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

The problem with this is that you'll end up capping out from what your carrier can profit. If it costs more for the carrier to keep you on the road, the carrier is going to charge the customer extra so they can profit. Since the customer is being charged more to ship freight, in turn, they will rise sale prices to cover loses.

What does this mean? That 20 oz bottle of soda you bought last week for $1.50 is now $2.00.

Catch-22 if you will. I wouldn't mind making more money for what I do, but it's comming right back out of my pocket.

 

that happens anyway its called inflation, so why not make extra money if your still gonna pay more every year for the same sheet!



American Trucker

 

Companies will usually reward those who excel at what they do. When you give a little more to the company they will usually do more to help you. That is just the way the world works. There is nothing wrong with being the cream.

 

i know i took it as the compliment, thats why the smiley was bowing to you lol




American Trucker

 

$0.30/mile when on line 3
$20/hr when on line 4
$5/hr when on line 2

That is for your basic OTR van hauler. Specialized loads require specialized rates.

So if you get 500 miles average a day x 6 days x 50 weeks = $45,000/yr
Now you are required to log 8 in the sleeper = $12,000/yr
Pre-trip, loading time, repair time is like 20 hours a week = $20,000/yr

Total is $77,000 per year. And that sounds like a deserving wage for a quality driver who makes minimal mistakes and does a good job. I mean lets face it we do a big pile of work for free if we are not getting that. Who gets paid for pre-trips? How hard is to get detention time? Why should you stay watch over somebody else's truck and freight for free? Risking your life sleeping in the sleeper with the potential for getting jacked is worth something too.

 

That is an ok way to show it. Based on Canada's HOS. We have to stop for 11 hours btw.
I have never been one to say that we should get paid for all our time that we have to be in the truck, even sleeping. That is just an argument I stay out of. Since I am in that truck by choice. It is a tool and a motel room in one.

I do not make many mistakes. I have not had a load late (due to anything I messed up) in years. I inspect my truck well every day. I have had 5 DOT inspections in the past 3-4 years, and never had a violation, warning etc.
No tickets at all in 20 years, accept weight violations when running local. We had no way to scale the loads. And company covered them.

Sure, the company's cannot pay drivers more than they are making in rates. And this past couple of years we had record low rates. There is no way if it was my truck it would move for a buck a mile including fsc. Since it would loose money just starting the truck.
And company's should have never let the rates get that low.
The industry did that to itself. It was not market demands. Since the market can demand all that it wants. It cannot force company's to move freight at a loss.
Now average rates are up well over 2 bucks a mile. Will probably average over 3 bucks a mile my next year. We are getting up where they should be anyway.
The shippers will complain. But it is a necessary thing.

The part that scares me. Will be when the US company's still refuse to raise driver pay, and they cannot get anywhere near enough people to work for the low wages offered.
The next step will be what Canada did. Give out massive numbers of Visa's to foreign drivers to fill the trucks with people that will work for the wage that the company wants to pay.
Instead of raising the pay to where it should have been from the start.

Market forces or no market forces. They cannot force you to run at a loss. Raise the driver pay to where it should be. And force the market to deal with that pay. That is the only way this will ever happen.

Of course, even if the ATA got together and tryed to do this it would not force a change. Since only around 20% of the trucks on the road are from the large carriers. The majority of the trucks are small fleets and O/O. These are the ones with the real power if they ever decide to use it.

 

Do you really believe that you should be paid for sleeping? You are not the first to want to be paid for sleeping. You don't have to sleep in the truck. I am sure that your carrier would not mind if you wanted to pay out of your own pocket for a motel room. If you feel you are risking your life sleeping in a truck sleeper, you may want to be more careful where you stop for the night. Getting detention should not be difficult to get, but it is. Unless a carrier gets detention from the shipper or broker then they cannot afford to pay the driver for sitting. It is basic economics. There are too many who are willing to sit for hours and not demand detention who will fill in if one carrier stopped sitting for free. I avoid that because if I am kept sitting for hours and don't get detention then I won't haul their freight. Most people will keep going back. If everyone demanded detention in order to haul freight then things might change. I have no doubt that if shippers were required to pay detention that trucks would be kept sitting for much shorter periods of time.

If you are given higher rates when times are good and rates are up for the carrier are you willing to take a pay cut when rates and business is off? Rather than being paid by the mile have you considered working for a carrier who pays percentage? It seems to me that for those of you who think your time is worth so much more than others that it would be the best way to be compensated. When rates are up you make more and when rates are down you earn less along with your carrier. My guess is that most would not want to do that since there is more accountability.

 

while im not on either side of the pay me to sleep issue, BUT there are a few companies here in the US that do pay you hourly for your 10 hour breaks....

Somewhere on here like a year or so ago i posted the list....




American Trucker

 

I don't want to be paid to sleep, but while I am in that truck I am a guardian of that vehicle and freight and should be compensated. It is like being on-call. Every other tradesman or profession is compensated for being on-call, why shouldn't a driver?

 

What are you on call for when you are sleeping in a loaded truck? My sister is a nurse and she once worked for a company where she was on call 24/7. She only made money if she was called in to work. Doctors are on call 24/7 (well, some are anyway) and they don't make money until they are called in to work. A driver is not on call 24/7. You can only drive a certain number of hours per day. You are only allowed 14 hours to be on duty per day so how can you be on call 24 hours? If you were paid to sleep or as you put it being "on call" then you would be in violation of federal hours of service rules.

Drivers are paid for their performance, for the most part. Most are paid either by the mile or percentage. Some carriers pay drivers to assist in unloading their truck. Some pay for excessive sitting, but that usually doesn't kick in until after 2 hours.

I probably should not be surprised with the way so many people are these days. I see no reason why any one should feel that they should be paid to sleep or to not work. If you are paid by the mile or percentage you make money when you drive. I have spoken to some who feel that they should also be paid to eat, take a shower and use the toilet. It is part of the "me" society that we have become. I would not expect any company to pay me to NOT work. Part of the problem we have in this country is that there are too many people who are not willing to put forth their best effort. And don't tell me that if you were paid more that you would work harder. That isn't the way the world works. If you do your best then the money will come. Most companies reward performance. If you only do the minimum that is expected you are doomed to mediocrity.