Milk Rates

Discussion in 'Tanker, Bulk and Dump Trucking Forum' started by Grouch, Jul 2, 2019.

  1. Grouch

    Grouch Road Train Member

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    Out of curiosity, got a couple of questions on hauling raw milk in tankers from farms to the processing plants. Are all milk loads controlled by Co-Ops such as DFA (Dairy Farmers of America)?? Are rates by the mile or so much per hundred? On the average, just how much does a load of raw milk, moving from the farm to the dairy, pay per mile?
     
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  3. x1Heavy

    x1Heavy Road Train Member

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    It's not per mile. Rates are set by Federal situation related to 4 classes of Milk products. It's Cheese milk, drinking milk, or filler milk on basic products, or another kind of milk depending on weight at farm. Ranging from .70 to 1.60-4.30 per 100 pounds.

    Milk hauling gets a percentage of fees each month from farms. And pays the driver a fixed number every week or two on salary.

    The milk in the tanker is a collective from the route. The Dairy will decide what it is good or not good (Keep, or reject to dump) and test the samples from each farm. Driver is carrying certifcation from the state to weigh, grade the milk as deciding if it's good to load or dump. Once in a while a farm will lose it's day's milking to protect the rest of the good milk in the tanker once the driver decides the quality or problems are there.

    Many farms particularly along the Canadian Border are out of business entirely, slaughter the milk cows at a loss because of tarrifs against American Milk in Canada. Those areas will get american milk out of long haul tanking. When that dries up, then we have to purchase Canadian milk. It's way above my pay grade.

    The Coops have alot of power. They organize the routes and dictate what needs to be done across the board.

    Picking up milk at the farms and running to the dairy is a routine clock work regardless of weather. There is no such thing as weather. If you are sickly or unreliable, you will be eliminated from this industry. Farms have their own routine based on your expected arrival time. Don't be late for any reason.

    After you get used to it, it's literally mindless. Outside of your part of deciding if the milk is good, how much is there in the tank and so on. It is easier when you understand the cows are treated better than most humans so they can be productive.
     
  4. Twistin' throttles

    Twistin' throttles Light Load Member

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    I haven't been hauling milk long enough to know about the rates and such, but as a driver you want to get paid hourly! a lot of the milk haulers in my area pay drivers by the load, and you can have some ridiculous wait times at the plants, especially on holidays.
     
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  5. Grouch

    Grouch Road Train Member

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    I see you are in Ca. I certainly hope hauling milk pays more there than it does here in Va. Pay here is 45 years behind times.
     
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  6. bentstrider83

    bentstrider83 Road Train Member

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    Yep. A carrier falls behind in pickups for any reason, another one is typically found and kept around until they too get burned out.

    These dairy men could be quite the two faces. One day they're the nicest people in the world. The next day, they're singling out single drivers at and beyond their property for any reason.


    But, that informative of how the haul rates are decided is quite the complicated formula. So many hands involved in the shuffling, it'll make an average drivers head spin.

    Of course I'm still shuttling the milk to the plants at the moment. But nothing compares to the wait times as was mentioned.

    Whether production is slowed due to an equipment break down at the plant. Or the supervisors are simply waiting for more tanks to arrive at the nearby drop yard before they open more bays and pump up production.
     
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  7. x1Heavy

    x1Heavy Road Train Member

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    I was just me at 21.

    Two faces indeed in Milk Office at the yard. I spotted a note with my name on it. Read it...

    "We need to hire a more professional driver, not a child."

    WTF!>?

    I was on the warpath looking for him for a while. He hid.

    It took me years to give it to God and cover it in forgiveness. How dare he. lolz.
     
  8. bentstrider83

    bentstrider83 Road Train Member

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    If it ever got that bad, I'd probably need to leave the area before I ended up on some news site. Unfortunately, I'm still plugging away with the laughable, non HAZMAT stuff. 14-20 hours a day waiting to get unloaded.
    These skim loads from Georgia are always a pain in the pocketbook. Might as well just pipeline the lactate with the fluctuating pay it brings about.

    Seven years in foodgrade and I feel I've hit the dead end with this hauling segment. Not to mention seeing some of the same faces at a plant I try to avoid at all costs just irks me in a weird way.
     
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  9. trulytex

    trulytex Light Load Member

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    I have 17 Trucks and have been hauling Milk for Southeast Milk in Florida for 6 years. My drivers only "Shuttle" the Milk from the Terminal/Drop Yard to the plants. To pick up at the Farms, you have to get a Milk Handlers License in FL. The Co-Op Company drivers load the Milk and drop it at the Terminal, my guys take it to the Plant. We drop at the Plant, hook to an Empty and bring it back to the Terminal. It is 7 day a week, 365 days a year job. Dairy Cows are on a strict milking schedule and if the empty trailer doesn't show up at the farm on time, it throws everything off schedule and upsets the schedule. It will actually affect how much milk the cows give (I used to own a Dairy as well). I am paid by the load, but the rate is computed on the miles. Sometimes you have to wait at the Plant for an Empty and it screws up the whole day. Milk Tankers are Food Grade, so there are No Baffles. By Law, Samples of each Load in small plastic vials must accompany every load in the Tractor and must stay refrigerated or on ice.
     
  10. homeskillet

    homeskillet Road Train Member

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    I was at an away terminal earlier this week. The dispatcher offered me a milk load like he was giving me a gold bar.

    I turned it down and came home empty.

    All I could think of was the hundreds of dairies I've been to with a sugar load, passing a line of 8 waiting milk tankers, then pumping off a load of light corn syrup in about 45 minutes, and wheeling outta there while the first milk truck in line is still waiting for his sample to clear QA.

    I don't know how you all do it.
     
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