Do not waste your time working at this Trucking company you been warned.

I’ll agree with you on that but it is the individuals fault if they’re not being compensated appropriately not how they’re paid. Now if a collection of individuals want to come together in the form of a union or gild and dictate how they want to be paid that’s also fine. As a veteran who has been some places and done some things I am often on edge for things that have helped make this country great are attacked. Nerves are raw with a lot of us blue collar flyover people being told we and our social ways and mores (that’s not a typo, look up definition if you’re confused) are the problem and we need to change. The industrial base of this country is what allows our standard of living to be what it is. Our government already interferes with our lives WAAAY TOO MUCH. We don’t need governmental interference with our pay system because some individuals allow themselves to be taken advantage of. So I’ll back off, you may feel I overreacted and that’s fine. We’ll agree to disagree. The hometown you listed looks gorgeous. I would love to visit France some day as well as several other neighboring countries. The history and cultures are fascinating.

 

Yes, but quiet these days, with the last shop long gone, the bar closed but we do have a post office which in France is also a bank. Don't forget to give me a heads up if you ever do make it, There are a couple of bars in the neighbouring village, one run by a Welshman who doesn't speak French, or Welsh. , a disappointment to me as, although I don't either, both my Grandads were Welsh speaking Welshmen.

To get back to the point, you have opened my eyes somewhat because we assume here, the driving community I mean, that paying by the mile with no extras, is the norm in N. America. Are you saying that this is not so and that many are paid for everything they do? Genuinely interested to know.

BTW, I do know what 'mores' means and read it that way. When many American words differ in meaning in England, that one, which I reckon many Englishmen wouldn't understand, happens to be the same. Here in France there are a lot of words which are the same in English. We, who are sometimes tripped up by them, call them 'faux amis', which means false friends, and there are some American words which might come into that category, but mores isn't one of them.

 

Definitions of mores

1. noun
   (sociology) the conventions that embody the fundamental values of a group
   see less
   type of:
   convention, formula, normal, pattern, rule
   something regarded as a normative example

 

Yes some do get paid by the mile but some mileage rates are high enough that it covers the extra stuff not explicitly paid for. Others work for a percentage of the load revenue. Overtime for truckers in America is not legally required, it is a holdover from Railroad regulations in the early part of the 20th century. Some trucking companies pay a flat hourly rate whether it’s your first hour or 70th hour. When a trucker in America gets overtime it is because of a Union bargaining for it or an individual company deciding to do it.
We are limited by Hours of Service which is either 70 hours in 8 days or 60 hours in 7 days that rolls over each day. So if you work 7 days week in and week out you could work 8.75 hours a day and never be out of hours. We are further limited during a day cycle whereby you can no longer drive if you are on duty more than 14 hours until you takes 10 hour break. You may not drive more than 11 of those 14 hours.
The cents per mile is widespread but often there is layover pay if you are detained for a certain amount of time.
The union, Teamsters, is not nearly what they were back in the 60’s and 70’s. Trucking here was highly economically regulated and wages were good. Our government economically deregulated the industry in 1980 and a race to the bottom began. For a long time it was a companies market and drivers were coerced and threatened with their jobs. The advent of electronic tracking has helped cut down somewhat and it has started to become more of a drivers market. A driver with a clean record and 12-18 months experience can make 75,000-100,000 a year . Our larger carriers have had average annual turnover rates as high as 112% a year. They think they’re doing well at a 95% annual turnover rate. The industry has low points and bottom feeders and yes, sometimes a guy flipping hamburgers at McDonald’s may make more than some drivers do. The main reason for that is people jump into this industry without doing due diligence and find they don’t like the lifestyle. But the Mega carriers go after those types and it results in the ridiculous turnover rates at the large fleets. We are facing problems though because like myself, mid fifties, a huge chunk of the driver work force will be retiring soon and many young people don’t want to work. It’ll be interesting. Personally I’ve run cents per mile, hourly, percentage of load and it doesn’t really change that much. However a company pays if they’re not up to snuff the good drivers move on. The good companies take care of their drivers and many smaller companies have almost no turnover. The place I’m at now, there’s six of us and the shortest term next to me has been here 8 years and I had to wait till the owner decided he wanted to add a truck for me to come here. It is a varied vast landscape.
One thing too is that if you’ve not been to America the distances are vast compared to what you’re used to. Many STATES you can’t legally drive across in one day. California, Texas come to mind. That has a huge affect too. With modern trucks and roads it is easy to legally do 650 to 700 miles a day. Obviously dealing with metropolitan areas affects that but that goes to the varied pay structure.
Glad to have you here I’d like to hear more about trucking on the continent. I’m third generation trucker and recently just trained and cut my now 21 year old son loose driving, he’s been doing it since he was 18.

 

To your last part I have been told that English is one of the hardest languages to learn. I only have high school Spanish so it’s not my strong suit

 

Also wasn’t trying to be a jerk about “look it up” regarding “mores” it’s not a word I’ve found to be commonly understood, it was more a shotgun blast to anyone reading it thinking it was a typo. I used it once on another forum and one guy said he was confused as to why I was talking about s’mores

 

Wait a minute, how come the anger? He's only expressing an opinion. He's only saying that you should get paid for each minute that a driver is on company time.....something that has been discussed ad nauseum here. Many American drivers have issues being paid by the mile. Many drivers have complained about not getting paid for wait times and such. All @Spardo is saying drivers, hell all workers should get paid for their time. As American as I am, I do think there are flaws with how Americans get compensated. Number one issue, pay isn't enough to live. Work life balance is non existent. Nobody can advance their lives by enlarge without accruing some kind of debt and don't look now, but credit card debt is at an all time high. That don't speak volumes?

 

I do think government is necessary to some degree. The problem with out government is that they put their energy towards the wrong things in my view. I don't understand putting energy towards social issues that don't really matter(abortion). However they can't really figure out regs that get every person paid adequately to live regardless of profession. It just feels like our nation ponders only to those with big money the most. Some things are ok, but to say it's perfect, that'd be a stretch.

 

you should consider writing a book , you seem to have the knack , not the band .

 

im sorry .