This past week a conference was held by the American Trucking Association for fleet owners, managers, and executives, in the TL, LTL, and private fleet sectors. During the conference they discussed many issues including HOS changes, growth in the transportation industry, and of course the all-important subject: driver retention.
The term “driver retention” encompasses much more than it might seem. A complete discussion of driver retention must touch on many things including driver health, benefits, equipment, schedule, and – of course – pay. As anyone familiar with our industry knows, compensation for truck drivers works very differently than for most other jobs.
Rather than an hourly wage or a commission on profits, drivers are generally paid by the mile. Since the government regulates both how many miles can be driven in an hour (with speed limits) and how many hours can be driven in a day (with HOS rules), truck drivers have a maximum number of miles that can be driven in any given day. For OTR drivers however, they are still on the job even when the wheels aren’t rolling. Any increase in compensation with the current pay model would only increase the pay per mile, not the pay for the time that a driver is responsible for his rig and cargo but isn’t on the road.
But we all know this, so why are we discussing it? Because the model as it is does not work. Sure, freight can get from point A to point B, but in the for-hire trucking industry, annual driver turnover is hovering just around 100%. The industry with the next highest turnover rate (based off of numbers from 2011) is the hospitality industry with 33.7%. The hospitality industry has a notoriously high turnover rate, and yet trucking beats it with a rate that’s three times higher.
A major reason for the huge turnover rate is that truckers aren’t being properly compensated for ALL of the time they spend on-duty, whether they’re driving or not.
When you leave the for-hire industry behind and look at private fleets, the situation changes entirely. At the ATA conference where turnover was being discussed, Wal-Mart’s Vice President of Transportation, Jeff Flackler, was a panel member. Wal-Mart has a private fleet of trucks and drivers. Not only do they pay their drivers per mile, but about a third of the pay their drivers receive comes from other non-driving activities they perform. According to Flackler, they also receive a solid benefits package. Currently their driver turnover rate is between 5 and 6 percent.
So can we hope that for-hire fleets with turnover rates 20 times higher than that will take a page from their book? One panel member in the for-hire industry noted that while mileage based pay might be on its way out (and that’s a big “might”), using an hourly pay scale would be “financial suicide.”
According to an article on Overdrive Online, the panel instead concluded that in order to increase driver retention – and solve the “shortage” – the driver compensation system must be changed “to make sure drivers are paid for work done and time spent not behind the wheel.”
Next Story: “There Is No Case Where The Driver Isn’t Being Hurt” by HOS Changes
Source: overdrive, compdatasurveys
So long as there are people standing in line for the job, so long as the government continues to pay ‘training companies’ to run the candidates thru the mill, nothing will change.
This same arguement has been around for years and the only thing I’ve seen change since the early 70’s is pay and benefits decrease, demands increase and government regulations continue to choke us.
It’s like the weather: everyone complains about it, but nobody does anything.
Oh man that’s depressing but so true..
Money is the name of the game !!!!
U don’t see high broker turnover .. Or high dispatch turnover …
And all we here is theses company’s make ing recorde profits !!
Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this out .. Just someone wit a sharp knife to cut thru the red tape or malarkey !!
Hourly works in LTL, as I worked most of ’08 that way. OTR not so much. It would be much more efficient to go back to the old rules. 8 & 10, with split sleeper allowed. suspend the 14 hr rule when on a sleep break. Unless there is more accountability from shippers and receivers, and more enforcement of the old law of Obstruction of Traffic on the highways, it will never be right. The population has more than doubled in the last fifty years, and people live in their vehicles.
The primary purpose of all highways is commerce, that’s US! The purpose of the expressways is to get from A to B in the shortest time. The minimum speed on the freeways should be raised, especially in the left lane. The public must be reminded that everything they buy, is transported by trucks, and a little more respect would go a long way!
ATA Panel Member: How would we steal from drivers then?
I paraphrase. ATA member profits are built on wage theft. They’d be lost in an ethical business climate.
Amen,funny they spend more time trying to make more money off our work then they do trying to keep us?if John q public lived by our short haul pay miles it wouldnt work
the only big company I know anything about has a turnover rate of 91%, with at least 2 of its “financial centers”, terminals, over 119%, and the lies and cheating of those drivers keep the numbers that high, they just dont learn, and the occupation of a certain management team is just thrilled with the results, dont think the board even cares as long as the numbers stay high, their base pay is OK but the extras, layover, detention, etc while promised just are not allowed
There’s just no end to this nonsense. Avoid the trucking industry it’s a terrible job.
