How much should an OTR driver earn? Here's my opinion!

Extremely well said G/Man! ###### insightful and its hard to see how anyone could argue with the above. ... Hats off to ya really!

 

I appreciate it, ThaiTexBil.

 

All excellent points. And no offense Gman, but you aren't seriously addressing any of the points that have been made. Tornadoes blowing down McDonald's? Really?? If a tornado wrecked my truck, then no, I wouldn't expect to be paid for the time it took to replace the truck. But if I have to stay with the truck through the tornado instead of going home, like McDonald's workers would, it's fair that I be compensated for that time.

You keep saying pay based on productivity is best. Some manufacturing companies pay a piece rate. If the factory runs out of supplies to build the product, the worker either goes home, or is paid by the hour until the supplies are replenished. That's a fair way to base pay on productivity. The way trucking does it isn't.

No one is saying drivers should be paid to sleep, but drivers should be paid to stay with the truck every night.

At any rate, you have your opinion, and I'm clearly not gonna be able to change it. I believe that my time, whether it be sitting in a dock, in traffic, in a weigh station, waiting on another load, or rolling down the road, is worth something. You don't, and that's why we'll never agree on how drivers should be paid.

 

So if we were to go to hourly pay does everyone think they would earn a lot more money?

 

I do believe that your time is worth something. That is why drivers are paid for the work they do. If you are paid mileage then you should be paid for the miles you drive to deliver your load. Do you drive for free? Does your carrier pay you for the miles you drive? If your company pays you for the miles you drive then you are being paid for the work you do. You think that you should be paid for sitting in a weigh station? What if the reason that you are sitting in that weigh station is due to your not doing a proper pre trip or not keeping your logs up? Should the company then charge you for keeping their truck tied up? Should the company charge you for the extra cost of having a mechanic come out and work on the truck when you failed to do a proper pre trip? Fair is fair.

I will tell you what you really need to do if you want to be paid by the hour. Before you take a driving job, you need to tell the company how you want to be paid. Tell the company that you want to be paid while you are being loaded and unloaded. Tell them that you want to be paid by the hour from the time you get to the truck until you park it for home time. Explain to the company that you don't feel that you should be paid on productivity because you don't consider it fair that you should only be paid for the work you actually do. Make sure to tell them that you feel that you should be paid to sleep, eat and go to the toilet.

 

I guess you could try that. I would say you need to find out what they pay for and decide if that works for you. I could be wrong but I don't think it's done much different in Canada. I have talked to drivers who make a little more per mile than me but don't get paid for some of the things I get paid for. I have also talked to drivers who get paid for some things I don't get paid for but make a little less per mile.

I've also talked to a few guys from one company who get almost everything people in this thread seem to want, except for being paid to sleep.

Except for the last one I mentioned we all seem to get compensated about the same when all is said and done. The difference is I get more home time. The last one is rare and will likely be where I end up if I decide to move on.

The point though is that not all companies are created equal. McDonalds comes up often it seems so if you want to make that comparison don't work at McDonalds, go work at The Keg instead.

 

You want me to travel for work pay for a hotel, your truck can stay somewhere else. If you don't want to pay for the hotel best you have me home at night.

 

According to you profile, you have been in this business for a few years. Do you run otr? If so does your company pay you by the hour? Does your company pay you from the time you leave until you get home for your days off? What does your company pay you? Do they put you up in a motel for each night you are away from home? Do you get home every night?

If not, they why do you stay with the company. If yes, then I am sure others would want to find what company you work for that can afford to pay you all that money.

 

I drive local. I drove OTR and was paid well for it.

There is an outfit out of Minnesota or maybe North Dakota that does pay for the hotel for the drivers rather than slepper birth.

Yes, I have been around this business for a while. I used to own a trucking company as well as managed some. I am also not so naive to think that if I showed up at Schnieder and demanded to be paid different than the rest of the drivers they would laugh me out of Green Bay.

And if you are so sure a change in the pay structure will result in an increase in pay if it obvious you think drivers are doing a whole lot for free now.

I didn't suggest more money, I suggested a restructuring of the pay system. Reduce the rate per mile but pay actual time for time spent on line 4. And offer some sort of compensation for "standing guard" over somebody else's property.

If the average wage of a driver is $35k in your country then in theory it could stay the same.

As is sits right now, the drivers which are only employees, take on to much financial risk on behalf of the company. How many times have you heard from drivers that have had situations arise and barely make minimum wage for month? Sometimes these are their own fault but other times they are not. Waiting for a truck, waiting at a shipper, break-downs, given 30 hours to make a 400 mile run for an appointment and arriving 20 hours early, and on and on.

Put the onus of good dispatch, good planning back onto the the company and not the driver. I would even go as far as to suggest that the places that do it well will see increased profits, less accidents, less mechanical breakdowns and an overall better safety record.

So if you pay your driver a percentage of the load, what is the motivation to you to really go after detention time. If you get it, great! If not there is no cost to you, and therefore the driver is essentially paying you to sit in your truck at your customers so you can make a profit.

 

The motivation is to get detention pay if it is warrantied. It doesn't make any difference if whether we pay mileage or percentage. The cost to the carrier is the same. I don't like for my trucks to sit, whether I am driving or not. It not only costs the driver to sit, but the carrier as well. There is a cost to idle and sit. It only costs the driver time if he sits. He doesn't have to dig into his pocket if he is not moving. If he idles the truck then it does cost the carrier for fuel and wear and tear. I have yet to have a driver to offer to pay me for him sitting in my truck waiting to get loaded or unloaded. Unless the truck is moving or receiving detention pay, the truck is not making money. Some sitting is to be expected in this business. It is the nature of trucking. The key is to minimize the length and frequency of sitting. If my truck is required to unnecessarily sit for an hour and I am getting $2/mile when the truck moves, I am losing at least $100 for every hour that the truck sits. (I am using an average of 50 mph x 1 hour x $2/mile). There is a real cost for my trucks to sit.