There’s a new highway funding bill that has been proposed to Congress by Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx which would see our highways funded for the next six years and create a rule that would ensure all truckers are paid for their On-Duty non-driving hours.
Dubbed the Grow America Act, the 350-page bill which you can see here would allocate $478 billion in transportation funding over the next 6 years. The DOT claims that the bill would increase our nation’s investment in infrastructure by 45%. Of that, $317 billion would go to roads and bridges (an increase of 29% over previous years) while $115 billion would be used for other transportation such as buses and light rail lines.
Funding the maintenance and repair of our nation’s infrastructure is its primary goal, and among the others listed on the website are:
- Supporting millions of American jobs repairing and modernizing our roads, bridges, railways and transit systems
- Ensuring American business can compete effectively in the global economy and grow
- Increasing connections so that more Americans have access to jobs and education
All of that can seem pretty abstract, but truckers will be VERY interested in the section which governs a change in driver compensation. The section gives the Secretary of Transportation the power to mandate that motor carriers compensate their drivers for all “on-duty, not-driving” time at a rate “not less than the federal minimum wage.” This would only apply for drivers who are not paid an hourly wage, but since the vast majority of drivers are paid per mile, this could mean a huge change in take-home pay for just about every commercial driver in the United States.
“This could mean a huge change in take-home pay for just about every commercial driver in the United States”
It’s not all good for trucking though. Owner Operators and fleets will be disappointed to learn that the bill also removes the restriction on creating toll roads on existing roadways, a proposal which has garnered fierce opposition from carrier groups. Predictably, the Alliance for Toll-Free Interstates, an advocacy group who counts all 50 state trucking associations among its members, came out strongly against the provision saying that, among other things, the plan would be “abusing public trust and exploiting highway drivers… without solving the transportation funding problem.”
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Jerry moyes will be on the phone in the morning with his team of lobbyists! ASAP!
I like the idea of getting paid for all the sitting around we do, nobody else in the American workforce sits around on the clock for free, why should we?
I think if states want to charge tolls “everyone” should be able to take a tax deduction on a federal or state level. This is just another way of taxing people and more than a pyramid scheme.
All of a sudden, companies will become VERY interested in WHY we keep getting Dicked around at all these stops…… Ya think???
I usually don’t log many on duty hours anyway, seriously why waste my 70 hour time. Sounds like all this smoke and mirrors is nothing more than a ruse to give us a lot more toll roads to deal with.
Gee thanx
Well, as a local, I’m all for this bill. In my 5 day workweek I drive 40-50 hours and On Duty for 10-20. But even if that weren’t the case, there’s a small matter of the fact I drove for OTR companies, and while I ran 3k miles constantly, there were about 8 hours on duty time, gee, it’d be nice to be paid for a full day’s work.
I agree with Joe Bob. I make more when the truck moves. What is Federal Min Wage, about 7 or 8 bucks/hr. Yee Haw—getting rich buddy.
Anthony Foxx needs to get on America’s shippers and receivers. Start fining them for holding trucks up for more than an hour.
Just my thoughts…
Rest assured that once this kicks in, our mileage pay will be reduced to compensate.
My company pays my sitting time for anything over two hours, whether I’m logged on line 4 watching the dock or on line two getting a nap.
I’m pretty cool with that.
At $10.00/ hour for 2-4 hours every day stuck in traffic, a back up accident, waiting to get loaded,filling up fuel, pretrip inspections….I am pretty sure $40.00+ a day,I drive 6 days a week….will be about $800+ a month at bare minimum.
Completely agree with this one!! Ann Ferro is the one that started this, not Anthony, he just grabbed the baton. She said she didn’t realize how S/R we’re holding trucks up until she went on that ” ride” in a big truck.
I believe, given how this is worded, you will still be on mileage pay, but now as per federal labor laws you recieve hourly pay on top of that because by law if you are on the clock for your job they are required to compensate you for that. So you should make same as before, plus.
