Trouble getting a company to hire me. i would love some advice

Low Pay? Companies negotiate contracts, based on the negotiations a rate is agreed on for the job/s. When everything is subtracted there is a figure for employee's. That figure also includes dispatchers, Mechanics and everyone else on the pay roll. So what is called low wages maybe to the driver, but on a comparison basis at the end of the week it compares quite fairly with other none driving positions.

One of the problems is also comparing an hourly paid job to OTR, a driver can earn more in 1 hour driving OTR than he could doing a 9 to 5 job. Where the driver may loose is downtime waiting for loads etc.
Where per mile started and why it is so common I don't know. But I assume it originated from driver %ages and creative bargaining by both Owner Drivers and Companies. As time has gone on companies find it advantageous to also pay employees the same way. The problems are as has been stated many times quotes of a driver being able to do X miles per week and in reality those numbers frequently fall short.
So are there too many drivers for the available work?
Are companies taking on more drivers to honor contracts and delivery times?
Changes in hours and mandated rest periods have also affected the trucking industry, which hits the bottom line across the board. These are some of the reason companies are restricting themselves to regional haulers.
Years ago in the UK, I could pick up a load in Southampton and go to Birmingham, change trailers with a load going south and be home within my hours. The load I dropped would be taken north and then dropped again and so on until it got to its final destination. The drivers only did their hours and the cargo got where it was supposed a lot faster than the lengthier time of a long haul with its mandated stops. Yes people complained, but it did increase the amount of driving positions. Until Europe took away the restrictions on work permits then the old Eastern Block countries flooded Europe and took the jobs away at cheaper rates. NAFTA has not helped in the US, and if ever the immigration policy changes jobs won't be going South as much as the South will be coming North and taking over. Sorry didn't mean to get political. And yes rates have risen as has everything else, Bottom line is you can't be paid what the company can't pay you. If they did you'd end up unemployed along with a lot more people all going after the same jobs......

But here is a link you may find interesting.

Oh and don't mind me I'm not finding fault I'm just an oldie with too much time on my hands.........

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/infographics/cost-of-trucking/

 

+1 exactly

 

that went right over you head. ..but I figured it would. ..

 

Three replies three personal attacks. Care to try for four? Here's you some bait. See if you can keep from bitin'.

Have you ever put a felon in one of your trucks? Do you have any trucks to put one in? I have and he proved himself to be just what his record said he was, despite his assurances to the contrary. Same exact crime as a matter of fact. So don't monologue me about not hiring felons and not giving them a second chance. Every one I ever hired (2) was just as advertised in his background check.

I got you "figgerd" for another personal insult now unless I miss my guess. Or do you want to actually debate? Makes no difference to me.

 

Y u people always bickering!!!

 

I didn't bicker with him at all until he issued three (3) personal attacks. But you are right it serves no purpose and I will stop.

 

never did put a felon in any of my trucks, but I'm sure you had people in your truck that would be a felon, if they had been caught, no doubt about it....with experience you are able to judge someone.....without a background check.

 

it's us super truckers! don't ya know we're always right

 

The personal attacks mystify me.

It used to be that trucking was where an ex-con could find a life. For others, it was a way out of the barrio, for example. It mattered that you could work. The mega-carrier starter companies probably aren't interested in the OP. However, a smaller company would. Years ago the saying was that the first time a company tried you out of the hiring hall, they just hoped you brought the truck back. The second time, they expected a little freight on it. Once you got through that, they'd call you for the third time and from then on you had a gig and they'd ask for you. Not so many hiring halls around any more and you have to contact each company direct.

Many of our drivers years ago had done time. The OP needs to look at dock work, straight trucks, yard hostling and guess what? Most of those jobs will get you home every night, too! And it will open the door to a good driving job. Forget CraigsList. Try: http://www.fleetdirectory.com/ByLocation/Illinois.htm, visit as many as possible IN PERSON. Then, stay in touch with them.

As far as OTR to see the country and get paid?? The OP needs to get real. OTR drivers get to see shippers, truck stops, fog lines and broken lines and a few hundred feet or so to the right or left as they go down the road. Yes, if they are alert, maybe--most aren't--and certainly not the dregs-crawling-out-of-the-woodwork to bash the OP here. For them, the trucking life's mostly just a blur. So they come here and bash other drivers.

I would be curious, though, what the OP's prospects would be as an O/O... (a real O/O who owns his truck, not a buy-the-company-a-truck-lease-ripoff).


/Edit: I should have read wstar2003's comments closer. I thought he was standing up for the OP, not on him--not trying to hold him back/down. (I tend to skip through the insults and back-and-forths.)