The Economy and the Driver

As a driver has the economy hurt you? I bet the answer is yes more then its no. The economy seems to be kicking alot of people in the rear. I've herd so many drivers say they have lost pay, miles and even jobs. Now we all know the economy has hurt alot more then trucking but the effect it has had on our industry could be blogged about till the cows come home. I recall back in January when a local lumber company that employed over 200 driver laid off everyone of them, and in the small town I live in it was the talk for weeks. Many of these drivers found jobs but a few still remain unable to find a job. Living in the North Carolina we have already seen a major hit with some many factories leaving the US that it has taken the economy in North Carolina and really twisted it. But the main thing that want to blog about today is how a veteran driver can loss everything really fast in todays economy. In August of 2008 a driver I know really well went to work for a company in Las Vegas NV, all seemed ok with his new job. He was getting miles and getting paid good money. Well this all changed in April of this year when his life of hard work started to crumble. In April he was still working just as hard as before doing the same amount of miles, but he started getting calls from the company telling him his check would be a day late. And by the end of May they were a week late. He was looking for another job and had not found anything as of the end of June he was in the worse mess of his life. He came home for some home time and was off a few day when he got a call that his paycheck had bounced from 3 weeks earlier and then 2 days later another call that the check from 2 weeks earlier had bounced. So he called up his company and said "Ok here is the deal I have $2300 worth of bad checks and you will need to pay me for this before I go back to work". Well this is where the story really gets me pissed the most. He made the call on a Wednesday, on that Wednesday the company calls our local sheriff department and tell them that they had not seen or herd from in over 2 weeks. They also send a wrecker for his truck and tell him as the wrecker is taking the truck "I don't owe you a Dime". Then the next day he finds out no only did the company give him 2 bad checks they stopped payment on his Last 2 as well. And on his last paycheck that he was to get the day after they picked up the truck they just didn't send it or send any kind of excuse just didn't do it. So now this driver is holding over $5000 in Bad and stopped payment checks. He has looked and looked for work and always gets the same story "Due to the economy we are not hiring". After he used what he had in savings he still lost his car, and nearly his home. He is married and has 2 sweet kids and they are losing everything due to one Scamming POS company. After doing a little digging my self I found out the owner of the company is the president of many Pediatric charitys. How could someone like that be such a low life. I know the economy has alot of you drivers down but keep up the fight and it will all be Ok hopefully!