It would come in handy for when wrecks or accidents happen. Because by law we have to log it most of the time I log it as on duty not driving especially if my brakes are set
My fiance codriver just got inspected on her legs. He did not give her a citation but I sign the Bill’s because she refuses to deal with load bars and stand around in a cold dock waiting to get loaded. A LOT of our time is off duty. We typically stayed on duty for about 10 minutes to check in and load, thinking sometimes its hours before we actually get loaded. The officer said all check in/out times must be logged and when docking. He said once docked one could go off duty until the shipper starts loading, then someone must be on duty while loading and unloading. And if I am not on duty and sign the bills I would be in violation. If we must do this, a solo would always be struggling, teams would even run out of their 70 hour clock. But if we got paid even minimum wage for every on duty time to include 15 minute pre trip, fuel, check in/out, loading/unloading, inspections, etc, there would not be as big a driver shortage. I like our company, we do ok, but all truck drivers are getting screwed.
It’s a start. OTR drivers have long been robbed of hard earned compensation. I’m sure if it does go through, it will be minimum wage but that could mean an extra couple hundred a week in take home pay, I could deal with that.
If it was minimum wage, why drive a truck? Stay home and work at McDonalds.
If there really IS a driver shortage then supply and demand will take care of the wages.
This law came too late for me, I just switched from an “hourly-local/millage-OTR” company to a straight hourly outfit. Too often I was doing sub 100 mile days and getting paid miles because, “it’s over 150 miles, but it loads on one day an delivers another”. Well 75 miles a day doesn’t really keep the lights on. So I left.
Joe Bob seems like Mr. Positive in finally getting paid.
Joe Bob is 100% correct. Read the fine print. All “on duty” hours. So if you get stuck at a shipper for 12 hours and log it in the sleeper birth then this law does not require that they pay you. You have to burn up your 70 in order to get it. And if you think this is going to get you an extra 10k per year as you stated in your comment then you’re being naive. Just trying to be realistic here.
If you think this will force the carriers into paying more you are delusional. They will just lower the mileage, percentage or whatever remuneration scheme they use. They have all kinds of trickery at their disposal & they’re very adept at using it. Also it could work against you. I’m quite sure to collect you would have to log all waiting time as on duty, hampering you efforts to get another load for the week. Furthermore $7.25 an hr amounts to squat. It wouldn’t be hard for these seat meat companies to lower the other compensation to make up for it. In all fairness it is a start. A better way would be to revamp the HOS to be more efficient, & force the carriers to pay for all legally available hours a driver spends on the job. The main drawback to this is it would be harder for the carriers to hide what a driver is actually making creating a real driver shortage.
My thoughts, too. We all know trucking companies have a million ways to cheat you out of your pay. It won’t take them long to think up new ones. Nevertheless, I see this as a positive. At least someone in that government of ours has noticed that we do a lot of unpaid work.
smoke & mirrors is right on point. Why not address the DAK system failures . How about making shippers and receivers respect our clock so we don’t have to waste on duty hours waiting on them? So much more that can be done to appropriate these funds properly to help this industry, not find ways to tax and regulate us further into extinction.
Sounds good, but will the trucking companies cut down the CPM to compensate for the hourly on duty wage? That is what interests me…
I sort of feel the end result will be to shake money out of people via tolls. I have been driving since 2001 and all I have seen is people trying to find new ways to screw over trucker’s. This smells like another screw job and you better believe that the shippers,consignees and carriers will figure out a way to get out of doing the right thing.
What about the owner operator? what’s he gonna do, pay him self? More BS!
Carriers are not going to lose money over this. They will simply drop their per mile rate a penny or two per driver to compensate for the hourly rate.
I agreed. It’s not more money in our pockets, is just going to be redistributed.
And where are they going to get the money to do all this? From taxes of coarse.
Also government putting. Ore regulations on business owners regardless if they are lartge or small. How is that supposed to be a good thing.?
But ya. We already pay highway taxes, fuel taxes and tolls to improve the roads. A massive spending bill like this comes I’m sure with an massive increase to all of those. The extra regulations while they might upset the larger companies actually will hurt small fleet owners, and increasing our pay for an average of what 30 to 45 minutes a day? YA that helps so much. Remember also for every regulating action on a business that takes money away from them. Those businesses will react lower other types of pay to make up for it. Welcome to Economics 101.
