Mega-carrier USA Truck has started using a fuel efficiency app in its trucks. The data from that app will directly impact how much its drivers get paid.
Though it’s been a little less extreme lately, fuel costs make up a huge portion of a carrier’s expenses. It’s no surprise that many carriers have turned to technology to find a way to reduce fuel costs, even installing tracking software that can inform drivers when they’re not driving in a fuel-conscious way.
USA Truck has taken that a step further however in partnering with LinkeDrive to use their PedalCoach app which according to USA Truck’s president of trucking “helped us make the jobs of our drivers a bit easier while rewarding those who drove in the most fuel-efficient manner.”
In practice that means that those that the app determines drive in a more fuel-efficient manner get paid more money than other drivers.
LinkeDrive describes PedalCoach as “our in-cab, real-time driver coach, putting fuel savings and driver safety back into your control.” The system ranks drivers by awarding them points for being “in the green” with good fuel economy. Those with more points are ranked higher and get more pay.
Source: overdrive, fleetowner, truckinginfo, pressreleaserocket, linkedrive
Great concept in theory. Minus any glitches. Provide adequate time for delivery, and apu for driver comfort and you’re on the right track.
Oh brother how about an app to show when a CEOs are not being stupid ja and cuts their bonus every time they are. Stop hiring kids and you will not have play big brother watching over them. I say this is ridiculous.
Driver man do I agree with you, I was go I g to say something very similar
You don’t need a app for that, all it takes is losing JIT freight and having the proper amount of time to arrive at your delivery. JIT (Just In Time) freight is what killed this industry.
Lose it and no one has a reason to rush around anymore.
Just my 2 cents.
electronic logs and an hourly pay . Its easy to cheat on paper but those electronic logs are hard to beat.Just pay me by what the log says and it will suit me just fine .
I so agree. A fair amiable hourly wage also encourages and promotes safety and that my friend, is the real deal, the truth. That daily clock should be our “clock-in”, and “clock-out” tool for hourly compensation (given it’s an attractive hourly wage).
I agree! We should get paid when we clock into the truck and it stops when we clock out for the 34hr restart! that’s all I saying cause when you add up total time in and out of the truck, you could make the same at a minimal wage job.
They don’t trust us to pay us hourly. A driver who is hard up will always find traffic to sit in. Or dock that take their own sweet time.
So long as everything we do all day is paid at the same rate like everyone else in this industry, I’ll log it as I do it. I’ve never understood why we have to fuel, pre-trip, post-trip, scale, wait endlessly, drop and hook “under the table” but still count the time against us.
2 drivers same load and route …..same pay …same load…I see lawsuits in the future
They worded it wrong. They said efficient drivers get paid more while in reality drivers who are anything less that 100% get paid less.
A lot of things effect efficiency. Weight of the load, tires and inflation, engine performance, terrain. Road and weather conditions to name a few.
Exactly. Flat roads vs mountain, load weight, cross country vs local and city routes, etc. It’s not fair across the board.
Yes it is fair, if the real business model of fair compensation was adopted in a nutshell. Customers should have to pay market price for real costs of operation, not projected estimates which aren’t accurate or fair. We’ve been duped and lying to ourselves as well as cheating our pocket books for years. It’s time we tighten our belts and deal with the reality of market adjusted service rates based on real criteria regarding billing and pricing. No more across the board distance and mileage billing without real accountability for variants. Bush pilots in northern Canada and Alaska don’t charge the same rates as lower latitude pilots. Why? Because they fly in dangerous abhorrent conditions warranting increased rates for liability and their access to low cost operational maintenance and available lower priced fuel aren’t the same either. Our industry needs to adapt also and make changes accordingly.
Load, weathet, terrain arent controllable they will average out. The other factors you mention have a human element that can impact positive or negative. I drove a company truck once after and before other drivers. Same truck same routes same loads, my fuel mpg was 30% better and it wasnt because I drove any slower once rollin.
Totally agree with that point!!!
Of course this means precisely d*ck, as driver pay hasn’t exactly risen with the economy since the ’80s.
Just another way to avoid paying anyone what they’re worth. Fortunately, fuel economy doesn’t really factor in to my particular job.
Just another way to screw the driver!!