Amen to that brother, unless of course your single and have no life and don’t plan on having one ever! You think your going to get a local route and it will be better but the reality is the local guys get reamed more then the otr guys so your screwed if your otr or local there’s just no getting around it..
Wal-Mart has a lower turn over rate because of pay, but the biggest reason they have a lower turn over rate is because they have more home time, steady home time. the turn over rate for OTR drivers is because of pay, little home time, government regulations. I would say those are the big reasons for turn over in all truck driver in the industry with government regulations getting close to being the top reason.
As far as pay related to turnover goes, has anyone ever thought that there might be a correlation between the fact that the worst types of jobs in the trucking industry tend to pay the least? I’ve been in management for nearly 20 years. It’s been my experience that the big company OTR jobs pay far less than the local, home every night jobs that a driver can get (typically found in a dedicated fleet, private fleet, or union fleet setting). It should be the opposite!
So let’s take a look at what we ask a company OTR driver to do…we’re going to ask someone to spend 2-4 weeks out at a time, be away from family, shower at truck stops, sleep erratically, deal with all the CB tough guys, crazy drivers, lousy traffic, and be “managed” via on-board computer by what are usually the most inexperienced managers at a company…all for about an annual pay that’s somewhere around $40,000/year — but guess what, you get paid by the mile (and only when the trip is over), so you can’t really budget on a weekly basis as to what your pay will be. That long haul you got on Friday that won’t be empty until Monday, so that will have to be on next week’s check because Sunday is the cut-off.
The truth is this, if a company like Schneider or Swift says their turnover is 100%…then the OTR turnover is probably more like 125-150% because they are averaging in their dedicated fleets which run somewhere around 40%.
A lot of people never get past the OTR stage to continue driving. They quit, they find something with more regularity, close to home in the construction or manufacturing industries, safe in the knowledge that if the economy tanks again they have a CDL in their pocket and they can work whenever they need to. There are some guys that love the road, but they usually leave to get their own trucks. The vast majority of the OTR drivers that are left are just waiting to get their 1 or 2 years experience in so they can get a nicer job with more home time (and better pay) in a dedicated or a private fleet…and can you really blame them?
Local jobs pay better because there worse not better then otr. When you work and I mean work 12-14 hours a day 6 days a week not just driving but loading and unloading there isn’t enough pay to make that a winnable situation. You run a “local” route and you’ll be wanting that old otr job back in a very short amount of time..
@Joseph ~ I still prefer that to an OTR job. Would be a lot healthier too.
you could not be more wrong imho, i did 6 years otr and the last 20 local. i make better money, better benefits, home every night, weekend, and holiday, and i,m in much better physical
shape then if i were sitting in a otr truck day and night.
OTR is a 7 day a week 14 hour a day job as well. At least if your local you sleep in your own bed every night.
I work on a percentage shorthaul OTR but am home almost every night. The rate is based on mileage and we get the percentage of that. It works out for us at about .33/mile or $12.50/hr. Low pay but at least we are not sitting on the road for hours on end waiting for a load. We take a load to the customer and 95% of the time come back empty right away. Our small company, even with this low pay, has a turnover rate at my terminal of less than 10%. If the pay were higher the turnover would hover around 0%. It shows that drivers will swap lower pay for either being home or not sitting without a load and not being paid for it.
I had one of those regular truck jobs for almost 30 yrs. I put up with lots of crap to keep that regular paycheck and hometime even though the pay was less than over the road but a hedge fund decided the company had enough assets to be worth buying and breaking it up and I am now otr again and amazed at how much hasn’t changed from 30 yrs ago, namely long waits to get loaded or unlded and bad truckstops. The truckstops are better and the internet helps with navigation but the stress levels are still incredible and I have to salute the road warriors who make the freight move even through the tough times. Hourly pay would encourage the trucking companies to get more involved in driver treatment at shippers and receivers, but it would be economic disaster for them so, guess we hang in here and do the best we can.
That’s true jp.
