Canadian good and bad trucking companies

One terminal, 15 drivers, a bunch of militant Quebecois, a SMALL victory at best. My bet is maybe Vancouver will go this way also but World HQ (with the lion's share of drivers) will not. Taking bets as to how long it takes to close the Montreal/Dorval terminal and move it?

 

They can certainly do what Walmart did, just close the whole store when there is a union...

 

maybe they are good in other bussiness, but not in the trucking bussiness. I been worked for 3 diffrence people from fiji.... and they 'r all did the same things... and there are lot of them in trucking bussiness.....they 'r same with those indo-canadian guy.>>>>>>>>>>>CHEAP.

 

i just left big freight, oct 1st of this year, to go back into the oilfields. as a whole bf is not that bad. alot of nice guys in the office. pay was $.40 pm. you get paid for everything you do. tarping, strapping, etc. their trucks are governed to 97kph. i was kept busy but didn't get the revenue that i needed. as for winter roads, you have to keep on them to get on that haul. they don't advertise it to much within the company. things i didn't like, all trucks are automatics, trying to get truck fixed in steinbach shop was next to impossible most times. alot of tarping (heavy tarps), alot of canadian miles, mostly midwest miles (il,in,mn,ia,)

 

Thanks for the post Bobby! Sent you a PM with some questions I'm hoping you can help me with.

 

The amount shippers pay carriers isn't great enough for carriers to change the way drivers are paid.

A simple example - A load from the steel mill in Selkirk MB going to Stratford ON pays about $2600 to a carrier. A return load from Harrow ON to Winnipeg MB would pay around $5000 to the carrier. So, in one week, the truck generates around $7600 in revenue. Fuel will be about $2500 for the week(yes, some companies have better fuel rates, but some don't). So now, the that $7600 is only worth $5100. If a driver is getting $0.40/mile, then the driver's pay would be $1200 for driving, plus $100 for loading and tarping and unloading 2 loads, bringing the pay to $1300 for the week. Now, the revenues are down to $3900. That $3900 is exactly 3 times what the driver is paid. ANY business owner knows that any employee should be making the company 3 to 4 times what the employee is paid. Otherwise, that employee isn't worth keeping around. The profit level HAS to be that high, so that all the overhead involved is taken care of, such as truck breakdowns, purchasing new equipment, building overhead, profit for the boss, etc.

So, where exactly is it that everyone is thinking that should get more money? And why? Are you generating more profit for the company? Nope. If you're not generating more profit for the company, then why do you think you're entitled to more pay?

 

Ahem......The problem isn't what the shipper pays, it's what the carrier charges.

Carriers are their own worst enemies but they bite the bullet by underpaying drivers.

The Shipper at the warehouse makes a hell of a lot more than OTR drivers.

 

Not where I have worked. Shipper rarely make what driver does.

But I agree with the first sentence.

If I want to charge $1000 for that load in order to make enough to pay a driver fairly, cover my cost and keep a reasonable margin, you know some clown will come in behind me and offer $900. Then in order to keep that truck moving I have to charge $850 and find other ways to keep paying my bills and somehow make a margin. After all when you start a business is not for a hobby, one must have some sort of reasonable expectation of a profit.

Now lets look at the driver. Say the pay rate went up 50% and we no longer had to work 70 hour work weeks. Would you still do it? We all jam in as many miles/hours/loads in as we legally can in order to make more money. That won't change ever.

 

I have owned 2 trucking companies and have sold both of them for a large sum of dollars.

My motto was, "Turn The Key To The Right Only When The Rate Is Right".

Heck, I've had trucks sit 4, 5, 6 weeks at times which is nomal during road ban season but when the sun was shining, I made hay.

 

Wow. I bet your drivers made loads of money when the trucks weren't moving. If you're an O/O, and have the money set aside to sit for a month, then that's great. However, most people aren't smart with their money, and live check to check, so I fail to see how sitting for a month is better than driving. Granted, that would force the people bad with their money to drive elsewhere, which would be good for you as an owner, but that still wouldn't do anything for drivers who ARE bad with their money, and need to drive week in, week out.