I also see absolute 0 benifit for single truck owner operators…Ohh well maybe having to pay higher taxes and more tolls.
And now will the drivers be paid by the load and not by the mile with hourly wait time?Whenever a supposedly good thing comes along,one has to scrutinize the fine print because there’s always an out for the company which usually ends up being a bad thing for the drivers.I have been on both sides,getting paid by the mile and hourly as a P&D driver,but I have been in your shoes when it came to delivering to places like food warehouses,car plants,and steel companies,just to name a few.Those places usually don’t care when they tell you that,although your on time for your appointment,their backed up and can’t get to you for a few hours,time for which you usually don’t get paid,but you still have to be there,right?It’s not like you can go home and see the family. Companies pull that crap because they can get away with it,but if that changed,and they get charged for all the waiting time,you’ll see a change almost overnight.I certainly hope this works out in your favor,as I’ve always thought you OTR folks deserve to be compensated for being away from home in a big way.
The trucking companies need to start charging the shippers and receivers detention time when they hold the truck up because the load isn’t ready, or they are backed up, etc. If they were to do that I believe you would see a change in the way truckers are dealt with at the shippers/receivers. But you and I both know that will never happen
Joe Bob, you do know that you are supposed to log on duty for all the hours you spend at a shipper or customer waiting to get loaded or unloaded dont you. I guess you are the type of driver that feels ok with working for free. After all alittle slavery never hurt anyone,right?
I for one refuse to work for free,just to help make someone richer. It’s about time the government started making over the road driving fair and equal for everyone. Your dispatcher or the president of your company dont work for free,why should you?
Burn up my 70 for minimum wage and give up off duty detention… I think not
n the art of negotiating that is what is known as a worthless give away to gain somewhere else. In other words just plain BS for a tax increase.
I am for being paid for my time. O/O are their own boss would not make sense for them many are paid percent of load. But company drivers get most of this bs work that requires free labor right now and we should be paid. I doubt minimum wage even Atlanta pays 11-16/hour. One would think it would be the going rate.
My years working OTR weren’t slavery- that would be a step UP from what it really was, prostitution. Like any CDL driving job I’ve ever had, the driving was only a part of what I actually had to do. Waiting God-knows-how-long to get loaded or unloaded at a shipper/consignee (I noticed the photo was of container haulers -yeah, did that too), pallet exchange, trailer washouts, repairs, fueling, scaling, throwing or removing snow chains, traffic or weather related delays, company safety meetings… yeah. And while small companies might be adversely affected, the idea of being spinning a driver around in circles on the east coast for weeks or months at a time might not be as appealing to a larger company when there’s a price to be paid for doing that. There’s a LOT more to this line of work than meets the eye.
They should regulate the shippers (waiting time ) and the blockers(percentage/ load)
Everyone is going after the carrier. We need to invest in the equipment, than God forbid to have a problem on the road the shops will eat you alive, brokers want 20% and up and shippers let you roten on their parking lot especially for reefer.
So law makers, attack this problems first and then the carries wont try to squeeze every dime wherever they can.
Anyone who thinks those companies are just going to ante up and lose money for this and pay their drivers more is a fool. Get paid more for your line 4 get paid less for line 3. If you think anything less I advise you take a class in business history and economics..
This doesn’t even touch upon the tax hike we will see to make it happen.
There is nothing good I see happening with this.
I can see drivers loosing their jobs because they have no hours to drive and deliver their loads. I can see the companies forcing drivers not to log those hours. I already see a lot of people trying to pay their drivers on a 1099, which is very much illegal. I can see companies reducing rate per mile or some are already going to a flat weekly salary. Either way, the driver will not benefit, it is not generally in the interest of the company to adequately pay their drivers. There is not enough profit in it. Trucking companies are all about raping their drivers so they can buy another fleet of trucks or another company.
I wish I could get the companies to see or remember what it is like to sit in the drivers seat and try to make an honest living on the road. A lot of the company owners have been drivers early in their carriers, but the difference now is, they don’t have to be drivers and they forget the stress and strains that come with having no other options (for what ever our reason may be). They forget or don’t realize that some people are not afforded financial freedoms or blessings that they have been given.
