Finally got my own truck

This would explain the report of a 21 percent OOS rate over the last CVSA blitz. Honestly I know that we aren't crazy about the man being all up in our business, but they are the ones that can trim some of that and really increase safety by getting these heaps of garbage with wheels off the road.

 

You do it legit but many of the 'new' canadians flaunt trade laws.

 

This is the most ignorant myth there is. Most of the megas are publicly traded companies so their financials are easy to find for any of us. And every carrier must file the number of their their power units and how many miles they run. Simple math to figure out their average rate per mile.

 

I blame the megas for importing cheap labor to subsidize their driver costs. Therefore increasing the pool of overall drivers and decreasing the upward pressure on wages for men and women that work 70 hours per week and likely making big sacrifices at home. Not to mention these drivers have low expectations and are expected to live in the truck and do as they’re told. Frankly they are happy to have left the ####hole they came from. Living in a truck, working 70 hours, and making very little is like paradise. These people are #### near indentured servants. Big business loves them. This directly works against the wanted change of conditions I see drivers #####ing and moaning about on here everyday.

Who I blame low rates on other then just a pure oversaturation of trucks are the new entries that run for peanuts. Run 1099, cheat the system, do illegal things. I won’t go on and on it’s already been talked about.

The megas do what I mentioned up above but pocket the extra money to make their share holders happy. The small companies and single operators go broke trying to run a gazillion miles for nothing. They leave the industry or go back to company driver and another takes their place next day. Cycle starts all over again. Why do you think DOT numbers go up so #### fast!?

Obviously this is not everyone, I myself was a new entry at one point but I’d be willing to say after 1 year at least 50% are gone and after 3 yrs 85% are gone. Entire time they ran for too little and shot peers in the foot.

 

Sorry i misunderstood you. Thought you were saying the same ol megas and cheap freight line so many spew. The megas and their free driver schools definately affect company driver wages.

 

Hey no worries! Thanks.

Only scenario I have heard is where a mega dedicates say 25 or 50 trucks to a new customer and runs them at cost or below to run the current carrier out. They get their grubby paws on the freight then slowly raise the rates back up where it was or higher. Mean while smaller company gets hurt. With their scale they can do this. However I had a 25 truck company do this same thing to me when I had 3 trucks so it’s kinda just the business of being in a cutt throat industry. Guess what doesn’t kill your business makes it stronger. :shrugs:

 

Supply and demand.

This is one reason why I do not complain too loudly about HOS regulations or some other laws that make things difficult for us.

The easier our job is, the more people will come into our job market, driving wages down.

There are very few jobs where a man or woman without a 4 year degree or 20 years experience in a trade can earn 60k+ per year.

 

Yes megas became so big by running their trucks below cost. And I have yet to see Swift or Schneider have work visa sponsor to recruit drivers from other countries.

 

You can blame megas for not paying proper wages to U.S. citizen workers. Everyone's under assumption that making $1000-$1200/week gross pay is good pay and if driver makes 60K (gross of course) then he's "balling" Today's drivers need to make 100K gross to compensate for time away from home, staying out for weeks at a time and dealing with general rude public, pos DOT, HOS regulations, etc etc. 60K is not enough to compensate truck driver for all the the work we put out.

 

Definitely! That's the reason to be worried about the job security and too much competition. For the owners operators, one could hope that the equipment cost and its maintenance could be another natural business entry barrier. Alike high real estate prices and property taxes preventing undesired elements to become neighbors to affluent residents. However, while it is true to a point with new equipment costs, the used trucks can be bought with relative ease. The accessibility to credit (such as Transport Funding at Arrow Truck Sales) at loan shark rates 15% is quite open. Maybe there should some standards requiring more knowledge about the transportation law, mechanical knowledge, business ethics and financial steadiness level and number of years/miles operating CMV as prerequisites for getting an owner operator license (non existing) or even obtaining MC# (a good natural barrier there is the lately increased Insurance rates for newcomers)., the test/exam would be written and spoken, so any non English speaking individuals (Citizens or not) would be sifted out in the process. This way level of entry would be much more difficult (just like obtaining the license to be a Plumber) but at least it would be equal for all. If I wanted to be a true libertarian, I should say, let the market take care of it all but I am not.