How much should an OTR driver earn? Here's my opinion!

I never said that all drivers play video games. It doesn't take that many who play video games or waste time and are paid by the hour to cost a company a lot of money. When that happens then it hurts every employee in the company, not to mention the owners and stockholders. If only 10% of them wasted enough time it could take all the profits away from the company and even drive them into bankruptcy.

Working local is different, but I would prefer to see drivers compensated on percentage for local, too. It would mean more money to most drivers. But, it would not be paying you for every minute of your time, even though the money would be more at the end of the week.

You keep talking about delays and being paid for the delays. What about delays caused by the driver? Are you going to reimburse the company for stealing money due to your delays? Will you reimburse the company for the use of their equipment when you go out of route to eat or find a casino?

If you agree to work for a carrier who pays mileage then you don't have a a reason to complain or whine about the pay. If you agree to be paid percentage then you have no reason to complain or whine. The only reason you should complain is if the company fails to keep their part of the agreement. If you don't like the compensation just leave. There are plenty of hourly jobs around. According to some of you, a driver can make as much or more working for McDonald's. Well, they do pay by the hour. If you think you can make as much with McDonald's and be home every night, then go for it. There is nothing to stop you from selling or cooking hamburgers. You should ask them about their sleeping policy. I don't think they pay for sleeping.

Good planning will offset most delays in getting to your delivery or pick up. I try to allow plenty of time to make my delivery. I always strive to get to an appointment early. You can't plan for all contingencies, but you can plan your time so that you can make appointments in a timely manner. It takes some time to learn how to plan your trips. That is one reason new drivers start at a lower wage than those with many years experience.

Not all drivers are created equal. Some plan and have better work habits than others. Much of the reason for a gap in driver pay from one individual to another are their work habits. A driver with good work habits will do better than a driver who has poor work habits.

If all drivers were paid the same hourly rate and you saw a driver gambling or slacking off you will do one of two things. You will either resent his behavior and feel that you should be paid more or you will turn him it to the company. If you resent his behavior you would likely slow down because of your resentment that he is being paid the same wage as you but you have been working hard and he is a slacker. With mileage or percentage you are only hurting yourself if you slow your performance.

 

your view of drivers spending all of their money on gambling and playing games all day is greatly exxagerated, i know it exists,but if management is doing its job they should be able to tell whats going on. in my opinion, unless its a driver that gets flunked out of the industry quick,something like this happening when there is work to do is pretty rare.

how about we pay the office personnel by performance,no AC in the office because it costs too much and they have to supply their own PC,lets cap the CEO's pay at what the AVERAGE salary for their drivers pay is at, lets go that way!!

putting local drivers on percentage would mean more money for a FEW drivers,and less money for MOST drivers. paying by the mileage encourages these companies to abuse their driver's by sitting them at the company's leisure,whether it be 4 hrs being unloaded or sitting a day or two,breakdown, etc..it hurts the driver in many ways..its common knowledge, drivers that are compensated hourly are on average MUCH better off in many ways,most notably in hometime,but also in gross earnings.

you have nothing new,same old tired stuff from management that has been around at bottom feeder companies,lets shift all of the responsibility onto the driver, and when we the shiet slides down the hill we can DAC him and slingshot another warm body into our trk.

these companies are doing better than they would like to admit and keeping this mileage/percentage pay system,as well as DAC is a way of keeping slaves as far as im concerned,otr drivers are out doing business for the company every single minute of the day in the companies property and should be compensated by the hour,doing so is a START at improving conditions for drivers,including being able to live a life outside of work,being able to live a healthy life and not have a heart attack or any number of health complications at a much higher rate than the general public.

eventually there are going to be class action lawsuits regarding these issues,whether its dac, or drivers pay of which i believe there have already been lawsuits against at least 1 company for paying their otr drivers under minimum wage (comparably). the largest possible lawsuit would be the health related issues,truck drivers have insanely high health costs as they get older and these companies just fire them,99% of the time theyll try to deny unemployment benefits,DAC them etc etc.. drivers on average have health coverage, but it doesnt matter if you are hardly ever home to get to a doctor. its almost a scam were paying for this health coverage but were not able to use it,waiting a month to see the doctor can be the difference between working another 15 yrs and death.

 

What delays do drivers cause? Sightseeing? Shopping? Way back when you ran truck you must have done some odd things to get these crazy ideas. Most drivers I know run like hell because they have to.

 

Notice how he carefully, yet artfully, dodged the question regarding delays by the shipper/reciever!