Trucking is the only job that I know of that has a mandatory requirement of “volunteering time” on the job with the given understanding that you will not be paid. No other industry requires you to be on the job and not be paid – some industries even pay people for being at home “on call”. There has not been a significant increase in driver’s wages in the last ten years. Drivers are required to live on the road, give up some holidays and seeing their families and yet we do not compensate them for that. How long does it take you to drive to work? Multiply your miles by 30 cents and you’ll get an idea of how well that compensation “ideal” works.
Drive safe!
Tanya
The motorcoach/bus industries does the same thing. Get paid by the mile, and 95% of any work done not driving is NOT paid for. Trucking isn’t the only industry that loves to make you work for nothing.
That’s why we need to organize Tanya.
If the ata and oddia were really on our side they would encourage a shut down.
I’m a owner op. And have been for almost 20yrs. Back in 08 I remember
I was in indy. It was a Friday and I was looking for a load home.
I was told by many brokers that day it would be hard for me to find a load
Because j.b was moving freight for .50 mile until Sunday .
The turnover is so huge in this industry because were allowing big componies
To do whatever they want. Such as these lease purchase deals.
Or allowing them to hire people with 3 months experience.
Then when the inexperienced driver has an accident they let the driver
go. Also these truck driving schools are a joke they train these kids or laid off workers for 3 weeks. I think the government should have better stanards for schools as well
I just woke up I feel like i’m rambaling ….I could go on this business has taken a huge turn for the worst but its all I know how to do.. damn shame
The ATA and OOIDA are opposite organizations. Tha ATA president is Dan England. Owner of C.R. England. The ATA is part of the problem. It is made up of trucking company CEO’s. They are not interested in helping drivers. They fight regulations to keep profits up. The OOIDA seems legit. They are there to help the little guy. The ATA is profit motivated. They are the same creeps that have created a 100% turnover rate,
The Labor Dept should have better rules that BENEFIT the driver, drivers should be compensated for all time spent on the job PERIOD. When you are in your truck, unless you are sleeping and eating etc, you are working. We shouldn’t be gassing up, doing pretrip, doing logs, etc unless we are getting paid, otherwise you are giving work away for free, and the Labor Dept should see to it that all LABOR is compensated. The rate of inflation is an issue, we are still making the same per mile as in the 70s and 80s. Wages for everyone should be raised. More people would be able to buy more of the goods we haul, and we would be able to make decent wages.
At least the Fed could impose a per diem pay for being away from home… across the board whether you are a company driver or leaser…something….ANYTHING! It sure would be nice! I remember being out on the road for 5 months without hitting home. I was an OO, but they had a contract on the east coast that HAD to be fulfilled and I was there for them when they needed me. I know they made a pretty penny and they should have been more grateful to those of us who were there to pick up the slack because they didn’t want to bring on any more drivers. Promised bonuses were not followed through with. Talk about some pissed off drivers!
Truckers need to get these promises in writing. When my husband went to training for USGlen Moore years ago I told him to get all promises in writing with a signature. He was told full insurance upon completion of this training. Had the recruiter sign off on it. Training was over, they told him insurance in 90 days. I called the benefits department and asked what the deal was. “Oh he must have misunderstood”! I replied “no he did not misunderstand, I made him get it in writing and I’m looking at it right here. So someone is either lying to get drivers or theirs a misunderstanding in house with management but I want our benefits in place as promised. I have it in writing and that is a contract.” The next call was from a VicePresident saying there has been a breakdown in communication, blah blah. But my husband and all the other drivers got their insurance at the end of training. If all of you would start asking for those promises in writing they would have to follow thru, this he said, she promised is not legally binding and They Know It. They treat you guys like crap and make money off you. Take into consideration that they wouldn’t have a business without you.
If your an OTR driver and you’re busting your a** for peanuts and ruining your life, get out. Quit your job and go do something else. I drove OTR for 10 years and just got fed up one day and walked away, you can do the same. Just drove a school bus for a year until I had found a job I actually wanted. Love my job now and make real good money, but still driving-to the jobsite, and at the end of the day I get cleaned up and go home to my family not a filthy nasty truck stop filled with filthy nasty people
My pay is now $.04 less per mile, without retirement and less benefits. I started 16 yrs ago with $.36 per mile, matched 401 k, profit sharing, great benefits, and good home time. Now I live on the road and struggle to make ends meet. I will break soon and the system will chew me up and swallow me completely.
