guarenteed pay

My company uses the "up to" statement in recruiting. But, they don't hang a driver out to dry, when things go bad.

I've had weeks I've only covered 12-1500 miles, and actually made more than weeks I have covered 2500+.

It all comes down to how the company treats its drivers, and how badly they want to retain good drivers.

I've actually seen our company pay for things, that I can not/will not discuss on this board. Namely, because it would cause a long thread of "BS" statements. And, each case is settled individually with the driver...so it isn't a company "standard". And I don't want to jeopardize anyone's job within our company.

Bottom Line: A good company will take care of you. Period.

 

I just started with a private manufacturing firm that owns their own fleet of trucks. To recruit and keep the sort of drivers they want to represent their company they pay a very decent salary. Same pay, every week, regardless of amount of work performed. Nothing is based on production except do the job to keep the job.

The pay scale is nearly the same as my old percentage based job which I had to run my tale off to produce the income I wanted. And, get this. I got out of an '04 truck with nearly 400k on the clock. My "new" '04 truck only has 195k on the clock. That's less than half the miles. I've been here three, working on the forth, week and I'm beginning to get lazy.

They have five regular customers who they want to pamper. That is the company driver's main job. Be available to pamper those customers. They will let me stay home while a common carrier hauls an incidental load, just so I can be available "in case" one of The Customers needs something.

This will likely be the last stop on my trucking career.

 

OK basically, it sounds like you want to join a union. Do little work, and still get lots of money.

Companies are dependant on the consumer. Pretty much everything I think that can be hauled by truck is paid for, in the end, by the consumer of that product...be it toys, gas, paper....etc. If the economy takes a nose dive, people will pucker up their wallets faster than you can say...something funny. When that happens, less will be bought, less need, less less less down the line until it hits you the driver. The fact is that truckers know this...that it can be an up and down thing. I never heard of a slow time in trucking until I came here.

If you want to make a certain amount...then drive a truck and save your money so that when slow times come...the companies won't have to pay you the same pay for doing less work. If you drive 3k miles in a week, and normally average 1500...well you have an extra 1500 miles in your pay check coming so that you can use it for padding during the next slow week or month.

 

Even though I am unemployed, I would refuse to work a job where I didn't work...and when I did work...I had to suck up as if I was someones chauffer; and pamper them as well. One lump or two miseur? Tea and Crumpets? Bloody Good show.

 

Refuse to work a job where you didn't work? You are obviously not a golfer, or fisherman.

I see by your profile you're 28 years young. Too young to remember that before the, now infamous, CDL, you had to have a Chauffeur's License to operate a big ol' semi.

And what is the problem with sending your drivers out as emissaries of the company? It makes good economic sense to have your product delivered to the customer via a person who is practically a salesman, or, at least, an excellent representative of your company. Would you want your best customers serviced by some of the trash you see operating a CMV these days? Pot bellied, no hygiene, less grooming, dumb as a stick of wood, looking like their wardrobe came out of the backdoor of the Goodwill Store, complete with a bad attitude to boot.

A kiss? Right or left cheek, sir?

 

True, drivers should be representatives of companies they drive for...but in the end, that is all they do, drive. I mean, a product gets put in or on a trailer...and Bob Friendly drives it from Point A to Point B. The product is what the buyer wants, not a driver. They don't sit at the office saying "Hey....is almost noon, time for Bob to get here, what a wonderful guy, that hair, that smile, those loveable freckles. Yeah hes bringing a load of....whatver but enough about that, lets get back to Bob"

Practically a salesman, does not a salesman make. Just because you haul a product does not mean you know anything about said product, otherwise if you knew so much to sell it...you would be, or be designing it.

As far as being a representative...I guess Im not sure where that comes in. You drive there, say hi, get product dropped off, sign papers, and leave. Saying Hello and Goodbye and doing a job in the middle qualifies you for working as a greeter at Wal Mart.

 

Gotta disagree with you ziggy, I am sure many accounts have been lost because of drivers attitudes, dress, hygene blah blah blah at receivers. If you are delivering product for your company, not just a common carrier, then you are a representative for them and that does play a big role in how they preceive you and "your product". Driving for a manufacturer can be a pretty good job. If you go to them asking for a job but say "I'm just your driver but not your representive" do you think they would want you hauling their product?

 

well Right, this is what I actually had a hard time saying yesterday. You represent the company and in a sense are a representative of that company. However, in the truest sense of the word, you aren't necessarily a representative of the comp because you just deliver the product and one often can't fully talk about a company and its inner workings, product lines, services, features...etc just by driving. But you do represent it. Sure, looking decent in regular clothes and all is expected, hygene...etc.

To me, pamper means kissing bass and not something Im used to doing. Staying home while you wait on a 'just in case' does not sound promising either when you could actually be on the road making money for the customer who "really knows what they want."

And to me, being a job where I start to become lazy is not a good thing, at least the way I see it. When i worked for my dad when I was a teen, he said something that still hits me every day I work...."I don't pay you to sit on your ##*, I pay you to work." lol...well I guess in trucking, you do get paid to sit on your rumpus...but usually you get paid for it. I don't want to work at a job where Im not actually working...I get paid to do my job and get it done right...not to sluff off and wait on the potential needs of a customer who needs to be pampered.

 

True enough, but, let's flip that coin. What if they were sitting in the office saying, "Hey... it's almost noon, time for Sam Slob to get here, what a creep with his gross tattoos covering that stinking, 400 lb, multi-pierced, over exposed, body of his. Does that guy ever take a bath, brush his tooth, or comb his hair? The last time he was here he was mad as hello and really bad-mouthed his company, and dispatcher. Can't we find a supplier who has a more conventional, even tempered, driver? I'm outta here for lunch, and maybe the entire afternoon because I hate dealing with him."

The driver may be a long way from being a true salesman, but, it is a short trip to being an un-salesman. I haul liquid bulk chemicals, and knowing a lot (not all) about the product is a requirement.

What you've said is probably true in 75% of trucking jobs. Some hauling requires product knowledge, special equipment operations, and the ability to deal safely with potentially dangerous substances. So maybe that qualifies a person to be the 3rd shift cook at a Waffle House instead of a greeter at Wally-World.

Seriously, I wouldn't let this guy in my house. Why send him to my best customer's place of business.