Detention and breakdown pay?

From one incident or several? The reason why I ask is because they are two different things for two different situations. You don’t get breakdown and detention. Breakdown pay is a day rate ($35/day is the lowest I have ever heard of). Detention pay is an hourly rate, usually starting after 2 hours at a customer but ending at 10 hours.

So, if you broke down, it’s not the customer fault therefore no detention. BTW, that $35/ day breakdown is absolutely pathetic. If you have lots of breakdowns, you will have to jump ship just to survive.

 

That is truly terrible. A fast food worker in CA earns that in 1.75 hours.

Stick it out and get a better job.

Heck - babysitting their sick equipment, hotel and meals should be $200/day minimum.

 

Detention should be $25/hr after 1 hour with no cap, breakdown should be 250/day at least IMO across the board or more but I guess thats wishful thinking!

 

Yeah - when we were at ODFL it was $25/hr, until the wrecker arrived with a new power unit and dragged the failed unit away.

Swapping out gear and retrieving the fixed unit was a PITA, but we kept rolling. Usually within 4 hours.

If these OTR outfits want you to babysit a broken down power unit for $35/day - for a week - nope.

Driver shortage? Wonder why.

 

The above posts/dialogue goes a long way with explaining why WE has the nickname, "Welfare Express".

To be fair -- other carriers are of course also guilty of the same $$$ shenanigans. And we don't really need to name any other names.

What follows below I'm sure others here will take issue with....& that's okay -- that is in part what forums like this are for....

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Here's a different way to look at what's happening here, & explains (in part) how/why I stayed at my first CDL carrier well beyond a year:

When a person goes to college, to acquire a 4-year degree, he or she shells out big bucks for such....while instructors hurdle large quantities of info at them, & basically try to flunk them out (at least, for a while).

Thus -- the student is paying for an "education"...up front...& these days, with A LOT of money.

Conversely -- a first-year CDL driver is (even with the above discussed shenanigans) is BEING PAID (albeit modestly, most often) to learn a trade/profession (plus benefits).

Thus -- one can think of their first year with a carrier like WE as an "apprenticeship"....of sorts.

Instead of a college student who's paying out the ying-yang to be "abused"...by his/her professors.

Think about it.....

-- L

 

Think about it this way. If a company pays $500 per day layover and $30 per hour detention, what are they telling you? I'd say they're telling you that you won't be laid over or detained very often.

With that in mind, if your company is only paying you $35 per day layover and no detention, what are they telling you?

 

Most I’ve asked lately are getting detention after 2 hrs. Up to a maximum of whatever the layover pay is. Usually 6 hrs. detention = max= layover. Not a very good deal once past the max. May wait 16 hrs. for the same pay as 8 hrs.

 

There's the hypothetical version of Detention pay (the recruiters are happy to talk about that). There is the real definition of detention pay where certain customers NEVER pay detention so you will not get any. There are requirements like ifbyou are 1 minute late for appointment you get zero detention or you don't have an appointment because it is FCFS first come, first served.

I never worked for Western Express. At other companies I got maybe 10-25% of the detention pay I thought the rules said I should receive.