Why a strike? The CSA 2010 will cripple trucking.

Your bottom line is on-spot.

 

Your assessment is backwards. Under Safestat, it was the carriers who suffered the consequences for their driver's actions. Under the new rules the drivers will be held more accountable. Under CSA the drivers will be assessed points for their behavior. The carrier will also have points assessed but drivers will share in the responsibility. Contrary to your belief. the top 4 problem areas have nothing to do with the carrier, but are related to driver behavior. The top points getters are speeders. That isn't a carrier problem, but driver behavior. Under CSA there will now be 7 areas which will be assessed. Under the old system there were either 3 or 5 areas that were considered. All points were assessed against the carriers safety record. The new system will help carriers to decide whether they want to keep a high risk driver on the payroll. It wasn't as easy to check drivers under the old system.

Contrary to what some believe, a high safestat score was not a bad score but a way for enforcement personnel to make a determination as to whether a carrier might need to be inspected. If a carrier went too long without having any inspections they could have had a high safestat score. Carriers were not actually assigned an actual safety score until a minimum number of inspections took place.

In any case, the new CSA make it easy for carriers to check drivers and intervene or eliminate drivers who have scores that are too high. I would expect that insurance companies will use these scores when they quote rates. You should expect any carrier to check a driver's CSA score before hiring them. It will be difficult for a driver to hide his bad behavior under the new system. I have hired drivers whom I would not have hired had this information been available. Those with bad habits and bad behavior will either need to clean up their act or find another profession.

 

The CSA is an ill thought solution in terms of curbing driver violations.

Log book issues are huge in roadside inspections and facility audits.

The driver will still be pushed by the company and drivers will still "run" the freight incurring a higher level of liability/accountability on behalf of the company with no higher level of compensation.

There is no upside for a driver in this law,it benefits only the company and the D.O.T.
This law will not see drivers that are competant getting better pay and working conditions.......it will simply become a "just be happy you have a job" law.

Big carriers will still hire drivers with high CSA scores,it will be a tool for getting drivers to do what the company will deem "Penance for your sins" runs. No miles, no money,but rather a modest paycheck simply a notch above working at Walmart.

 

I dont believe I have heard anyone say it better than that right there. This whole CSA thing is nothing but a joke. Its all about Revenue. Companies gain to many points for minor things, DOT then has a reason to come in and nit-pick everything until they rack up their desired cost for a decent size fine.

As far as putting a strike together and it actually happening I dont see it. Like another driver said earlier on in this thread... There are way to many different kinds of people in trucking nowadays and everyone is out for themselves. Hell how many mexicans and towel heads do you see driving?Plus trying to have 2 drivers agree on something is like trying to open a locked door without the key. Dont believe me? Just turn on your CB when you get near a big city. Fighting and carrying on is all you hear. You ask for some local info and you get a come back "You wouldnt need directions if you knew how to read a ########## map" WTF???

 

Very well said !!!

 

Hey :
I have been out of here for some time. I must admit I have not read all of the more recent post.. But , Concerning the high fuel cost. If you are leased to a real trucking company , they should be paying you the fuel surcharge. At which point it should not matter to you what the cost of fuel is.
The surcharge should be setting your actual cost per gallon at about $1.25 or very near that. What do you care if it goes to $20.00 per gallon ?

As for cheap broker loads ? If you actually own that truck , don't pull them.
The way brokers keep their jobs and rates is because you pull their cheap freight. No harm meant toward you in this, Just making a point here. It takes guts to tell them NO. Don't get mad at the cheap brokers, get mad at the cheap truckers pulling the cheap freight. They are the problem here.
The broker can only keep that account if he or she can get it hauled. If we all stayed together on this and ran them out of work it would not be long and they would have no choice but to change their ways.
Most of not all of the shippers are paying the fuel surcharges. It is loop holes in the current law that allows that broker to keep most of the fuel money to themselves and not pay you..
It is dollars per day , not pennies per mile.. Stop thinking that way and you will see a total turn around in your income..

Next, Pull company freight and stay with one place and {find } your back hauls.. What ever it takes to get back to the good paying freight rather than running all over the 48 and sitting in a truck stop calling around for a load.. Stay in a zone and do not get out of it. Deadhead should be eliminated from your thinking .. Running empty to get to your next decent load is more like it.

You can go for it and try to prove me wrong.. At the end of the year even with very high empty miles , you will start seeing more dollars per day and less worrying about the pennies per mile.

The trucking industry has taught you to think on a per mile basis.. Get out of that trap..

