you NEED experience !! .... or do you ??

When you're self insured, your premiums don't go up.

 

Trucking (truck driving as a company driver) is no different than any other trade or job. You start off at/near the bottom of the pay scale and prove yourself before you begin to see results in the form of better pay. So, am I to understand that some here on this board think that if only the industry paid new CDL holders a guarantee of $10,000 month, we'd see a bunch of "great drivers" come in? Give me a break. $1,000 month or $10,000 month, a bad driver who's not cut out out to drive is STILL a bad driver, no matter how much or how little you pay them in the beginning.

If you think the industry is not paying new drivers enough money for them to stick around and "get good", then by all means, go somewhere better where you're assumed to be worth your while from the start.

 

Where are getting that idea? There has been nothing said in this thread that would even remotely suggest that.

 

Labor is one of the two most expensive costs of running a trucking company. Fuel is the other. When drivers steal, excessively idle their trucks and do other things to cost their employer money, then those cost are reflected in driver pay. Retailers assume a certain percentage of their products will find legs and disappear out of the store. Sadly. much of that will come from their own employee's. It is commonly called "shrink." Carriers must also assume that a certain percentage of drivers will steal and do other things that costs their company money. Companies can only absorb so much loss before it will need to find ways in which to lower costs to offset the losses caused by their own drivers. Rather than giving raises, they may need to pay to replace fuel or make repairs on trucks that were abused by the driver.

Drivers can be an asset or a liability to a carrier. Good drivers are not so easy to find. It is unfortunate that some don't want to work together to make a stronger company. Many drivers are very shortsighted. They want everything that they can get from a company without giving anything back. If you cut idle time, take care of equipment and are honest, it helps the bottom line of the company and will enable the company to pay higher wages. When I drove a company truck, I thought nothing of changing out a light or putting on a fan belt. In fact, I kept my own tools in the truck. Some would rather sit for 4 hours to wait on a shop to put in a light that would only take 10 minutes. The company would have spent $45-100 for a repair that I could do in 10 minutes for less than $5. By doing the repair myself I not only help the company, but myself. The company saves money on the repair and I saved hours of my time that I could be running. In 4 hours I could be at least 240 miles down the road. Even at $0.30/mile I would have made $72 rather than burning up my clock.

It is the driver's responsibility to let their company know when a truck needs repairs or maintence. Some keep a good record of intervals for pm's, but a company can only make repairs when the driver makes them aware of any problems. Most carriers would rather spend smaller amounts of money along rather than wait until a major repair is required. Carrier's are not mind readers.

Some drivers will leave one carrier for another for a penny per mile raise. It takes months to break even when you leave for such a small amount of money. Most don't consider that when they leave one carrier for another that they will lose at least 1 paycheck and more likely 2. It takes time to make up that lost income. One character trait that some drivers have is lack of communication. Drivers talk a lot to one another, but are not as good at communicating with their dispatcher or others at their company. Often times, problems or conflicts can be worked out with better communication skills between drivers and the company.

Drivers, dispatchers, operations, etc., all should be working together for the common good of all. By helping others, you are often helping yourself. When you are solely focused on yourself, you are are the big loser. The company is also the loser. It costs a lot of money to support recruitment efforts. Drivers don't usually consider other costs of operating a company. You will find most dispatchers can have from 35-50 drivers to keep moving. Each want to be home at a certain time. The dispatchers may need to deal with planners and/or brokers or shippers as well as drivers to keep the company moving and to get everyone home as needed. Then there are payroll people, safety and others in operations who all do their part in making the company work. Each of them have families and responsibilities just as do drivers. Drivers can help themselves as well as the company by working with their dispathers to reach their goals. The driver wants to keep moving and run as many miles as possible, since most are paid mileage. Dispatchers do their best to keep drivers moving while balancing the needs of customers. Everyone has a job to do. Stop making demands and start finding ways to better work together. That is being a team player. And, it will pay dividends in the long run.