Oh well, it is not likely to change for the better. So either we sit back, buckle up, and enjoy the ride or we can become bitter and aggravated by the inequities of trucking. Either way, don’t expect the changes to benefit you more than the trucking company.
Good day.
Scott, why don’t you buy your own truck and run as a company owner ? Then you can see first hand how easy it is to be rich by owning the company.
Establishing a mandate for on duty pay is bullcrap. Just another bait and switch by big government. Do you really want to become more dependant on government for your income?
LIVE FREE OR DIE!!
Can you say mandatory OBC
How about a rule change to recognize trucking in the NLRB rules
You really have to define On-Duty Joe. If you are under a load, and you come off your sleeper-birth time you are considered On-Duty. I your sitting waiting to get unloaded you are considered On-Duty, waiting to get loaded is On-Duty. And are more tings we run across that is considered On-Duty. In a weeks time that’s a pretty good paycheck. To me the key is accounting for all of your time.
How come drivers still complain about paycheck?
%90 of carriers increased pay per mile, even big carriers like Schneider and Swift.
I own small company with 13 trucks and pay all drivesr 50 cents a mile. They get all the miles they want (legally of course). Some guys make $1300 a week, some take home $1700-2000 checks.
So, if you not happy with your paycheck – driver more miles. If you not happy with pay per mile – leave your company and find carrier that pays more. Its very simple.
Because life rotates around the pay check. Not only the pay check but benefits, quality family and personal time. A driver has to put in many hours per week as you know to meet the drudgeries of the road, shipper, receiver, government, and so many other daily obstacles. Burnout is a real force in the driving industry, but not as big of a force as the driver feeding and meeting the modern needs of their families and of course themselves. As you know all costs have continued to climb not to mention mandatory health insurance requirements. Your average drivers weekly meal bills are probably over $300 per week, if they eat out of the Truck. If they have a family of any size their food bill is probably over $200 per week. If they want to be average in their community they probably have a house payment between $150 -$300 per week not to mention their car payments and maintenance expenses probably another $100 plus per week. As you can see, they have not bought any home furnishings, computers for the kids, clothes, bedding, have not had friends over for a party, paid for any memberships or school tuitions or fees, no vacations or any other needs not mentioned. They have not started to live yet. Their trying to get by, the cost of living has increased substantially in the last fifteen years and wages have not caught up.
It does not help that a lot of the drivers and their families do not have very good money management skills to go along with all of the above expenses.
Good day.
Peter, I did not even mention taxes. Taxes on $1300 – $2000 per week, goodness, it can make a grown man cry.
It appears that 3000 mi per week at $ 0.50 equals $1500.00
And 4000 mi per week at $ 0.50 equals $2000.00
So it appears that you are paying on a 1099 and are making your drivers responsible for their own federal taxes, social security, and health insurance.
If so, they are only taking home about $ 0.32 – $ 0.35 cents per mile, or between $900 – $1050 per week at the most. That is with taking no real time of for themselves or their family.
I’m thinking that having someone drive your truck and you issuing them a 1099 is illegal. Don’t believe me? Call the IRS and tell them what you have been doing, I’m sure that they would really like to talk to you.
If you are paying on a 1099, your advice for the drivers to get a new job would be an excellent one and reporting all people or companies that force their drivers to drive under a 1099 to the wage and hour division of their home state would be great.
Good day.
Yes, we do 1099 here, which for most guys is a huge plus. They taking the whole paycheck home. All you need to know is a good tax man and have business account open, you can write off lots of stuff, all legal. My driver pay $2000-4000 tax every year on average. Insurance? You can get good one for $200 a month. Also, I provide workers comp to my drivers in case something happens during work.
So, most guys still make around 45 cents a mile after all expenses (tax, insurance etc).
Guys, tell me a single negative thing about working on 1099? ITs legal by the way. %90 midwest carriers do it, ask them. IRS doesn’t care, as long as you pay taxes.
