why the ** do LTL drivers get paid a lot more than everybody else.. Please explain!

I have never considered it my business what others get paid
I know this isnt a popular belief these days but the world was a better place
when more people thought this

you want the big money job go attain it
not cry because someone else has it

 

LTL drivers have to deal with more soccer moms.

 

LTL requires more "work". Not quite nursery-load work, but still more work. Some primarily truckload carriers do some LTL, maybe you'll get a 500-1000 mile 13-20 drop load someday where every to-the-minute appointment is written in stone.

 

This is untrue on its face.
Never mind the "It's the evil UNIONS!" gibberish.
It's because LTL companies have a higher margin on each package, like china said. And if unions are responsible for driving up the wages at all companies, how do you explain Werner, Swift, etc., pay scales?

I've worked docks loading dedicated UPS trailers at a private company. Each 53-foot trailer I loaded averaged 2,000 boxes and each package had a UPS individual shipping label affixed. The cost of each package varied by size and weight, but it's probably safe to say that the average shipping cost per package was at least 20 bucks and likely more like $30 bucks. Forty to sixty grand per trailer in shipping fees is a pretty good margin.

Plus, for everyone except the recipient of the package, the cost of that shipping is a write-off, an expense.
This is also why you can't afford to buy a business class airline ticket -- because it's a write-off for the companies, so they can afford it. Ordinary schlubs get to ride in economy seats because they're paying full price. Between the shippers and businesses who use them to ship -- business accounts -- it's business as usual and they're making a killing. The LTL drivers get paid very well because the loads are high paying.

 

Line haul is alot different than OTR.
Line haul guys are under lot tighter rules/requirements by their requirements. Most linehaul companies tell you your route and the hours you work. Also you drive the day cab they give you that night. Much more like a factory job.
I found linehaul was quite a bit more work than flatbed. I literlally went back to flatbeding OTR from Old Dominion. Just to much work for me and didn't like being a zombie. Even P&D their, I only had 8 hours a day at the house since I live an hour away.
20 years ago, I'd loved that kinda work but not anymore.

 

I agree,flatbedders should get paid more,i've always thought that.They work hard.I don't know about 80cpm but they should deffinately get more for tarping and also get paid for untarping.Whats a customer pay carriers for untarping these days.Back in the day it was like $125.00 and all the drivers received was like 25.00.Best thing to do if you're not happy is go drive for an LTL company because as long as ou're an otr flatbedder it will not get any better and companies won't even try an meet the drivers halfway concerning the pay.

 

the reason Ltl companies pay more is because unions and their drivers fought for decent working conditions by striking and risking their careers and sometimes their lives. If you would read a bit of real history about what labor went through to get us to 5 day 40 hour week in this country you might understand more about why we have it so good even in an underpaid and over regulated industry. The teamsters union has plenty of faults but to my eyes any and I mean any large institution has plenty of very similar faults. Many of us were on the roads when CF parent company started Conway to pay lower wages. It took them twenty years to get CF to go down because the drivers and employees were good at their jobs and kept making a profit for the company. Ask an ABF driver what he does on a shift and then ask a Conway driver what they do. My point is again unions made this a country place where the working man had some rights and could make a living. As the unions go away many hard working intelligent people are working in situations similar to the serfs of the past.Working three jobs running their health into the ground eating cheap bad food. They get just enough to get by as long as nothing goes wrong. When something goes wrong they cannot afford lawyer, dentists, doctors tax accountants mental health professions or retraining so they end up a burden on the rest of us. It is easy to judge others from afar.

Ltl driver are required to be somewhere after so many hours. If they don't make it it is expensive for the company, and the pay is a little higher to get drivers that will do that but corporations are not generous. they do not give me more because they get more they pay more because their pay scales were set up to keep the unions out or they are union.

 

My answer to that question is that LTL and Line haul drivers have to be more than just a steering wheel holder.

 

Tarp fees should be alot higher but because so many companies pay their drives cheap, it keeps the rates down. Contastaga and curtain side trailers are able to do cheap also. Supply and demand