some of my houses in order to create a "buffer" in case things go wrong later in my route and I need more time. But Amazon doesn't account for this.
@@allandill2033 If you are surprised, congrats, you bought into another capitalist lie: the lie that consumers could change the system by not using it. For your info: they can't and won't. Stop putting in on old aunt Betty, who doesn't have much choice on where to buy from with the tight budged she got. It's on Politics to regulate accordingly and the people's pressure via demonstrations, unions, strikes etc.
"Deregulating the market" always means take out the rules that decrease profit and make rules that put workers under pressure or give a false sense of security.
They should really say "Deregulate the part of the game that prevents us from burdening employees with overhead"
Deregulating means that businesses become freer to do as much as they can for as little as they can to make the most that they can. Pure, unregulated capitalism is not any worker's friend.
I really dislike the train of thoughts that says wages aren't profit. They are, they're just distributed profits. Just a way of looking at things I guess.
dangerous freedumb
@@anneputseys4441 That's the kind of thinking you get when you're only interested in the contents of your own wallet, you start looking at the lion's share you're taking as "your share" and somehow separate from the general pool of available to the company assets. I agree, it's not.
The sad part with the dispatcher telling the driver to just power through, or that he doesn't want to deal with the driver's "bullshit" is completely normalized in nearly every company. It's just considered part of the job. Deal with it or get out.
Not to mention the vast number of people who honk at trucks, flip off drivers, cut them off, tell them they are dumb, and hurl abuse at them. I see my husband once or twice a month. That's it. And that is a normal month for us. I consider it a lucky month if he is home every weekend. And when is, the paycheque suffers big time.
Same here, my dad's been a long haul trucker for the better part of two decades. And anyone who thinks it an exaggeration, it's not...literally ONE or TWO days a MONTH off, and that's NORMAL...and everyone on the road nowadays is so shitty to truckers. I think it actually gave my dad a form of PTSD. He's the nicest and most easy going dude (You'd have to be to do such a tough grinding job for so long) but when someone cuts him off in traffic or does something dangerous when he's in the car he becomes livid, with good reason IMO considering the death stats mentioned in the video.
So many don't realize the basic rules and conditions that apply when sharing the road with heavy trucks...(I'm sure you're familiar, but for any other readers)
#1. Many trucks have limiters that don't allow them to go above 65mph
#2. Never follow closer than three car lengths behind a truck (If you can't see their side mirror, they can't see you)
#3. Give extra clearance behind you when passing a truck in case something happens in front of you that you need to stop (Heavier object = longer stopping distance)
#4. Always pass trucks on the left so the driver doesn't have to swivel their head to the right and take their eyes off the front and left side mirror to see you.
#5. Try to be understanding when trucks block the street because they need to back into a dock or make an extra-wide turn...we should be appreciative, as they are making everything so convenient for the rest of us...and the company won't be, so it's the least we can do...
And they are violating DOT regulations by doing it
Thankfully there are carriers out there that don't do that, I mean I know if I get told that right now with my carrier the higher ups EXPECT me to start climbing the leadership ladder and tell them someone ain't doing things right. And really it comes from them understanding that even a week's worth of late fees are still cheaper than paying all the legal& administrative as well as recovery fees for a truck going off the road plus also having to pay for the driver's medical or death needs and buying a new truck& Trailer on top of that. If the driver doesn't feel safe to drive or that they aren't comfortable with the current road& weather conditions than you just shutdown and call them once you are safe.
@@GoldPicard sounds like Prime inc. I drove for them for three years and they do take driver safety seriously. They don't even force you to put snow chains on to keep moving. 👍
@@amypoff904 actually they aren't. The guy actually had hours to drive legally.
This hit really close to home for me because they recently got my brother with the lease to own scam. He was devastated when his first check was $50.. so glad he quit.
I remember being told once, "You don't have a choice." And I said, "Oh there's always a choice."
And I drove back to the lot and dropped my keys off. I mean I was lucky to be in a position to do that, I know. It was still scary. It was my job.
Nice! What happened after?
@@johnzackarias11 I got a new job. It was much better. I don't think I really understood how much agency I actually had.
