This was filmed in the depths of the depression. There is money in trucking, but buying a new $175,000+ tractor, eating at truck stops, paying sometimes .50-.75c a gallon more for fuel at truck stops and hauling for someone who takes 35% is not the way. Some companies offer a lease, STAY AWAY from leases, that lease payment gives you nothing. Also stay away from hauling containers from the port, no money. Buy a good used truck from an individual, not a dealer if you can, dealers inflate the price considerably and charge sales tax. Dont buy anything with an International MAXXFORCE engine, they will be cheap but wont hold up. Shop for insurance, Progressive is affordable. Stay away from companies that require a truck to be no older than a certain year, they will make you sell a paid for good reliable truck and go into debt to buy a later model. Dont trust brokers. Its not a sin to work for a freight line, UPS or Fed Ex. There are state and municipal jobs driving. The JB Hunts and other mega lines will keep you out for weeks or months for some kind of very cheap pay. What they didnt cover is the DIESEL COPS out roving the highways to shake you down for all they can. They are actually highway robbers under the guise of State Patrol, State DoT or Weigh Station officers. The weigh stations are basically, pull up on the scale and say "here I am, find something wrong with my truck". The roving thieves (DoT) will use anything as "probable cause" to stop you and shake you down. Then its a game for them to try to get you to admit to the most simple things for them to fine you. Its all about money, not public safety. Never admit to anything. They will be satisfied after they rack up several hundred dollars in fines. Get a transponder to stay out of the scales. Never stop at a rest area that is also a weigh station, even if its closed. If you can go around a weigh station, especially in an older truck, DO! Search for smaller fuel stops that have truck pumps, that .50-.75c that many truck stops charge X 100 gallons is $50-75.00 that you just threw away. Eating in truck stops is expensive, not the best food and will have a high sodium and fat content. Keep a cooler and make your own, your wallet and health will thank you. Thats my thoughts on trucking

I've been a truck driver for 25 years and can tell you that the transportation industry is looking for, and getting, cheap labor. They think that anyone can drive trucks. This is true, but not everyone can do it proficiently and professionally. They accept inexperienced drivers who crash into other vehicles and objects as a cost of doing business. Nothing matters to the executives except moving freight at the cheapest cost. Lives lost be damned as long as the people at the top make lots of money.

Truckers have good reason to complain, And Jesus set me free dude, who made the comment about Drivers crying needs a reality check. You have no idea what Drivers go through . Truckers are the backbone of this Country and if they get the balls to shut down Mr. Jesus set me free you will be the one crying. Don't judge these Drivers till you drove a million miles in their shoes. You are really a piece of work Sir, May the good Lord put you on the right path.

I wish I had that kind of support from a spouse. God bless you both.

Well, this is what happened to me and my trucking business. I now feel better when I saw this. I now know it is not only me who felt that way and actually lost the business.Thank you for sharing...

Beautiful family, I've got the utmost respect for this couple because I drove a cattle truck for 2 years before becoming a metro cop for 34 years, I'm 54 and only a senior corporal, but w/3 kids in law school I'm still working the streets, my sergeant is 29, and the young cops call me "old school" but I can't retire until my youngest daughter finishes law school. And I was shot twice in my career, but disability doesn't pay enough to retire on, so I have to keep pushing a black & white , and working off duty jobs.

35% that is high

I wish drivers would realize they themselves control the trucking industry. If drivers refused to work for low wages, the industry would have no choice but to pay higher wages, companies are not going to just stop moving freight. The problem is so many people go to work for pennies on the dollar that companies can get away with this garbage of $1.50 per mile, etc. Foreigners also come in and ruin it for everyone by taking the cheap rates and keeping the industry alive with them. A large drivers strike could change the industry, it is just unfortunate it will never happen and the industry will only continue to decline, especially with the ELD mandate, HOS regulations, etc.

I was at Landstar around the same time and I ended up peeling the plackards off my truck! If you weren't in the click, you'd darn near starve! Half the loads weren't even posted. That 65% to the truck was horrible! Hope Don is doing well in 2018✌

Don is a hard working trucker. I really admire his work ethic. Im hoping to return to trucking someday and follow his example.