I no longer am willing to work OTR, primarily because of the lifestyle but also because of smaller outfits like the one Peter runs. I’ve been with the outfit I work for now since June 2011 because I’ve been appreciated and taken care of. It took me 16 years to stumble onto this smaller, local petroleum distribution firm, and prior to that I dealt with piss-poor pay, grossly under-maintained equipment, threats, & imbecile dispatchers ( or even worse, companies that allowed the brokers to run the company for them ). Only problem is being fortunate enough to find a good company; easier said than done. You won’t find them in the little employment magazines in the driver’s lounge at the truckstops, and having experience and a spotless driving abstract won’t necessarily make that happen either. I love posts on sites like this that feature one loser exhorting another to “buck up or get out” when it comes to this industry. If I’d known what I would have to endure to get where I’ve gotten to, I would have concluded my time was better spent in other endeavors…
Peter do you really think Schneider pays any of its drivers .50cpm? ? Cmon man.
I think they raised pay %20 on average. Anyway, none is making you work for a huge carrier.
I don’t see any good side of working for them. They don’t care about you, you are just 1 of other 1000 driver in their fleet. Small carrier owner will talk to you personally, make your dispatcher treat you with respect.
Schneider lower paychecks a lot. In 2009 I had 45cpm Regional and local drivers Intermodal/xtown could make $ 30-45 per move (45min-1,5hr) in 2009 and now only $28.
Thank you Peter for pointing out what is also obvious to me. I’ve been a large company OTR driver 48 states, to a small company driver 48, to a small company western region. 3 companies for a total of 17 years in the industry. Reefer/Van/Flat, then back to reefer.
I always loved to drive. I don’t know of any job that has so few things to worry about. The carrier I’ve worked with over 10 years has treated me great, I ended up wearing many hats, op’s manager, broker, accountant, payroll for company and oos and the safety officer. But at the end of the day I missed the road so I went owner op with a boatload of experience in all areas of the industry.
Carriers like you Peter, and carriers like the one I work with are out there, but small, quality carriers don’t need drivers that whine about everything and don’t have enough sense to confirm directions to a receiver on a Friday when they deliver on Monday morning. New drivers aren’t expected to know what it means to find, dispatch and broker freight. Common sense is expected though and a driver shouldn’t expect their carrier to pat them on the back when they use it.
It takes time, often years (as Andy states) to find that great carrier. If a trucker doesn’t enjoy the actual driving part it would be very hard.
I’m on my second truck, spec’d for me, bought and financed by me. I run under my carrier’s authority as I have no desire to add billing and collections to my duties. Not to mention finding freight. They pay me 90% and I pay for everything plus I lease the reefer at a fair rate and they pay for the reefer fuel. I know I’m getting 90% because I’m included in emails, load confo’s ect. Also I can look at any load in the dispatch software, a privilege that has been given for my loyalty to my carrier-who is my boss and my friend.
That’s just too easy. “If you don’t like your job, quit.”
90% of carriers may have increased their pay, but if you look around Pete, you’d notice that ALL groceries, gas, rents, medical bills and taxes have gone up.
So what you REALLY need to ask is, what happens when I raise my driver’s pay 3% and the cost of living goes up 25%?
In case basic math fails you, you’ve actually CUT their pay by 22% and have the audacity to brag about how generous you are.
Most companies are not as generous as you by a long shot. The average company driver makes .25 a mile. The average IC makes .30 a mile. Almost half what you offer.
Companies would simply reduce the per mile pay to compensate. I don’t see a windfall for truckers here.
It will definitely make a difference to drivers who do a lot of waiting to load or unload. Then there’s down time and layovers and the time spent unloading your flatbed etc. Hopefully companies won’t decrease the per mile wage to make up for on-duty not driving time. Regardless, drivers should be making $100,000 a year with the time and work they dedicate to their jobs. Many professional drivers die on the job travelling dangerous highways in poor weather.
E log hours worked minus miles needs to be compensated for us company drivers making .34 cents a mile and 12 dollars per stop pay.
Fueling the reefer and tractor and pre post trips need to be compensated as well as filling out paperwork.
Then I’d be more apt to stay where I’m at.
Good idea. But, what’ll probably happen is the mileage rate will be reduced and the overall pay will decline.
Geo, QUIT if you make 34 cents a mile and they pay you $12 per stop.
