This is what change should look like. Will you do it?

What he said!

 

Saw that coming years ago. Pulled in a Warehouse to unload and the guy @ the widow says 50 dollars to unload. Ok you want me to pay you to unload your product. Yep! Well I'm going out to the truck and pull ahead and close the doors. What? Sir I don't care if you get your Flour or not. I'll just take it back to where I got it. By the time I was closing the second door they were @ the dock ready to unload for free. It was a miracle.

 

Good luck with that. I was just saying at work last night at BK "All causes are lost until people can at least put their trash in a trash can instead of the ground next to it" Only thing that could save us now is the politicians...LOL

 

"Under the current system the only way to waste a driver’s time is not to use it….It’s FREE..And So is Using his truck as free warehouse space that you can charge your customers for." Another article that mixes employee driver and truck owner issues as though they're the same. Clarity in communications is a prevalent problem in the trucking industry. Who is the audience? What is the problem? What is the solution?

With regard to the OP...

As an employee:
These issues are why I never worked for an over-the-road (OTR) trucking company. When I looked at what each job offered the OTR segment was consistently unappealing. Local and LTL are often hourly and have other benefits over OTR. And all local jobs are not equal. As a result, I haven't had to work as an employee driver without pay for any of my work.

As a motor carrier:
I address these issues in my contracts and Service Conditions. For other motor carriers looking for a resource to do the same see http://www.transportationlaw.net. A motor carrier is paid for a job and it's up to the carrier to price their jobs appropriately and figure their accounting in a way that works for their business. Sometimes I don't make a deal because of price and sometimes I don't make a deal because of terms (contracts).

As a leased owner-operator:
I've never worked as a leased owner-operator but all the issues in the OP are addressed in the contract made between the parties involved.

Whichever position you find yourself in it's up to each person to do for themselves. Don't expect collective action to do it for you. Different people and entities have different issues and variables to balance. Overall, nothing is ultimately forcing any one person to work as a driver for free or below minimum wage if they're not too ignorant. This is one of those business sectors where an individuals ignorance will allow them to be used and abused. This is why there is a disparity in driver wages and working conditions. Not all drivers are inadequately compensated. The dumber an individual is the harder it will be for that individual. That's a fact of life and a fact of working in trucking.

 

A lot of the problem lies with the CDL schools (both company and private). They do not adequately prepare those who are new to the industry for the realities of being an OTR driver. I believe this is deliberate deception on their part. If they told everyone, up front, that they will be expected to work for slave wages and and raise their kids via telephone, no one would sign up for their courses. And after these n00bs complete school and get hired on by a mega, they are too far in debt and too desperate to give up (I'd be surprised if there's a school under $3k). So, they just put thir heads down and trudge along in hopes of gaining "experience" and a better job (but we all know the vast majority either burn out or have an accident due to inadequate training).

im one of the lucky ones. I made it thru my time at a mega and ended up with "experience". I now have an OTR job (in reality it's more like regional), that compensates me well and understands that my family time is important too.

Until this industry cleans up its act and stops taking advantage of those who are in desperate situations, nothing is going to change. Why would they pay more when they have a never ending stream of starry-eyed wannabes to fill their seats. And the megas paying these slave wages drives down wages across the industry. If someone's been making .26, a job offering .31 is a major step up in their eyes.

Im relatively happy where I'm at, but like I said, I consider myself one of the lucky ones. I know folks on this board love to bash the Swiftys and CREnglanders (I'm guilty of it myself), but I really do feel for those guys when I see them out on he road. I know they're broke and haven't seen their kids in weeks or even months.

i don't even know where to start to effect change in the industry, but the OP is dreaming if he thinks simply "demanding more money" is gonna work.

 

Same old call to action basically. Saw an article on the Overdrive magazine website recently where someone is actually willing to take charge and help us help ourselves. He even listed his phone number. That's a good start. Needs alot of support......hmmm. Drivers today just seem to be chasing dollars with blinders on.

