Common sense proposal for pay rate of OTR drivers

Labor must be predictable. Paying hourly takes away that predictability. That is why most carriers pay percentage or mileage.

 

well thats the name of the game though OTR. i was over seas for 5 out of 6 years in the army and your on salary but you work all kinds of odd hours same goes here. we can both argue all day and say we should be paid for being away from home but the only way that could work to my knowledge is a $100 a day per diem but since frieght is moving at god awfully low prices they would rather pay the college grad idiots in the terminal more than us. so at the end of the day there is nothing you or i can do about it. to many drivers willing to drive for half the pay that dont know any better. so if we all stand up and say we wont take this anymore they will go into the pool of applications and get new drivers. blame all this on deregulation.

 

I worked for a private carrier that payed hourly and had a 5 day work week putting it under the 60 hours in 70 day rule . They had 10 drivers and a couple of drivers kept exceeding the 60 hours . The company went to paying mileage with stop pay .
Those 2 drivers never came close to 60 hours again .
The job was day trips delivering corrugated boxes to movers and U-Haul centers throughout New England . The routes were rotated and there was no reason to exceed 58 hours .
Management calculated an average of pays and came up with a cpm pay of $.40 . This was in the mid-80's . Since it was averaged most drivers earned about the same . Drivers that had been hustling and working under 55 hours saw their pay increase by about $100 a week . The drivers that had been dogging it for extra pay saw their pay drop by $100 a week .
Their will always be drivers that would be less productive when paid hourly .

 

Very few of the members here have any clue about the other side of the trucking business. They only see their side and never stop to look at things from the business owner's side. The side of the individual who has to insure a profit is made and every effort to be 100% productive is made. I'd rather work where I knew the bosses had every intention of remaining competitive and profitable and didn't choose to operate too close to the line that separates a business that will be here 10 years from now, and the one who maybe will, or maybe won't be.

 

You won't like what I have to say.

All of this is great and would help a lot of people but ...

No one forces anyone to get into this business.

Until we stop the desperate people who don't want to work at other jobs or even try to find work they can do, this will continue to be a dumping ground on all of us. This doesn't mean we can't help each other but there are times when we don't tell people don't do it or find other ways to make money.

I can point to a lot of posts and threads on this site that back that statement up, many people are reading posts about how great the money is and then jump into this with both feet, sometimes even quiting their jobs to be "free on the open road" at an easy job driving but then find themselves being dictated to by an owner or company and become bitter person, quiting or sticking with it jumping from job to job. I read a bunch of people complaining about how they are regulated to death with company rules and policies (not veteran drivers) and many of them don't even understand how to log to take advantage of logging but worst yet the ability to say "NO". Some want to cheat to get in a cab, lie about their medical condition or their criminal record and still a lot more people look for free training and a free ride, expecting a level of respect as if they are working with a masters degree at a company doing something unique.

If you want things to change, hold those who work in this profession accountable first than you can complain about what companies do but until we stop that proverbial revolving door and demand some sort of unity on important issues (EOBRs are not important as other things), we will still have the same issues we had 30 years ago and 10 years in the future.

By the way, I want to see every driver to make more money, to drive safe and smart but I can't emphasis enough the idea that this business is not for everyone who has the desire to drive.

 

You will have an elog in your truck sooner then later, no more cheating.

 

So how else do you hustle when driving a truck other then by picking your speed up?

 

hourly wages around here. have dropped $4 from when i started 13 years ago.

when i'm driving. i make more then my highest hourly rate i was making before i had to quit the job due to the economy. and i was there 7 years before the economy tanked. along with my hours.

 

U-Haul stores were in store delivery and the other drivers were taking excessive paid breaks . We would average 4 or 5 U-Haul stores a day and 2 or 3 movers that unloaded with forklifts .

 

ummm, how about not shutting down when the road get's dusted with dry snow. Or how about not stopping 4 or 5 times a day. Or how about not logging 3 hours unload time when you were unloaded in 2 but wanted to watch the rest of Judge Judy. There are far too many ways for un-supervized slackers to goof off in the trucking biz, and more importantly, there are far too many slackers.