Trimac vs Schneider Bulk

You can't blame a company for gaining capacity when they can and the number of drivers is not the only factor in load availability. I know for a fact that Houston was oversold just yesterday. However, this is a popular complaint about Schneider. Just because they were oversold doesn't mean they were oversold with good loads.

I think the industry is going to have to fully embrace the minimum pay idea. It's no wonder we can't keep new blood in because if they have a bad week they may not even get a paycheck. 138 dollars is what I make for a day of layover or breakdown, it's not enough but it way better than 65. A man can't live in 65 bucks a day. Think about it though, say you were guaranteed say 800 a week no matter what. Would take a lot of stress of you wouldn't it? Make the job pretty decent.

I make enough that if I hit a bad week and for whatever reason get no pay then I'll be okay because of what I've saved up. I make really good money, I don't need a minimum. But let's be honest, Trimac doesn't have room for everyone, in fact we are not hiring till after the first of the year at the earliest.

I just see the minimum as the only logical and doable fix. We are never going to be salary, one major reason being H.O.S and another being the ability to call a road or piece of equipment unsafe. It would basically breed laziness for a lot of drivers. We are never, ever going to hourly, I know some drivers are and if you're OTR and hourly then good for you. According to my inside people at Schneider hourly pay is the most expensive option and something the company literally couldn't do and keep the doors open. I've talked at length about the issue of driver pay and how inadequate cpm pay is when the company isn't giving enough miles. According to them the idea of a minimum has been floated, hopefully we will see it soon. Hopefully it's an industry standard soon.

 

I don't know why you took offense to that statement. Cutting pay by 25% is just a figure you pulled out of your butt. Yes, you can't blame a company for gaining capacity when it can and you have no proof that more drivers are causing the lack of miles. It could be a switch to more regional work. Adding more capacity maybe a sales tool to get more lucrative routes. If you can run a company better then do so, don't just nitpick, that's easy.

Trimac doesn't hire more drivers because they are smart, they aren't hiring drivers because they don't want to invest in more equipment at the moment, ask me how I know. Most companies will expand if capital isn't an issue and when is that the case. Thinking that the only reason they are not adding drivers is because they are smart is naive, any company will look to expand, capacity is king these days. It's going to be king for a while.
Again, I'm not going to just believe you when I just had this conversation with my boss because I was trying to get Firespock on here. My boss is a smart guy but either can't or won't invest in more trucks at the moment. He said himself he wants to grow but is limited right now, meaning all trucks are full and we don't want to buy new ones.

Layover can be used as a guarantee sure, but what about those weeks where you only get short hauls or those weeks where the loads work out to where you just miss layover. Guarantees work better all around.

We agree that 65 dollars is pathetic for layover. No excuse for that policy.