According to a report published by the American Trucking Research Institute (ATRI), average driver pay dropped from $0.460 per mile in 2011 to $0.417 in 2012. That’s a drop of 9.35%.
The report was on how the cost per mile for a carrier operating a commercial vehicle actually went down between 2011 and 2012 despite increases in the cost of fuel, tires and tolls. The dip in cost from $1.706 to $1.633 was caused by decreases in the cost of truck/trailer lease and purchase costs, repair and maintenance, insurance premiums, permits and licensing fees, driver benefits (which were cut by 33.18%) and of course, driver wages.
All in, it’s costing carriers on average $0.073 less per mile to keep their trucks on the road, yet driver pay and benefits have been cut on average by a combined total of $0.078.
Next Story: Three Highway Shootings In Four Days
Source: overdrive, fleetowner
This reinforces a outlook from a think tank that indicates the people in the middle class today should expect to be the lower middle class of tomorrow. The people who will garner the better salaries will be the better educated. The truck driver is becoming the slave labor of America. Its not the job that it once was where a person could consider it a “honest” living kind of middle income job. Besides that when you factor in the “real” world hours worked as a truck driver. Its not even a minimum wage job for some. What the carriers have done is take advantage of the current weak job market and hire more “rookies” will lower starting CPM. This helps the companies bottom line. Can’t blame them, a lot of companies have done that in other areas and not just trucking. I am sad to see trucking turn into a unskilled type of labor force. Where you have people just looking for a pay check and not those considering trucking as a profession. As the driver churn continues, the companies don’t care as long as their are bodies in their trucks.
Trucking has NEVER been considered As skilled labor. That’s part of the problem. When the FMCSA board members get into my truck and start driving it, then they should be able to tell me when and how to drive. Until we are considered skilled labor we will never get anywhere with the pay issue.
I whole heartedly agree that many of the so-called skilled labor industries, are labeled that in perception only. What we need is to change the perception of our industry. We need to take back the the word professional and take ownership of the word, which is used today as a way to pass new laws that remove the control of our industry from our hands and places it in the hands of people who don’t understand nor care about our industry.
Where in the world do these people come up with these figures??!! Our companies top pay is .44 this year and in 2011 was .40 and we have on average one of the highest per mile pay packages. Drivers know the truth, we see it in our pay each week. My pay dropped by $12,000 last year because of electronic logs!
My carrier starts us at $.42 CPM and tops us out at $.52 CPM. I was hired on last year right out of CDL school. We actually got a 1.2 CPM pay raise this year. I would love to know how some people keep their lights on… I heard some carriers start their drivers at something like $.29 CPM? That is insane!
Who do you drive for?
I run for one of the big LTL carriers. We average about $1,200/week. Yes, we run paperlogs. NO, we do not run illegal. We are allowed to run no more than 600 miles/day. Our hourly pay makes up the difference when we are detained/broke down/DOT Inspection/fueling/dockwork/or hooking trailers.
I always recommend to go with them. We get treated really well. Even running an antiquated daycab is not that bad when you are home every day.
LOL…P.A.M started me out at $.26/mile this past Feb. and I had over a year of experience (but it was over three years ago.)
Really, because the elog are slowing down your truck?
Say it for what it is, your pay went down because you have to run legally.
A criminal is a criminal, and you couldnt claim to earn an honest living if running outside of the law.
Ya and because Daddy Sam says so, driving a truck over 11 hours is such a horrible horrible crime. .
Lemme tell ya Chesley ought to be savagely beaten for doing such a heinous act.. how dare that driver!
An “honest living” according to your obviously narrow definition of truth and honesty, and safe transportation of freight, are two different things. Sure, the absence of any HOS regs at all would create a void that incompetent employers would quickly fill with ridiculously unsafe dispatching practices. On the other hand, very little connection exists between the current HOS regs and the safe transportation of freight: the latter has everything to do with driver sleep, whereas the HOS regs almost completely ignore sleep. Until the recent (useless) “two 1-5 AM periods” addendum to the 34-hour reset rule was instituted, they ignored it entirely. Plenty of following-vs.-flouting scenarios arise in which the far safer alternative is to flout. You can have your “honest living” – I’ll choose actual safety over that nonsense any day!
Yeah. $12000 at 50c per mile is 24000mi loss due to elog.
That is 461mi a week lost if you work all 52 weeks or most of a day of work.
As far as i am concerned i prefer running smart than running with your brain dropped on your right foot. My company dispatched me legally and is smart about it.
I still make a decent living with the new hos.
As far as safety, yeah, truck dont speed , they dont tailgate and definitively check their equipment everyday. That is why when my 10hr break is over most truck parked next to me already left long ago.
So please continue to run illegally but dont blame people that try hard to make it work for your misery, otherwise you will sound just like a lazy 5 years old with a sleep and fatigue PHD.
Legal?. So let’s say I pick up a load in Baltimore for example and I have to run to Connecticut. Its 2 pm when I’m loaded and have to be in CT at 6am. I’m forced to drive through NYC during rush hour instead of parking in Bordentown and driving in at night which I can’t do on elog because by the time I stop and take a full break I won’t make my appt. Or maybe I have a drop in NYC at 1am. How do u do that?. Drive into Brooklyn and park on the street for 6 hrs??.. yeah that’ll fly with NYPD..not.. there are too many variables to run 100% legal and think you won’t lose money in the process. I never drive tired and I try to operate safely. But fudging is trucking. Sometimes its necessary in order to be safe and practical.