I never drove a big rig but have been a professional driver for years in other vehicles and it's all the same; Limos, straight trucks, tow trucks, taxi or car/van food/goods delivery, employers want desperate people who need a job to make ends meet who will work cheap and be able to pass a drug test and not have a record along with a clean driving record. They all promise, "If you work hard we'll take care of you!" The commission pay scales seemed to work the best for me but a year or 3 into it the boss/owner starts crying about expenses and "you" need to take a pay/commission cut if you want to make what you used to make, or work longer and harder. These days every driving job has to be approached by the driver as a "business" and not a job. If you have a professional car driving for Lyft or Uber isn't worth it unless your wiling to work 12-14 hours a day, and sometimes sleep in the car. I just bought a nice used Prius as my personal car and as a retiree I would consider getting back in the game but the pay scale offered is so low your going to lose money as soon as you leave home! Every restaurant in this area that offers food delivery pay's minimum wage of $7.25 an hour plus tips. I do know someone who delivers pizza in a ritzy area of Atlanta who makes an average of $20-25 an hour because people there tip well. Not here. Very few people will give a tip here. That's why the restaurants are always hiring drivers. My last job driving a straight truck was $10 an hour all night long on a dedicated route. My co workers who worked at the same company for 5 or more years also made $10 an hour and they were MISERABLE PEOPLE. They hated to see my smiling face and did everything they could to screw up my loads. "Hurry up Grandpa!" You know your in trouble when you walk into the warehouse and signs are posted everywhere, "No disrespecting each other and No Violence!" All labor jobs are being destroyed these days by Corporate America. Maybe I should go deliver pizza in the ritzy area of Atlanta on Friday and Saturday nights; it's only 1.5 hours away from home. The local taxi biz charges a small fortune for "portal to portal" rides. Lots of drug dealers hire a taxi to deliver. Drivers take home $40-65 a 10 hour shift on average and once in a while you may make $80. "We pay cash so you don't have to report it!" Most drivers quit because of all the chaos surrounding the drug dealers/users. The boss/owner splits the expenses/profits 60/40 while providing the driver with a 2005 Dodge Caravan. If you get robbed or someone can't pay the driver has to pay the owner although he gave you the ride and you can't pick up off the street. If you just got out of jail/prison he will hire you!

If you got it , a trucker brought it.

I don't care what veteran truckers, my family, or friends say, I am determined to one day, become an asphalt cowboy, and to do it right. Ive always said, if you cant defend your country, you can help build it, and as God as my witness, I will help build it, one truck load at a time. God bless, and 73rds to all the brothers and sisters of the Highway. Keep them tires rollin.

Don is an contractor with landstar. That's his major problem.

About time somebody told our story

God bless Don for being a super hard worker making peanuts with the miles he is driving and the hours he is working. Might as well just work at Walmart for more pay.

This is such a great documentary

As in many other businesses, I think trucking is not profitable anymore. It had its golden age but now it's gone and truckers don't want to admit it because it's hard to change when you don't know how to do anything but driving. So they stick to what they're accustomed to. It's a comfort zone. And I'm not saying they're stupid or lazy. As I said, this happens to many other businesses.

Wow how honest people supposed to make an honest leaving.

Deregulation was a HUGE mistake. All it ever did was line the pockets of airline, railroad, and trucking executives and stockholders.

Great documentary. Thank you.

Be nice if drivers didn't do it. In the end it's all market driven. Owners are being driven out by elogs. The industry is moving towards company drivers which gives the power structure more control. It's all part of the plan, and the drivers are going along with it. Liked and subscribed.

If truckers COULD get all truckers to pull off the road for two days! This country would stop! Trains cannot deliver to the grocery stores ! All consumer, military and soft good stores get their inventory on the back of a truck! D.O.T. Can find something wrong with a big truck! And will cost you big bucks!

$2700 dollar, for 1500 miles, say you max out your clock, about 3 days drive. Thats about $900 a day, thats not bad. His problem is he on the west, if he was running east coast and SE he could make more money in less time. This is why most truckers dont make good logistics/dispatchers. Company trucks need to make about $600 a day, as Owner/Op he should be shooting for a $1000. He needs to run something dedicated, or run east of the mississppi and then just take any load back west for home

If you're an owner operator, why lease to a company. Landstar takes 27 percent. I went out on my own, work with a couple good brokers. Most of the freight I haul is over $2.

Don, always give your delivery address a call before you get there-when you hit town or region you are hunting. An easy step, priceless return . Ya Bless. Be your own Guardian. .

You know the sad thing about this is, people going to see this video and still get into Trucking. Thinking their experience is going to be different.

So in the end, the driver got something great. Seems like don't dig a ditch with a shovel with the guy next to you is using a backhoe, even though you like the shovel method.

I've been a driver/owner operator for 40 plus years, 4th generation, I can always tell the steering wheel holders or arm chair truckers from the real truckers by the comments, WOW, lots of opinions without facts or experience, just remember this, this is a job somebody has to do because if they didn't, those of you non-drivers making stupid comments wouldn't be able to as the shipments of cell phones would have never been delivered so you could get on here too say worthless crap.

