Paycuts and layoffs

My one brother has been laid off for over a year now, manufacturing industry, he has an engineering degree. The other brother is still working. He works for a supplier for toyota. He is now down to three days a week until futher notice. I have been cut back to forty hours a week. I am lucky in that respect, but my group is always busy at work. Even when we were working 10 hours of overtime we were still behind.

 

I dont see that its getting any better,My husband is a dry van for a small company that im not sure there going to make it through all the downs.They have about 200 truck which 30 of them are now sitting empty,This is a company that went from a waiting list a year ago,To now haaving a hiring freeze.But one thing i see them messing up,I do have to say first im very limted in what i know about the trucking,But do have some what of a business sents,My husband is lease op for this company,Now it say all deadhead miles are paid,But they deadhead him 1100 miles,Almost for free.they paid him 250 dollars and for his fuel which was about 200,So i did the math had he been loaded he would have made 1100 off that load.Then they tell him sit for 3 days or deadhead 150 miles all for free and pick up aload.along with some other stuff they have done that im sure they have broken the lease some how.But anyways off that soap box,If these trucking company would take the time to be honest with the drivers and driver would take the time to understand that the days of 1500 plus a week are on hold right now but some day soon we can all hope will be back,i think they would found to not have as mean issues as they do.But this is coming from someone that knows little about how the business all works.​

 

The state of trucking right now reminds me of a game of musical chairs. You'd better figure out who you are going to align yourself with and take a seat right now. I got laid off from LTL, and so far I'm not getting much response from the TL side. Was a time I could put my name and number out there and be getting a dozen phone calls a day. Now, I have gotten exactly 1 call back from about 20 apps I've put in. I have a pretty much perfect record too. I'm telling you it's creepy. Me and the wife went to the mall today, just to get out of the house and the #### place looked like a post-apocalyptic movie set. We darn near had the place to ourselves. Scary.

 

I work for Jb Hunt. Ten years. 2 weeks before I made top pay, 45 cents a mile, they moved me to the "regional" fleet from the "OTR" fleet. At 45 cents, I was only getting about 200 miles a day since the first of the year. $300-400 paychecks. They moved me to the "regional" fleet. 32 cents a mile, minimum of 2800 miles a week. At first I agreed to it, the bill collectors were hounding me and I had to do something. It took me less than a week to figure out what was going on. They were sending me to places I hadn't been to in a long time, but places I knew, because I'd been there hundreds of times before. There was nothing new or different about this job, it's exactly the same except for a 13 cent a mile pay cut. I called them up and demanded to be put back on my old job at my former rate. I was told I could do that, but my miles would drop substantially. The OTR fleet was the last group to get dispatched. The regional fleet gets first crack at the loads, then the owner operators, then the OTR guys. I was told I was "hand picked" to make this move because they didn't want to get rid of me. Their plan is to starve the OTR drivers out until they quit, so they don't have to pay unemployment. They didn't tell me that exactly, but that was the logical deduction i got from the conversation.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I can get another job, or just accept it. I'm running 3000-3400 miles a week and getting paid for the same as I did a month ago when I ran 2400. They hired me at 37 cents a mile ten years ago, so this is a real slap in the face. I'm making roughly $700 a week take home, so I guess I'm doing better than most out here. I put my application out there, sent it to a couple dozen companies by using one of those online application sites. I've gotten a few interesting offers, but no one will give me a clue as to how many miles I'd be averaging. Then there's the thought of picking up and starting over. I'm up to 3 weeks vacation a year, plus I have my million mile award coming up here pretty soon, which is a $5000 bonus. I guess I'll grin and bear it for now, but dang it, this is a real #####. They gave me a penny per mile a year raise. Each penny meant 3 of my kids birthdays missed every year, ball games, school plays, taking them trick or treating, watching them go out on their first dates. I gave a lot for every one of those pennies. It sucks having it wiped out like that, and it sucks driving down the road pecking on a calculator figuring out how much money you are losing because of this stupid paycut. Then I talk to my friends back home, and I guess I'm just lucky to have a job.

 

That's a bad sign that a trucking company would do that to a driver outright. If you can't get that reversed, I'd get that bonus, get all the vacation used up, and get out of there. That is, if you are rehireable. You could start fresh at any one of several companies and be making more than .32 cpm.

 

He'd better stay where he is . Things aren't the way they used to be . He will be competing against thousands of other experienced drivers for jobs . If he applies elsewhere inquiries will be sent to J.B. Hunt . When it comes time to make cuts carriers will put people they know are looking elsewhere at the top of the list .

 

Too late for that. I went to layover, put in my app and have been talking to other companies. All that did was convince me your right, that I'm better off staying put. When I ask the recruiters how many miles their drivers are averaging, I'm not liking what I'm hearing. The best offer I've had so far is .39 and 2000 miles a week. I've been around long enough to know when a recruiter says 2000 miles per week he really means 1200-1400. Things are bad out there, and JB knows it. I think my only hope is getting on the intermodal account.

 

MrMustard, you are between a rock and a hard spot, but there is light at the end of your tunnel at least.I would say, if you can financially, stay where you are for a couple months. Sit there and look around and see how this economy is coming around.I hope it does soon for alot of people, yourself and myself.
I have been laid off twice since hurricane IKE and was looking to go back to driving but right now it's no better either. Stick it out for awhile longer and it will get better. Remember, You have a job.

 

Yeah I'm thinking the same thing. I can survive on what they are paying me, so I guess I'll stay put for now unless someone offers me something substantial. So far, that ain't the case. Barr-Nunn has been emailing me every day, but finding one of their drivers to ask about them is #### near impossible these days. I rarely even see their trucks out on the road any more. I'm not going to make any move based on the promises from a recruiter. I've worked at JB long enough to know those guys will tell you anything.

 

my lady at home has been wanting me to quit my job as of a couple of weeks ago when my boss came to me and said he was going to have to hold out an extra week on my pay. i knew he was in a tight spot w/ some repair bills recently so i took it on the chin, i didnt want to let him know i was pissed because i am very replacable and she wanted me to cuss him out im glad i didnt, but all in all im sticking where im at. i work for a contractor for a big small package delivery company based somewhere in west tn. if your sabby you will figure what company it is. im am glad where im at right now, im home every night i get 2500 mi. a week # .38 a mile and my loads are sent out no matter how lite they are, like this last sat. my lead trailer had only 45% on it roughly 400 packages and my rear trailer had 35 packages and they still had to send it out so i thank God that i am able to make my measly 950 a week right now,
everyone all we can do is wait for the 2010 midterm and 2012 elections because the economic policies that are being portraid right now are very socialistic and will kill consumer spending and output, there as killing us in the transportation industry as they try to get closer to their socialistic america