@bill
Nice strawman there.
I can’t take anyone seriously that doesn’t play by the rules.
Do us all a favor and type correctly so we can understand your argument. The only one who sounds like a 5 year old right now is you. Nobody is sitting here criticising the way you drive don’t criticize us for being on a paper log and working the system, and don’t ridicule us because we don’t run a truck that’s never seen the better side of 66mph.
Just because your happy on your elog and letting people think for you doesn’t mean the rest of us are. I’m still on paper and always will be. Yea they can go ahead and mandate EOBRs perfectly fine by me. I’ll end up with a 22000lb lawn orniment.
Its a matter of principal. PERIOD! You are just fine with all the bull crap that goes along with an elog and the FMCSA making more laws to track us, keep tabs on us, and make sure were “safe”. We have all been saying it for years to put the blame where it needs to be and that’s on the 4 wheelers instead of pushing more laws on us. I would love to see an idiot in a car have to fill out a log book, do a PTI every day, keep maintainance records on their vehicles, have a DOT insp. Done annually, and go through a level 1 at a chicken house. And that’s not even counting having safety crammed down their throat. I came through my home town last night, 65mph speed limit on the highway car ahead of me was running 75-80, and was from out of state. Watched the idiot come around a curve and about hit the ditch but I get laws shoved down my throat.
Its great your dispatchers run you legally, its great that you have an elog. Or at least you would appear to by the way you talk, and its great that you think you’re gods gift to safety. What you aren’t considering is that you can be safe without following the garbage rules the FMCSA is conjuring up.
@ERR Actually your sarcasm is not lost, but in the end YES you are doing a terrible diservice to the trucking industry by running illegaly! Attitudes like this are the reason that the regulatory body in Washington has taken the steps they have thus far. The old saying is it “It only takes one bad apple” is very true!
More like unintelligent 1 lane thinking attitudes such as, “whatever Washington comes up with is the solution for everyone and everything – I won’t even contradict a law cuz I am so afraid of any repercussions – I just gotsta follow it – I am sure there is some wise reason behind it – yes boss!” is a much closer reason to the core of problems our society faces. .
Immediate instant instinctive conformity is actually the biggest disservice one can do.
I have to agree with Cary’s statement; regulations are a response to a problem – perceived or realized – not some sort of diabolical scheme as the tinfoil hat crowd suggests. I’ve driven both paper and e-logs, and I much prefer e-logs. Why? Because it keeps everybody in the loop honest… which is the intent. When I say “no” to the ops folks it means I have solid data to back up my decision. And by the way my pay went up last year. Blaming ‘big brother’ or suggesting that those of us who don’t have any issues are merely compliant drones is both inaccurate and inappropriate.
Mike u don’t have a reply button on your post which is probably a good thing since in your post I have no earthly idea what “diabolical scheme” are you referring to as well as many other things.. (e.g. why someone who is only wanting to work/make $ by driving after they started 14 hours ago is a bad apple or some hardened criminal in yalls eyes)
I could go on but I get the feeling since apparently the meat of my last post flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest with u it’s likely a fruitless endeavor
Thank You!
I found that e-logs gave me more drive time, since there is no rounding. I don’t like to run illegal, so I think it is a good system. $12,000 seems like a lot if you run legally.
How come drivers will ask for more hours to work but never for more money. Only a rookie or idiot runs illegal so that they can be the companies hero. If you’re running illegal the company is using your ignorance to make more profits at your expense. Keep the pay low and the driver will have to run illegal to make a living while we, the company, turn more profits or so we can cut the rates more that will hurt everybody.
^ This.
But then nobody ever accused the average truck driver of being a genius.
Sorry about your luck. BUT, the REAL reason you lost $12,000 last year was you were LYING on your paper logs. Blaming the loss on E- Logs is ignoring the fact that you were running ILLEGALLY. Get used to the new reality. However, if the only way you can make a decent living is to run illegally, then MAYBE you should look for another carrier, IF your driving record will allow it. I have been running E-Logs for the last 10 years, pulling Hazmat for the last 6 and running legal. My gross last year was $63,000 and I didnt drive over 100,000 miles.
All I can say is when this economy turns around this industry is in turns me, people right now are forced to do what they can to make a paycheck, I for one will be gone. Living out of a truck away from family for weeks, making peanuts is insane.
And your carrier is?
It don’t seem to be getting any better!! Drivers, in the eyes of some of these companies, are just another “commodity” like the freight they haul!! Yeah, sure…I wanna get back out there, away from home for days on end, be poor…NOT!!!!!!
Not only do a lot of company’s under pay drivers cents per mile, but a lot of company’s rip off drivers with something called “practical miles” witch is another way of saying practically not the correct miles really ran by drivers, I have been driving for 6 years Otr, and am getting paid only .35 cpm, but it’s good 4 me because I get paid all miles run most of the time hauling tanker, and not much sit and wait time. Witch counts when your trying to run legal, all these new rules that keep getting added to the hours of service don’t make any sence to me. They hardly do anything but make the driver drive when he/she doesn’t need to be driving, so much is wrong with the way truck driving works now, …. Now I’m rambling, sorry, but yes much agreed that drivers are way underpaid for the time we spend away from loved ones, and a lot of us miss out on a lot of the finer things in life for very low wages, it really needs improving.
