Like Dave said in a perfect world Lavender's view on the world of trucking would be 100% accurate. In reality its extremely far from perfect and making a living gets very hard to do trucking 100% by the DOT book.
For example lavender lets say you've been out on the road for the last 5 or 6 weeks. You are on your way home very very anxious to see your wife and kids........... due to circumstances beyond your control you are against your 11 hrs of driving 30 mins or less from the house. WHAT DO YOU DO?
This is only one scenario of many that can complicate even the best intentions of drivers such as yourself. Or what if you are on the road and that same 30 minutes means the difference between getting the load you are on delivered today and onto next weeks paycheck when you know that you need every penny of that load on the paycheck to cover the house payment. If the house payment plus is not covered then your wife and kids go hungry until the next paycheck arrives. Life as a truck driver is not the 100% black and white that you wish it to be. Once you get more miles and months under your belt than you have now you will begin to realize these harsh realities of the trucking world.
CSA 2010: How will the Driver Rating System affect you?
Discussion in 'Trucking Industry Regulations' started by Yatista, Oct 18, 2009.
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photolurp2, outerspacehillbilly and kajidono Thank this.
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CSA 2010 is going to be like trying to color a regular sized coloring book with a government issue crayon that is 8 feet long, 2 feet wide and has a DOT inspector perched on the other end of it poking you in the eye with a sharp stick. Good luck.
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I disagree with the premise that you are not paid for all that you do. When the job was offered and you accepted you ceartainly had a good and complete understanding of your duties which included fueling, pre-trip, post-trip, loading, unloadin etc. You know what's included in the job. You also understood how your pay for these duties was to be calculated. Your pay/mile includes your obligation to complete the other duties. We could change it, pay you only to fuel for example, and then require that you drive until the tank is empty with no additional compensation.
Now on ther other hand , if your company has added or changed your duties, then you should rework your payplan with your employer. -
IMHO, pay per mile is the main reason truckers violate HOS regs, drive unsafe equipment, and have such sour attitudes when we are delayed.
I am paid by the mile now, but I have had driving jobs that paid hourly, I even had a DRIVING job that I earned a SALARY! When I was NOT being paid PIECEWORK, I was a safer,more curteous -
You seem to be saying that it is ok to cheat drivers out of wages for work they performed because that is how it has trucking has always been and we knew that going into the business. I agree that we may have known we were being cheated and taken advantage of from the start, but you believe that somehow that is fair??? I wonder if you would work at an employer under the same conditions we face? Would you stay at a job that required you to stay in your office 2-4 weeks at a time, but only pay you when you actually worked? Would work for an employer that treated like a piece of cow dung, consistently denying your your basic needs or desires like sleep or time to eat a meal in peace? I could go on all day with these type of questions, us DRIVERS know the garbage that we put up with and know IT IS NOT WORTH WHAT WE ARE PAID! My guess is that, if you ever drove a truck, it wasn't for very long or it was along time ago. Your lack of empathy and understanding is troubling, and people like you are one of the obstacles we must overcome if we want a better life in this business!
IMHO, pay per mile is the main reason truckers violate HOS regs, drive unsafe equipment, and have such sour attitudes when we are delayed.
I am paid by the mile now, but I have had driving jobs that paid hourly, I even had a DRIVING job that I earned a SALARY! When I was NOT being paid PIECEWORK, I was a safer,more curteous driver. I had the time to do the job right, I did not mind it when customer held me up, traffic was no big deal. And when the truck needed repairs, it was fixed right away. I must say being paid by the mile,everything I mentioned was exactly reversed! Pay per mile ensures that all drivers care about or want to do is TURN MORE MILES! So everything else, gets tossed out the window, especially safety!!! -
TruckerDave, You misunderstand my position. I very strongly believe that we are all completely and totally responsible for our actions, commitments and circumstances. Where we are today is the result of decisions we made. Sometimes we feel that there is no choice to be made, but, we put ourselves into that position also. What I am saying is that you are where you have chosen to be, there is no person except yourself responsible for your circumstance, and no one can change it except you. So I guess the bottom line is "Suck it up, grow a pair, and change your life" sitting around complaining about it is a useless waste of time and self destructive.
On another note, I do drive for a living, I am paid per/mile. I am sitting in Boise at the T/A loaded for 5 drops in Idaho and Montana. -
I agree, my husband and I also work for a bottom feeding company. they are so cheap, he just had a flat tire on the trailer yesterday, (a bald tire) to have the boss only give approval to "fix" the tire. so he waits 12 hours for the place to open, gets the tire "fixed" and goes on his way. then in the middle of nowhere the same stupid tire blows, so a company has to be called out to replace it (of course with a cheap retread) so 387.00 that stop plus the other fix, it would have been cheaper to buy a new tire!! but don't tell that to our cheap boss. and we'll have to pay for his penny pinching tightwad unsafe practices! not fair at all.
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Ah yes, nothing like corporate spending $50 to save ten cents.
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