Not allowed to have unions. A ton of unpaid time dealing with non driving duties. A ” that’s trucking”, who cares attitude by companies. A complete lack of respect for the driver’s time. A borderline slave mentality.
And the trucking industry actually has the nerve to bemoan the driver turnover problem ? Its a monster of their own creation. Hope they enjoy it.
Drivers use the only effective tool they have at their disposal. Quit. What else is there ?
please explain the statement (Not allowed to have unions).
there are lots of unions still in the trucking business, the teamsters come to the top of the list.
you just have not organized one in your shop.
Vani you are correct. My grandfather was born in 1896 and live to be one hundred years old,and he said in his time he had noticed that when everyone is doing fairly well..EVERYONE is doing fairly well.
Same old story….We couldn’t make a profit …we just couldn’t survive….somehow they can pay for fuel…Registration and all the taxes..and Insurance…..
This is the same old story that they told before I was even born about 40 hour weeks ..Minimum wage…Child labor…you name it…
I don’t know about the US, but there are too many people in Canada falling for the hype, the driver shortage is a myth started by carriers to bring down the wages of the truck drivers. I may have bought into it, before my husband bought a truck and went on as an owner operator. Working for his first company as an O/O , within a month he was let go because his truck was too heavy. He tried to find another, he sat over a month. Finally he found 2, the first he was really interested in but my issue was their contract had nothing pertaining to pay per mile, fuel subsidies ect. Needless to say just because they verbally say what they pay, doesn’t make it true. The other has been crying for drivers forever, but as we found out doesn’t need them. Pay package seemed good contract in order. It all started good until one day my husband reported he had drove his hours for the day and that his 72 hours were almost up, she commented that it was his hours that was killing him.His driving hours from that day forward were cut back 1974 km ( he is in fact, paid by the mile)in a five day run Calgary AB to Vancouver BC hauling usually 59,000 lbs on the trailor. Needless to say he he was working for the truck payment, so he had no choice but to quit. But while he was there another O/O with the same Company asked about the driver shortage, to the man in charge his response was, there is no shortage unless the orders on my desk are piling up and can’t find trucks to haul the loads. Also while he was there we had noticed that in many cases when passing a truck or dropping a load many of the drivers in these trucks were in fact punjabi. And is it only fitting with the temporary foreign worker program setup in Canada. I also know they have come here and under cut us for jobs, and contracts. It is no longer about wages it is about who will drive for less. Before my husband left this prior company, he e-mailed, and phoned over 30 carriers, most ignored his e-mails, and the ones that responded told him they would send out an application, and pay package, to never hear from them again. The carriers he phoned, the person responsible for hiring was always busy and wouldn’t return a call. I finally had enough after we had e-mailed a carrier, she responded she could have a run for my husband and for him to e-mail his phone number, so he did, during the conversation she told him she would send out the application, pay package later that day. Never heard from her again, Until after having this happen more often than it should, I got mad and e-mailed her, asking why she lied to my husband and that infact they were decieving drivers by making false acusations of a drivers shortage, and it was in fact more about them not wanting to pay fair wages for drivers, and commented on how O/O were going belly up due to carriers greed. Her response was you are are only upset because you feel ignored. So in turn I returned an e-mail stating it had nothing to do with feeling ignored and all to do with being fed up and tired of the carriers lying about a shortage that doesn’t exist. And how after contacting as many carriers as we have to be ignored, or when he did get a response, never receiving anything from the carriers he was in contact with. Her response then was the trucking industry is not what it used to be, but I will send you the forms if you still want them. You can believe what you want, I still think this drivers shortage is a false flag to drive down the wages in this industry. My husband has 30 years, and a clean abstract, so that is not an issue.
one of the major problems are the broker companies. they are only suppose to get 10 to 15% of the load but some are taking a third to fifty % of the load depending on the area the load is coming out of. which is a trigger down effect ( for example you take a load from Miami to Nashville, TN. the load pays you 1500 but the shipper payed the broker 2500 to 3000.) the difference is part of our raises.
The only people that drive…or the highest percentage of people that drive are the underprivileged, undereducated, and usually people that have some sort of mental disturbance for getting into this work to begin with…Other than that…you have retired cops who’ve earned their’ 20 years pension and want to find more work…cause’ their’ bored…for example…
No one comes out of “mamma’s womb” wanting to drive a rig…no one….unless they’re of simple mind. Period.