Unfortunatly , this can only change if drivers had the balls to say NO.
Some will prefer saying yes to anything just because they need a paycheck. Which is just plain wrong.
People and truck drivers have choices. They unfortunatly took the easiest path so far. Run a lot of miles on looseleaf logs vs run for a better company on elog.
Oh and i forgot, the more driver asking for paper log means rate per mile will go down as too many driver will apply to the disminishing number of company running on paper.
Thus lowering wages even more.
Ridiculously, its all correct. But in the ffect of the decrease that is, I believe figures are higher than those stated on “the study”
Truck drivers are become the slave force of america. Run 11 a daay and make as much as a burger flipper a week. Way to go corporate America!
Dont know you but i make 3times more money than flipping burgers.
Those who do are just in the wrong place and need to leave.
Again, your choice and you are the only one to blame.
I agree with you, Francois. I’m in my second year of driving, work about 60 hours per week, am home every night and take home a gross of $1320/week. I work hard and earn every cent. I drive a dedicated tank run from a chemical company to a very busy mine excavation site in Georgia. There are good jobs in trucking but you have to do more than simply bump docks but even with bumping docks there are some good paying jobs to be had. Just gotta sift through the coal to find the jewels.
It’s getting to the point that no one wants this job any more. HOS is rediculous, e-logs make it worse and the Gestapo tactics used by D.O.T. Officers is just outrageous. Companies pay what ever they can get away with.
D.O.T. Study shows that 85% of car/truck accidents are caused by the car, so DC’s reaction is to impose more restrictions on trucks. You get what you voted for.
I have 19 years OTR. I stepped away for 4 years, and when I came back, virtually the same pay. The middle class and the poor are almost the same now. We are living in a full blown Plutocracy.
It is corporate America that has turned trucking into such slave wage job. I am looking to get out myself but even with a college education where do you go. Truth is the rich are getting richer and middle class working stiff is heading toward poverty. Even worse local drivers in Atlanta are forced into a $11-13/hr if they want to be home and drive a truck. Well not me I will not drive rush hour traffic for that bs pay. Same with otr the big companies start these fools out at .27/mile and these morons can’t do the math or thing $600/week is great pay. If I can’t make $1000/week plus as a company driver I need to get out. I know there are oo who tell me they are clearing 2000 a week but I don’t see how. Anyway I am looking for away out this jobs pay sucks. I love driving but the cost to the driver are to high.
Even at your $1000 a week figure if you’re away from home for 5 days, you are actually on the job 120 hours. That works out to $8.33 per hour…. Burger flippers here in Illinois start at $8.25 hr.
But how many hours a week do burger flippers get?
I am an of that clears much more than $2k per week. Do the math. My cost of operations is $.35c/mile. Cost of fuel at $4/gal is $.63c/ mile. I get an average of $2/mile and drive 2500 to 3000 miles per week. Most of my freight is booked through IT, so no special industry connections. If you want to be just a steering wheel holder, you will compete with people who think $600/week is great pay. With a little brain power you can actually make pretty good living.
Whats wrong with GetLoaded??…..
My bad,lol…..Thats the “Dont let this happen to you” Loadboard……NOTHING pays good on GetLoaded
I say go independent and start chipping away for the “big boys” little by little
I meant chipping away from the ” big boys”
In the end your just a piece of meat to be left rotting in your truck. Companies don’t track and they don’t look. And they leave your families with nothing. Because your death was not work rekated. If you die in the truck and do not have access to car . Your job contributed to your death. Every driver should be asking for carboxyheoblobin testing. Chronic exposure destroys your health.
Three meals at the ol’ choke n puke and two packs a day will kill you quicker. Those lazy slobs who cant be bothered to find a parking space in their hurry to get to the trough are living on borrowed time.
Hey rookies this atricle on pay is utterlly worh less. To my knowledge there very few if any companys out there that are paying .46/mile! If you know of any speak up. If a company is paying .46/mile it is loaded miles while dead head and bob tail are not paid thus only about .23/mile.
Our pay has been gutted to where it is not even worth while to get near a truck these days. In 2004 I had a driving job paying .40/mile, all miles even on a bobtail run from Iowa to Florida, even if we teamed very rarely both drivers were paid .40/mile every mile. Wow yea sure it was but it was throiw the log book out the window. Will never do that again! I doubt if I will ever drive again the rip off to us as human beings to act as slaves is about over.
I get .40 loaded/empty, and I’m home every weekend. It’s not a bad deal here, I could be doing worse. But, then again, I took 4 years away from trucking, and was making .39 when I left.
Another thing to consider is how much of a drivers pay is per deim? Tax free money is ok now, but SSI pay is based on highest pay earned, and per deim is not included in gross income reported to IRS. You may have made 40,000.00, with per deim, every year for 20 years and your w2 shows 31,000.00, your SSI at retirement will be based on 31,000.00 not 40,000.00.
Why do all Trucker’s Report articles read as if they’re only telling half the story?
This is average driver pay. What are the mitigating factors? Sudden influx of new drivers who earn on the low end of the scale? Was there an exodus of experienced higher paid drivers?