Most of companies pay over 45 cents a mile and $30 per stop. Also, they run paper logbooks, which is a huge difference. I`ll never switch my company to Elogs untill they make me. If I do it now – I simply wont survive in this market and go bankrupt in 2-3 months.
Wow. Much has changed in 4 years, then. Majority of drivers I know are happy to make .29 as a company driver.
Go on craigslist and start making calls. Ask about pay per mile, about how many miles you will be able to run, about detention and layover pay. Choose several companies that offer good term, go there, see how they talk to you, see if they are decent people and go with the one you like the most. Thats it, it is that simple to find a new company to work for, Im telling you from personal experience and from position of a company owner.
It would be better to have it to were you could log off duty in traffic jams and other situations where you are just killing the clock and go back to the 14 hr extended period rule and be able to get back st least 4 hours of it, with most of it in sleeper mode.
do the math. Id rather get .42* 60 miles =$25.20ph Then $8.25 ph
Until the wage scheme for OTR is legally mandated to a 70 hour salary based on hourly with OT (after 40) and DT (after 60)……The Flim-Flammery will continue!
I work for a small regional company. Dedicated runs. We have day cabs are paid by the hour with overtime. Paid motel and meal expenses. Mostly daytime runs. one of the drawbacks is when we’re broke down and your out of town and truck is in the shop they don’t want you to clock in until it’s fixed but that’s not always the case. We also have driver facing cameras fixing to have more gadgets to catch us doing what the vice presidents have accidents for..oh well..it’s there money.
There’s a lot more wrong with trucking these days than to worry about getting paid for on duty time. These poor guys still out on the road don’t get a fraction of what they deserve and its criminal! There’s lots of greenhorns out there now and poor drivers. If companies paid what a real driver was worth lots of the good guys would still be running. Here in Canada, transport has lost lots of good drivers since 2008 the lucky ones have found different career paths and the unlucky are still running highway for peanuts. When I was still on the highway I had to manipulate my logs. I had minimal on duty time. I was either driving, off duty or in sleeper berth. I left trucking and now use my class 1 as a way to move heavy equipment from site to site. I now operate excavator. I have less stress less risk less regulation to follow and make more money than I ever did trucking and I’m home every night.
Travis, we need a lot more drivers to leave the trucking business like you did. May it will get the government attention . I was “Force out” of the trucking business after 38 years,just because of the lies of Sgt Savage of the Ohio Highway Patrol on Sept 14,2005. If the next person tells me “cops don’t lie”. I got news for them. I’m still trying to clear my name in 2015 just to be able to drive a car ! Good for you Travis.
The only time I am ever on duty not driving is when I’m doing a PT/DVIR. They should set a bill to pay me for off duty and sleeper berth time.
What this means is that companies will start wanting you to punch a time clock and do away with the per mile rate..
How many people will be willing to drive OTR for $10 hr. Suddenly you have just one more job American citizens “just wont do” and they will have anothrr excuse to ship in more cheap labor
I think I agree with Corky Freeman, being paid an hourly rate for on duty non driving doesn’t necessarily mean an increase in our annual earnings. Companies will figure out a creative, and legal, way to get around this. Trucking companies already get away with lying and misrepresenting the salaries they pay us now? It’ll take all of one hour for their attorneys to figure out the loop hole in this one. And since the bill is going to include these creative loopholes we need to really question the real motive behind it? guarantee It’s not it’s not in our interest.
Also, another thing about this bill that stinks, giving the department of transportation the power to mandate anything doesn’t necessarily mean they will! You need to question anything that begins with Federal Government?! I’m just saying……..
The money isn’t available to mom and pop trucking companies. We see everything done as a hit on us. I would love drivers to make more money but the money isn’t there in my case anyway and my guys do pretty good. After fuel, insurance, and all the things that go with running a truck the money is just not there to pay out anymore. It may be different for some company’s. I can only speak for myself. The problem lies in the shippers and receivers really. Waiting on loads with no pay that can be passed to drivers which many times force drivers to be tired after sitting all day long. Shippers and receivers can do damn near anything they want with my truck and I can’t do a damn thing about it. I would love for someone to address the real problems not the perceived problems.
make shippers & the people that take the product off the trailer should be made to pay for the time that we are stuck at there docks and they should take the load the way it comes off the truck
We should not have to hire or do it ourself and make the pallets the way they want them
They can hire people to do this kind of stuff and get more people off welfare.