What?
same old story for the last 25 years. the answer is simple. get the unions back in trucking, stand up for your rights, bargain for wages and benefits. when you stand together united as a group you have strength in numbers.
these otr company’s have no interest in lowering the driver turn over rate. keep the new employees walking in the door to keep wages low and no benefits.
I used to work for pay by the mile. I got word that detention pay would go from 1.5 hours to 2.5 hours with no pay back in 2009. I left otr and went to hourly. There is no care in the world at these shippers/recievers. The driver can go from 5.5 to as many as 12 hours a week without being paid. Also there is no time in a half after 8 hours a dat or 40 hours a week. This is complete BS. Hourly pay is the way drivers should be paid.
Hourly pay is also very relaxing.
Very true. If your uneducated, ignorant, not very motivated, low social economic background you’ll be a great trucker!
I’ve been a small fleet owner and owner operator for 25yrs.
We’ve all talked about it. Nobody seems too want to do it.
I do believe we need to unite and shut it down. For many years
I have watched the government just do as they want. Its time
for all of us to stand together as one and let them know we have had enough.
The worst thing to happen to this business was deregulation.
If the ata and oiddi really want to make a difference. They should start
With the big carriers first. Allowing these companies to hire these young people
with 3 months experience is absurd. If you really look at all the data.
Most accidents involve inexperienced drivers. Once these drivers have a accident
They are let go. There’s a small part of our shortage. Once that happens
Its now on their csa report and dac. This makes these people not
hireable… This industry needs a complete overhaul. Get the government out
They come up with the most bullshit regulations. And more
Thing if they decide to make e-log a law.. if you think we have a shortage now
you wait and see. That’s just one thing the other is raising minimum freight insurance
limits to over 4 million dollars. Small companies are going to be forced outta business. .
This is all I have to say for now…
Well said Bob, lets shut it down.
If there isn’t a standard over minimum wage for otr drivers what sense does a 70hr HOS rule make? No over time is being paid so why limit the work week to 70hrs. I’m ok the 8, 11, and 14 because they do reduce fatigue related issues on the road, but telling someone they can’t work as many days consecutively as they want is bizarre to say the least.
If larger companies would settle on their lowest number to haul like $2 per mile and simply rely on the safety, training and moral of their drivers. O/O can make off better without all the cut throat hassle and the big companies can compensate thier drivers well. It just seem like to me that because the word “industry” is thrown around so freely, there’s this false illusion that we all work together in peace. Just remove the 70 hr rule, let me work. I don’t need two days off.
Its crazy how 50-60 years ago hard work was praised, now getting someone to put in 35-40 hrs per week is a big deal. That’s why our nation is becoming softer and less respected worldwide. End 70Hr rule. God Bless, work hard!
Its all bullshit this so called industry. This business will never be the same. To say pay me for everything is never going to happen. I do agree we are very under paid. We are over regulated and the most under appreciated people around. This attitude of its not what you did for me yesterday what did you do for me today. Has to stop as well.
And driver appreciation week what a joke. My buddy is a owner op. For pgt.
He got a bag with pgt name on it not even a nice bag. And in the bag was a tape measure with pgt name on it…. I’d rather you just pat me on the back and say good job..
I’m tired and ranting. ….sorry
Everything in our lives is controlled by the “economy”. When the city needs more money, they just increase taxes. When any essential service is lacking, they just increase the cost to us. Take a close look at any business today and you will see very heavy administration costs. Layers and layers of it to compensate the friends along the way. The only way to fix this is to do exactly what they are doing. Just take it. If it offends anyone, just move on.
Drove for Ace Hardware for years. Add the mileage, drop, weight, non driving, sleeper pay etc it worked out at about $0.65 per mile or $24 hour. The other benefits were great too. You knew your schedule so could have a good life and also after 5 years 4 wks vacation.
Driving for any retail operation and you get similar. But you need to know what your doing and have to hustle. There are lots of good jobs out there, but the turnover is low and they can be hard to get.
I wonder why that guy said that hourly pay is “financial suicide” ? There are already a number of trucking companies who pay by the hour and do quite well.
