Maverick and my DAC

One of the things I have always hated was that a truck driver has to work for free. A lot of times this has a negative effect that will continue to cost companies. People will always tend to do less than a steller job when not getting paid for it.
I have been stating for years that every company should, by law if necessary, require detainment pay. A driver is at the mercy of a company. Why would a company change something that benefits them?
The senario:
A driver gets up at 6:30 am, calls dispatch, and waits 4 hours(free) for a load. The load is 2 hours away with a 1:00 pm appointment. Some companies pay the empty milage and some don't. NOTE: Please don't forget that at some point prior to driving the driver is required by law to do a PTI. By law when a driver gets out of the sleeper at 6:30am he(or she) is required to go off duty. If he(or she) calls dispatch and is informed they are looking for a load the driver is legally on line 4 waiting to dispatch. The driver pulls around and gets in line at the fuel island. and performs the proverbial 15 minute PTI and fuels. The company requires 1/2 hour window and fuel stops MUST be logged. Some companies allow both in the same 15 minutes. DOT will over look this. The driver fuels, gets a cup of coffee, and leaves. OH! the PTI was fine. He(or she) almost did a walk around. The truck was looked over while heading to the fuel island to leave. It is 11:12am and takes 7 minutes to get on the freeway. Time:11:19am. The company dispatches the 68 mph truck at 45 mph and the shipper is 90 miles away which is really 119 miles away.
There is light traffic and the driver gets to the shipper at 1:08pm.
After waiting an hour to bump a dock the driver is then is informed the truck engine has to be shut off and the driver must sit in a drivers room. 2 hours later the driver is informed his trailer is loaded and spends another 30 minutes getting off the property at 4:34pm. At this point the driver has been up over 10 hours. At $.35cpm he or she has, at this point, has made $29.70.
The trip is 422 miles and already has a 2:00am delivery appointment. At 45mph this is considered just in time delivery. The driver called at 3:00pm with concerns about the delivery time and is informed if the time can not be made the next appointment time is 8:00am the next morning.
The funnybook:
Some pencil whipping and the log book shows fueling and PTI at 11:45 to 12:00pm(1/2 hour window), trim a couple of miles off the trip and log at 68mph for 1 1/4 hour, load for 1/2 hour, and off duty to eat for 1 hour. The log will show 2:45pm and the driver will float the rest. If the driver does not need fuel or if the time is not critical this changes things. The log will show a 2:30 PTI and fuel, 1 1/4 hour trip, 1/2 to load, and leave at 4:30 pm with only 2 hours used. Log the 422(478 actual) mile trip at 68 mph for 6 1/4 hours(8 hours solid actual) with 1/2 hour to unload. The driver gets to the receiver at 1:15 am with only a nature stop included.
After bumping the dock at 2:00am and getting unloaded at 3:45am the driver goes 5 miles to a truckstop(lucky dog). After grabbing a bite to eat the driver lays down at 5:am. The log book shows unloading at 10:45pm and going in the sleeper at 11:15pm. By 5:00am the driver has already been asleep 4 hours and 45 minutes. At 8:05 dispatch calls with a load.
The bottom line:
The driver was up 22 and 1/2 hours and with paid deadhead made $179.20 gross. I can not imagine why anyone would complain, do you? This is $8.16 an hour. The driver is a professional and can deal with the lack of sleep right? If he(or she) could run like this for 7 days he(or she) could(barring accidents, preventables and drugs) gross $1254.40.
Actually the load the dispatcher called about picks up at 10:00am 100 miles away, the next monday morning. A couple of these and the driver could make $824.50 gross for the week but not this week. Less taxes, company deductions, a $150.00 draw, and a married man with 2 kids is looking for another job.
The driver left on the 3rd(weds.), is gone from home 21 days on a 14 day guaranteed home time, and got home on the 23rd(tues.). He(or she) will get 2 days off and the company will want him to run Christmas. Since the company will want the driver to dispatch before payday the $150.00 advance will be an every week thing.
The pay:
The driver had 4 unpaid layover days which included a weekend. The check on the 12th was for 6 days and one trip because of the weekend layover. The $179.20 before taxes and the $150.00 draw will be the weeks pay. Sorry I guess you can see the pay stub not show very much money sent home. The driver at least got the $150.00 and the spouse got the shaft. In my senario the driver is a male and the shaft is the best friend.
The 2nd check had 1 layover and, after the $6.00 in the hole that was deducted, the drivers draw($150.00) the total deposit was $478.86. The 3rd check the driver ran hard, had 1 layover, and made $661.00 clear. The driver will deadhead 200 miles to pick up a load on christmas that cancels, the company will want him to sit the weekend, and will want to fire him for going back home.
The total months pay will be $1269.06 to the house with a total net of $1719.06 including draws. This equates to $429.77 a week after deductions. The driver turn over rate is high because of what reason?
For the record, this is just a senario and did not happen to me. Well actually it has but not exactly like posted. I have been married over 31 years, bring my check home with me so she gets me and the check at the same time. If Jody has been taking care of her while I am gone I am a lucky man. Of course she has ran teams with me and rides with me all the time when not driving so we get the pay check at the same time.
This is just a senario and would never happen, right? Of course I work by the hour now and home every night. I make a lot more by the hour.
So did I screw this up or has something similar happened to others?

 

Well thanks, of course there was some satire involved. The only two people I have heard of named Jody were females and one of them an actress. At my age if she wants to bring a female home who am I to argue--LOL.
I gave some advise to a driver in the bad company board and he now has regrets.
It has been my experence that few follow advise when offered. I do not wish to ill advise anyone against truck driving. I have been driving a truck, this time, for over 15 years. I have made excellent money but almost always haul speciality freight and I have no regrets. Over the years I have hauled many kinds of freight in all 48 states and canada and do have some good advise. This does not mean anyone will listen. If I think I know something I will state that. If I am not for sure I will state that also. If I state something as fact I try to exhaust all resourses at my disposal to ensure factuality.
I do this because I neither want to give, or receive, bad advise.

 

Well I've been driving for 15 yrs and I have NEVER done damage to a truck like this. My DAC is clean and reflects a driver who takes care of the companies equipment. So much so that at every job I've had I get a brand new truck with-in the first 3 months. The company I drive for now gave me one from the start. They reported things correctly. A backing accident is ALWAYS the divers fault. G.O.A.L. This is the leason rookes should learn.

 

Faber, as someone else said, one of the reasons that your post is drawing fire is because you have my DAC and mav under bad companies. It does sound like you are blaming them. I know you say you are taking the blame for the 5 hits on your DAC, but it does not read that way. If you had my driving and DAC people might not think that you are trying to pass blame.

 

But, why do you think all these posters are coming down on your 5 accidents???? No company would tolerate that.