Exactly
I agree with screwing the driver….just to get an excuse to take more money out of the truck driver’s pocket,and the company CEO doesn’t have to go an explain to the truck driver’s wife,and family why he’s not getting paid enough, as the CEO goes home in his fancy car to his large fancy home,and makes plans for expensive vacation….all at the driver,and his family’s expense.
You guys are exactly right!! It is another way to screw the driver and it’s going to create MUCH MORE BITCHING!! the drivers are not going to want to take any loads where there’s lots of pulls and hills and heavy loads cause they will get screwed and out of their control!! If they want to increase fuel economy then get rid of rookie drivers, hire only experienced drivers that respect a truck and get 600HP trucks , the trucks will pull the loads with ease and takes the stress away from the drivers and they get great fuel economy!!
What about companies that don’t care to maintain their trucks to keep them tuned up to pull good and all you do is hold it to the floor all day to try and maintain a speed limit on flat ground!??? Those trucks should be banned then!???? It’s not the drivers fault he has to hold it to the floor to keep it moving!!
If I worked for that company I would be giving my notice right now for unfair practices.
Trucking needs to be paid hourly. This is ridiculous. The drivers are always getting screwed. Like that guy said above what about the CEO and his bonuses.
There isn’t a trucking company or many other jobs that would or could pay what I average an hour revenue or profit wise. Especially for having no more education than high school and experience. It may work for those that are willing to settle because of that belief and all their worth is so much an hour. I choose to place a higher worth for my ability and service. Anyone else can do the same.
How about an app that shocks the crap out of a driver if he does not dim his headlights. Used to never see a truck going down the interstate with lights on bright. Now it’s about 10 to 20 percent of the trucks I meet. A lot of the drivers out there cannot get 2 brain cells to rub together.
Years ago when we all had those round lights that didn’t even put out much light, get caught with the bright lights on and we’d get a ticket. Back then it was about respect for the other driver now it’s a contest who can have the brightest lights. Drivers installing off road lights twice as bright as normal factory lights used to be a $300 fine in most states
This statements certainly includes you Rick!! How does your statement have anything to do with the topic being discussed in this article? Drivers like you make CEO’s believe that “All Drivers Are Stupid”.
I agree!!
True, but add to that list also how about the idiot driver who leaves his headlights on for his/her entire 10 hr break at the truck stop. Years back if you did that you woke up with duct taped head lights, try to peel that off a hot headlight lens…lol
Many trucks are running those super bright Halogen bulbs. Plus they’ll have their extra driving lights on; you know the ones that replaced fog lights.
These people who worship at the Holy Grail of Fuel Economy make me want to puke. That isn’t what transportation is about. Never was. You can’t control wind, traffic, or any of the other variables, so why should the driver be penalized? Their trucks are governed slow already so what else can the drivers do?
Amen to that
How about another up gear. Did anyone look to see the drag on a side skirt with a cross wind?
How about abolishing the diesel tax for commercial use. Trains move freight too but burn off road diesel. They are not as fuel efficient as they claim. When the temperature is below freezing, they won’t power them down.
Are you a company driver or O/O? It won’t really matter. I’m an O/O and I can say this, it matters regardless. For those using the terrain, weather, losds, it will average out over time and over weeks, years, and 100s of thousands of miles it adds up. I’ve spent 1000s on things and not idled and it’s paid me back 10s of thousands. Where does it go I take profit sharing and put it in my 401k. My fuel savings alone funds 2/3 at least to the tune of 8k per year with that my contribution I put in a 22k per year.
Hate to break the news to some of the commenters here, but for roughly the same reason that poker is a game of skill, the single-run (wind, hills, traffic) arguments against this only hold water for a relative few cases (like say a dedicated daily from Denver to Grand Junction and back): drivers who cover most any multi-state region are essentially dealt the same weather/terrain/traffic hands over time.
I worked for a company that our pay also was effected by my fuel economy. I spent most of the time with that company driving in the Appellation mountains. Once every other month would I get a trip just in the plains. Mountains do make a big difference, to fuel economy. I’m for saving fuel. I am just wondering why, all is not done to save it or reduce its cost.