 

You may have read my post but I don't think you comprehend it.

"The way to remove the difference between equipment owner and hired driver is to make them equal participants."
What does that mean and how would you do it? They're fundamentally in different roles and I don't understand what you're referring to when you say "remove the difference."

"Owners think their equipment is so valuable yet the drivers time is worth nothing."
That's not true and it's hyperbole. I know such nonsense stirs the emotions of many drivers though.

"Unfortunately it appears that EOBR requirements may be the only way to accomplish this goal. I never like regulation to resolve a problem but this seems the only solution to these issues. I soon grow tired of the freedom guys and their rants about " leave me to do my job". It is these freedom fighters that are riding around in the large cars, driving and or working a 100 hours a week and think they are living the dream. I see the companys advertise the fact that they run paper logs and 3000 + miles per week. Wow lets all line up for that."
I addressed this in my previous post and the way I handled it for myself was to not work at those companies. Who is at fault for applying to work for such companies or staying with such a company especially if it's an OTR job where the company location and your living location don't matter much? Employee OTR drivers are primarily victims of themselves if they work for a bad OTR company. As for OTR in general then collective action by drivers won't happen but, as you stated, regulation can happen and have an effect.
Realize you don't like some people's dream is apparently to drive a truck as many hours as they can every day and they love it. That may not be your dream but why complain about someone else's dream lifestyle. It's not my dream lifestyle either. But I don't know why I'd complain about other peoples desires as though there is some kind of need for some kind of solution.

"We have proven as an industry that far too often we are not able to earn a reasonable wage for the work performed."
Can you be more specific? I disagree with just that statement alone and don't know of evidence to support such a broad claim.

"To just grow a backbone and begin to stand up for ourselves would go a long way in the right direction."
Who's we? Stand up for what? And what is the right direction? I think this kind of rhetoric is too broad. Which is why it's just rhetoric.

"I'm asking everyone to begin at least to analyze how much work you are doing for no pay. Hoping the surprise will get you started to finding value in your labor. Together we can change. Alone is where the company has the chance to push you and say " everyone else does it, why won't you?" Your answer needs to be "I'm a better driver than that." Anyone can work for free. Don't be that guy."
Again, this is a call for collective action which is hard. But you want an even harder thing to happen and call for collective action across all companies. And that's ridiculous. If you want to unionize it has to be done at each company. But your statements are so broad and vague they don't really tell anyone specifically what to do about their low pay. Saying "stand up" isn't saying anything at all.

If low driver pay for employees at OTR companies is your problem then you can address that as an individual by choosing where to work and handling the issues you have with the company you work for.

Some of you may not know this, but many of the problems with employee driver pay are the same problems carriers have with brokers and shippers, and are the same problems brokers also have with shippers. Some shippers simply don't care about the rate, detention, schedules and so on, as long as some carrier does it. Usually some carrier does. That's the nature of the dynamics in the market.

Some people talk about driver shortage or capacity shortage. As we can see from the conditions in the market there is neither a driver or capacity (truck) shortage. If anything there is a freight shortage from a carrier perspective. In other words, the amount of freight and the amount of capacity (trucks and drivers) is in an equilibrium. As a result there will be no significant increase in driver pay or working conditions because the customers who buy the carriers service are able to make their demands and have them met. Carriers have to compete on all terms of a load or contract in order to get the freight and there is only so much freight and a whole lot of carriers available to compete for that freight. It's easy enough to understand. If there are 10 trucks available and 9 loads available why don't the carriers just pay their drivers more?

 

true true and true, I started out at 25cpm and made it up to 30cpm then got my dedicated gig but there were times I was close to giving in. There are a few of us Swiftys who make decent money but normally you need to be a decent O/O or have a dedicated. I average 46cpm now and I can be home almost nightly, I normally go home at least weekly.

Drivers just demanding more money wont do much, these larger companies like said have plenty of drivers moving in from the bottom willing to accept anything since they either think its ok to take such a low wage for experience or they just need a job really bad and broke.