I wish drivers will get paid while a cargo is being loaded and unloaded. In the ocean shipping industry, there is a charge called demurrage. The shipping company can charge extra hours if the ship stays beyond the base (72 hours) in loading and unloading a cargo.

Drivers should be the bosses; since it’s our fault no matter what happens, if overweight it’s the drivers fault; if LATE it’s the drivers fault; LOG VIOLATIONS, the drivers fault, So since the drivers are responsible for any and everything; then why aren’t we’re the bosses of our profession?? Get going driver; WHAT? You need to get going your appointment is at 09:30, UHH, EXCUSE ME, I DIDNT AGREED TO THAT, I’LL TELL YOU WHEN I’LL BE THERE. THIS WHY THEY FLOOD THE INDUSTRY WITH ROOKIES, they can manipulate and intimidate them to do what they want. (SICKENING).

I tried over the road for several years until I found a day driving job that paid by the hour. Home every night and a guaranteed pay check. After 30 years of that the economy went south and I lost that job and my 401K and health insurance. No longer driving, I'm doing my own thing and hanging in there but it's still hard to make it. With schedules so tight, even a simple traffic jam can throw you out of the money. I would never even consider going back on the road, no way no how. If brokers had to deal with the same things truckers do and lose money, they too would soon vanish. To bad cause I loved driving but it's just not worth the risk anymore.

30 years of truck in the end I think some people need to be appreciative of the trucking industry a lot of people think we're just jockeys we make America run tired of getting tickets for companies tired of the laws that y'all provide on us if it ain't broke don't fix it

I wish I could be these folks guardian angel freight broker, they seem like such a nice honest couple. I work as a pilot now flying cargo around, but I did drive a truck from 1999 to 2003, but I decided to go to flight school and I am glad I did. I upgraded from driving a Freightliner Century to flying a 747 freighter.

Not having decent back hauls haunts every owner operator. It's what drove me out of the business in 2001, mainly because of 9/11. Most loads stopped and the ones you could find were sought after by dozen's of others sitting in the same spot looking for a load too.I loved it and miss it but I'm retired now and I'm sure it's not changed too much.

ATS and ETS2 brought me here. Loving the truck driver lifestyle!

Fix the roads and bridges, build adequate housing, create jobs for truckers and others, construction and road workers, as well as rails, and trains for freights, for shorter hauls. More speed, efficiency and tonnage. These are the things that build an economy.

40 minutes to dock at that spot?! Maybe I was missing something, but I haven't seen a dock that easy in a long time. Hope everything worked out for him.

5 years later ? any progress

Someone doing a hole lot of nothing, and making a hole lot of something, and it sure as hell aint the truckers.

i always thought you had to have a description of the freight on the bill of laden

Thanks Dan Rather, now do a video on the big bosses of the trucking industry; THE SHIPPERS AND RECEIVERS. I know that’s like taking on the NRA.

A lot of OTR Truckers cut there own throats!

I recall a majority of the drivers of my dad's trucking company in Southern California were Mexican. Even the mechanics. They send the money home. It isn't much by our standards but where they are from it is.

I drove for useless express (USXpress) the worst co in the world!! And had to lease a truck from them and had so many zero $paychecks!!

How come some truckers like this guy act like they're always scraping by, and then those other truckers who seem to do a very good living. I think it's just like in farming some people just not good business people. Part of this guy's problem is he lives in the middle of nowhere and he doesn't take good paying routes.

I wish this documentary would have talked about the poisonous food at truckstops that drivers tragically eat. And also the parking shortage

Discover these key load decision tools for both Professional Divers and Owner Operators! shoutout.wix.com/so/dLmSgF2Q?cid=0#/main

With 3 million truck drivers on the road perhaps making general broad brush assumptions about everyone is stupid.

Very interesting!

On his dallas backhaul, if you just take the 448 bucks and divide by the 33 hrs behind the wheel, that works out to 13.57/hr. WTF?!??!????!?!?? Don could be a cashier at a local grocery store and make that. That's TERRIBLE.

Just watched this and was shocked...Is it still so bad these days

He's not independent operator. He has leased his truck to a company called landstar. He is only dependent on one company out of thousands

Wonder how Don is doing today now that freight rates are at record highs.

