$20/hr minimum

HAHAHA!! Now that's funny.

I guess the moral to this story is, you get what you pay for. Ask your boss to work those hours and try to pay his bills on that little wage nowdays. In case you guys haven't noticed; we've had a great deal of "real" inflation since $15.50/hour was a good rate of pay. Figure it like this, the average apartment is about $800/month. A person should spend no more than a week's net pay on housing. So this guy needs over $20/hour just to rent a basic apartment. When your boss can afford to pay a realistic wage, he'll also find dependable workers that actually stick around and not tear stuff up!

 

The Bay area has a pretty high cost of living as well. Case in point: your average mortgage for a 4 bedroom home will run you around $1200 a month (for a decent house). Take that same house in my area and it would cost you about $600 a month.

 

The cost of living in the bay area vs the Greater Toronto Area is pretty much the same which is what we figured out.
We were comparing apples to apples so to speak, the only difference at the time was the valuation of the U.S. 'greenback' vs the Canadian 'Loonie' today, they're equal.

 

When I was driving linehaul, if you converted my mileage pay into hourly, it worked out to $28 to $34 per hour for an average 55 hour week. It varied based mostly on which lane I was running that week.

Now I'm an O/O, and I figure I make roughly $30 to $40/hr for my time in an average week. And, that's truckload flatbed not LTL freight. So, don't tell me these greedy, halfassed companies can't pay a fair wage, say $25/hour!! Maybe they should take a pay cut every now and then. If not, then do like I did. Tell 'em to kiss off, and go compete against them!!

 

Which is why I moved away from the city when I bought my home. You can't live a $100k a year lifestyle when you only make $35k a year, and I think that is where many drivers screw up. They want everything handed to them on a platter, and that's just not how the industry works. Having the experience is helpful, but not as helpful as having senority within a company. If you job hop your entire career, you're never going to make more than $25 an hour, no matter where you work.

 

I'm thinking if an employer would pay me $10 an hour from the time I leave the lot until the time I return, I would be doing pretty decent at $240 a day. As long as the truck is well maintained, comfortable, and I could wash it once a month on the company dime, I may be happy. No one has taken me up on the offer.


I would drive the speed limit.
I would never complain about detention time.
I would run my log book efficiently.

Seems simple.

 

I mostly disagree with this. You CAN make more by always seeking out better opportunities. I will agree that getting mad and quiting and then jumping to another equally bad company is not the way to move forward.

It's really sad, though, to see guys stick it out with a company that has paid them about the same wages for the last 15 to 25 years, and they are still there. Like the frog in the proverbial pot. I just can't respect a worker for being loyal to a leech that doesn't truly respect him.

 

His boss probably worked longer hours for less pay until he got his business up and running to the point of being able to hire somebody to help him out. His boss probably kept working longer hours for less pay long after he had a handful of other employees...because it was HIS business. HE was the one who had taken on the risk and stood to lose everything if it didn't work out. Now, after years of hard work and struggling to make the business work, it is finally to the point where he can take home a decent paycheck....repay himself for all of those weeks he didn't draw a paycheck because the money just wasn't there....buy something nice for his family who did without for so long while he was trying to get the business going. But you don't see that. All you see is him driving up to the office in the nice car, wearing the nice clothes, and going home to the nice house. He didn't get all of that by sitting around demanding others give it to him....he took risks, busted his butt, and MADE it happen.

...and no way in hell would I pay $800/month for an apartment. When I pay $800/month on the mortgage for my home, I'm paying $140 extra directly towards the principal.

 

Making more up front doesn't mean you're gonna make more in the long run. My current employer hired me in at $11.20/hr. Sure, there were other jobs out there that paid more. BUT, I stuck it out for 12 years. Now I make over $35/hr, plus I get a full benifit package. Not to mention, working all those years at the same employer allowed me to save up plenty of vacation time.

 

UPS was the company I was referring to in my post. There was no dock work available at UPS if your run was cut because the dockworkers had their own union. You comments about fedex are irrelevant as there is no union so drivers do function as dockworkers if needed.

Exactly. Thank you. I thought my point was clear, but evidently not.