We deal with these foreign drivers daily in the equipment business. I think the Turkish and Eastern European drivers are the worst followed closely by our friends from south of the border.

Example from yesterday. Turkish driver comes in driving a brand new truck and trailer. Guy is simply a steering wheel holder seemingly fresh out of driving school. Has no clue how to load his trailer and secure the load. Can't navigate unless somebody else helps him put the address into google maps. Spends 3 hours on the phone with someone as they explain how to secure a 110,000 pound excavator to his trailer. Finally gets it half-assed strapped to the trailer and proceeds to take a sponge bath in our shop sink and leave his trash under the tree where he was parked for 4 hours trying to figure things out. Leaves out of here driving nearly $2 million dollars worth of truck and load with a total weight over 130,000 pounds barreling down the highway to Kansas so he can do the same thing 24 hours later. Over half the over the road drivers we see are similar to this.

What's the reasoning behind all this? These guys are cheap. They get paid nearly nothing. I seriously think most are indentured servants/slaves. The guy yesterday said he hadn't eaten in 24 hours because his "supervisor" was mad at him and didn't pay him his daily food allowance. Apparently didn't have his own money to purchase food.

This is the price we pay for cheap goods. We're not willing to pay able bodied Americans a fair wage because companies know they can import cheap labor from overseas and pay them pennies on the dollar. It's the ugly side of capitalism. I love capitalism but I'm also a realist that those at the top of the capitalist pyramid have to take responsibility for taking care of their employees and treating them fairly. Quit bringing over cheap labor and pay your employees a wage that allows them to afford the products you produce.

Modern slavery. Democrats love their slaves. Ask Gavin Newsome and JB Pritzker.

pdc093 said:

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Or have we not been paying attention.....

BREAKING: Turns out the driver who killed 3 innocent civilians in California is an illegal immigrant named Jashanpreet Singh. Singh entered the U.S. and was released under Biden in 2022. He was issued a CDL by Gavin Newsom, who now has blood on his hands.pic.twitter.com/2AIFLpHvTF

— Liberacrat™️ (@Liberacrat) October 23, 2025

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TxDOT should revoke CDL's for all illegal immigrant drivers effective immediately.

As should ALL GOP lead states.

Writing my Alabama State Rep and Senator today.

I see Waymo's every day in Austin. I've seen half a dozen or more a day most days. You don't even notice them after a bit. Never had an issue with one. Driverless or driver oversight only will become more common but I think widespread adoption is still 5-10 years out, and will be gradual. The vehicles will be very costly to implement.

Quote:

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Modern slavery. Democrats love their slaves. Ask Gavin Newsome and JB Pritzker.

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Ask any part of World History. Those that support more govt. vs. less, identify historically with slavery.

Californias are brainwashed.

Local CA media wants you to feel bad for the drivers.

California lives in this bubble where all they see is media spin like this.

I can't believe this is real but it is. CBS Sacramento did a segment last night on the growing threat to Sikh truck drivers.

"The roadway risk for Sikh truck drivers is growing."

Even the ending is comedy. They can't read English street signs and that could be a problem. You… pic.twitter.com/9K7zEBJpyZ

— MAZE (@mazemoore) October 24, 2025

Ag97 said:

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We deal with these foreign drivers daily in the equipment business. I think the Turkish and Eastern European drivers are the worse followed closely by our friends from south of the border.

Example from yesterday. Turkish driver comes in driving a brand new truck and trailer. Guy is simply a steering wheel holder seemingly fresh out of driving school. Has no clue how to load his trailer and secure the load. Can't navigate unless somebody else helps him put the address into google maps. Spends 3 hours on the phone with someone as they explain how to secure a 110,000 pound excavator to his trailer. Finally gets it half-assed strapped to the trailer and proceeds to take a sponge bath in our shop sink and leave his trash under the tree where he was parked for 4 hours trying to figure things out. Leaves out of here driving nearly $2 million dollars worth of truck and load with a total weight over 130,000 pounds barreling down the highway to Kansas so he can do the same thing 24 hours later. Over half the over the road drivers we see are similar to this.

What's the reasoning behind all this? These guys are cheap. They get paid nearly nothing. I seriously think most are indentured servants/slaves. The guy yesterday said he hadn't eaten in 24 hours because his "supervisor" was mad at him and didn't pay him his daily food allowance. Apparently didn't have his own money to purchase food.