The board of directors would tar and feather him if that happen. The CEO & CFO would have to give up their million dollar bonus. GOD FOR BID!!
So really what they’re saying isn’t ‘How can we retain drivers?’ What they’re really saying is ‘How can we retain drivers, yet still screw them over every chance we get?’
Why not pay minimum wage for all on-duty hours logged during the week. I understand it wouldn’t be alot of money but it would be a start. I left OTR after 2 1/2 years because i got tired of not getting paid for all the extra work.
I am absolutely, completely, thoroughly convinced that the “large driver turnover” financial model is one that large companies not only tolerate, but embrace and willingly practice. As a business owner for many years before I went through a late-in-life second childhood and decided to go off and drive truck I am fully aware of how important it is to change an unprofitable practice and replace it with a profitable one. Those in the leadership of these freight companies could easily change their methods if they really were concerned about turnover… just as we are told here that Walmart has quite successfully done.
My “aha” moment regarding this came during a somewhat heated discussion I was having with my fleet manager over the amount of home time I was allowed to take. I told him my sad story of living a long distance from the terminal, which meant a large chunk of my “home time” was spent driving; of having a teenage daughter still at home whom I was missing important milestones in her life; and of my wife being unable to make plans for when I was home because the dispatchers would often miss my scheduled home time.
The fleet manager listened to me, then rubbed his thumb and forefinger together in the timeless gesture of greed, and said, “You’ve got to know that the company doesn’t care about where you live. We don’t care about your home life. We don’t care about what your wife wants. All we care about is profit… the bottom line. If we could have our way we’d never allow drivers to have any home time at all.
While I appreciated this man’s honesty, it nevertheless was a watershed period in my short driving career. I knew it would be only a small matter of time before I would not be able to stand working for a company – and, shall I say, an industry – that had such little regard for its most critical employees.
At the end of this discussion, the fleet manager admitted that since he had come on board less than two years ago, there had been a 200% turnover in his fleet. I just looked at him, shook my head, and said, “Duhhh.” Not nice, I know, but sometimes the truth is just so obvious you can’t help but feel people who don’t see it are missing a few lug nuts from having all their wheels on tight.
Back to the turnover… it might be just my imagination, but I believe that the kiss of death for a new driver is to get that one-year cpm raise. As my fleet manager told me, there are many, many new drivers coming out of the schools waiting to take my place–at a cheaper cpm than what I was getting. That mindset fits quite well with the “turnover” financial model. The bean counters and spreadsheet guys must have figured out that it is a lot less costly to train new drivers, and even reimburse them for their school costs, than to keep older, much-higher-paid drivers behind the wheel. If it wasn’t so, they wouldn’t be doing it that way… obviously, period.
Long story short, nothing’s going to change unless change is forced upon them.
Tell the Union to get off their sorry ass-pirins and unite the trucking industry as a whole, just as “Jimmy Hoffa” would have want it. I would be willing to pay 50.00 a month on
bargaining fees for a better job, better pay and benefit’s! Face it…All we are…”fresh meats in the seats!”
“Tell the Union to get off their sorry ass-pirins and unite the trucking industry as a whole” Sorry to inform you, but that ain’t the way it works. To join a traditional labor union, workers must either be given voluntary recognition from their employer or have a majority of workers in a bargaining unit vote for union representation. What this means is that the company or the government cannot stop you and your co workers from joining a union. However, it is your responsibility to educate your co workers, and convince them that a union would be beneficial, and is needed. If you are serious about this, contact a local union office and they will help you get started.
The biggest lose of miles is the hang up at shippers and such. Getting stuck at shipper for hours to unload or load kills the miles you can drive. In Australia i have seen contracts were the destinations start to get charged $250 an hour for every hour after the first. Speedy load and unload gets you more miles.
You can’t blame the “Big” trucking companies! If I owned a trucking company and I had drivers who expected to be paid $1500-$2000 per week, and I drivers willing to do the same job for $400-$500 per week, guess which ones i’m going to hire? You can only blame yourself as a professional driver, willing to work for these slave wages! If nobody would agree to work for them, they would have no choice but to either pay a decent living wage, or go out of business. I’ve been driving local, home every night, for over 20 years. I get paid by the hour, I get paid for every minute from the time I clock in, till the time I clock out! I work between 50-55 hours per week, and I gross between $1300-$1500 per week. I have never driven OTR and I never will, not for me, but I can see why some drivers would enjoy that.
