hourly wages vs milage or percentage pay for truckers

I am trying to wrap my brain around your post....you say your company pays hourly so you will not drive fast, and you will not have to rush? Wow! The company drivers I see on the road that are paid hourly drive like a bat out of you know where.

 

I don't buy into the theory that if you pay a driver hourly productivity will go down, but I also don't buy into the theory that companies that pay by the hour want you to take your time and not rush. Compensation, no matter how you spin it, has to leave meat on the bone for the owner. Mileage, by the load, hourly can all be good compensation or not for a driver. Companys will get their productivity from a driver or they will not keep that driver. Of course, I could be completely wrong in my thinking....but this is how I see it with three short years of experience.

 

Why drive faster? I get paid the same whether I drive 70 or 50. A long as the load gets there on time why would I drive faster and short myself money? The longer I'm driving the more money I make.

 

Ok then, and when you cost your company more to employ than their other drivers who can be more productive, not purposely drag their feet to milk the hours, then what do you suppose the company will likely do?

 

They have a guy that does 55 no matter what and he's been there for 15 years. So I suppose as long as I get all my loads there on time with no accidents I'll probably have a steady job making good money with a pay raise every year like he's done.

 

Great reply...but just a hunch....the 15 year employee does MUCH more than go 55 mph and loss free. You seem like a good guy, and hope you have many more productive years with your company.

 

I worked otr for 4 years with 4 different companies. Im currently working construction not using my Class A hazmat licence. Reason is i refuse to work for free. Working for free is want you do when paid by milage. I will return to a truck once they pay me $20 an hour with overtime pay and hazards pay.

 

In addition to getting paid by hour i want to make my own hours of service.reasons being because i am human on a circadian sleep rhythm. So when im awake at 4am and called to pick up a load at 8am but not loaded until 3pm my managers expect me to drive 11 hours then start moving after 10 hrs off duty. Off duty does not mean i can flip a switch and fall asleep. I need food, bath, prep my trip fir next day, many things must be done off duty. Managers force us to cheat the logs and go off duty immediately so it starts to rest leaving us with less then3-5 hrs of sleep. So fixing the pay is only part of the corruption in this fck the driver industry's. I have been lied too from school and from every employer. Nothing i was told has been true. With that i say the industry deserves to fail and government enforcement needs to take its place. For as long as company politics continue to run the industry you will never meet the growing demand for new drivers. The old ways need to die with the old truckers. I was a commercial transportation vehicle operator. I will never be a TRUCKER!.

 

There are plenty of companies paying $23 plus p/he, but you have to find them. And the companies that pay $30 plus p/he dont advertise.