@@Zoe-rn4md I'm really glad you made it out, Zoe
Good to acknowledge a lot of people are *not* in a position to do that
You are my hero today. After years In retail HR, that is an actionable statement. I would have walked away too, and sued.
Class A trucker here; I’ve been driving Over The Road for five years now and it’s truly a soul crushing industry. Every job has its tough days but, in trucking, the worst parts of the job are also the uncompensated ones. So you can’t fall back on the mentality of, “Well this sucks right now but at least I’m being paid.”
Instead, you’re miserable and working for free. The effort you put in doesn’t match the reward - it’s the definition of being burned out. And then these trucking companies have the audacity to wonder why people don’t want to work for their shitty company.
My longest days are also my least profitable. The days that begin with having to unload at a receiver for two hours immediately followed by loading at a shipper only to be detained again for several hours- all uncompensated… you end up working a fourteen hour day with very few miles driven, thus low pay. But then the days where all I have to do is drive for ten hours are my shortest, easiest, and most profitable days. So, in other words, the more you work in this industry, the less you’re paid. It’s garbage.
I’ve had my regular Class C license for twenty years and my CDL Class A for five years without a single accident - ever. Not even a scratch. Trucking companies should be lining up to stick their tongue down my soft, Cottonelle-wiped ass but they’d rather hire first year students, pay them dog shit wages, lose them to a different trucking company within twelve months, and then repeat the process.
Because they get money from the government to train the new hires. Now you know why the big shafters have their own trucking schools
I never drove a truck, but I worked in a call center that dispatched repair vehicles to broken-down truckers. At first I didn't understand why they were so impatient, I was looking at it like "they are getting paid to wait on a repair vehicle" except of course they weren't getting paid. Oliver didn't even mention truckers that got charged fees for late deliveries.
@Tsrif Eman Well yes companies and people usually compete for people who do their job well. Would you rather a lawyer or doctor with a 75% success rate or 100%. I mean if you don’t mind if a scalpe and a few blood soaked napkins get left in yah go right on ahead. Yup I’m sure that the right mentality.
@@cubone44 For many, the price difference dictates which you pick due to business reality. But nobody says that, it'd shake confidence, cant have that.
@Tsrif Eman I said I had no accidents. Do I really need to explain to you why not crashing a $150,000 truck is good for a company?
I’m a truck driver, just hit my 5 years as a CDL holder. I’m on my SIXTH company. I went through 5 companies before I finally found one that was worth a damn.
Glad you found a decent company! Everyone who works for years in an industry deserves to make a decent living.
I said fuck it after 4 years. Hoped out, went home, and got my life back.
Same. Funny how easy you can be let go, yet they look at your employment history.
@@jimjones5530 honestly, that's any job in any profession.
The best one is always "you don't have enough experience", yet people won't hire you to gain the experience needed.
Again, that is in any/all industries these days in America. So, we have people in their 30s, 40s, 50s working as a cashier or stocker in Walmart or burger flipper at McDonald's and 2 other jobs in order to barely pay their bills and take care of themselves and others. Damn sad is what it is.
You have to have a piece of paper called a degree in whatever field in order to take a phone call from people, yet you may be the absolute dumbest person out there, but you have that degree that says you're hireable. And the degree doesn't even have to have anything to do with your chosen career. It helps, but nothing that really effects your chances.
@@josephsmith886 college is a rip/scam. Wasted most of my GI bill on ITT tech (was getting paid to go) only for them to entirely shut the place down, because it was a rip off.
Used my GI bill again to attend the HCA Heavy Construction Academy (all the while knowing I had no interest in working in that industry (was paid to attend/free lunch/hotel. Something to do while looking for a CDL gig. That's a $20,000 school.
Worked IT fresh outta the military -hated it.
Telecomnications - hated it
Manufacturing- hated it
Food/service - hated it
Local driver - hated it
37 yo and I can't think of any other industry Id want to work in other thank trucking.
Can get fired and have a job lined up in a few days! Or even before you quit. Only thing matters is driving record. Companies will train you.
