Drivers? What do you want?

If Redd is staying with Mercer as the carrier, paying percentage would be the best imho ... any new hire can see his income for the last year and know what is possible, and they would have the incentive to keep the truck moving (with freight that pays). If leased to a carrier that has company trucks and owner operators ... especially the mega carriers ... percentage would scare the crap out of me (carrier will always give high paying loads to per mile company trucks)

 

I'm a good ol farm boy with a mechanical side! Me!Hire me! Good luck with your dreams Redd! For myself I would like.. decent pay,a dot legal truck that gets fixed right away when there is a problem. Not after fussing about it. That is my biggest issue right there. If I need a tire.. Get it NOW! Not two months later only cause Mr diesel bear put me out of service! Don't ask me how I no!

 

Mileage works for me, it's what I have now. I think bonuses are always a good incentive, or you can give me chocolate that works well too. If you hit me I'll hit back and it won't be your head I aim for.

Now, a few things I want:
I want an extra large sleeper cab, an apu, a big honking inverter so I can have a microwave, to be allowed a dog. I don't need an auto tranny. I need to know that if one of my grandbabies has a special event I can arrange in advance to be home. (I could slide on the extra large sleeper cab, even the apu if you're not going to fuss if I idle due to heat or when we sleep. I really want a microwave. The dog is important but the grandbabies are the deal breaker)

 

i suggest u go get u another cdl or 2 so u can drive em yoself

 

I am not great with the quote thing...regarding your current company not doing forced disp--you need to. If you can't decide where your trucks go & for what money, forget the whole deal. If you aren't ready to drop everything you are doing to make urgent decisions on what your trucks are doing, forget the whole deal. Prepare yourself to become schizophrenic.

All the questions you are asking in your head are the things that will keep you up at night when you have others in your trucks. It also leads me to believe you will be a very good fleet owner if you get a chance. You have to figure out a way to get them to run those trucks the way you would.

Are there any local shippers in your area that might be willing to work with a new company? Maybe a shorthaul type shipper. This could allow you to run a truck and dispatch your other trucks. Also would limit working with brokers. If you are a good flatbed operator (as it seems), you have a skill that is in short supply. I would love to help you brainstorm through the possibilities. Let me know if you are interested.

 

For me, if I was to go back driving for somebody else here is what I would look for.

% pay / taxes taken out and paid/ insurance. Gee I don't remember seeing that posted/ 401k or some type of retirement plan.
Holiday paid time. R.E. vacation plan. Not bonus plan for vacation pay.
Safety bonus. like claims free no chargeable accidents.

Detetion pay / layover pay through no fault of mine for not getting load.

Tarp pay. multi stop pay, first pick and drop on me.

Have all the rules and policies in writing before starting. That way no missunderstandings if problem comes up down the road.

I know there are some things I'm leaving out.

Just in case My trk/ trl. is for sale at the right price..

 

Funny thing...most equipment owners I know are always ready to sell...for the right price.

 

Yes this is true, for the "right price" I just about bet "DAD" would sell also correct?

Anything I own is for sale at the right price

 

I'd be willing to run one. 38-40 a mile or percentage. Not really worried about layover pay since I'd like to be able to find loads myself and it'd be partially my own fault if I couldn't find anything. I don't get detained so I wouldn't need pay for that.

Since we'd both be running around the country we could just meet every so often so you could see for yourself that your truck is being taken care of and you wouldn't have to worry about it. I do keep money in the bank so if something breaks I can just tell you about it and have it fixed without you having to scramble for the credit card over every little thing. Just pay me back within a couple weeks or so.

Tarp pay, yeah. I don't like wrestling with those things for free. Arrow paid me $30 to tarp. NYC pay is good and companies seem willing to pay it.

I don't much like getting out of the midwest anymore, not when I get stuck on the east coast for weeks at a time. But, like was said, if you get a good paying load heading to Maine, that's where I'll be going.

If we're talking about a choice in equipment, I'd take something like the truck in cpape's avatar. Midroof with nothing unnecessary sticking up to snag on tree limbs or whatever. I'm used to running Kenworth with Cat engines, so that'd be nice. Don't like freightliner much. Volvo I can put up with, if I have to. The things just aren't set up right imo.

Side boxes on the truck, they get all beat up on the trailer no matter what you do. Corrosion gets them if nothing else. A light, strong tri-axle drop deck with dump valves and brake cutoffs with the switches in the cab so I could vary the configuration as needed. That would be sweet.

And no chicken lights. Minimum required. My last trailer has a bunch of extra lights on it with pigtails plugged into more pigtails and I spent way to much time trying to keep them all lit. Every time I had to mess with them that x-mas song where the guy is fighting with the tree lights would get stuck in my head.

If a few miles down the road you wanted to sell me the whole setup I'd be interested in that too.