Is this just a survey of company drivers, or are owner/operator and lease drivers included? Only drivers paid per mile, or does it take drivers paid per load into account?
The Trucker’s Report would be easier to take seriously if the authors would stop pushing agendas and editorializing. Just report the facts and leave the conclusions to the reader. That’s what news is. Otherwise, you’re just another tabloid.
TruckersReport newsletter is a summary of the articles being discussed in the trucking industry the past week. Click the “Source” links at the bottom of each blog post to read the original story.
And I’m proud to say that we’re pushing an agenda. If we aren’t advocating on behalf of drivers and shining a spotlight on that side of the story, who will? The mainstream media doesn’t care, and the trucking magazines are too worried about losing their advertising contracts to speak out.
AMEN!!!!
Thank you Mr. Barradas!!! I have to say this article is far and away the very best piece of journalism that has ever been published to your site! It also puts the spotlight on the Bonehead Truck Drivers who are clueless as to why, when they finally get home to their families they get no sex from the wife, the dog barks at’em, their kids wear holey clothes to school because they can’t bring home enough beans to make the payment on the house trailer!
What your article does not address is the personal cost of inflation and food to stay out on the road while trying to earn a living….. but then again, thats not really necessary because even a Bonehead can see that! Since the wall street lead depression of 2009, the pay of the top 1% has has increased by 18% while the average pay of the other 99% has dropped by 11%.
Below, “Curt Morehouse” says it the best “Drivers need to get together and demand to be paid per hour when not driving, forcing companies to bill customers that way”. In my view, I’m not sure exactly what needs to be done, but once I got the “Bone” out of my head the only thing I know for sure without a doubt, Driver PAY needs to increase by at least 30% and it needs to happen right NOW!
The only way to make that happen is “Drivers getting together”! The Fast Food workers and the walmart workers who bring attention to their cause have some sort of central organization where they communicate and coordinate their efforts to protest on the same day in different cities, maybe its the union, but it could also be online like Facebook or a website. A union may not be the answer because there are so many who are against the unions, even the Boneheads.
Truck Drivers need ONE central point of communication that can be developed, prehaps over time, like a specific website where we can organize our thoughts, voice our flustrations about low pay and disappearing benefits. The word could be spread through online forums, flyers distributed at Truck Stops and word of mouth. The Fast Food and walmart workers use walk outs, signs and make shift picket lines. Drivers don’t need to do any of that, we have their freight! All we need to do is get sick, park our trucks on the same day then wait on the check to increase! WHO ARE WE FOOLING?…………….. ourselves! We’re boneheads! Collectively, we as Truck Drivers are supporting our own demise! Lets GET OFF OUR BUTTS and do something about it!!!
Thanks again for your work!
Hmmm… I wonder who will last longer. The company that is not paying you while you’re not working or you, who has to pay the mortgage? I have a better idea. DON’T ACCEPT A JOB THAT YOU DON’T WANT TO DO! If you’re not happy where you are, leave and do something else. A job is a privilege, not a right. Start your own business and see how much you will pay your drivers, when you have to compete on rates with 100 other companies.
makes you wonder who is going to do the paying when the 100 companys freight stops moving on the same day! Having a business is also a privilege, a privilege than can’t be utilized without Drivers and can’t be maintained when the freight stops.
Wrong. Having a business is a right, not a privilege. Accepting or rejecting a job offer is also a right, not a privilege. Being accepted to work for a company is a privilege. I would actually love for you to stop working for a day or better yet for a month. I will be the one making the deliveries and making double my regular rates.
It does not make any sense to say that a driver’s pay cut was because of the company. Name one company that REDUCED it’s pay per mile. Driver pay went down because Elogs force people to follow terrible laws. It has been an unwritten rule in trucking that if you weren’t lying on your logs, you weren’t making any money. Being forced to follow the laws gave the hard runners a pay decrease. A lot of them said “screw it” because they realized they couldn’t make what they used to. (which caused a driver shortage) The pinball players have been forced to pick up the slack and they now make more than they used to or they quit too. And the problem is that drivers blame Elogs instead of the laws that Elogs force us all to follow. Elogs are not the problem. Terrible laws (14 hour clock, no split sleeper) are the problem. Also, trucking is one of the few industries that allow an employee to be paid piece work (per mile instead of per hour) As a company, we’d love to pay drivers per hour, but we can’t until we can bill our customers per hour. Drivers need to get together and demand to be paid per hour when not driving, forcing companies to bill customers that way. Just my two cents.
You got an excellent point. Everyone seems to think that companies don’t pay drivers because they keep all the money for themselves. They don’t realize that companies actually have to compete against other companies to get the business, so they can actually afford to pay the drivers. Want to blame someone? Look in the mirror. Do you buy cheap stuff? Shop at Walmart? You are the one who supports cheap freight and thus the low pay.
Curt, the ATRI report found that pay per mile has decreased, driving less because of e-logs or HOS changes does not affect pay per mile. Another important point is that the decrease in pay is hidden from drivers in ways like reducing their benefits and removing incentives like detention pay.
Samuel, pay per mile does effectively decrease, with e-logs and HOS rules, …… if you are making 40 cents a mile with paper, and beginning running less miles, due to e-logs/HOS, you are effectively making less money, therefore lower effective rate of pay/per mile.