And get us out of there so we can get to our next drop or pickup point if they do this a driver can make a good living and not have to run over there hours to make a living
Did anyone notice it said on duty not driving ! There goes your hours no more sleeper berth at the customers
Do you fill out your own log? If so, YOU decide what line you’re logging on.
I got a better proposition that won’t force carriers to cut our pay elsewhere.
Forced detention pay on Shippers/Consignees
Suddenly those 7 hour waits at food warehouses will turn into 2 hour waits (as detention pay is determined after 2 hours). Most company carriers do not do this. Some do but pocket the pay themselves and the drivers don’t see a dime. Only a handful stick it to the shippers or consignees.
Therefore, in the end, less waiting, more rolling. Problem solved.
Exactly! It’s not the driver’s fault that you ordered 20 trucks. The broker told 20 trucks to be there at 9am, sharp. You only scheduled two forklift drivers for that shift and one of them called in sick.
I drove for 20 years before my heart attack in 2011. One earned over those years is that a trucking company isn’t going to take a loss. If the government passes this law the trucking companies are either going to raise the rates on their customers or cut the CPM for the drivers. Since their not going to take a chance on losing the customer the most logical course of action is to cut the drivers CPM to compensate. Either way you look at it the driver is going to get screwed no matter how you slice this pie.
Well actually Anthony the driver pool is drying up, so that is nearly impossible, so I will have to disagree with you on that. If Walmart can afford this, then so can the industry.
I drive mostly local so getting paid for the couple hours on duty a day I do is still more than nothing. Or the times I sit at a truck stop waiting 30minutes for all the arseholes to finish taking their break so I can get fuel. I work mostly 5 day weeks sometimes 6 so I will be happy to burn up any of the extra hours I have left. A couple hours a day still turns out to be a car payments worth of pay in a month…
15 minutes for a pretrip, 15 minutes for a drop, 15 minutes for a hook, 30 minutes for a load, 30 minutes for an unload, 8 or 9 minutes for a fuel. Uhm…we are talking about hardly nothing.
Another fancy sounding bill designed to do what?
Pander for the support/votes of drivers silly enough to believe that something will ever be done.
I don’t care who funds it, but what really needs revamping is our infrastructure, first and foremost is reducing the costs involved in building and maintaining the Interstate Highway System of Roadways and bridges. One solution would be to utilize solar energy to make roads more affordable over their lifespan and profitable as well. The solution is Solar Roadways which are simply Solar Panels embedded into the paved surface. This would enable heated roadways for the winter time use and snow removal without the added expense of harmful chemicals and less need for the heavy snow removal equipment associated with these tasks, and also allow multiple forms of technology to grow out of this one beneficial idea. Plus they actually will pay for themselves over time. What are we waiting for? Solar Freaking Roadways Yahoo!
Im just a bill..yes im only a bill and im just sitting here on capital hill. VETO… No pay increases for you!!!
Make shippers and receivers ACCOUNTABLE!!
They have no dog in the fight and get off Scott free!!
Start regulating and fining them, you’ll see a significant difference!!