USA Truck has extremely badly used equipment that’s often seen broken down on the side of roads with drivers that are inexperienced because no decent drivers in their right minds would ever drive for this crap company. They pay extremely poor and they own junk.
Why not pay drivers percentage instead of mileage? Wait….
If you pay mileage there’s a built in ceiling because you can only run X miles in one week.
AND the drivers will know what the freight is paying and will start to refuse to haul the cheap freight.
As someone who has sat on both sides of the steering wheel I can tell you this makes a BIG difference. If a truck can average 1/2mpg better, this amounts to about 2400 gallons of fuel over 100,000 miles…about a year. Almost $5,000 in fuel savings. Half to the driver, half to the company, it’s a win-win situation.
I have watched fleet mileage differ more than 2mpg. Same truck, same routes, different drivers. And when we switch out drivers, I have seen many of those low mpg trucks suddenly jump up.
Like it or not, fuel is the name of the game in this business, and incentives to be more responsible with it will be to everyone’s benefit.
I would like to know how the app works. If it does work I wouldn’t mind giving it a try
One more reason they’ll have a hard time finding qualified drivers.
That way, if they don’t like you, and want you to quit they can send you to the Rockies, where your fuel mileage and miles per hour will tank.
It’s amazing how people sitting at a desk everyday can tell drivers what is best. The only thing I see with this “new idea” is drivers slowing down. This means freight will be late or rescheduled. Construction zones, accidents, stop and go traffic, mountains, bad weather, all factor into fuel economy. Same loads same routes with different drivers may have a slight difference in fuel consumption but it will be an insignificant amount. Before any CEO tries crap like this he/she needs to spend 4 months in a truck. One month for every season. Then that person should meet with the drivers who do this for a living. At that meeting the CEO should do nothing but listen to what the drivers have to say about these “new ideas”. The drivers at the meeting should stay on point and not talk about unrelated issues. When upper management starts listening and acting on the issues that are really important to the drivers the company will be more efficient and the cost will go down. They will have happier drivers who will be there for the long haul.
This is interesting.. Years ago, I ran with one of the big carriers, lease op and was paid by the mile. We had a planner, and could only reject loads, nothing more.. If you constantly rejected heavy/mountain loads, they just stopped planning you.
I was new, very little experience, I did listen though, to a guy on the trucking radio, applied everything he said to do.. I was averaging 10mpg during the summer, 9 in the winter.. We bought our own fuel, so I was also constantly searching out the best places to fuel (figuring in the state fuel tax, etc..). I joined NASTIC for the fuel card, much better rebates then the company card..
I was laughed at.. A lot..
Then, management wanted to know why my settlements where hundreds of dollars per week more then guys doing the same hauls.. Then guys started constantly calling me for advice.. I started getting audited every month by the company, even once told I was cheating some how, and threatened they would figure it out.. When I left, I was promised I’d always have a home there if I wanted it..
Fuel mileage is key, JIT load or not, never was there an on time issue.. Math is key, if you can’t do basic math, you have no business operating a truck.. Basic math will provide the education necessary to make good money in this business.
Sounds like USA truck is sick and tired of employees that can’t do math..
Btw, this was all done on elogs..
I love competing against most of the guys who comment above, makes it so much easier to be in the top 1%. Specially now running water to several trucks and authority.. Brokers figure out real quick who the 1%ers are..
So years ago you ran e-log? How many years ago? 10 miles a gallon? I delivered brand new trucks for about six months. Just Bob tail; factory said we’d get 10 miles a gallon.
Where it benifits, it punishes!!!! Meaning: drivers stuck in a poorly maintained truck. Is going to get docked for poor fuel economy. Due to no fault of there own. Just another tool created to syphone more money out of the drivers pocket.
The other thing I wanna say. Computers, software, elds. Are toasters…… There not going to do a thing unless you take it out of the box. Sit it on the counter, plug it in to a power source. Put you bread in and turn it on. And no matter what machine you use. No matter how much you believe in the machine. The results you are looking for. Are never what you want. Pretty much 90% of the time the information the computer gives you. Burns you like the toaster does the bread. I can say this because I have been building and repairing computers and about Every other type of machine out there in the world. For more then 20 years. Been using computers since I was 8 years old. I’m 41 now.