The government/MADD/PATT/PUBLIC CITIZEN/E-LOGS/HOS are the effective enemy of
those drivers who do not make a good mileage rate.
Those folks who say they are on the gravy train with great companies who look after their drivers, yet don’t name the company they are working for, are just looking down their noses…
They have the same attitude on display as the companies who do pay low with bad conditions..
and that is that “I got mine, too bad for you ” attitude. These drivers will not ‘Park It’ to
help the have- not’s or industry in general or in whole. They might lose a days pay…it only takes three days to shut down a bank. About a week for a grocery store.
There simply are no ‘road knights’, MLK’s or JFK’s to represent the average driver.
The owner op above said it right, it’s a matter of hard work funneled in the right direction.
Wing, you and I agree that driver pay is decreasing, but it’s flat out incorrect to say that e-logs and HOS rules are decreasing Pay Per Mile.
If you were being paid $.40 per mile and averaging 2800 miles per week, and then HOS and e-logs come around and decreases your average to 2500 miles per week, clearly you’re going to be making less money. However, you’re still making $.40 per mile. Your total number of miles decreased, and therefore your pay decreased, but your Pay Per Mile stayed exactly the same.
Pay Per Mile is decreasing because of a number of decisions being made by trucking companies, such as removing benefits and hiring inexperienced drivers that can be paid at lower rates. Elogs and HOS are also hurting paychecks, but when you confuse the issue with Pay Per Mile you’re giving the trucking companies a free pass.
You are EFFECTIVELY, reducing the amount of money the driver is making. Drivers go to work to make money. Any one in this industry who goes out to be treated as slaves to a rule book, to be treated as a slave, and not make money…is in the wrong business,
You are simply using the standard calculator to sidestep the fact that less miles is less money/ and lower mileage rate of pay is less money, and more time sitting.
You use the government calculator and I’ll use mine…which one gives more to taxes?
To road maintenance? To buying my groceries…..? 1120 dollars versus 1000?
That is the mind trick big business would have you believe.
Regardless of the rate, the point is that the money to be made is less, because of a lack of common sense regulations, which allow the driver to take a proper break when he/she decides it’s needed, run when it’s needed. etc.
Notice that the shipper/receiver, in the short term will not be affected.
the EOBR industry, along with the insurance industry and all the lobbyists who will make money, are laughing at you. If I run less miles, am I making more money? That effectively is a 300 mile difference which will equate to lower pay. Do some real outside the box math.
Think you need a new age calculator……..
Wing, you and I are on the same page: driver pay is decreasing. I think it’s important to distinguish between when it’s caused by government regulation (such as HOS changes), and when it’s caused by trucking companies (such as benefits being slashed). I’ve written previously about government regulations causing a decrease in driver pay, but this article was about trucking companies causing a decrease in driver pay.
Both issues are important and each one deserves its own focus. Lumping them together in rants does a disservice to the seriousness of the issue of declining driver pay.
tyson food droped there pay been droping it for 5 years
We’re poor little trucking companies, we just can’t do a thing; what with our lobbyists in Washington and a couple of congressmen in our pockets, our hands are all tied. We need you drivers, the first rung of our organization and whose opinions are most respected, to get busy and do something about these troubled times. Gosh, you drivers could just pool your decreased wages and really get a nice type written letter over to those mean ole customers. You just demand that they pay our poor little company some few more dollars, so that we can put it right in your deferred asset income account that you can simply poo-poo immediately according to the poor little company bylaws.
Rick. Just like a driver has to learn how to say no, so do the carriers.
Why is commercial truck driving considered the same class of work as migrant berry pickers? Doesn’t the DOT want skilled, safe professionals operating these 80 thousand pound steel coffins? If so, then why are we not getting paid Overtime pay same as that burger flipper? Didn’t we have to attend a month long driving school costing $40000 and then drive 6 weeks OTR with a trainer earning $50/day…seems like more education than “Do you want fries with that?!”
A whole month of school! Yes, that’s real education. Of course you deserve doctor’s salary after this. Real skilled labor here.
One more note. Try to pick those berries for a day as the migrant worker does as opposed to sitting in your air conditioned cab. See whose job is more difficult.
Try closing your eyes for a few minutes while working…did you spill a few berries from your basket or kill a few families with your Tractor Trailer. Safety is #1 priority, have a heart and care!
Want to close your eyes? Stop and take a nap. Many jobs require safety. Somehow you feel that not killing someone makes you special. Try to work in a tomato greenhouse for 12 hours at 120F. I have the deepest respect for migrant workers, so don’t belittle them. I’ve seen them work and they work much harder than any truck driver I know. If you can’t do your job safely, get out of the business.
You really dont want to pay your drivers overtime wages do you…
I AM a driver. Nobody pays me overtime wages, but I make a very good living without it. I agree to do a job on my terms. If I need overtime wages and the company doesn’t pay it, I will not do the job. It’s that simple. I’m sure every driver signs a contract that outlines what they will earn. Why take a job if you think you’re not being paid fairly? The ONLY reason I’m in this business is because I make a good living. If I weren’t, there are plenty of other things to do.
