Detention Theory

According to the logs thats all they every do! All the other work was rarely if ever logged.. so therefor.. did NOT exist

 

That's cause that's all they are paid for. If you have a set number of hours to work but only get paid for one part of your job, what part are you gonna try and do the most? The part your paid for.
As drivers we've been conned into thinking all that other stuff like fueling, loading, unloading, paperwork, repairs etc are just part of the job and "figured" into the pay already. It's a lie. Plain and simple. Your working for free.

 

Thanks for proving my point....

 

Lowest I had last year was a little over 63K. Most 65K+.

 

I'm an O/O but I'm for company drivers to.

Majority of company drivers get exploited by their company by the CPM rule.
If your a company driver I feel the company should pay REAL perdeims.
Example: if a driver in out there working for his comapny I feel the company should allow $6 for breakfast, $9 for lunch, and $18 for dinner.
Any company that has workers and the workers are out of town the workers get a similar compensation. Just because were in the transportation industry doesn't mean we should have to pay these out of pocket expenses. This means we drivers take home less.
Sure we get a tax credit, but that it, it's just a credit, were still out of pocket on these expenses.

Second, I agree about the first post. All time should be recorded at the shipper, receiver, fueling, and not just a 15 minute fuel stop. Do you really just spend 15 minutes at the fuel pump? Very few times, mostly it's 30-45 minutes wasted with zero pay and it's the driver again who is not compensated.
Even with the rules the way they are under the 14 hour rule. There is noting really wrong with that rule except if you get up, do a walk around, drive to the receiver, wait 4-7 hours for them to unload you, drive 50-125 miles to reload, sit again, stop to take a lunch or dinner and not just a wolf down a sub while driving, how many miles can you make? 300 or less.
Again, just because were in the transportation business don't mean we are obligated to work 14 hours and get paid 7-8 hours.
These two things alone would make a huge difference in this industry.

 

So if you start your pretrip at 0753 and finish at 0822 is 29 minutes but in legality you only have to log 0800 to 0815. I can do a pretrip legally in under 29 minutes and they would have to prove otherwise that I didn't do the same thing every day. Another thing is the pretrip 105 point inspection you read in a manual and taught in school is not a requirement by the regulations. Only what is covered in 396 is a requirement.

All you have to do is be satisfied. It doesn't say oops you missed something. He must of defended himself or had a poor lawyer/public defender.


In reference to detention your company negotiates detention and bills back after the fact. Many times they get paid and cheat the driver themselves. Or even a broker if he's in the middle might cabbage on it. It's not always the customer didn't pay. It isn't much different than drivers working on percentage. It's very easy to lie to you on what a load pays.

As far as my last company there was times I thought I got cheated and many times I was surprised with something I didn't expect. It balanced out. With everything that comes into play a driver has to look at his yearly W-2 instead of worrying about day to day. You know you should be making at least 50K. If you are I wouldn't be worried about the nickel and diming unless it's an outrageous detention. If I ain't making it I would seek new employment. One doesn't even have to wait a year. They can keep track of a quarter and multiply by four to get a good yearly idea.

 

The biggest complaint I've always had is "if" I actually went on duty when I actually started working, went on duty for things that are legit such a waiting at shippers, receiver, doing paperwork, my 14 hours would be up daily and my 70 would be up in 5 days and my pay would be $500 yet I worked 70 hours for that $500.
It's not that I'm nickle and diming, it's just getting paid for what you do.
Remember I'm a O/O. I bid on my loads. I may get $1000 for a 250 miles run or sometime more so I get compensated for my day's haul but a company driver may only get $95 for that same 250 mile haul and it took him all day to complete. Take away his days expense and taxes and his take home is even less.

 

That's why the cpm pay scale needs to be done away with and everyone switched to hourly. I use my 70 up in 5 days normally and run up to 14 a day normally. Sometimes less. But the main thing is I'm paid for every minute that I'm actually working whether it's driving, unloading, loading, paperwork, fueling etc because it's all part of my job.

 

Good idea....and now here's a twist. Do what you said and burn hours and never document detention unless you get it. Anything under 2 hours never happened.

Anything unpaid never happened. My point is to make sure the carrier can't collect it either....because you don't know...if he did or didn't, you only know what he says.

So log it but don't make any notes on the BOL or other paperwork or indicate time in a particular mode. He can't use your log to collect, only the BOL signed by the consignee or shipper. I found my carrier billing for hoses, fittings, air and a host of other goodies I was providing....yet wasn't getting paid for.....not anymore.....

Good idea and good luck

United we stand, divided we fall