Need opinions from veteren truck drivers

Here's two issues I see...

Forgive my ignorance or lack of reading comprehension but are you paying your guy 1099 or w2? If he's 1099, 900 still isn't much at all, I net 900 easy a week but that's including very generous bennies (very good/cheap medical, vacation, sick time etc). But other factors matter, are you running local/regional/otr, that plays a huge factor

Just put out an ad on cl

Also if you research the O/O forum many will be quick to jump on you and say you can't successfully sideline owner op a truck and break downs/maint. will be your biggest expense.

How are you getting loads, are you using a broker, do you have dedicated accounts? Do you have backup plans, what if your driver just quits on you and abandons the truck?

As much research as you have done, I suggest getting your class A in the very least...a time might arise where you might have to drive your rig...good luck!

 

Scratch the flyers idea. You will only attract the job hoppers and the scum. Want the best players for your team, you have to go scouting. What do you look for? Well, you are trying to make your business grow. Go into a truckstop with a restaurant sit and watch. The guys walking into the restaurant with discolored wifebeaters and huge piles of armpit hairs, scratch them off your list. Good drivers are always professional, even in down time.

The guy that you can smell before you see him, scratch him off your list. You wont want him in your truck and your customers wont want him on their property. Bad for business. If he cant wipe his butt, how is he supposed to take care of your truck?

The lewd driver, avoid him. He's nothing but trouble. Lots of guys cut up with the waitress, the lewd guy goes too far. You dont want a driver that women feel uncomfortable around.

Good drivers are positive. They can make money at just about any company there is. So, you wont see the guy in the truckstop bellyaching about his current company, or crying about his lot in life, and the godlike dispatcher. He will be respectful to the waitress, and patient (good drivers are experts at managing their time. So if he's sitting in the restaurant, he's not in a hurry).

You are going to have to sale the job to a good driver. It might be a hard sale, but it will be worth it.

 

900 a week is too little for over the road. I wouldn't drive for that money. give your drivers ability to make at least 13 and bring them home for weekends. Also most good drivers appreciate daytime driving. pay them detention and word of mouth factor will kick in and you will have no problem finding good drivers. Most drivers run harder in a Volvo because it's more quiet, meaning it's easier to make more miles in a day. personally I wouldn't drive an old freightliner as a company driver,unless I lived in an area with lack of companies or no one else would hire me. little advice that turns tiny companies into medium ones---- get drivers that run hard and know how to fix their books. that's how majority of Chicago based companies grew from scratch in last ten years from 1 or 2 trucks to at least 50 and few to 500 you are trying to build a good company where drivers will enjoy working. I wish you good luck and if you survive don't forget to keep up good attitude for a driver.

 

That wasnt $900 a week, that was $900 for 1 run. Thats actually pretty good for a company driver. Especially if he can get 2-3 runs a week.

 

900 Times 2 runs is 1800 and if he makes 3 runs a week I don't even dare calculating that. you should have a line of drivers at your door by now. you can pm your company name to me and if that money is right all my friends will sell their trucks and go work for you

 

(rolls eyes) ok thats two out of 3 that didnt read very well. he was giving an example of a single run, not a weekly salary. and it was a theoretical run, at that.

ive always subscribed to the theory that performance based pay yields better employees. paying based on net is a good start, as far as managing your fuel costs. coming up with some way to reward performance in other areas would be a good motivator as well, in my opinion. but FINDING the driver you can live with in the first place? the evil one (666) had some good points, though id argue that no matter how you advertise you are going to get bad eggs along with good. but i tend to think that, aside from capability, most people are naturally decent, if properly motivated. there are some that cant be "trained", but most can be. one of the problems is that no matter where you look, companies mostly pay blue collar employees to the least common denominator. if your warehouse, for example, pays each employee 13 bucks an hour, regardless of what they do, only giving raises for seniority,then the new employee will start off doing his best, but will quickly adapt his performance DOWN to the performance of his coworkers when he discovers hes being paid less than the guy thats been there longer, gets paid more, and does half the work he does. contrarily, if you pay him a dime more an hour for achieving x, and two dimes an hour more for achieving y, you will find that many if not most will strive to achieve the highest level they are capable of. it boggles my mind that most companies do not do this.

 

900 a week is too little for over the road. I wouldn't drive for that money. give your drivers ability to make at least 13 and bring them home for weekends. Also most good drivers appreciate daytime driving. pay them detention and word of mouth factor will kick in and you will have no problem finding good drivers. Most drivers run harder in a Volvo because it's more quiet, meaning it's easier to make more miles in a day. personally I wouldn't drive an old frightened as a company driver,unless I lived in an area with lack of companies or no one else would hire me. little advice that turns tiny companies into medium ones---- get drivers that run hard and know how to fix their books. that's how majority of Chicago based companies grew from scratch in last ten years from 1 or 2 trucks to at least 50 and few to 500

 

Bad drivers are really easy to spot. The worst are the ones that walk into the truckstop blowing their own horn. Pulled every load, every kind of wagon there is, the end all and be all of truck drivers. 55 years old and been driving for 47 years. Fought in WW2, Korea, Viet Nam, Desert Storm, still has secret military clearance, and the Secret Service calls him daily for advice. And occasionally, he gets called back for active duty because he was the best sniper the world has ever seen.

Then he sits down and starts complaining. "I'm tired of this. Its been a loooooong day. Cant make any money out here. Its no fun anymore. Woke up this morning in Dallas. Drivers arent like they used to be. We need to be treated with respect. Made it here to Houston around 1400. I am waiting for a call from my black ops people..."

 

thank you, oh evil one. had a good laugh over this one. you forgot the part where they dont really need the job cause they have 10 mil in the bank, tho.