Should drivers be paid for detention time?

Heck im all for the days of the teamsters shutting everything down,the way i look at it,you ordered it take it off in a reasonal time,dont make us sit there all day,last load took 13 and a half hours to load,thats bs,heck i say nose 2 trucks together atevery shipper and get what we want,but we grow to many no a days who dont mind taking it up the backside

 

I and another driver were waiting for parts to be finished in the QA section of a plant and we were talking to a shipping manager this morning who was wondering about if the trucking company would pay for the driver sitting there.

The other driver said yep his company gives detent time after 3 hours and I said I don't get it but paid hourly so it doesn't matter if I'm sitting for an hour or 10 hours. Well he looked at me and then the other driver and said "**** if they charged me to have a driver sit, I would find another company to deal with"

 

Not only should drivers get detention, customers that take forever should have parking for drivers to take a 10. I'm looking at you Walmart.

So glad I don't pull a refer anymore.

 

And i say to the terminal driver, go ahead, it speaks volumes about you. as the manager you dont want to pay for people to wait because you are incapable of doing your job. This is my point, people stand up and refuse to go, he will have to haul the freight himself or deal with the bottom feeders. Either way, I am worth getting paid when the terminal is not able to do their job in a timely manner. In the oilfield Chesapeake had this same problem, they didnt want to pay detention time. After quite a few loads were spilled by the el cheapo haulers, we had our contract back in 60 days w detention pay.

 

I'm all for government intervention. Who here really gets a new job every few months because they find out that their company doesn't pay for one thing or another.

This is SO true. Take MVT, for example. They practically encouraged off duty driving and if you didn't drive of duty, not only did you get really small pay checks, but you had a good chance of not getting any bonuses because you didn't drive enough miles.

It took a DOT log audit for MVT to not only increase their drivers' pay, but even pay a sign on bonus. Apparently many drivers decided to quit once they were told that they could no longer drive off duty, up to 250 miles/day.

To all those who would simply quit, keep in mind that all the drivers who do NOT quit lower YOUR pay too. Obviously, the companies who pay the lowest wages will be able to offer the lowest cost to the shippers. Your company will lose business, ultimately resulting in lower pay for everybody.

If unemployment was 2%, the situation would be different.

 

First, the last two sentences are so false I had to respond. As i previously posted, there is always bottom feeders, they never last, never do it right. shippers will pay to have it done correctly, on time, and professional. Why would anyone agree to work for crap wages and not get paid to wait for circumstances beyound your control? That kind of thinking is ignorant, totally ignorant. Remember brokers and companies look at scores and insurance and timeliness. They have to. will they try and get it done cheaper? yes! Do i negotiate a higher rate when I can? Yes. Its simple supply, demand and SERVICE. Shorts, flipflops, smoking on the docks and ######## do nothing to help your bottom line. Most of the smart ones do leave companies like MVT. Trucking is way less than 2% unemployment. If you work to maintain your score, work for decent companies, dont depend on the government, you come ahead, as for the rest that don't , nope. Ya gotta be smart enough to ask if you get detention pay before you start. Complaining and the government are two sure ways to poverty. What have either one done for the transportation industry? Work on your skills, ask the right questions, be professional, learn learn learn. Its life, never perfect, never the way you want it, but you can and should make the most of it. Americans have to stop being dumbed down and dependent on the government.

 

Even when I dorve company trk. I got detention pay. But had to wait for the company to get paid on it first.
I do heavy haul and we charge after 2 hours.The ld. I just del. I got 500.00 a day for 3 days as the holiday had the travel times goofed up. Cust. wanted all the trks. on site at 11am this morning. WE only moved the lds. from Mi. to K.C. Mo. Had to ld. Wens. so we got paid.
Now I know some bottom feeders would of stuck their trks. or drivers on it for free,but not here..

 

Canadianredneck, didn't you read all those posts in this thread? Obviously, your way isn't working or it wouldn't be an issue for so many drivers. Oh right, sorry, I forgot, they're just "not smart" and only "smart" people deserve a decent wage.