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

I don't have a problem with separating out the pay. And I think drivers should look at how much they end up being paid for all their work and what the hourly amount comes out to be. But I'm not interested in "changing the industry." Just like I'm not concerned with changing the "image" of trucking. It's much easier to look for a better job. Walmart is a good option. So is FedEx and UPS. There are good small companies too. But you have to keep searching to find the good jobs and you can't get them with an unstable work history or a history of accidents or drug use. So if you're a job hopper or have a bad driving record you might not be able to find a good driving job or it will definitely be harder. And if you get an interview for a job worth having it's a good idea to wear something nicer than sweatpants and a t-shirt.

 

hours don't matter compared to having enough to feed your family
42 years in the workforce have never held a hourly job
and the ex's all own homes free and clear

 

If all you want is for drivers to calculate their hourly pay then why wasn't that your original post? You said you want to change the industry. You bordered on calling for unionization with your call for collectivist action for change. You haven't answered my question about unionizing your fellow drivers at your current employer. Have you even got all your fellow drivers at your company to calculate their hourly pay? If not then why not?

How about if you worry about your own pay and don't worry about everybody else in the whole trucking industry? Who are you to decide for me, or anyone else, if it's worth it or not? I don't like a lot of other peoples driving, but I'm not trying to do anything about it because it's a futile effort. It isn't worth all that would need to be done for me to do something about it. So I'll just deal with it and worry about something I can do something about...like my own driving. I don't like what a lot of drivers and carriers work for because I have to compete with their low prices and poor contract conditions. But I can't control them. So I work on what can I do. It's a waste of time to just complain and hope for the world to be the way I wish it was. It's much better to understand how the world (or trucking or whatever) actually is and what can I do given the reality as I understand it.

 

I like the detention and TONU rates. I seriously doubt that your trucks get stuck waiting to load or unload, or that loads get cancelled when the broker gets a call from someone who'll haul it cheaper after the rate con has been signed and returned....lol....

 

But yet if the drivers pay increased with inflation as the minimum wage and price of milk and fuel drivers would be making 120-150 (Drivers Wages) we have been making close to the same for for 15+ years. Even school kids working the golden arches pay has gone up at a faster rate.
minimum wage went up in 07' 11' and I think I seen where it is to go up again this year.

In 96' (min Wage was 4.25 to 7.25 in 11') I was making 12.25 an hr at a golf coarse which was great money. Even today it would be decent but compared to how well I was paid compared to the normal not so great.
Drivers went from great money to decent money its the same as going from 12.25 to 13 while students and millions of Americans has gone up $3/hr that's near a 70% increase while while we went 2-5%

From Wikipedia

If this happens I am going back to fast food heck make more than I did as company and no headaches of an O/O

I do better than staying home to work so will keep plugin along but once I can support my family and lifestyle without dealing with 5 billion idiots that have 0 common since when it comes to driving I will and I will miss it I love to drive.

Just putting in my .002 cents worth as I can't afford .02 cents LOL

 

To this I shall add Gold is the money of kings, paper the money of peasants, Debt is the money of slaves.

(Think that is going to have to be my siggy for a while)

 

Lots of complaining here. Let me toss some facts out there for you guys. Entry level accountants with at least 4 years of college are starting at 10 and 30K. Entry level meteorologists with a Masters degree start around 35K. The national average pay for entry-level science teachers in 2011 was just more than $26,000 per year.

My first full year in trucking I'm on pace to make somewhere in the upper 40K, no college required. I have no doubt that I'll touch 50K my 2nd year, and I work for a mega. I have a buddy making 60k plus and home weekends and some nights during the week. My point? OTR trucking isn't hard work. It certainly isn't coal mining or digging ditches, and it pays pretty decent compared to some other careers out there that require 50K or much more worth of college.

If you guys want to complain about not getting paid for a couple hours sitting at a shipper while you sleep in your sleeper or play on your computer, you're free to leave the industry and head to college and try something else.

 

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