$20/hr minimum

@ G/Man & Ghost Ryder, very valid points indeed. I can not speak from the trucking industry but I can speak as a "Owner" of a construction company. All my helpers could see was that big fat check I would receive after the job was complete. They could not understand what was involved in order to receive it. I was the guy up till 11:30 - 12:00 midnight working on contracts and change orders. I was the guy sitting at Home Depot or Lowes at 5:15 am waiting for them to open to load materials. I was the guy making sure that everyone got paid before I saw a nickel of profit. I was the guy that had to pay, Federal, Corporate, State, City and Town taxes.

I was the guy that paid all the Insurances and Bonds that are required to run a small construction company. I was the guy that paid for all the big tools on the job site. I was the guy working 7 days a week because that's what it takes to have your own company. I was the guy that trained you when you could not find 4/8ths on the tape measurer. I was the guy that would pick you up and drop you off because your wife or girlfriend needed the car that week. I was the guy that started you off at $15.00 an hour and after a week somehow you thought you deserved a $5.00 raise. I could write this list for the next 2 hours.

I have never driven for a large carrier. I have always tried to keep with the "Mom & Pop" companies. The things you mentioned are exactly what I am willing to give, because I know somewhat as to the involvement of running a company. It truly does not matter what type of company as most rules apply to "All Businesses". The last company I drove for before I started my construction company, I was with for 6 years. I would still be there if he had not closed his business down and went to work for the County. He got tired of paying fines and replacing damaged cargo because grown men refused to do their job.

"Loyalty". I am looking to establish "roots" not just pull a pay check. "Starting Pay". I know I will be at the bottom and the only person that will stop me from advancing, is that guy I see in the mirror every morning. I would be foolish to think that I can make what other drivers are making just because I have a CDL like they do. "Job Skills". Here again, I am only limited to advance my job skills as to what effort I am willing to make to improve them. This is not my employers responsibility. From getting endorsements to taking on-line classes for the Trucking Industry, it falls on me and me alone. Just my two cents. Drive Safe!

 

You know I read all this grousing about low wages and bad wait times. But I still see the people that are crying about all this climb in the truck and wander down the road. It has been known since the first truck crossed the USA that we are under payed over worked. You young guys out here have it good. It would be great to be payed what we were really worth. But if we did get 20.00 an hour you wouldn't be happy because you would feel that you should be payed more. DON'T DRIVE FOR THE PAY. It is the life that USED to draw people to drive. If we were payed that magic number we still couldn't make a decent living. Think about it we pay 2.00 for a cup of coffee think about what it would cost if we got payed 20.00an hour. If that is what you want to make the n you should have gone to MIT or ITT or other tech school. This industry draws people that can't or don't want to put forth more effort to get a good paying job.

IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE JOB GO FIND ONE THAT MAKES YOU HAPPY if you are not getting payed what you feel you are worth it is your fault. You chose the careers I am a third generation driver. This career picked me I didn't pick it there were the same problems then as now........... Well mabe not AS many. Again! If you don't like the job go where you do like it!!!

 

You hit the nail on the head, PICNIC. Most employees haven't a clue as to what he costs in time and effort, not to mention money, to keep them employed. I have owned several other businesses and have always made sure that my employee's were paid, whether I did or not. I have never failed to pay anyone who worked for me. Business runs in cycles. When business is good, you save for the bad times. You have a good attitude which should serve you well in this business. No doubt, having been in business give you a much broader perspective and will help you should you decide to buy your own truck and start your own trucking business. Good luck.

 

The problem with bumping up starting wages is that inflation will continue to increase. Let's say you drive for a line haul carrier named X. X hired you on at $18.95/hr, which is a more than liveable wage in most areas if you know how to budget. But lets also say that you and a few other drivers get together and demand to be paid $25/hr. The employer gives in and pays every driver $25/hr to start. You as a company driver do not know the cost factor involved with operating a business, so that extra $5/hr will hurt their income. They have 2 choices. Go bankrupt, or raise the price of their service to the customer (whoever they are hauling for). Now, that customer is losing money because they have to pay the added costs of shipping. What do they do? Raise the price of their product.

In essense, you jump from $18.95/hr to $25/hr. Minimum wage skyrockets up to $12/hr, and you still have to work 40+ hours just to pay rent. Now, was that raise really worth it? If you want more money then go to college and earn a degree in a actual trade.

 

Anyone ever see this story. http://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2012/12/why-single-mom-is-better-off-with-29000.html?m=1
Truckers making between $30 and $70K are just shooting themselves in the foot

 

There are plumbers, HVAC techs, and crane operators who make $30+ an hour. We prodvide just as important if not more of a service. If driver pay was $20 an hour it would not cause inflation just skim the profits of trucking companies. We need to stop selling ourselves short.

 

Where I come from Plumbers, HVAC techs and crane operators serve an apprenticeship and when completed they do an exam to become a qualified tradesman. These apprenticeships can last from 3 to 5 years.

You want to compare a truck driver that gets his CDL in 6 weeks to these skilled tradesmen.....

 

i would compare the two, staying incident free for a million or millions of miles with all of the regulations, weigh stations, roadside inspections, breakdowns etc etc is alot more valuable to society than any of those. the value of the freight hauled across that period while driving in traffic with so many cars/people its amazing we arent paid double or triple..

 

You compare sitting on your backside in 70 degree comfort watching the scenery go by with people doing physical labor working out in the weather, and you complain that they make more than you do?

Feel free to spend the next five years making a buck or two over minimum wage while learning the trade, then the following five years working your way up to that $30/hr mark. Then work another ten years as a master for someone else, then you will be eligible to risk it all to open your own business.

And "just skim the profits of trucking companies"? Which part of the profits? The part that gets you a new truck every few years? Because that old one still has a lot of life left in it. Or what staff should be cut? The dispatchers? Or the team that spends all day on the phone getting loads for you to haul? How about the owner, who risked his (and his family's) future, working his butt off for nearly no money, so he could give an ungrateful snot a job to make some money for him when he got older?

It doesn't make one bit of difference what anyone else makes. If you don't like what you are making, go somewhere else!

 

Wow, what a sense of entitlement. Next, you'll be saying you should be paid more than a doctor, since everyone has to eat, but not everyone needs to see a doctor.

And I would be willing to bet that the college kid making minimum wage stocking shelves at Wal-Mart handles a higher dollar value of freight in a given week than you do.