As far as drivers being highly skilled professionals, that’s HOGWASH. It really doesn’t take a whole lot of talent to steer a truck. This is as “unskilled labor” as it gets. Yes, it’s hard labor, but it requires no more skill than a guy driving an RV, and the RV guy does this for fun. If I’m a company owner, I will look for the least expensive way to do business
Reading all comments, it would seem that driving jobs are the only ones in existence. If you’re so unhappy, why not find something else to do? Become an electrician, a plumber etc etc? Yes, this world is competitive. Get used to it. As long as there is a line of people standing at recruiter’s door, don’t expect you pay to increase… no matter how long you’ve been driving.
The Gov. gives 3800 to an inexperienced person who has never seen the inside of a truck, Then the big boys tell em , you can make 60,000 a year in their bogus ads, Being an American you believe all the hype. That’s why their lined up at the recruiters door.
Until CSA is updated to consider that experienced CDL driver’s make a few mistakes over the course of 100,000+ miles a year and New unexperienced CDL drivers with a perfect CSA score are going to make a lot of mistakes their first year!
CSA Scores is why new unexperienced drivers with low scores are being recruited. CSA should reflect the actual risk that any unexperienced Big Rig driver poses with points for drivers with less than xxx,xxx miles CDL driving experience.
Now wait, before it’s all about safety, and now it’s acceptable to “make a few mistakes over the course of A YEAR”?!?!? No sir, it’s not acceptable to make any mistakes over the course of the year. Part of the job of driving a truck is to do it CORRECTLY – EVERY TIME. Having “a few mistakes” every year establishes a pattern that the person is NOT a safe driver, and fragrantly violates various portions of the “little green book”. Other than perhaps drug dealers and prostitutes, truck drivers are the only group I know that goes around IN PUBLIC and complains about actually having to work within the laws of their industry, and BRAGS about the times they flagrantly violated them. Either find how to work within the regulations, or get the hell out of the truck. It’s a work smarter, not harder type of equation.
Also statistics will bear out that newbie drives might clip someone at a truck stop, or back into a fixed object, but the vast vast majority of catastrophic accidents that involve roll overs, multiple vehicle accidents and fatalities involve drivers who have more than 5 years behind the wheel. Newbs are scared to death of their trucks, and losing their jobs. E-Logs has killed the ability for companies to push these new drivers beyond the HOS. But to the “veteran” driver who “has this trucking thing down” (I heard someone say that yesterday), they’re the ones likely to drive while tired, or on the phone, or texting, or just generally tailgating/operating half-aware because it’s just another routine day at the “office”.
Companies hiring new drivers for their lower pay rates is one thing, but they also don’t cost as much in single incident claims either.
He didn’t say it was acceptable, he said even experienced drivers make mistakes – less mistakes than new drivers. Why do you want to mischaracterize what the man said? I wasn’t aware that drug dealers and prostitutes had an industry with laws at all. Politicians, bankers, college football coaches, used car salesmen, trucking company owners are a few examples that didn’t cross your mind. E-logs effect all driver, new and veteran. Plus, unintended consequences of the current HOS rules cause more fatigued driving than they prevent. Outside of the puppy mills, the hiring requirements for every company seems to those of experienced drivers. Why is that? BTW, please cite your statistics. I think you are full of goo.
Humans make mistakes. That is the TRUE LIE when you drop the word SAFETY. SAFETY trumps all else….Including Common Sense! Every insurance company, DOT, big carrier/small carrier plays the game, shipper and receiver, and it’s rigged.
Do one thing, get Congress to rewrite the Fair Labor Standards Act ….., and watch what happens
when ALL drivers are ALL payed by the hour!
There will be more drivers, relayed loads and the SAFETY factor crammed down your throat,
(and safety theses days is just a control word to strike fear into you), will diminish.
“It’s ALL ABOUT SAFETY’ is a load of dung. It’s all about the bottom line(READ MONEY)
be it profit margin from the shipper/receiver, insurance company, big or little carrier.
At 35 years doing OTR, local, LTL,reefer, flats, boom, doubles and triples, 0/0,and more….
you must simply come to agreement with yourself that you won’t work in these conditions, be it low mileage pay,(you used to work your way up the ladder… now you have the entitled with the best of everything), HOS/E-LOGS,or what ever. No one else will do that for you.
If you want to beat the Safety banner… understand that the system is rigged, for the Big Carrier. Not the small that barely makes it because of low freight rates…. don’t do that kind of work.
When you drive ,no matter what the vehicle……driving is the first priority. I have never skipped stopping to go to the restroom, get a meal when hungry, or if tired, resting. The warehouse on the other end will still be there. I am a human, not a machine.
By the way, we all make mistakes……if we survive them, most of us learn from them.
This tells me that trucking jobs are gonna go the way of farm labor jobs. The polititians are doing everything they can to open up that Southern border, If your young and just got in to trucking, This is your wake up call, GET OUT!!!!!!!
OK here’s the problems 1srt any time you flood the market with cheap goods ie
cheap labor like when they get a new driver for .14 a mile or 350 week it brings down the pay for the rest of us there is 1 thing I have that the new driver doesn’t that’s 2 million safe driver miles no tickets and a perfect CSA score I did see a reduction in pay during the rescionbut that was because of reduced miles in the industry but still did good. Stop cheap labor buy making a new law 6 month interminship for all new drivers that will weed out alot of Jonny come lately also safety would improve safety first
So tell me more about the Driver Shortage…..???