 

Why would a noob get into this with the hopes of holding a wheel 70 hours a week for the rest of his life? I tell young drivers all the time, "pick a specialty and work your way up to it". Im not a genius and Im not rich but I do have experience with just about every form of trucking there is (OS/OW, Fuel, Reefer, Etc..). If you are 23 years old and planning on working for megacarrier superfleet for the rest of your life, you will probably last the standard 6 months in the industry. If you think of the time you spend for the first two years as "doin time" until you get the chance to do what you really want then its not so bad.
I like the fact that noobs are sort of abused the first year, it weeds out the soft ones who think its a 100K a year gravy train with no sacrifice involved.

 

A lot of people want to make $100M/year or more, but few are willing to do what is necessary to achieve that level of income.

 

$100M? I think very few go into any kind of blue collar industry realistically expecting to bring home one hundred million dollars per year. There probably less than 100 people in this country that actually make that much and none of them work a blue collar job to do it.

 

From everything I have researched ( which is a lot ), it is a well known fact that less than 10% of noobs that start day one will be around on day 365.
Megacarriers are also compensated an average of $5000 per noob from the Federal government for "training them" (regardless of if they went to a cdl school or not). In addition, if the noob goes to the megacarrier school, then they charge an average of $3000 for training to the noob. That is $8000 to the carrier for just the 3 weeks of training they are given.
In addition to that, the megacarrier gets compensated (by the Federal gov) for half the cost of the noobs income for the 1st year. So for instance, if the noob earns $35,000 their first year, then the megacarrier only has to pay $17500 for that driver. (Assuming of course that they last the whole year, which most wont).
So now.... the megacarrier gets $17500 + $8000 = $25500 for this noob against a payout to the noob of $35,000.

Would you want the annual cost of only $10,000 for a driver that normally might cost you $45000 or $50,000 if they were experienced?

So what happens to the 10% or less of noobs that make it after 1 yr? The megacarrier could care less. In many cases they get "thrown under the truck" the first chance because they have an endless supply of $10,000 noobs to take their place.

With the research I have done, this is what I have learned is a fact in addition to other things against drivers in general. I am even now reconsidering whether or not I will even become a driver because there are so many devices set against the driver it is ridiculous. Still thinking on it.

 

In early 09 I lost my local job. I looked for some time before going to C-1 Driver Training and hooking up with PAM Transport. I started out at .22/mile. I never got a ticket or had a road accident in 18 months. I DID rub my trailer on things a few times mostly at night.

By 16 months I was at .33/mile. Then two sorts of loads became common. Pick up 2AM at Conway and deliver 400-500 miles away at another Conway by 10AM. Or pick up on Thursday. Deliver Monday 250-400 miles away. Wasn't making much many while the new guys got all the miles. Knocked a trailer door off in the pitch dark in Ohio and got canned 2 days later. I was thinking about bailing out before I got canned.

But any other company I called stopped talking to me after they talked to PAM.

So I use my 03 RAM 2500 as a hot shot truck and get home every night and weekends.

 

I agree no company really wants a exp driver, they don,t pay for your exp. your a labeled a trouble maker for having mechanical knowledge. You call your co. and say you don,t have trailer brakes, they think it,s no big deal because a driver just pulled that trailer and didn,t say nothing. You tell them I rode the brakes then put my hand on every brake liner and there all cold,meaning there,s no braking power. What I see the last 4 years is no company wants to stick a nickel into there equiptment. Just run it until the driver gets inspected, then we can fire him and safe money by getting a newbie in the truck. That will not have the knowledge and be to scared to say anything, because we have total control over the seat warmer. These co.s that cry about idle time, everyone of them is a joke. Try turning the heat off in the office or factory and see how many folks show up, the next day. Mega carrier or small companies now just want a driver with 1or 2 years exp., my opinion they don,t know much. It,s not like years ago a driver with 2 yrs. exp. drove double the miles of today. Word to the wise get out of it, nothing is going to change, the pay is just going to hang where it is, the equiptment maintence will get worse.