I can say without a doubt that shippers/recievers have wasted more of my time, caused me to pick up/deliver a load late far and away more times than I ever could!!!

But notice how that issue was cleverly unaddressed.

 

All of the above and then some. Most drivers do a good job. It is those who don't who are the problem when it comes to delays caused by the driver. I have had drivers for years. I have also witnessed first hand how some will waste their time playing video games, slots, etc., Others will go out of route or find other ways to waste time and money. It is these drivers who cause the problems for carriers and other drivers. Margins are thin in this business. It only takes a few problem drivers to eat up the profits. I don't waste my time or money playing video games or gambling. I grew up with a strong work ethic. We were always taught to do a good job no matter what the task. Unfortunately, that is something that is seriously lacking with many people today, not just drivers. I have always run hard when I drive. I keep the door closed and do my job.

 

food alone is at least twice as expensive otr,and in some places youll be paying 3x as much,just to feed yourself.



if you plan on doing anything once you get home,if you can afford to have a place w/ your measly salary,youll have to run a strict budget.



where the inefficiency is at is in the office 99% of the time, a "manager" having 50 (thats how many mine has) or 70 drivers under them,how can they communicate effectively to that many people,do preplans etc etc,you either MAKE yourself at the top of his list,or youll be a very dis-satisfied person getting the leftovers. i make sure if i dont have a preplan to send messages asking where its at,and if i do sit i send messages every 30 minutes,whats happening etc etc



actually last weekend was a bietch,i had a weeklong run and it was ending on saturday at noon,i am asking my manager for a preplan on WEDNESDAY,i mention it again on thursday,and then on friday,saturday morning rolls around and i get a preplan when im three hrs out from the destination...then 2 hrs later,my preplan is canceled and im thinking that theyre just sending me another, i get to destination at 11:30 and i shoot a msg over and theyre "working on it",noon rolls around and thats when the planners etc leave and im like "wtf",i was so pissed...i didnt say much of anything,i asked the worthless night dispatch guy if planners were in on sunday or monday,and of course not..



i waited until my 10 hr break was up and i drove home for the 4th of july weekend,i hadnt driven 375 miles out of route before(without permission), to go home nonetheless,but tuesday rolled around and my manager dispatched me for a load out of where i WAS at and i asked for a NEW fuel route (lol),preplan canceled...only thing he said is that he THOUGHT i was in louisville..gave me a new preplan and it included the miles from louisville to romulus mi (i live in the detroit metro area),and i was paid layover for the two days i sat(at the house).



bottom line im not a slave and if they want me driving w/ them i am going to expect a certain level of respect,and altho i would not normally do that, it was a holiday weekend and they cant find the time to get me a load when they know that im not planned on one,DAYS in advance. the 75$ a day layover pay wasnt enough,i deserve better.



i can tell you im averaging around 800 /wk net(takehome) and the way these companies have it setup i can guarantee if this company just had a loadboard where i could pick my own loads i would generate THEM and myself a good % more revenue EVERY week,and be home more also.



i dont think i agree w/ this g/man guy on much of anything so far,but hes entitled to his opinion.

 

I never dodged anything. If you look at some of my previous posts, I did mention delays at the shipper or receiver. Excessive delays should be dealt with by carriers. There are times when they do tie trucks up for unreasonable amounts of time. But, it isn't always the shipper or receiver who causes the delays.

 

In most cases,oh yeah it is..Ever pick up steel in Chicago? Atlas tube there still stands out in my mind,7-14 hr wait FROM appointment time,every-time;albeit,that was 3 years ago...I have NEVER gone back..NEVER will.

 

My posts reflect my personal experiences and what I have observed from other drivers over the last several decades of being around this business.

 

it happens,but the inefficiency is in the office and its designed that way on purpose,the carrier knows everything about which loads they have,where theyre going, what each driver gets and each driver manager at your average bottom feeder has way too many drivers to the point where you cant call in,and he doesnt have time to address the needs of all of his drivers,be it preplans or whatever.

those video games and gambling machines are money-losers for the truck stops alot of the time,theyre attached to power 24/7, and are hardly ever used,some go weeks without a person even putting a quarter in.

companies that treat their drivers like some of these otr operations will continue to have very thin margins, they could save millions by not having to rehire their entire fleet every year because they run off their drivers. they could also save millions by maintaining their equipment properly. the companies that are going to succeed are the ones that are able to keep their turnover very low and fairly compensate the employees that actually generate revenue, and get them home more often.