“compensate their drivers for all “on-duty, not-driving” time at a rate “not less than the federal minimum wage.” “…..Sounds to me likke the unions are up to more slick tricks!!!!….esp when you factor in the idiotic push for $15/hr min wage that is being made around the country–strangely(not!), it’s esp being pushed inDem-governed cities and states!!….this is a bit suspicious cuz 15 an hour is just about par for the various trade unions beginniing-level “journeymen”. While I like the idea…the IDEA of being paid fore all hours, I CURRENTLY WORK for a company that, thx to a BS lawsuit in which some a-hole whined n cried about “not gettting his breaks” and ” not getting paid for things like doing his pretrips/posttrips/fueling his truck @ the co.’s fuel islands,etc”, which any REAL trucker worth his tire thumper knows is part of the JOB–if you want to stop to hit the restrooms or whatever, just DO SO–ain’t nobody gonna give you grief for it, just do it and don’t take forever and nobody’s gonnna CARE…and actually, if DOT’s CURRENT regs are followed, nobody CAN, cuz breaks are written into the regs–not that they NEED to be…..an anxious driver that has GOTTA GO is an unsafe/less safe driver–he’s not gonna pay attention like he should cuz his back teeth are floatin'(!!) and the same goes for a hungry driver/tired driver/etcetcetc. At the co. I drive for–thx to this BS lawsuit, they HAVE to pay for time in between our yard and the pickup point,time between the dropoff point back to the yard, time spent waiting @ one or the other, etc a nad they have our MECHANICS taking time out of their already BACKLOGGED work to come over and fuel trucks–we just shut down, do a lil paperwork n go home…..or at least MOST of the dumbass drivers here do that kind of thing @ BOTH ends of their driving day…SOME of us know that SH!T to be exactly that–BS(!!), and we come in early enough to check our trucks out and etc….Out here in CA, the DOT’s regs may not be followed much, but breaks being ALLOWED is just common sense—altho our current guv and admin don’t seem to have much of THAT!!!….being paid for pretrips/posttrips/fueling/etc is pointless—it is PART of the JOB!!!!…it comes with the teritory!!!…being paid for time @ shippers and customers shouldn’t be a matter of legality,either–if one or the other–OR BOTH on a particular trip can’t get their SH!T together and get their staff MOVING, then they get hit with either back-charges for missing THEIR appt time and/or reasonable loadingunloading times(time it TAKES to load/unload) or they get their customers and/or shippers/carrriers/suppliers going ELSEWHERE to find a more reliable “partner”!!
It still amazes me even after all of these years that Drivers want to work for free!
Minimum wage…lol…
After all you’ve gone thru, getting the CDL, learning to drive, keeping safe, living in a truck, submitting to physicals, random drug screens, being scrutinized for sleep apnea, after all of this you’re worth…..get this…..
Minium wage.
ROTFLMAO
On the surface it’s a great idea but I think it should be in a separate bill. Seems like it’s just a way to get truckers to go along and not raise a stink about the highway tolls. Where will trucking companies get the extra money to pay drivers? It’s got to come from somewhere and it rarely will come from their bottom line.
They order the goods you make the drop on time…….get it off the truck in a reasonable time not hours upon hours…. truckers should be paid for everything they do period….Hell yrs ago we got 30 dollars a night for every night in the bunk witch isn’t much but it helps….the old off load 1 skid an let the load sit on the trailer does fly with me….
I agree with Steve Bell. All these drivers don’t know how to take care of themselves. If you are at work you should get a fair wage while on duty 18-20 per hr at least. You are not there to help the company save money, you are working. The problem is you have so many people in our country that say yes sir way too much. I do my job best I can, but I get paid or I don’t do.
Its pretty ridiculous the houts we work im always afraid to do the math in fear i make less then minimum.
Can anyone tell me what other employee of a trucking company does NOT get paid for all of their time at work? Dispatchers are paid for all of their time regardless of whether they are dispatching drivers, talking to customers on the phone, or getting another cup of coffee. Mechanics are paid whether they are getting a tool from the tool room, looking up current specs in a book or turning a wrench. Why shouldn’t drivers get paid for everything we do: pre-/post trip inspections, fueling, trip planning, waiting to un/load, sitting for inspection, working on the truck on the side of the road?
about time drivers got compensated for sitting at safeway, waiting to back into door…this practice abuses drivers tremendously…these corporations should be charged,,not the carriers.
IMO, nothing will improve the driver’s lot in life unless the law is reversed that currently allows companies to avoid paying truckers overtime. Given this nation’s economic trend, and the fact that government is so entrenched in transportation employment and driver regulation, I see overtime as a reality in about 10 years… in China.
This is redundant. Trucking companies are already mandated to pay for all on duty activities. They just don’t. Drivers need to stick up for themselves and not be tricked into supporting bad legislation with empty promises. Take some time to read the rules of compensation on the DOL hours and wages website.
Instead of overthinking all of this, what’s wrong with just a salary? This would be fantastic for a company driver! The same amount every week rain or shine.