Empty & Loaded Miles Paid

That seems to be the crux of the matter- those who have O/O ties seem to empathize more towards the view that drivers just have to wait; and those who have company driver ties seem to empathize more towards the view that we're away from home and are not paid by the hour.

I appreciate your attempt at balance on the matter.

So what is the concession in this case? I conceded and worked the additional 5 hours before heading home and then got up the next day and headed back to the yard to deliver the load.

All I was asking for was to be thrown a bone for that extra work that was conceded instead of deadheading home like normal.

I saw the rate con for that load I brought home and waited for instead of deadheading. The owner covered the rate with a post-it note.

I got paid the same as I would have been paid to deadhead home but instead I put in an additional day of work.

The owner was not going to blow his margin by paying me $50 from that load on miles he normally would have paid empty.

I have paid $1,000 out of pocket this year towards costs for running that truck as a company driver.

I have sat more hours than I care to recount waiting for loads, shippers and receivers, without so much as a word of discontent- until this past trip out when I spent almost 34 hours waiting at docks for shippers and receivers on 5 loads. That's an average of 7 hours per load [pickup & dropoff].

I'm not going to say whether I did or not, but many paper-log drivers do not log that time on-duty. But let's say I did not log that time as I should, is that not "giving back" more than just "once in a while"?

And it's not about pride. I was forced to wait 3 hours just to see if a load appeared on load boards instead of coming home empty like I normally do. Where's the pride in saying: "Sure, I'll wait with no pay because I'm such a company man. And then I will work another day for the same pay as going straight home and spending the afternoon and evening with my family after 2 weeks out"?

The way I see it, I could not consider myself a human being if I didn't at least ask to be compensated and remind the owner that I'm not a robot and I value my time.

It is a flawed and retrograded industry when it comes to driver's rights and pay. The slump is created by businesses not drivers. Drivers are the ones bearing the brunt of the flaws and inefficiencies that create those flaws. We are the ones spending more time with no pay waiting at docks due to hiring freezes for adequate logistics staff just so that businesses can maintain annual growth percentages. We are the ones spending more time at truckstops with no pay just so that the industry can absorb the increased number of O/O's and small carriers with trucks on the road driving down rates. We are the ones who are expected and demanded to do more with no increase in pay when adjusting for inflation and increased living expenses.

At some point there has to be a line drawn between "taking one for the team" and "taking one in the ###".

I'm not employed so that I can "help" an industry. I'm spending 2 weeks away from home at a time so that I can make money. I'm not asking for handouts or favors from anyone. I am ontime, everytime and I do my miles without complaint or complication. I stay flexible about when I get home and I expect to be paid for time waiting beyond what is reasonable- >4 hours at a shipper/receiver and any time being told "wait until we find a load instead of coming home empty". That is exactly where my "help" ends and I draw a line. If that's unreasonable, then there's something wrong with the industry, not my expectations.

I realize that every driver is at a different point in their career and at a different level of acceptance regarding "how things are".

I'm about done with driving full-time, maybe driving altogether. And it's not the part about holding the steering wheel or bumping docks that has me running for the hills. It's the deceit, dog-eat-dog, crap on drivers mentality of brokers, shippers/receivers and carriers; the pee-bottle littered lots and roads, lack of safe parking and the unhealthy lifestyle that we're expected to accept as reality.

I have 70 legal hours within 7 days and usually end up working more in unaccounted for time for an amount of money determined to a great extent by whether someone else is doing their job- logistics staff, dispatchers and brokers- who all go home at night to their families. To be asked to give more on the basis that we all have to "help" is ridiculous. No one in this entire industry is expected to spend so much more time working without pay.

I'd love to see how well that argument works on the same logistics staff, dispatchers and brokers when a load takes more time than expected- "we all need to help each other." Or even the same owner who had me sitting there demanding that I wait for him to do his job- what if I told him while taking longer to do a load: "we all need to help each other"?

Yes, my only option is to quit and find another job. However, in this industry, on the driver's end, we're just constantly exchanging one devil we know for one we don't. I'm sure carriers and logistics employers feel the same way about employees. That's their problem. I shouldn't be expected to put their problem above my own, just like I shouldn't be expected to bear the brunt of a lackluster load board instead of coming home when agreed and possible to do so.

 

I was in the loop 100% and sometimes that's what makes it even more difficult- to know what is going on.

There was nothing paying more than $.75/mile coming out of Phoenix and the company was waiting for something that pays more to pop up on the load board. The carrier I work for has only 1 steady customer and the rest come off of brokered loads and load boards.

Right now the company may be struggling financially as there has been some turnover and broken down trucks.

I did wait a 4th hour because the broker did not want to give my company the information for the load and instead wanted to talk directly to me. I had to wait for them to call me even after knowing I had a load.

I don't want sympathy and I'm not paid for sales.

I'm there to do my job and that takes up as much time as I'm willing to spend without adding responsibilities to it.

Again, one of the things that small carriers sell to new drivers is that they pay empty miles. That means miles are paid driving in between loads and getting to the yard after dropping off the last load.

It is the job of the dispatcher to book loads that get drivers home.

If I'm in Utah and I need to get back to New Mexico for hometime, then it stands to reason that a load would be booked to get a person from point A to as close to point B as possible. That is accomplished, yet at the last minute, dispatch says wait there until we find something else.

I have no problem with my company wanting to make more money instead of letting me deadhead. That's just good business. However good communication dictates that when you dispatch me to point B saying that is your hometime load and you're actually planning on having me wait there for another load, then say so up front.

In my planning for the last load to get home, I drove more than I needed to after the pickup because I wanted to get to the drop off early the next day so that I could get home earlier. Why?

I was getting 567 miles for the load to get close to the yard. From last drop off to the yard was another 430 miles. I dropped off a load early Monday afternoon. I waited until Tuesday morning to get the next load which was supposed to bring me to the yard. It was going to land me 430 miles from the yard with a drop off on Wednesday.

The way payroll works I am only getting paid on the miles run after the Monday drop off. So that means a total of 997 miles for running Tuesday to Thursday. That's 3 days of driving and waiting at docks for 997 miles. I spent almost 30 hours on duty for those 3 days. That's less than $12/hour. Local drivers and yard dogs make more than that.

Now if I had deadheaded home it would have been only 2 days for 997 miles, and that's much closer to what I need to make if I'm going to be OTR. Waiting for that other load cost me.

My problem is when I say: "Will you pay me something to wait instead of deadhead?" The first reaction is to fire me in a fit of anger.

So what are the expectations here?

Owner= I require you to spend extra time on things which I refuse to even consider paying you for and would rather fire you.

Driver= I should be driving home right now and I'm happy to wait for another load granted I am paid for the additional time and effort.

So whose expectation in the above scenario is reasonable?