All that I can ever see is a shortage of people who are willing to be exploited and are willing to do more and more work for less and less money…..Folks that are letting the trucking Company cheat and exploit them and whine that.. The Evil Government.. Wont let them work 100 hours straight without taking a break and and treat them like they are the illegal alien workers…
YOU are the reason I quit driving long ago….Not the government….Not The Trucking companies…Not the Shippers and Receivers ..Not the Dispatchers… Just as long as you will work for free and let them treat you like crap…they don’t need me….
Nobody else in America but YOU works without pay…..Tell me please…who else in America …..When your shift ends has the boss tell them…”You have to stay I need you” ….And says “OK”…Without getting paid for it??
Who else in America would let Shippers and Receivers tell them..”We don’t let Drivers use The Bathroom???…We don’t even Let Drivers In Our building???
All I see is a bunch of keyboard commandos who let everyone walk all over them and say…” I’m Sorry Sir …But…I Think MY EYE Is In Your Elbow”…I’m sorry Sir”!
Look around you ..everyone else in America has been getting a minimum wage and time and a have ever since WWII….Add up your hours …Not the ones you are logging but your real hours….Most of you aren’t even making minimum wage based on straight time…..
If ANY Of You Have A Real Job Where They Are Actually Paying You….I’m not Talking To you….I’m talking to the great bulk of Drivers that I have known….And If You do have a real job…how about you tell the rest of them where you are and how to get hired????All that I ever see is some guy saying I make real money at some Secret Company….And I don’t have to tell you where it is….Why is that???
Exactly!
Your points are exactly what I say to anyone who will listen! Receiving warehouses would not refuse their dog the right to empty their bowels, yet think nothing of telling a driver there is no bathroom that a driver is allowed to use. This, at a warehouse that routinely detains delivery drivers 6 to 12 hours! Cruel and thoughtless!!
Your point about the the so-called “driver shortage” is put so well and should be so obvious to anyone who puts their brain to the issue, I can add nothing to it. Other than to say “AMEN, BROTHER”!!
Is this overly surprising to anyone?
Yes, drivers wages down almost 10 percent huh. It had more to do with e-logs then with a pay reduction. I’m not sure who’s paying .46 cpm though. There’s a handful of companies that pay in the 40’s, but you need at least 1 year experience. Some need 2-3 due to insurance. Those companies all suck anyways. They just seem better, because they pay more than the .26 cpm Swift is offering.
The cool thing about e-logs is that they can look at your truck when ever they like and call you about 30 minutes before your 10 is up and say,”oh I need you to do this or that or call me when you get to where ever your going, oh I see your 10 s almost up,better get ready to roll, have a good day inmate 4425″
Driver shortages and pay decreases, all the while I’m sure the mega carriers are still making fat cash, and the CEO is snorting rails off a hookers ass right after the both of them sit down to a nice steak dinner.
This is why i got off the road and get paid for every minute I’m at work. I like to stand around alot and bs with my coworkers as well. It’s pretty profitable. Do your 2 years, and find a local company and go from there. Driving cpm or percentage is bs, unless of course you actually like to drive and check out the scenery. But i’m a truck driving mercenary, I work for the highest bidder. My loyalty is bought and paid for with cold hard cash. When the cash goes away, so do I. no reason to be loyal to people who would replace you if they could with cheaper labor.
One last thing fellow Upper Lower Class Drivers, always, always, always benefit yourself before all others. Remember, if there is a nice place you like to eat on the way to where ever it is your going. Stop there, get you something decent to grub on. If your options are be late or get a shower. Always take the shower. no one cares what’s in your truck except Wal-Mart. No one cares if your late except your dispatcher, who makes it sound as if 45,000 lbs of water being 2 hours late to a dock they are going to sit on for days is the end of the world. As long as you can get your reefer there before you run out of fuel, your good. Also, if your tired, pull over, take a nap. Who cares if you run out of hours. Being well rested, well fed and clean is much better than driving all night so you can count bricks behind K-mart eating bags of chips marinating in your own filth. Let these people know, you are the one who drives the truck. They want to give you a service failure for being safe, let them. Remember, if you tell them you didn’t feel it was safe to drive tired, they can’t really screw with you aside from taking away miles. The less you drive the less chance there is to get in a wreck. Make it work for 2 years and go get a local job.
And before anyone runs their mouths, which they will. No one cares. I made really good money the first 4 years, always putting myself before all others. Always making sure I hit the truck stop I wanted to hit before I shut it down. Always made sure to get a jog in, and a shower and a decent meal. And yes, I am selfish, self centered and feel the world revolves around me. It’s why I’m home every night, home every weekend, get 11 holidays paid, uniforms, 2 different types of health insurance plus dental. It doesn’t pay quite as good as LTL at the moment, but it will. There is no TEAM in mega Carrier. Just remember that drivers.
It’s us the Drivers, versus them, the Company.
“Being well rested, well fed and clean is much better than driving all night so you can count bricks behind K-mart eating bags of chips marinating in your own filth.”
Yep that just about sums it up. Even with forced dispatch I will gladly refuse BS loads to places I despise. If I sit that just means I get to sleep in. Won’t break my heart any. They won’t let their truck sit forever and you will get the miles back. And if you stay the course they will eventually stop pullin that crap just to keep you from sitting.
