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So you drive a "dead end job" (your words) just to get enough to buy more trucks, making other people work for you in dead end jobs. Are you providing jobs or p

by dalore 7y ago

So you drive a "dead end job" (your words) just to get enough to buy more trucks, making other people work for you in dead end jobs. Are you providing jobs or part of the problem?

noxToken 7y ago
This is a little short sighted. Small businesses only have so much room for expansion. In the same way that the person from GP's comment got their own truck, an employee could also save for their truck. My first programming job was a part time position for a small group of programmers. There weren't more than 8 of us. Without taking on more clients or raising prices, there wasn't really a feasible way to get me to full-time. To get more clients also means that there are also more employees needed. We were all fine with the arrangement. Their whole rationale was to get students a position for hands on experience completing actual projects for clients. You were welcome to stay on after graduation, but the expectation was that you'd leverage the experience on your resume to get a better paying job that was full-time. This fits the bill for the blurred line between dead end job and skilled labor. If I didn't leave (and they were alright with it), my room for growth would have been small barring the owners landing some huge contract that rapidly expanded their business.
diN0bot 7y ago
When you raise venture funding based on exploiting your workforce, then you're creating the problem.
sokoloff 7y ago
Or “allowing others to get their start without the need to buy a truck and business first”. Tow trucks might be available for $5K down, but the full sticker is $50K+ for a stinger and $100K+ for a rollback. Add a towing/impound license, insurance, land on top of that and it’s reasonable to conclude that some people would be better off driving for someone else than forcing everyone who wanted to be a tow truck driver to open a towing business.
- dsfyu404ed 7y ago
  Nobody is starting a business with a new truck and a shop and an impound lot. They are starting with a 2001 F350 rollback with 400k on it and making a buck hauling anything and anything they can. They are parking it in their own driveway and doing roadside calls at 1am and moving machinery on the side. Then they eventually build that into the kind of business you've described. Starting off in blue collar trades is very much a "fake it 'til you make it" deal.

by dalore 7y ago

So you drive a "dead end job" (your words) just to get enough to buy more trucks, making other people work for you in dead end jobs. Are you providing jobs or part of the problem?

noxToken 7y ago

This is a little short sighted. Small businesses only have so much room for expansion. In the same way that the person from GP's comment got their own truck, an employee could also save for their truck. My first programming job was a part time position for a small group of programmers. There weren't more than 8 of us. Without taking on more clients or raising prices, there wasn't really a feasible way to get me to full-time. To get more clients also means that there are also more employees needed. We were all fine with the arrangement. Their whole rationale was to get students a position for hands on experience completing actual projects for clients. You were welcome to stay on after graduation, but the expectation was that you'd leverage the experience on your resume to get a better paying job that was full-time. This fits the bill for the blurred line between dead end job and skilled labor. If I didn't leave (and they were alright with it), my room for growth would have been small barring the owners landing some huge contract that rapidly expanded their business.

diN0bot 7y ago

When you raise venture funding based on exploiting your workforce, then you're creating the problem.

sokoloff 7y ago

Or “allowing others to get their start without the need to buy a truck and business first”. Tow trucks might be available for $5K down, but the full sticker is $50K+ for a stinger and $100K+ for a rollback. Add a towing/impound license, insurance, land on top of that and it’s reasonable to conclude that some people would be better off driving for someone else than forcing everyone who wanted to be a tow truck driver to open a towing business.

dsfyu404ed 7y ago
Nobody is starting a business with a new truck and a shop and an impound lot. They are starting with a 2001 F350 rollback with 400k on it and making a buck hauling anything and anything they can. They are parking it in their own driveway and doing roadside calls at 1am and moving machinery on the side. Then they eventually build that into the kind of business you've described. Starting off in blue collar trades is very much a "fake it 'til you make it" deal.