This is the price we pay for cheap goods. We're not willing to pay able bodied Americans a fair wage because companies know they can import cheap labor from overseas and pay them pennies on the dollar. It's the ugly side of capitalism. I love capitalism but I'm also a realist that those at the top of the capitalist pyramid have to take responsibility for taking care of their employees and treating them fairly. Quit bringing over cheap labor and pay your employees a wage that allows them to afford the products you produce.

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So question - do you/your company hire the trucking companies direct? Or are you running it through a brokerage?

These are drivers delivering product from the factory or being hired by brokers. Our local drivers are first class. It's the over the road guys who are bottom of the barrel.

Ag97 said:

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These are drivers delivering product from the factory or being hired by brokers. Our local drivers are first class. It's the over the road guys who are bottom of the barrel.

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So you were shipping a 110,000 lb excavator to Kansas through a broker?

Thats the way they vast majority of otr trucking loads are booked. Bad legislation has allowed brokers to absolutely clamp the industry into a terrible business model.

Go listen to the auto transporter stories from guys who ship multi million dollar cars around, its insane.

Yeah, that's pretty much how any otr loads go is via brokers now days. Once that unit is loaded on the truck it's not really our responsibility any more. The driver is responsible for it till it's unloaded at the destination.

There are good drivers out there still, even amongst the ones working for brokers. That being said, there are a lot more that shouldn't be driving a Honda Accord, much less a million dollar semi.

Unfortunately, the fix has to be more government oversite. The free market is fine on setting prices but the drivers and brokers both need to be held to a higher standard. Only way to do that is to hammer them when mistakes are made and stop importing cheap foreign labor that undercuts capable Americans who don't want to work such long hours and tough jobs for peanuts. These drivers aren't getting rich by any means, but the brokers seem to rake it in. If they didn't have the cheap workforce from foreigners to choose from they'd be forced to pay American workers that extra $500 to $1,000 a load instead of pocketing it themselves.

The rich get richer, the middle class gets pulled down to poor status and the poor that start down there raise their standard minimally because they will work for less until they figure out they can get government benefits that pay just as much as these jobs. The foreigners supposedly don't get these benefits but come for the work that pays way more than what they can make in their own countries but by our standards is barely above the poverty level.

I agree but part of this is in California you essentially can't run full DOT inspections b/c the drivers don't speak English. Honestly Congress needs to pass legislation that says if you don't have a US CDL, you can't drive a load. To get a US CDL you have to speak, read and write English proficiently. If you employ a non-proficient driver, you get a $500,000 fine. If you employ a non-proficient driver who causes a fatality you have committed a federal crime and go to jail and the minimum fine is $2 million. If you issue a CDL to a non-proficient English speaker and they cause a fatality, same thing. You go to jail.

I guarantee that the DMVs and companies will dry this up very, very quickly. You might have to make some allowances along the Southern border inside a trade zone or similar but that's about it.

Being in the middle of football season the tv's are on much more often than normal at my casa. In the Austin area, the ambulance chaser big law firms have pretty much all aligned their commercials to go after commercial trucking. Jeff Davis, Thom J Henry, Lorenz and Lorenz, Bonillia, all the bigs.

This should tell you everything you need to know.

Urban Ag said:

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Being in the middle of football season the tv's are on much more often than normal at my casa. In the Austin area, the ambulance chaser big law firms have pretty much all aligned their commercials to go after commercial trucking. Jeff Davis, Thom J Henry, Lorenz and Lorenz, Bonillia, all the bigs.

This should tell you everything you need to know.

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Those guys love a commercial truck crash. Even better for them if driven by an illegal. Pay day for those cockroaches.

Yes, clearly it's the lawyers who are the problem when the non-English speaking Sikh obliterates a family of 5 with his big rig.

Invincible Aggie said:

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Yes, clearly it's the lawyers who are the problem when the non-English speaking Sikh obliterates a family of 5 with his big rig.

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It's not the lawyers fault at all. All I am saying is they are happy to get rich off of it. That empathy expressed on the ambulance chaser commercials is pure BS IMO. Illegal driver just makes it a slam dunk for them.

Here's another potential one. He works for "California".