Getting Christopher McDonald as the antagonist truck boss was just incredible.
lmao where else would shooter mcgavin go off to after getting his ass handed by adam sandler 😂
Being a long haul driver, I can tell you that's pretty accurate. Except left out a few things. Being stuck in Wyoming for a week because my trailer is to light to drive on l-80 when the winds are blowing. Make absolutely nothing for that week. Everybody in the company I work for gets paid holidays except the drivers. Working 14 hrs everyday with no days off for 3months. Have a dispatcher call and ask why your not rolling when you still have 1 hour left on your clock. Trying to find a place to park to take your mandatory 10-hour break, paying 20.00 for 10hrs at truck stops. I could go on but I'm tired of typing.
20 to stay at a piss filled truckstop? sheesh.
Are there other trucking co's there that have better working conditions/pay? Use it as leverage.
I ended up going back to Swift because they are paying me 60 cents a mile, (I'm experienced though) and at least $100 a day if I'm stuck due to bad weather. But they don't force me to drive if I'm tired either.
How about paying $15 for a reserve spot and there is someone in it that refuses to move...parking is the biggest thing he didn't touch on imo
@@philhatcher9072 The one time that happened, I went into the truck stop and demanded they either refund me, or tell the guy to leave. They made the trucker park somewhere else, but hey, if you park someplace without permission, you're asking for trouble.
I was a contract truck driver for two years. They screwed me. I took on a drive across the country with assurances about the dispatch times because I had a very important event to attend. They left me high and dry at the loading facility for 11 hours, so I left before they could load me so that I could get home for the agreed upon time. When I got back home, they charged me $1,600 and "fired" me. And I even had a phone recording of them admitting to lying to me just so that I'd take the job. There was no recourse. And that's when I quit trucking for good.
Hope you didn't pay them the money.
I second that. I'd sooner see you do some minor investigation and locate the liars and commit some arson before I'd have you pay them the money. Make the corporate personal.
Take them to small claims court. If you win, file a writ of execution to get your money
you have recourse, just nothing simple.
That is SO fucked up…
Literally every job in America became worse with the advent of the 80's and deregulation, not just trucking.
Agreed... Too bad Hinckley wasn't a better shot...
Thanks trump! he's the de-regulation king!
Screwing your own voters HARD lol.
literally dude literally every job literally all of them shut up
Neoliberalism sure feels like its gonna kill us soon, huh? Can't go on like this
The dark side of the 80s was, and is, the impact Reagan's policies which set the stage to where we are today. "The Fairness Doctrine" is one that comes to mind.
The Company Store. A thriving American tradition.
Broke my heart to hear those truckers explain what their expenses were and how little they ended up with. As the video says, the average trucker makes about half of what they did 50 years ago. The idea that CEOs sit comfortably in their boardrooms making huge profits by making the actually essential workers poorer and their jobs more dangerous, absolutely sickens me.
"We are out of essential workers" yes, you are, because you ate them all.
Dear (essentials) workers: unions, unions, unions.
Or - cooperations. Which are unions of another, even better kind.
We all live in predatory capitalism. Wealth distribution facts tell me that even if I am too stupid to understand the details this John Oliver is explaining here.
However those Bezoses are smart, lucky, inovativne, genius etc. they are, the distribution of the wealth their companies are making is idiotic, as it doesn't reflect the core reality of what that company is now - much much bigger then him.
If he, and the whole ceo level of Amazon dies tomorrow, nothing special will happen to Amazon. As they are NOT essential for Amazon. In just few days you could find the same quality of workers of that level for the small fraction of the price, and you can diss his function in Amazon all together, as he become just a giant flying leach of the company.
But if all essential workers of Amazon die tomorrow, there is no Amazon.
So, Amazon is actually in the hands ( literally) of it's workers, and to get that fact understood by everybody, Amazon essential workers just have to somuntaniusly cross their hands and not move till they get their fair share.
That is the reality. One has to fight back, or work around it.
One can't fight alone,and can't work around it alone. So first you have to recognise and acknowledge your class reality, and that your position in the class system is what is connecting you in the most profound way, and move together.
That is what socialism is. Not gulag and I don't know what else
Socialism is recognising your social place and the power of your social position.
In the case of workers, employers let's call you, it is the waste number of you.
You are the whole army. You are that majority.
And now when prices surge on everything, there will come a moment where truck drivers end up with a negative year income. That´s when America grinds down to a halt.
