Overtime pay ! Make it happen .

A rice cooker, electric skillet, crock pot, George foreman, small portable weber BBQ pit/grill, toaster oven and the truck stop electric lunch box.

I use a 2500 watt inverter. People just have to experiment. In the lunch box I have made meat loaf, steaks, chicken, ribs, vegetables. It just plugs into a 12volt receptacle.

If someone is with a company that does not put inverters I would ask if I could put my own. If I couldn't put my own I would leave.

 

Did you ever think that perhaps the reason the modern quality of drivers is low is because of the pay? If the megas paid 60 cpm like I suggested their turn over rate would be much lower and they could be very picky on who they employ. They pay garbage because they're the capitalists you love so much. A revolving door of fresh meat willing to work for peanuts is much cheaper than employing quality drivers and paying them what they're worth. No quality driver in 1980 would have driven for the equivalent of 30cpm. They worked hard and put up with the discomforts because they were fairly compensated for their sacrifices.

Where did I or anyone say OTR drivers should make $25 an hour? I said a local driver should. CPM pay, whether it's 30 or 60cpm still rewards productivity.

 

Harumph!

 

Some companies pay a lower hourly wage but give an incentive for each pick-up or delivery.

 

Victims. That what you are choosing to be. You don't like your pay and so the goobermint should step in and help you. Youre being taken advantage of. You, a legal adult, agreed to do a job for a certain rate, yet you are being taken advantage of? Sorry for my lack of sympathy...for a moment, I thought WE were all adults.

Don't like what you do, go do something else. Wait...that's it, isn't it? Don't want to put forth any effort on your own to better your circumstances. Someone else should stand up for your cause. You need a hero, Bonnie Tyler. My heart bleeds for you.

The truly frustrating part about this whole mess is that we do try to help. Yet, you guys ask for aid, get help, YET....

..do exactly what we tell you not to.

Ohhhhh, you wanted hand holding. In a sink or swim industry, hand holding causes you to sink. When everyone else was learning to fly, you skipped school, and now that you're grounded and in trouble want everyone who can fly to stay grounded.

"We should all park or trucks and go on strike!"
I do that every week when they offer more cheap freight. Why are you rolling when I am parked?
"But we need better treatment for drivers."
I didn't agree with the whole lumper thing at the grocery warehouses and I boycotted grocers 25 years ago. I did my part, why did you continue there putting up with crap?
"We need better wages."
I've said time and again that no-one should be driving for less than a grand a week...why are you agreeing to less than a grand a week?

"Well, we have to start somewhere, Six..."

Enjoy being on the receiving end of buttsex. It's the choice you made.

 

Point A:
As it relates to new drivers. Paying more money does not mean you get a better class of driver wannabe's come through the door to fill out apps. Also, paying more money does not make a natural slacker, a great producer. A natural slacker will always be a slacker. They will always do just enough to get by and no more. They are not motivated by money if it means having to work harder or put forth extra effort either to the job or to personal improvement. There are thousands of these on the road today.

Point B:
As it relates to a company looking to hire only experienced drivers with stellar resumes, then money is king. If the company wants quality drivers, they must pay for them. Point A drivers and Point B drivers are two completely different animals and MUST be dealt with much differently. Granted, company A's idea of what makes an "experienced driver", might differ from company B's idea.

Point C:
Then there are thousands of drivers who are more or less in between Point A and Point B ... not well experienced, but not new. These are where things get a little questionable as to what they can expect to offer or to receive. Often, Point D can come into play with these [to the extent it's applicable and to the extent the "market" (company) will bear]

Point D:
Paying more money however, can keep someone from leaving (assuming you want to keep them). Which is a big part of why starting wages are kept on the low side ... so they have room to negotiate a higher wage to those who have proven themselves but are unhappy with this or that at said company and want to leave ... a little extra money offered can make some of the BS a little more tolerable, and give some extra while waiting through the slow freight months.

Point E:
If the company has little to no assurances you won't do this in the near future

then you can't honestly expect them to offer you the moon. Some are capable of doing this sort of thing but there is no way to know who is capable of this level of stupidity and who is not just based on an application and a 5 minute interview and a few days of orientation, so carriers must take the chance and hope for the best. Most [of the dumb ones] will operate at this level only early in their career so it stands to reason the new guys are going to be regarded with a lot of suspicion in the first 6 months or so and might not be offered a "good wage" due to the inherent risks being assumed.

 

Slakers are in every kind of work there is its not just a trucking problem. I am a top producer myself I've excepted what it is. I've also never been harassed about putting in twelve hours so it doesn't bother me. I'd rather have too much work than not enough.

 

I've never seen this many straw man arguments in a single internet post. - LOL And no I won't drive for even a grand a week. For OTR I require at least $1300 a week gross for my services. I was offered a local job once for $16 an hour straight time and walked out. I don't sell myself short. You don't like that new guys go to the megas but when somebody suggests that the very same megas should pay an ethical wage you defend the megas.