How much is enough?

OK, I'm going to try to give you a specific answer. I'll probably get plenty of grief for it, but I'm a big boy and I can handle it...

My number would be about 60 cpm + $24/hr for all load/unload time (not just detention) and driver assist + medical/dental and 401(k) with a 3-6% match.

This is how I arrive at that number...

I consider a true professional driver to be a tradesman on par with a plumber, electrician, etc. In my home area, they are making (conservatively, after buying vacations, insurance, etc) in the $23-25/hr range. 60 mph at 40 cpm = $24/hr. Plus, there needs to be a premium on being away from home and being responsible for your equipment 24/7 that you are under the load. Most tradesmen that I know whose jobs require them to work away from home make in the $65,000 to $80,000 range based on a 40 hour work week. There again 60 mph at 60 cpm = $36/hr or about $72,000 per year based on a 40 hour workweek.

Like I said, I'm sure I'll get grief for this, but that's ok. Note that I'm not asking for OT after 40 hours per week. Also, I'm not saying that drivers coming right out of school should get 60 cpm, but only once a driver has miles and years of demonstrated safe driving under his/her belt.

Now, I know this is hypothetical as driver pay is based on supply and demand and the industry is very good at making sure that it's supply of drivers almost always outstrips demand for drivers and kudos to them for that, I guess.

And yes, I am ready to deal with the unintended consequences. I think you'd get almost every penny back because you'd have a much higher caliber of driver entering the profession and staying in the profession. Plus, if you look at transportation costs as a percentage of the price per unit of most consumer goods, it's not a large portion. Also, I don't see why it's the drivers who should always be sacrificing to keep things cheap for a general public who hates them anyhow. Someone explain that one to me.

Alright, fire away. I'm gonna go dig up my kevlar vest...

 

I agree with your numbers, but...... I also think those are good numbers for somebody doing specialized freight. Regular old commodity freight I would have to say isn't worth that, or if you believe it is, then it would put this country into inflation like it hasn't seen since the 70's.
But I also think a great percentage of the economic growth or lack of inflation, has come at the expense of profits, margins, and driver earnings in the transportation area.

 

Not trying to be confrontational, but what's your math for that statement?

We should take a product and an figure out exactly how much my scenario would affect the price per unit of that product. I'm willing to bet not much. That is, if only the driver got the raise-- if the trucking company and producer didn't also take a bigger cut.

Let's take apples for an example... For math's sake, let's say that you can buy 1 lb of apples for $1 at the grocery store. Now, you can get 44,000 lbs of apples on each trailer. If the apples are coming from Prosser, Wa to Minneapolis, MN, that's 1,550 hub miles. If my driver was making 30 cpm and is now making 60 cpm that's a difference of +$465. If the driver gets $96 for the 2 hour load and 2 hour unload, that's +$561 total (I've seen lumper fees more than that, BTW). That works out to a 1.2 cent per lb increase in the price of apples. So instead of paying $1.00/lb for your apples, you'd be paying $1.01/lb for your apples. You could probably afford that increase with what you find in your couch cushions.

Someone correct me if my math is wrong.

 

your numbers are close, but there are matching taxes that employers have to pay, and unfortunately whenever things go up, everybody else wants a slice too. So if the drivers are now making more, then the dock foreman, forlkift driver, secretary and on and on.....
And then the stores markup would have to go on top of the new higher price, and that is based also on a percentage, and some states have a percentage sales tax....

 

I'll grant you the taxes portion, but all of the other upcharges have to do with things other than driver wages. Drivers need to be more concerned with their own wages and not the wages of others. I don't see it working the other way around. When a warehouse manager gets a raise, it doesn't mean that drivers automatically get a raise. The warehouse manager or forklift driver could care less if a driver is getting a raise, so why do drivers care about forklift drivers wages? Heck, you could offset the driver wage increase by simply getting rid of lumper fees.

My point is that driver wages are an insignificant portion of consumer prices. So why are drivers always sacrificing their wages to protect everyone else from inflation? That irrational concern is part of what keeps driver wages so insanely low.

 

I like Ramblin rednecks post.