The only successful independents that I know have a RUN. They do not just bounce around 48 states..

If you are caught up in a lease to own {lease purchase} so called O/O thing , get out any way you can.. go buy a truck through any other means . That lease company is getting rich off you and keeping you broke.

The facts show that very few lease purchases ever really work ..

As far as CSA 2010 ?? It is here and likely to stay . No one did anything about it before it came and once it got here it is too late ..
Be honest here , How many times have you seen a truck pulling out of a truck stop with one head light ? happens all the time. Walk around ?

They should get a ticket and points .. If they are that blind ,or just lazy they need to be gone.. Might make room for more of us that actually work .
There are certain companies out here that have been here for a long time, yet you will drive many thousands of miles before you will see one of their trucks that is not dented up somewhere .
I guess it really makes me wonder , how do they keep their jobs.
I have seen hoods bouncing so bad they look as if they may fly off the trucks. All company trucks and not one yet was an independent operator.

This all came about because of the mill schools and the new breed of drivers out here today.. And best I can tell they are th eones doing all teh screaming about things.. The older of us already know how to get around the crap coming at us. We always have dealt with it and always will.

Again , I mean you no harm by saying any of this.. Rather letting you know that if you wish to make a change , go for it.. But you will never unite the Mexican, Russian, and the rest of the new drivers out here that now make up the majority. They have it 100 times better than where they came from. If anything they will be against you..

Good luck and stick to your guns.. This was just my .02..........

 

Hey :
Thank you, You hit the nail on the head very square.
All the talk we have heard about drivers wages being forced up with new rules was a crock from the start. It has never been that way and never will.

I am glad you said it right. I promise all that no one will see any more money over the CSA .... It will if anything reduce wages and reduce some drivers to just as Trade up said.. Trailer switchers and just above a Walmart cart pusher.

 

Good points. The fsc is more important to those who lease to a carrier than someone such as me who run their own authority. In my case, the fsc is irrelevant. It is the rate that is important. When you lease to a carrier a fsc offers a little higher percentage of the line haul. In my case, it does offer a good negotiating tool when fuel is rising. You can take the fsc out, but the load still pays the same.

 

For the last few years I have sat and listened to drivers, company representatives, DOT officers, and Washington pundits all talk about the pro's and con's of CSA 2010. What I have yet to hear from ONE individual is who has given the powers that be, the controlling legal authority to do what they have done. I see nowhere in the constitution where the federal government has the authority to control the individual driver. The interstate commerce clause does cover them in reference to the corporate entities shipping the freight or receiving the freight but the interstate commerce clause does NOT supercede the 9th and 10th amendment and the rights of the state to conduct business and enforce their own laws. This, I believe, should be the issue addressed EVERYTIME that CSA 2010 is discussed. Until we realize that the federal government is attempting to garner control through regulation in every industry nationwide, NOTHING will change. We must all stand together, or we will certainly hang separately....

 

Hey :
That is a VALID POINT YOU HAVE. And the main reason I stayed leased on with the same out fit now since 1981.
I have seen very little advantage to having my own authority any more.
My loads out are doing me $1.69 to $1.92 per mile to the truck. I take what I can get going back to get my next decent load back out. It all works out in the wash. I know a few that still run under their own authority and they have a hard time getting the rates that I get . I pull company trailers and do not fix them .
I am not paying high dollar insurance {Cargo} and so on. And I never sit looking for work..

But , You are an Owner Operator and I am an Independent operator. You know the difference. Many out here do not..
You have a hard road to go down but will make it just like the rest of us that know what we are doing in this business. The others come and go..

This is my 5th truck and it is now paid for.

I may get kicked out of here for saying this but here goes.
The only way this country will ever turn around is to get back on it's knees and remember how we got here and why we are still free.
CSA Blaa, Blaa, Blaa,,, It is all the same oh crap.. Just different ways of going about controlling us.

You will never vote away 100 years of corruption... It will more than likely require the good people of this country to take up arms, stand together and just say no more .. The buck stops here and uncle Sam you are not going any farther. You have taken away too many of our freedoms and we are here to take them back ...

It is not a matter of hours of service , points on your record , etc .. It is a matter of just how many more freedoms are you willing to give away..

Stop thinking so inside of the box.. This is what they expect you to do..
It is very hard to unite when over 1/2 of us are not even Made in the USA.

If your neighbors dog bites you , you shoot the dog. If your neighbor gets another meaner dog, you go to war with your neighbor.