well they finally nailed me - forced into electronic logs

As long as there are delays due to weather , construction , accidents , etc. and drivers roaming around lost trying to find a customer there will never be hourly OTR pay . Even if there was , what do you think the hourly rate would be ?

 

I have NOoo idea.

Something to think about here:

When I worked HR with OPM/DHS I was paid hourly and my hourly pay was adjusted for geographical location; California has a very high geographical increase and Ohio much less. Main reason is because, as you can no doubt figure, housing and other living expenses cost a lot more in Cali than Ohio. The same problems would exist in trucking, however, it would be difficult to justify using the same type of system due to the fact that a driver that has Cali as a state of legal residence may only be there 4 days a month or maybe only 4 days every 2-3 months. I would even venture to say that there are some OTR drivers who list Cali as their state of legal residence but in fact live in their truck for most, if not all, of the year. I would also venture to say that not only do they live in the truck, but they may even spend all their time east of I-35; despite being Cali residents.

If they ever did that the BFI companies would all move to Tulsa Oklahoma (Lowest cost of living in US - Depending on source) and require drivers to hold an Oklahoma license regardless of where the driver lived or ran, just so the company did not have to pay out as much money in salary.

If we are to believe the information as is found on http://www.indeed.com/salary/Nationwide-Truck-Driver.html the average driver earns $66,000 annually. HOWEVER, those numbers are suspect as they indicate the average O/O earns $193,000... That may well be the gross, but it appears they have not deducted expenses such as THE COST OF THE TRUCK; a huge expense to say the least. Also, they indicate sweeper drivers earn on average $19,000 annually. However, many street sweepers I have contracted in Columbus Ohio while working as a store/service manager over the years has given me the knowledge that a large number of sweeper drivers are actually ICs or sole proprietors and earn well above what OTR ICs earn; $400K+ for one of the sweeper owners I have known. There are a lot more OTR O/Os then sweeper O/Os. Also, indeed does not specify who all is included in those groups. There are just too many variables to make any valid estimate.

I will however use the $60-90,000 (After increase) that is found in another thread here, or more specifically, $60,000 annually. I will also estimate that rookie drivers, less than one year experience, will receive "training pay", which will in effect take them out of my calculation.

I will use 50% of the income is based on hourly and 50% will be incentive based; mileage, percentages, commissions, etc. Still a lot of variables to figure. I will further restrict my estimate field to ONLY calculate mileage, thus removing sales commissions, to make a final calculation of only DRIVING BASED GROSS WAGES.

I will use 50 MPH and driving 10 hours a day on average; 500 miles daily. Also, I will estimate working 13 hours a day, 5 days a week or 65 hours a week. Understanding that some drivers will drive more hours, more miles as well as work more hours. There would also be drivers working less in those same fields. My calculation would be based on 500 miles per day, 2500 miles per week, 125,000 miles per year; save for two weeks vacation each year. 2500 hours driving annually and a grand total of 3250 hours working annually. Overtime will not be calculated as mileage pay would likely exempt employers from having to pay overtime; much like wait staff at restaurants do not generally receive overtime if they receive tips.

50% of $60,000 = $30,000
$30,000 / 3250 = $9.23 per hour
$30,000 / 125,000 = .24 CPM

Obviously a driver that operates during a normal 40 hour work week, is home nights, and runs a local route consisting of 150 miles a day would make considerably less than an OTR driver that lives in their truck and take just 4 days off a month.

(40hrs @ 9.00hr) = 360 + (150MI @ .24) = 36.00 / Gross = $396 x 50 = $19,800 - - This is way less then most local drivers currently earn with even minimum experience and is comparable to what I earned in 1987 driving a cargo van and making local deliveries.

Hopefully I have demonstrated a few things here:

1.) Statistics available about truck drivers wages do not tell the whole story and are sketchy at best. Statistics advertised by truck driving schools and many carriers should not be relied on by those looking at truck driving as a career change.

2.) One "Standard wage" or "Driver compensation" is not something that would be feasible or fair to all parties considered.

3.) Truck drivers are not compensated at a fair level under current "MILEAGE ONLY" based pay scales. Almost every driver drives many more miles than they are paid for as well; few drivers get paid based on "Hub mileage." MOST drivers work many, many more hours than they are paid for. An OTR driver works nearly 65 hours on AVERAGE; some even more.

4.) A driver that earns .25CPM, driving 2000 miles per week; $500 a week gross. In addition, working an average of 65 hours per week while being on the road for 2-3 weeks at a time. By looking at the numbers only, a person would earn a much better wage if they worked a loading dock at $9.00 hr, 40 hours a week, and in addition worked a part time job at McD's or where ever earning $9.00 hr, 20 hours a week; $540.00 week gross.

BFI would greatly benefit in the long run by paying newbies a salaried wage, as many do, and a mileage bonus, like .10 CPM than to pay based on mileage only. They could sell that program to new drivers coming into the industry as there would be a guaranteed wage and STUDENTS would still be motivated to run miles.

Hourly wage would never work for O/Os as the amount per hour would scare the s#!t out of customers, especially once fuel surcharge is added in. lol

This is obviously all academic, but still, it's interesting to look at.

 

Actually it will take way longer now that it's been struck down in court. Not to mention just like the new hours of service won't go into affect till June 2013 if they ever pass a form of elogs mandatory for trucks. Their will be a grace period to comply and because it cost money to comply they will give drivers 2-4 hrs to comply. Also I still think ooida will continue to fight it so you won't see mandatory for years to come THEN we will get time to comply. So it's way off in the future.

 

That's not a whole lot of time.

Takes me 35 minutes to tie my shoes, and that's after I find someone to show me which one goes on which foot.

 

Velcro..... They're all the rage at the old folks home




American Trucker

 

I've never run into an operation that requires you to be within 10 min of your apt. time. Usually its one hour before or a variation of that time with a requirement of being there before your apt. What type of freight do you run?

 

I'm throwing the flag on the avg. pay of $60k. Some make more but I doubt its enough to make up the majority that make less than that.

 

you can not do a proper pti in less than 15min. I'm wondering what DOT says if they see you with 6min logged for this. Have you been stopped for an inspection yet? You also can't fuel your truck in less than that time.

 

I've heard that at 20mph or drive more than 1 mile the log automatically puts you back on line 3 at one of the largest companies out there. Hint: giant orange trucks.

 

Thats a load of sheet!

I log on paper 3min pre trip.

from the time i hit the off ramp to till im back on the on ramp i can fuel, piss, get a drink/ receipt all in under 8 min (300gal at loves)


I fuel/ post trip 15 min on my log book everynight before i park





American Trucker