But lets add truck drivers sacrifice their health, family time, and home time. Then we have to deal with a bad public image, 4 wheelers that constantly cause us problems, and other stress the average joe doesn't have to deal with. All that with getting the freight delivered on time to some irrate customer while you deal with the DOT breathing down your neck just waiting to take your paycheck from you the first time you make a humanly mistake.

There are X amount of dollars available for what the consumer is willing to pay for products by supply and demand. After the store, the warehouse, the shipper/ manufacturer, the broker and trucking company get their share, there is not much left over for the driver. We are the bottom of the barrel.

I believe all seasoned experienced drivers with good track records should be making $80,000 a year. I believe hiring should be stricter and limited to high school graduates that haven't made bad decisions in their life. Driving is all about trying to make the right decisions all day long to be a good safe driver. Ones with bad attitudes and that aren't mentally fit don't need to be behind the wheel.

I don't have a wife. I'm married to trucking. I love my job and that just has to do because no one is coming off the cabbage we deserve!

 

I can't see what freight type would have anything to do with driver compensation...with this "specialized freight" being for some reason more valuable than general freight...then put a premium surcharge on the specific freight that requires more training or higher security...but we are talking about driver compensation...to make freight the deciding factor on driver value would be worse than what we have right now!

 

That $2,500,000 over-width, over-height, and over-weight machine hauled on the RGN with 13 axles on the ground and 2 escort vehicles, had BETTER pay the driver more than a no-touch dry van drop & hook load.

Knowing how to properly secure the load so as not to damage it, as well as knowing the laws pertaining to that particular haul, as well as navigating the oversize, overweight load safely...and many times, knowing how to operate the machine you are hauling so that you can load & unload it yourself....it all SHOULD add to the driver's pay.

As we have come to see on a regular basis, any idiot with half a brain can pull a dry box down the interstate and keep it between the ditches MOST of the time...especially now that a lot of companies have moved to automatic transmissions in their trucks so that a driver only has to hang onto the steering wheel and step on the throttle to "drive" the truck. There is no real challenge to it, where the "worst case scenario" is that you have to open the doors and bump a dock on both ends instead of a simple drop & hook.

Just like any other profession, as the knowledge and skills required to successfully do the job increase, the pay for the job should also increase. This is why "specialized" freight should ALWAYS pay better than "general" freight.

 

I don't know if you missed the (highlighted in red) part of my post that said to put a surcharge for that specific higher training or specialized skills required...or if I am not reading your post the way you intended it...but yes if a specific above normal issue exists, then have a premium added to the rate...and that includes Haz-Mat items...otherwise I agree with your post!

 

Instead of your apples lets look at a can of beans! If all truck drivers get a raise, this will include the fuel haulers, so that effects the plowing, planting and harvesting costs of the farmer. And he gets the seed beans, fertilizer, and spray materials by truck, so they all go up too. The flatbedders that haul tractors, planters and harvestors all got raises too, but now he can't afford anything new, but tires went up too, as they come by truck too. And of course the driver that hauls the harvested beans to the cannery got a raise too.
At the cannery the price of cans went up, the steel hauler who hauled the roll to the can manufacturer got a raise, and all the chemicals and coatings the can factory uses went up too, they come by truck.Then the empty cans had to be hauled to the cannery, another driver got another raise. The label on the can went up, the pulp wood hauler got a raise, and the freight hauler that moved the paper to the printer got a raise too, and the ink costs more cuz the tanker yanker got a raise too. All the same reasons made the cardboard box the cans go in go up in price too, as well as the glue to hold the box shut. And they had to pay more for the wooden pallet to ship it on.
The driver that took the load of beans to the distribution center got a raise, as did the driver that hauled the load with the can of beans to the final grocery store. The grocery store had to raise the price even more because the price of the light bulbs, floor wax, and flimsy grocery bags all went up too, from their increased transportation costs.
And all of those transportation costs went up more than the actual driver pay increase, because they also had to pay the higher fuel cost for that fuel hauler we started with!
So now everybody is paying just a little more for just about everything, remember just about everything moves by truck. So now the choice is, does everyone stay happy with now having a little less money, or do they want a raise? And then what happens to more other costs?