That being said, if I did decide to drive OTR, I wouldn’t even consider doing it for any less than $2000 per week. I talk to OTR drivers at truck stops and shippers, and i’m horrified when I hear their stories about the all money they’re NOT making, and all the BS they put up with! To the people saying its a “competitive business” and these companies are just trying to stay in business, you’ve been brainwashed my friend! To believe this, you obviously have no idea how the trucking industry, or any industry works! Sure, fuel prices, insurance cost and the general cost of doing business has risen dramatically but so have the rates. Have you ever heard of a fuel surcharge? I work for a small local LTL, that has between 30-40 drivers. How can they afford to pay me a decent wage plus no cost benefits, and still be competitive, successful and more importantly, profitable? These “Big” companies could do the same if they cared at all about their drivers! But no, they would rather remain competitive, turn HUGE profits, while paying the drivers little or nothing!
The bottom line is, if they have drivers willing to work for slave wages, usually less than minimum wage if you do the math, this will NEVER end!
You can’t compare LTL companies with truckload companies. They are apples and oranges when it comes to rates.
The problem isn’t the companies, the problem is the government. All the companies now are struggling to survive with the choking government regulations. Did you guys see that article about the trucking company being fined $270k by the CA government for not meeting emission standards? Government needs truckers, everyone needs truckers, yet people are stupid enough to vote statist politicians in who only want more government power. Oh but if you mention freedom and capitalism to these people, they hiss at you. Not only are truckers affected, but EVERY single industries in this country are over-regulated by the regime. Apparently suing the government doesn’t work, so what will work? A revolution.
There are two problems facing the trucking industry, the trucking companies and their greedy dishonest ways and the government.
The biggest problem with driver pay is cut throat pricing. The big companies haul it for nothing and the brokers make as much as the truck to just set it up. If a company can’t find higher paying freight, they can’t pay more. If they do find better paying freight, one of the big companies or a broker will screw it up.
Give up your health,home life and be treated like a lower life form by pretty much everyone on the planet for some scabby trucking company?? Not anymore i’m not.
Another reason to organize is the backstabbing politicians of both parties allowing Mexican trucks to deliver anywhere in the country knowing that almost no American trucking companies will deliver to Mexico. It has to be stopped.
As a Walmart driver I will agree with what Jeff Flackler said. We do get paid a (above average) mileage rate and stop pay like most drivers but add in detention pay after 45 mins., sleeper pay ($42 each night spent in the sleeper) and are generally paid for most of our time (though not all). Starting the same day every week and being able to have a weekend and home life is the clincher for me. Walmart isn’t perfect but they do a lot of things right. The driver is captain of his ship with no pressure to drive in bad conditions. If you make the call to shutdown, your on the clock. With many a lawyer in line to sue them they have to run right and we do. Thats the reason their hiring standards are high. Efficiency is the name of the here as we usually run our 70 hours in 5 to 5 1/2 days, bust your butt during the week and go home for a few days.
However, Walmart is the worlds largest retailer not a trucking company. Our job is to get the stores their freight, get back, and get out again. While we get backhauls when available it’s not priority one. A regular trucking company could not survive the empty miles we run. So to compare Walmart Transportation to a trucking company is comparing apples to oranges. But the point of paying drivers well and treating them like professionals and humans is the key here. A little respect goes a long way ( OK, 90-100K + helps too :).
I sometimes sound like a recruiter for Walmart but after driving 20 years OTR I know both sides of the street. I don’t get a nickle for referring drivers but I’d like to see you get what your experience (and safety record) has earned.
Be safe Driver and aim high!
as everybody knows trucking is one of those jobs that is exempt from most wage and hour regulations everything from minimum wage to access to the bathroom.
Personally, I think being paid by the hour would be a good thing for a couple reasons.
#1 you get paid for your time.
#2 that company that you drive for is going to put more pressure on the shipper/receiver’s regarding your retention time. Hey, some receivers charge penalties if your early or late, so fair is fair.
#3 companies will work harder to make sure that you have freight to haul as they’re not going to just pay you to be “just on the clock.”
the downside of course is that if freight is slow, you might be laid off for while but at least you can collect unemployment.
Tell me again what the disadvantages are?