YOU GOT MAIL: No wonder they never had work, AOL🤢 Ha Ha. Yea I had it for years 😆

Wow, he would be better off as a company driver. I drove for 8 years, truckers are their own worst enemy. I had a GPS also, but it was one that was programmed for tractor trailers, cost me $725.00 vs $199.00. The difference was I could set it to avoid a lot of things, such as residential areas Although it's common practice to lease things that go down in value, it's not a good idea to pay more for doing it. Lease operators are basically paying for all the maintenance on a company truck, Too many horror stories about a guy in the last months of a lease getting not enough loads to make payments, so they take the truck back. If you can't walk into a dealership and get a lease written, your insurance and base plate taken care of and the bank signs off on it then it's a sign that you're not prepared to lease yet. I nearly leased a Volvo VN-770 from a financial services company, the lease payment was half of what the lease-purchase truckers were paying. Of course, I had to be able to put $13,000.00 up to fund my escrow and maintenance account the first year. Teamsters get paid by the hour,

Met a Landstar broker up here in Canada, was a little paranoid. Thought I was going to tamper with his rig Told him to relax was just checking on my reefer. Lots of crime where he was from, probably made him untrusting.

Having only 20 yrs this March, I still get up in the morning read the paper and bounce. From reading some of to almost all of the comment's one can pretty tell the difference if the they are driver or steering wheel holders by just the first line or two wrote. Those are the drivers who I want to congratulate for the usage of the ELD's. Glad they made all of you drivers the test monkey for the ELD's. My friends and I thank you. With being exempt, from ELD's and the mandatory 30 minute break. However, in 20yrs young, trucking has changed so much. When was the last time a driver told you the coops were closed and your good to the state line? Two polar bears looking at you mm 230. ok The drivers I run with, we help each other. Yes we are slipping as we have some freight relocators have joined the ranks, but the talk has not gotten to them yet. Your cost per mile is just like mine With the draught it has hit hard.. Fuel price hard also. The word IF we all could come together, will never happen. But I can say this in closing, The camel jockey did run get together and did run up on Washington D.C. to speak there mind about the same crap we were doing. About time they want to work here an not help well I think they finally got there hands dirty. Just do this one day this week or next week. pull down the mic and go EASTBOUND YOU LOOK GOOD TIL MM WERE I CAME OUT. BULLHAULER YOU LOOK GOOD AT MM WERE I CAME OUT. I MIGHT JUST SAY THANKS YOU LOOK GO DRIVER TILL MM! OK AND YES ASHES TO ASHES, DUST TO DUST IF IT WAS NOT FOR US BULL TRUCKS THE LEFT LANE WOULD RUST!!! GENTLEMAN AND LADYS KEEP THE GREASEY SIDE DOWN!!!

It would have been more interesting to follow him from Iowa to Texas

Wonderful and the last song .it's the firts song i learn in the church en my language spanish "En la cruz"on the crosss

@4:45, but I thought Don said he isn't late, but yet on this run he was lost and late....... Every trucker runs behind every now and then, that's how traffic goes, like alot of truckers he says he isn't late but maybe late for in the mind of a trucker is 24 hours after the time the load is due. LOL.

This is what happened when the USA over regulated the hell and strangled the railroad industry, then in the Staggers Act(1980, see a pattern) over deregulated the same industry and let thousands and thousands of miles of track get torn up and let the rail companies abandon customers. It also didn't help that the U.S. put all its eggs in the highway and Airline industry after WWII and did all it could to punish the rail industry post war. Most truckers before 1950 were short haul or Draymen, without the railroads this is what we are left with.

What year was this made and why are they using dial-up

379 with a cat yeah good luck getting mileage. There are good brokers but too many are cheap bottom feeders and would sell their own grandmother for a buck. Best option is sign on with a good size company that deals in freight. It's not an industry for desperation.

Chrome don’t get you home. Keep a safe well maintained clean truck. Don’t go overboard in debt on a truck payment. Shop a good used truck at a fair price and a payment you will be comfortable with. He has a big hood 5 mpg truck , there are other options. 1 mpg gain over a year will pay for the truck. He has $700 in chrome on the dash. I’d pass up all that chrome for an extra $700 to spend a few more days at home

When time become this hard to be an owner operator it’s time to lease to a carrier during the slow times. They already have the freight lanes and customers in place. My company has company trucks, leasers, owner operators and our own brokerage company all in one. I feel bad for this driver but there are other avenues he could go down. Owner op isn’t always the right way to go . Sometimes you have to lease on to a company or become a company driver. Some company drivers make more take home than an owner operator. Sometimes ya just gotta swallow that pride.

Brokers are middle man ripoff artists... I don't use them ever, we go into companies and talk to them like the good ol' days... and I get 7.5 mph with my 14L Detroit and my dad has a C15 cat and he gets 7.0 mpg with it regularly... he just don't know how to let the turbo do the work

inexperienced drivers, minimum wage is the major cause of accidents

Im a trucker and Im earning a VERY good living. Im very content. Im a company driver though....

