New Pay Package

As you ponder the "APU for driver comfort" statement found in Vic's link, remember that they mean an operative APU. If it breaks, well, you can be without "driver comfort" until they get you somewhere to fix it. Doing that is a low priority, in my experience. That was my #1 beef with them.

 

They pay HUB miles. Not that zipcode to zipcode crap.

 

doubt its hub....

 

Practical.

 

The question that comes to mind is whether this GTI pay increase is really an offensive play to bring drivers in from competitors as claimed or a defensive play in response to increases by other truckload carriers.

Here's an article from FleetOwner about driver pay increase announcements from Swift, USXpress, Con-way and others: http://m.fleetowner.com/fleet-management/more-tl-carriers-rolling-out-pay-increases

Haven't had time yet to research comparative driver pay at these large carriers so maybe someone with more info would mind chiming in.

Without a doubt, Gordon still has some of the most distinctive, smurf-colored equipment over the road. They just look good. They do. Gerdin's ability to quickly pay down the revolver loan from Wells Fargo and sharply pare down operating costs of both operations, HTLD and GTI, impresses me. The money's there to increase driver pay.

Haven't talked to any Gordon drivers for a while, but when I did a while back, they emphasized to me that Gordon was still run as Gordon, separate and distinct culturally and operationally from HTLD. All had an exit plan thought out if things turned sour, now there's more reason to stay.

 

It also impresses me the kind, the sheer amount of money involved. Travis Gordon claims that competitors' drivers will realize as much as a 10-cent per mile bump up in pay if they come over.

Now, think about that. Gordon has about 2,000 seats, probably 100% turnover like most TL carriers and if driver pay bumps up just $5/day, that costs Gordon $10,000/day and runs pretty much 24/7, 365 days/year. Just $5 dollars a day adds $3,650,000 to payroll. It's a good number to ponder, every $5 dollars in daily pay increased bumps Gordon payroll up over $3-1/2 million/year.

If you're a driver coming into Gordon with a 10-cent bump in pay and run 2,400 miles/week, you figure to take home an extra $240/week before taxes. What's that? $34/day increase?

Remember, every $5/day increase across the board sends $3.65 million or so flying out the door in wages every year. At least on the surface, this looks like a pretty bold move. Well, trucking companies have been masterful at telling drivers what they want to hear and withholding the gotcha facts.

But it's really interesting.

 

I know Bumper is still with GTI and pretty content, and knowing his limited options, I don't blame him. Let's look at the GTI package as what it really is. BS. You can raise the pay to $1 a mile and it still wouldn't matter. Because in order to make money, you need to make miles. When I left GTI in March, I was getting 0 miles. Because GTI was a good sized company, they can afford to have a few trucks sit. The Midwest drivers aren't getting the miles. And sitting in shops for 2 days for a simple service isnt helping run either. Of course they can raise pay at GordLand Trucking Express Inc. Let's see when the GTI guys start really running those Heartland loads on the East Coast and are told that you are to go around the New York State Thruway or the PA pike, adding more miles and not getting paid for them. It all evens out in the end for Mike Gerdin's real gods, the shareholders.

 

The Bombshell--Detention Pay after One Hour

There is a bombshell in the Gordon pay increase and other carriers will recognize it at first glance. Drivers may take a little longer to realize what a game changer this could become.

You know, structural change is difficult. You have this formidable object like the Berlin Wall that resists, resists, resists, resists. Then something changes and a tipping point is reached and down the wall comes in one crash and tumble. It's like an earthquake and the aftermath often revolutionary. Problem, like any snowball, it's hard to steer. May go anywhere except where those who got it rolling intended.

In fact, likely it won't even come near.

The unfair advantage that large truckload carriers have had is the ability to not pay drivers for their time, for loading and unloading, for example. Owner operators don't have anyone to push this expense off on, this valuable time. And, if you have 2,000 seats like Gordon, amounts to a huge amount of unpaid labor every day. What a theft out of your family's dinner table each day, eh?

It's also pretty darn difficult for Gordon to justify. 14% or more of Gordon's loads are under 100 miles, only 7% above, what was it? 500 or 700 miles. Yeah, 2 hours at the beginning and end of a 1200 mile run isn't much pain. But both Gordon and HTLD are short run carriers with typical runs 250-300 miles or so if I remember correctly. Please excuse if I don't feel like looking it up.

Gordon can't justify forcing both a driver with a 300-mile load and a driver with a 1200-mile load absorbing the same theft of their time. Can't do it. Just can't. There may be other carriers who have stepped up to the plate like this. Dunno.

But it's a potential game changer and believe me, when other carriers see this in Gordon's pay increase they'll be just flat livid. Pay the driver for detention after one hour?????? Are you crazy???? Do you know what that's going to cost each year with 2,000 drivers and most loads a few hundred miles???

My hunch is Gordon knows to the penny what it'll cost.

Other carriers are going to have to do the same. Perhaps this is the beginning of the end of a shameful era in trucking where drivers were forced, yes, forced, to work for free. Oh, my, I can hear the howls--from drivers who can't admit the company they work for has them on a rope tied to a ring in their nose.

A-a-a-a-a-a-a-gh!! A-a-a-a-a-a-a-gh!! A-a-a-a-a-a-a-gh!!

Gerdin, I'm once again impressed.

 

Two things:

1. For me, detention pay has never been a factor in my driving career. I never looked or asked for it and was happy when I got it. I do not recall needing detention pay on any of my GTI loads, so the "after 1 hour" is not relevant to me, though I know it is for many drivers. The vast majority of my loads were efficient drop/hooks with little waiting unless I wanted to.

2. I never sat for two days getting maintenance. In fact, my problem was they couldn't get me into a shop to get the APU fixed. And my average leg was much longer than 300 miles. All it took for me to go long distances was telling them I was willing to stay out 4-6 weeks.

I have warm feelings toward the company, merger issues notwithstanding, and I left on relatively good terms and hope those good terms remain next year. I might need them!