I agree with bigblue19

Truck driving as a profession helps reduce crime. Yeap, you read that correctly. I'm not joking here.

It's because of what you hit on in your OP, 074344. A lot of guys who do the driving thing are used as examples in society, as those guys have screwed up their lives in the past by committing crimes.

"See what happens when you shoplift, little Johnny? You have to drive trucks and put up with all sorts of BS," said dad.
"Yes. I see. I don't want to be limited to trucking and 7-11 if I want a good job in the future," said Johnny.

And Johnny flies right because he doesn't want to have to be limited to the BS. It's good trucking sucks so much. We don't need a cop on every street corner or in every store aisle.

You can replace 'shoplift' with 'murder', 'rape', 'use drugs', whatever, in dad's advice.

 

Heck, you have people on the Prime thread happy to lay down $781 a wk to drive a truck OTR. With that kind of insanity it's no wonder the OTR industry can still, as one poster put it, find " lemmings" to come work for them.

I think there are a lot of people out there in desperate situations who's logic has been clouded by the numbers these outfit's peddle, and just don't have the time or money to do a through investigation, before throwing caution to the wind, and signing up with the first outfit that makes them feel like they just won the lottery.

But if a site like this can make one driver do some homework before saying bye to their life and family for a life on the blacktop working for a terrible company. Then it is worth it.

There is no such thing as a good OTR company until they start paying for all hours worked including OT and the drivers are covered under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Until then there is no such thing as a "good company" in the OTR business. Just ones that are less bad then others.

 

BlueMan, you sound like you too have read Michael Belzer's book "Sweatshops on Wheels". I read that while driving in 2002 and decided that would be my last year. And it was. I even got rid of my license when I quit, as I agree with you and with him--there's no such thing as a good OTR job unless an OTR driver gets paid for ALL his time.

Belzer talks a lot about the Fair Labor Standards Act and the fact that truck drivers aren't covered by it. If I go to a doctor I have to pay 3 bucks for a ten-cent aspirin and 2 bucks for the wooden tongue depressor that costs maybe a nickel. If I'm a driver I can go to a dock and wait 12 hours to get loaded or unloaded, but not get compensated for it, not even enough to buy an overpriced aspirin.

Belzer's book is a great read. If you've not read it, get it and read it.

 

Just an FYI but the company Mike works for now pays you for just about every hour you're on the road. They pay for pre-trip, they pay waiting time starting as soon as you stop, they pay for sick days, they pay for most everything. I haven't seen it before but hope to see it more and more.

To answer the OP's questions for THIS particular company:

How many sick days do they give to a driver? FiveWhat is the hourly wage and total per day.A usual day's pay (depends on your pay/seniority)

What is their vacation policy? Two weeks first five years, three weeks next five years, etc.How many weeks per year of service? See aboveAgain, what is the hourly wage and total per day? Usual weekly pay, depending on your previous year's earnings

How many days of jury service do the provide?Not sure Again, what is the hourly wage and total per day?

How many holidays do they provide? Nine Again, what is the hourly wage and total per day?Usual day's pay

Does the company pay for tolls, scales and phone? Yes, tolls, scales, and they give you a phone card to use

Does the company compensate for all of your time for breakdown/repairs? YupAgain, what is the hourly wage and total per day?Usual day's pay

Waiting time is a bit less for the first two hours (per hour) then goes up to your usual hourly rate for the next three hours and up but you rarely have to sit with this company. They're large enough that they're unloaded FAST (been there, done that)

Safety bonus paid quarterly.

Bunk heaters in all sleeper trucks.

Paid more for tri axle, paid more for USA running, paid more every two years per mile, paid for shunting, etc.

 

Actually I have not, but I have heard of it.

OTR trucking company's where exempted from the FLSA because in the old days they did not have control over the actions of their drivers like they do now. So now it has just become a way of paying a driver less then what they deserve.

There is a company out of IL (I forget the name but it was in the truckers news I believe) that now pays there drivers a hourly wage and has seen their turnover rate go to practically nothing, and their driver productivity stay the same or increased overnight.

The OTR industry's answer to turnover has been to spend money on recruiting foreigners and women and to shorten length of haul to facilitate home-time, but they have done little to move away from the current system of paying at a piece rate. Paying drivers by the hour would require the carriers and their customers to use the drivers time more efficiently. At a piece rate there is not the same urgency to be efficient in your operation or in picking who you haul for.

Claims of "safety first" is laughable when touted by a OTR carrier when studies have shown that a workers safety and productivity suffers at anything over 10hrs a day. So it is profits not safety that drive safety policy's. If it is profitable, then it is safe, if not, it is not safe.

This is proven out when you see how fast many local outfits that pay by the hour get on and off the dock compared to the OTR drivers sitting next to them. When I drove local for a OTR company I never was allowed to sit on a dock and was kept on mostly drop and hook freight. While my counterparts in OTR trucks languished at the same docks for hours free of charge.

Many companies do not have more freight then drivers. It is the other way around. Talk to a load planner who's job is made easier by having drivers held in geographic regions waiting on meeting a customers shipping demands rather then risking giving them a load and not having the units there to meet their needs later. If you are getting over 2500 miles then chances are someone else is not.

 

One other thing. When your drivers pay is tied to how many miles they drive, they are often faced with the choice of making a living or being safe and broke. Get rid of this need to choose by paying by the hour for all hours worked and you would see less tired drivers wrecking their rigs and being unsafe and they might stay in the industry longer.

Safety starts with how a company conducts business, not just how the driver conducts themselves within a business.

Right now the focus on risk management is on what the driver does and has done in the past and not what the OTR company's do to facilitate unsafe behavior by a driver.

 

I just dont understand why ya'll get all huffy when a driver wants to enter a lease program. So what if i want to lease a truck for $700 a month. It's a WALK AWAY lease! If I dont like it, I will come back home to my local job making $19/hour working 70 hours a week. I want to be an O/O. I will never be a company fool ever again. I already own one company. And my local job here, they lease a crane from me that i own. So tell me what am I losing? Why you gotta dog a guy trying to get his foot in the door?

 

Who leases trucks for $700 a month? That would not be foolish. Leasing one for $781 a week is. Why? So many reasons but mainly because it is not necessary and a waste of income that could be used for investments or even a maintenance account that has interest tied to it.

Thousands of well meaning drivers file lawsuits and for bankruptcy every year because they where promised freedom and a pot of gold if they took over the payments on the company's equipment and worked hard. Now they have no freedom, no truck, yet still have to work hard.

A O/O is a driver who buys a truck and has their own authority. A contractor leases to a company who has their own authority. A lease driver is just renting a truck from the company's truck dealership to run their freight, and unlike a company truck the lease payments get paid rather if a driver is driving it or not.

Letting a company have control over your financial future and or business is not smart, and any accountant familiar with trucking will tell you why leasing company equipment is a bad idea. You don't have to take this former contractors word for it, just take your average lease to them and have them read it. I have. Peace