Man what a bummer. A guy can't get an even break in this country.

Always call receiver b4 you get there

$448 out of 2700? Seriously? What a dream, or should I say nightmare. I would quit.

66 years old and depending on a GPS. I'm 62, no GPS. 42 years experience. Ya I get lost, but not very often.

35 years the truck drivers always get screwed

Don is the last of the real American man.

I wish drivers will get paid while a cargo is being loaded and unloaded.

I have the fix but they'll never do it. Pay truck loads by the hour. O/O get more per hour. And pay off the log book. 8 hour unloads wouldn't bother any driver. Guarantee we all log it as we do it. If your paid by the hour I bet you do a good pretrip and post trip.

If your bob tailing your failing

Sixty one and didn't call ahead for directions. Thats something I did in 1981 and still do. And never been a back haul just the next load. And DAM right Carter killed trucking

About the electronic logs mandate, I hate it, because there no parking. If newbies knew how dire the shortage of parking is, versus the penalty for driving over hours of service limit they'd abandon their thoughts of getting a cdl license.Yeah, it's that bad on the East Coast.... They need to eliminate the mandatory 30 minute rest break. It's a law that's a desktop theory, a law that mode Congress feel all warm n fuzzy and virtuous for passing. When there's no place to park, too many drivers are forced to park on shoulder of interstate. You'll squander 20 minutes of that break just hunting parking spaces that dont exist.... The up side of the electronic log mandate is it's caused freight rates to go up due to driver shortage. ..because few want to drive trucks.Why would anyone want to enter an industry that involves so much risk and liability, but starves out the entry level drivers?

I would like to ask if ok, how much horse power you have under the hood?

*Ooooooor* ............. Just work for *ADL* as a company driver and make a guaranteed 1300 a week. *JBG Travels* said so. The small company actually pays out of pocket if you don't end up making enough for the week. But you have to be a company driver though. It's better than the system he's on.

Follow the dollar whatever it takes 💰

Well idk my dad owns his truck and trailer *payments on trail only* home every night delivers to pa and nj only and makes 5 to 6 dollar a mile

The fuel is very cheap in USA

So this is what the janitor from scrubs does with his off time

Dons fighting a no win battle. Back in the 90s I was signed on with landstar/ranger, same thing as landstar. I caught on to them quick and didint go broke before leaving them in the diesel smoke. Maybe Don doesn't know but they have people sign on with multiple trucks.Like when one of these small companies seems to go out of business. They give the high dollar loads to those guys and let the single truck owner have the cheap runs. I imagine he's got a fuel card from them, so they've negotiated a cheap fuel rate with the truck stop but charge him a higher rate, old trick. Well I hope Don finds someone to give him a fair shake but he'll have to sell his truck and find another line of work. Been there done that 1990/2001. Almost lost my house.

Lol.. way old video. At 26:39 good ole Don is talking on his cell phone. Now if he were a company driver for.. hmmm...🤔 lets say Saia. He would be nailed by the driver facing camera for talking on his phone and not having 2 hands on the wheel and his sensor probably would have gone off for drifting out of his lane and he's probably in violation of his 14hr clock. Wait🤔 11hr clock, no wait🤔 8hr clock, damn it Don what does the Qualcomm say? Oh shit you don't have E,log so there might be another violation in there somewhere that DOT will find. Man how things have changed, back in 1990 i had to call dispatch from a pay phone once i got to my drop. Pay phone? What's that🤔 haha.

Work Union - Live Better

Freight must have been terrible when this was made! I get way better freight rates than that leasing at Prime nowadays! And I hear landstar pays much better than Prime!

Well things have improved somewhat,I make close to 80,000 driving line haul and I'm home every day.

Real talk William R........truth be told......now they seeking 18 year olds..... going to be a sad , sad, turn of events.

Horsepower and chrome doesnt make up for a proper pay packet

The crooks are the brokers the drive made 422.00 landstar made 800.00 plus!

Come to the oilfield

Living in northern Nevada that driver's options are highly limited in terms of getting home when he wants.

we now have a president who was a billionaire long before he came president. we as truckers need to get on his good side and let him fix these rates. so we can get good paying rates regulated.

sorry boy's & girls if your business plan is to buy a truck and lease it to Landstar and such and make money you'll be making money all right but not for you but for Landstarve and their Associates. hint hint *Corporate America*

Trucking is gone to Pot Lets go smoke with Willie

since carter deregulated trucking all the profit is gone.