A man's gotta eat, you think cocaine and Crystal just fall out of the sky?
@@majdavojnikovic and this is one reason bezos fights to keep unions out of his company.
Yeah the joke about the guy on that 70's TV show moving anything for a $1.50 a mile, that's still the rate today for some owner operators.
Someone actually went and got the industry facts from where it counts,the labor force! Kudos to you John Oliver.
As a former trucker I agree with your observations.
One of the greatest John Oliver videos ever.
This problem is HUGE and exists everywhere...
Just yet another example of how the elitist capitalist corporations of America exploits the working class of America.
Actually, no. It's chiefly an American issue.
Having family and family friends who drive trucks all across Europe, I can confirm that this is an American problem. EU you get: mandatory days off, you can't drive if you don't feel safe or are tired, much much more than minimal or even average wage, benefits and a lot of them, PTO, and the list goes on and on and on.
As a child of a coast to coast owner-operator father that hauled everything from Medical Waste for Stericycle to nitro, and produce, I’m glad I was recommended this video by a friend.
Diesel prices are insane and cutting into profits and unless you wanna drive an automatic transmission truck with insane tracking and telemetry for a company there is no money to be made.
Truck drivers keep the country alive yet can’t even make a living anymore. Boxcar Willie was ahead of his time when he said “Give me 40 acres and I’ll turn this rig around”
i have been a cdn trucker for 35 years, i renember when it was good and paid properly.
THANK GOD FOR THIS EPISODE ! i wish that every one in North America with a tv or laptop would see this. THANK YOU JOHN
Same here from Guelph ON
Thought our standards and compensation for Drivers etc. was way better than
(Don't go there) south of the border? Guess I learned here something.
Regards, Eh..
I still find it disgraceful that US legislators are allowing this to happen.
Here in New Zealand, the law specifically says that if someone is working for one company, under the control of that company, then they are an employee, not a contractor. It further says that is is illegal to pretend that they are contractors; even if the company tries to get around it by calling them contractors and signing a contract as such, they are functionally employees and therefore the company is legally obligated to treat them as employees, with all the rights and protections which that brings. This has been taken to court a couple times, and the judges have consistently found in favour of the employees who were incorrectly labelled contractors.
There is no reason the US can't do this.
We have the same laws in the US, the companies just don't care about breaking them
@@TheCityChamp3 I'm not sure if that makes it better or worse...
US legislators are corrupt and get paid to ignore issues.
if they want to be employee's they can apply for a company position. But these guys are sold on the fake dream that owning their truck gives them 'freedom'
its bullshit. Trucks are so expensive to fix and keep on the road as that one O/O talked about... working for a company using their equipment under their MCA# is the only way to go nowadays.
This is the US. We’re a nation run by rich assholes that have somehow managed to convince half the population to take pride in being treated like absolute dogshit, and that demanding better for themselves is a sign of weakness. It’s why we only ever vote in rich old dickheads that see us as nothing more than a source of unlimited revenue in exchange for being treated like celebrities. No point in trying to understand us because we’re fucked beyond any repair.
"Independent contractor" is a bigger problem than just with truckers. A lot of companies hire "independent contractor" for employment job because it is cheaper for the company. The contractor are basically an employee but have no benefit of an employee. They are easily replaced and being treated like shit.
In 2015 when I graduated I've worked as a service engineer but classified as "independent contractor", I had to work 17 hours a day without overtime pay and at ungodly hours, I had to start working at a moment notice meaning I'm on standby 24-7. The company on multiple occasion calls me to work at 3 am in the morning even after I already work the day before. I've had to use my own vehicle, pay for my own fuel in hopes that the company will reimburse me later.
I've tried going to labor office but they can't do anything because I am technically not an employee so labor laws doesn't apply to me. Long story short, I quit after one year when I got the experience and apply for another company for employment. Sad thing is there's still my ex-coworkers who is still working there because they don't have the luck to get another job.