Why don’t you start your own company so you’ll be wasting your own money while you stand around and bs with your coworkers. Your “it’s all about me attitude “is part of the problem. Sounds like you have it pretty good. Maybe the next guy doesn’t. You could stand up for them too and maybe we could get a better working environment throughout the industry.
I think the point was you need to stand up for yourself.
When did we loose the fredom of the right to work
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!
I noticed lately that to get the top pay now requires 5 yrs experience or that we slowed our speed down though now get a fuel bonus of $100 a week to drive uner 61 MPH. So for some the pay went down for others it went up.
Daniel, unless you have you own authority and your own customers. The fuel surcharge doesn’t help that much. If you were to lease on with a company you’ll be getting paid about a buck a mile plus fuel surcharge which from what I’ve seen totals out around 1.40 on dry van freight. I have driven for LTL companies and they make money no doubt. It’s because of many different shipments. Truckload is a whole lot less. Btw I have my own authority and trucks , but I do flatbed, pays better. With that said , I’m still not getting rich but I do make a living. What would help is for everybody to stick together and get the rates up. Then drivers could get paid more. I tired of hearing about companies making all this money and screwing the driver. Maybe the driver doesn’t need a truck that looks like a spaceship inside with a full blown camper on the back. Check the price on trucks today and sit down and figure how much money it will have to make to pay for it. Gosh dog I didn’t mean to get agitated. Thanks for a place to voice and vent.
Companies which deploy the greater number of shills have also seen their drivers’ pay, benefits, work rules, etc. decline. Professional shills are instrumental in diverting attention away from the real issues like pay and so forth. “Your pay went down because you aren’t working hard enough!” And/or: “you were overpaid to begin with”.
It’s obvious that coffeeclue is a “I got mine” type. Be grateful for what “I” have and don’t complain. That is not what this countries labor advances were built on. People in our past made great sacrifices to get us ot, paid vacations, paid holidays etc… Does anybody really think “corporate” would have given these things without being forced?? Come on guys/gals this is not all about “ME”!
Samuel, you miss the whole point. Every issue in this industry affects the driver.
Again, no one dismisses your career as a journalist… you dismiss yourself as a qualified journalist
when I try to help you do simple math. You then disqualify the economic calculator I use from experience, calling what I say a rant… . Here is the math. 40 x 2800 =1,120 dollars. 2500 x 40
= 1,000 dollars. The difference = 120 dollars. Now, calculate how much money per mile you are making if you still drive the 2,800 miles at the 2,500 mile rate. It equals about 36 cents a mile as that is 36 x 2800= 1,008 dollars. So, if you still have to set waiting because of HOS, your on the road expenses don’t go away(personal or otherwise), as now, if the truck is not moving more, but less,(the truck and your are making less money) your EFFECTIVE rate per mile is lower!
Not sorry, but you seem offended by the true cost of the HOS/EOBR’s/. one of which is to peg me as ranter, when my purpose is to help you see the true cost of HOS/EOBR’s on the driver.
There are plenty who subscribe to Truckers Report who have a more jaundiced and critical eye
and I speak for myself when I say, as others have said pro and con , that if Congress would level the playing field with a re-written Fair Labor Standards Act, that give over time to drivers and puts the HOS rules into a common sense format, that the SAFETY dogma drilled into our heads
would actually be more effective….
No ap0logy intended.
wing, i gently and humbly say that Samuel’s article was about a separate issue in driver pay, which is that per mile pay fell. Your point is also valid, that HOS and EOBR have reduced and will continue to reduce driver pay.
The two are different and separate issues. Each is contributing it’s own reduction to driver pay. Combined, there is a double whammy.
Look who’s crying now.who would benefit if drivers shut down for 48 yes and nothing moved.DRIVERS…. you would only louse two days pay,but gain it all back in a week if you all said enough of this. Make the call and do it as a group and be heard for once and get these cheep company’s lined out and the then you the driver call the shots not some one driving a desk.
WANT TO KNOW WHY?
I’m of the opinion that a number of people on this website posing as truckers are actually suits… Just corporate bodies spreading their opinions and propaganda to “alleviate” truckers.
You dont think the suits get on these websites?? All these queers with their “it’s your attitude” and “if you dont like it, go find a different job!” comments are likely siding with DOT, FMCSR, and the bigwig CEO’s, FOR A REASON…
Trucking used to be a viable career back in the 70s and 80. But there are many truckers today that dont realize they are making 1970’s wage. And here is why: The blue collar industry is replacing “spoiled” American workers with viable low wage mexican immigrants a little at a time, across the board. Why pay someone $15 when Jose (who doesn’t understand economics) will do the work for $8? Unions are getting broken up, replaced with low wages and day labor temp services (in the event of an unexpected lay-off). This is simple economics. California pioneered the concept, and now many other states, as well as select European countries are jumping on the bandwagon, at the expense of tradition and culture. In other words, we’re being sold out. And this BS about elogs is just a transitional measure to make the process smoother. Little by little, the more educated Americans will quit, replaced by harder working immigrants. More backbone, less brains. Sorry Charlie. That’s where we’re at.
John.
This whole argument about running illegal makes me laugh!
I run my truck like its mine. I have three young children and I will run safely to get back to them….period. This Commie government it way out if control and they are killing this country. Those of you who like it should just move back to Europe….they will love to have you back.
I’m personally sick of your drone dribble!