Freight demand slowing down

Patty , you know I still luv ya ! No matter how you speel LOL

 

Yes , a little more. But back to my example as an apprentice mechanic, where I worked the apprentices made less than half of what the full mechanics made and we had to do the dirtiest, most physical, backbreaking jobs and whatever the full mechanics did. We were in training so that's just how it works. And training would have been 5 years of getting screwed, not just a few weeks. So I left.

 

I understand. Those are the ones that get paid less.

 

Did someone suggest .25 cpm would be ok if the miles were there?? Please tell me that was a typo??!!

{I don't agree with this next reality}, however, the LTL world pays better than the OTR world, IMO it should be different but its not. Maybe it's the money grubbing middle people (brokers)....OR the willingness for some to drive for .25 CPM??

What is a persons self worth? Can that be determined by the way they spell OR smell? To a point, but on this road with big carriers, they just want the freight hauled and if you pass the required tests, your hired! Ultimately they don't have to smell ya!

Mom and pop operations will pay more and expect more, thus a person that has a higher sense of self worth will filter to those places. Just like those who are real "bottom feeders" will filter to the bottom carriers.

At the end of the day, how much are you willing to put up with to move the freight? AND, what are you willing to accept as compensation to move said freight?

As for me, I have an EXTREMELY HIGH sense of self worth! I don't accept the average and think a livable wage is more in the 90-100k/yr range. However, I am thankful for the ones who have a lessor sense of self worth, it reminds me of one of the few things we still have control over: FREE WILL!

Always leave yourself in a position (whatever that requires) to make your own choice, don't allow others to dictate your fate!

 

I knw imma great speeler ain't I?
I

 

The absoloot beast.

 

What you think you are worth and what you accept to work for is up to you. If you need that big money for your lifestyle go for it. But to say a livable wage is 100k is crazy. It takes nowhere near 100k for the basic needs of life, unless you have 5 kids or more. There are a whole lot of people living on a lot less than that and making it just fine. about 30k is a livable wage for a single person. 40 to 60k is livable for an average family, depending on how many kids. These may not be acceptable wages to you, but are in fact by definition livable wages as taken from an mit study, and those numbers are for cook county IL, which has a high cost of living.

 

LTL pays what it does because thats how much needs to be paid to get drivers to deliver the loads, simple as that. Less people are willing to work LTL even though it pays more because they dont want to sit in traffic, navigate ####ty roads, and (mostly older) guys dont want to have to touch the freight.

Theres more to it of course... local guys have higher living expenses in general (higher rent, utilities, car payment and gas for commuting, etc). While OTR guys can rent the cheapest place available in a rural town or cut out the entire expense of having a home entirely.

Like most things in capitalism, it comes down to what the market demands, any sense of fairness etc has nothing to do with it.

 

I'm loooken at your avatar is it upside down pr is my eyeballs playing tricks on me?

 

I have never worked OTR. But it seems that both local and otr have unique challenges. Local you have #### traffic, multiple stops per day, multiple time commitments per day, in some cases unloading by hand with liftgate or ramp, and a lot of tight turns streets and parking lots. But OTR you have to deal with living in the truck, being away from home, truckstops, and higher risk in bad weather in rural areas. I know that is an over simplification, bet the general point is that they are very different but challenging in their own way. But one thing is for sure you dont see too many guys getting out of ltl trucks in flip flops, sweats and a dago t.