Neoliberalism destroyed labor unions... now minimum state regulation and especially the pressure by demografie is what s left
So you do all the work and none of the benefits, seems like the american way
Even in a country with better regulations, we seem to glorify being an independant contractor, where-as I mostly see downsides. It's arguments like 'you decide your own hours' except if you don't put in the hours 'required' they'll replace you and if that's not the case, you still only get paid for the hours you make. If you get sick, you're fucked. If the industry gets fucked, you're fucked. (Corona showed this quite clearly where I'm from, benefits for bussiness and their employers, independant contractors, less so.)
Few industries are the exception of course, but suddenly being a 'sheep' doesn't feel all too bad.
"Independent contractor" i.e. legal slave.
Sosialis revolution
The pictures on the negative money, tho - it's the little details that make the difference. Priceless.
This explains a LOT of the rather questionable and downright dangerous driving I've seen by truckers especially since the supply chain breakdown started. It's made commuting on the highways is especially dangerous for truckers and regular drivers
Not only the pushing to hurry by companies along with the electronic logs telling a driver to drive even if they aren't safe to do so, but the beginning of the episode where turnover was mentioned is a big issue when you think about what that means.
Experienced truckers are leaving each year because the industry as a whole beats them into the dirt. Their replacements are new drivers who are shoved through schools that aren't incentivized to produce a safe driver but rather just a driver who can pass the test.
In just a month, a driver who has never touched the steering wheel of a big truck can be thrown out on their own. Now take everything an experienced driver had to deal with that was making things dangerous, and imagine that it is happening to someone brand new who was trained to pass a test rather than how to safely do a job.
They have always ben the worst drivers.
@@an882 ???
I've been driving truck for 5 years, hauling fuel for 3 of them up and down the I5 corridor in the PNW. You're spot on about dangerous truckers and the complete lack of respect towards other drivers. In the last couple years, it has gotten exponentially dangerous on the highways, and it is making me second guess the job I love. Before I was always wary of 4 wheelers, and still am, but now it's constantly watching my mirrors looking for these guys doing 70+ weaving through traffic.
It's dangerous enough hauling fuel by itself, now you have these 80,000lb trucks flying up from behind to pass you going 70mph within 15ft of your rear bumper while you're doing 55-60mph, grossing 105k lbs, with 11,300 gallons of gas, then sawing your hood off to get back in front of you, it is unnerving to say the least. Couple that with a huge downturn in State trooper patrol to keep these idiots in check, it's a recipe for disaster.
@@an882 They literally used to be the best, most courteous drivers on the highways. I'm sorry you didn't ever get to experience that.
I was a driver for 30 years, this show is very accurate. Finally people can see and feel some of what we deal with and go through daily 😢😢😢
They stop caring the second a truck is "in there way" on a roadway though so it doesn't really help anything.
If it was so bothersome, why do it for 30 years?
@@fjs456 have to earn a living somewhere.
Because I did a beneficial professional job that needed to be done. So many folks tend to get into this profession and think you just ride across the country sightseeing. No you have to put in real work. I always did my best at whatever I done.. But you should expect to be treated like you're appreciated at your job and be properly compensated for what.you do. Drivers shouldn't have to push themselves beyond their limits on these dangerous highways to deliver every product known to man. Most truckers are here trying to make a living for their families and their selves. They also do their jobs because they enjoy what they do. Drivers just want reason compensation and respect for what they do.
I've been a truck driver for 5 years and can't thank you enough for this informative segment on the hell we go through to deliver things like the cell phones that everyone who is watching this and reading my comment on are using.
Unfortunately I don't see there being a huge difference made anytime soon. I believe that unless there is a huge change in attitude across the board you will be doing a "Truckers 2" segment in 5 years. So many young drivers are blinded by $$$$ and will honestly fight tooth and nail to say their companies lease program is amazing and anyone who fails it's because they just couldn't "cut it" in the industry.
You missed out on a huge piece of information here in that the "answer", to the trucking "shortage" they have decided to go with for now is reducing the minimum age to drive cross country to 18 years old. It's allowed now in New York I believe for 18 year olds to get a CDL. I can not even begin to explain what a huge mistake this is going to be and the increase in unnecessary injuries or even deaths this will cause. The government is completely oblivious to the real problem here and they won't ever truly solve it because companies like Prime, Swift, CRST, Western Express are lining their pockets
The biggest difference anyone can truly make as an individual reading this is to just be a little more compassionate on the road. We have tough jobs but whipping out your phones and posting to TikTok anytime one of us makes a mistake is not the answer. Be patient on the road, be respectful and to all my fellow truck drivers, always be safe.
You are the captain of your ship. Don't let any voice on the phone convince you otherwise. Know your worth. There are 1000 more companies that will treat you much better.
Thanks and love to all 🙏❤️
Hello handsome how are you doing’
Official petition for a Last Week Tonight 'Don't confront me with the potentially lethal consequences of my decision making until after I've had my coffee' mug.
Glad he's bringing a little light to this. I worked for years for "FedEx" and people were always floored when I told them I had 0 benefits. Including no overtime for the 60 to 70 hour work weeks. Absolutely destroyed my joints and back. So thankful I got out
that's fucked.
Same! Luckily I had a good contractor, but damn I’m so glad I left.
I was also at FedEx Ground when quarantine started, and our contractor had us fudge our hours to avoid legally going over, but gave us zero extra pay even though he was getting paid more
I won't buy from a company that uses Feed Ex. I tell them I don't like the way they treat their employees and I'll find another source for product.
I had no idea!!! That is really upsetting.
As a pick up and delivery driver for FedEx ground packages, I tell people I don’t work for FedEx Ground, I work for a third party contractor and their eyeballs expand so quickly. Thank you for covering this, it’s a huge issue.
I sometimes wonder how much the chewy pet food boxes damage the supply chain lol. We almost NEVER fully unload our trucks and it's not unusual to have 300 stops in a 15 foot box truck. Our "quit time" is when the sun goes down.
We were paid by the day, 150 bucks. I never exceeded 12.50 an hour, due to the amount of hours I put in. That's in 2021 lol, kill me.
I worked for FedEx for 2 years as a package handler and the confusion was unreal, people always asked why I don't go to work wearing FedEx uniform like the drivers.
I worked with Amazon and I had to explain the same thing lol. I was a seasonal helper and then ended up a dispatcher. I would never wish the dispatch job on anyone, it was so bad
As the daughter of a truck driver, I’m glad someone is finally saying something about this. You’d be amazed at how crappy this industry can be to drivers. I’m glad my dad finally found a company that treats him well, but i still know that there’s a lot of people out there who are stuck working for companies that are betting on them to fail.
I can think of so many industries that desperately need workers but refuse to pay their workers a fair living wage and treat their employees like shit then act surprised when no one wants to work there. But company executives continue to receive huge salaries with bonuses and benefits. It’s ridiculous.
I've never been a truck driver, but many years ago on a paper route I called in because I wasn't safe to drive and was told that I would be fired if I didn't show up and do the route. I fell asleep at the wheel, fortunately only hit a parked vehicle. But the independent contractor scam is spreading well beyond driving jobs these days. If nothing is done about it everyone's job is going to become a low-paid no-benefit gig where workers carry the employers' share of taxes and other expenses. The impact on the economy must be massive.
That's awful. I was doing a paper route while doing full time college (bad combo) and luckily I never had an accident. But I was still an "independent contractor" getting payed a few cents per paper that added up to being well below minimum wage while still having to cover all my gas and vehicle maintenance, plus I had to buy all the plastic bags and rubber bands from the company. I did the job 7 days a week for 3 months before my car broke down when it happened I felt grateful despite loosing my job and my car at once cause Id at least finally get a good night's sleep. Looking at this comment section it seems like all these "get something/someone from point a to point b" type of jobs are increasingly unfair, unsafe and unacceptable
@@joeyschmitt2410 It's a gig that wears out your car, just like courier work (which I also did). You're basically transforming your car into cash in someone else's pocket. And now it's not just driving jobs; most work-at-home jobs are independent contractor gigs, too. (I'm doing one now.)
It's hitting everyone including rideshare drivers.
Another variant of this is where a staffing company recognizes you as their employee, but not the company you actually work for which controls your work and has the power to fire you at any moment without explanation. Occasionally this arrangement is good, but some staffing companies are so unethical that they lie to people about whether or not they were fired and leave it unclear whether they still work there.
Marx wrote about wage slavery. We are living it.