pay minimum wage

Arkansas has a Ballot to the People to raise the minimum wage to 11.00 by 2022 I think starting with a 9.50 jump in 2019 should it pass this midterms elections, I'll have to look it up.

I did a thread with a exploration of minimum wage versus wife and mine earnings in 2001 which ultimately as far as the Industry was concerned a total waste of time and treated badly.

There is a case before the US Supreme Court, primarily towards L/O's and so on. It will take generations to transfer the Industry from pay per miles, no pay for any other hours worked (Even waiting is a form of work) and make sure people are paid adequately for around 5000 working hours for a driver of one running 16 hours a day with 8 hours rest. (These are napkin figures but 5000 times 11.00 Arkansas minimum would come to 55K which is probably under what top hands will make for 310 or so service days away from home. (Defined as being 120+ miles away from home that full 24 hour period for that day in the truck.) If it was a wife and I teamed we will be paid 110K minimum wage gross before taxes. (If we were smart we move to a non state taxed state...)

If that does not solve the trucker shortage instantly I don't know what will. Maybe the Court House is the path forward. It's too late for us dinosaurs. But for the newbies there is a fighting chance.

 

Drivers will never be paid well until we solve the problem of the driver surplus. The Megas have done their best to dissuade as many drivers as possible with poor pay and demeaning treatment yet there are always more going through driver school. The government ensures the bad compensation and working conditions are maintained through liberal immigration quotas and H2B visas. Our economy has been blowing chunks since real wages stopped rising in 1973. If pay and treatment were better in other jobs and those jobs were plentiful then many truck drivers would leave this industry for those jobs. The fact that they have not and more continue to sign up for driver training tells you that truck driving, as bad as it is for some, it’s still better than many of the opportunities available in our economy. We have a surplus of people and not enough good jobs. As long as there are far more people than there are jobs pay will not rise.

 

Now they're all going to be minimum wage only drivers, only paid for 80 hours a week, with no overtime.

 

People are going to be cheering until they see what they will end up being paid, which will likely be less than before. This is usually what happens when the truck stop lawyers get a good idea after their third trip through the buffet line. They see their pay doubling when in reality it will drop.

 

This will only help those that work for bottom feeder companies... If you are paid the national minimum wage of $7.25, for 16 hours a day, for 7 days (1 week)... That works out to $812.00. I'm paid 39 cpm and make nearly twice that every week! And I'm rarely out for a full 7 days... Usually 5.5 to 6 days out and I'm home for at least 34 hours. So it aint going to change anything for those that work for a good company.

 

To make $1600 at .39 cpm you have to drive 4,100 miles. Sorry I find it hard to believe.

 

Said nearly twice.

 

One of my settlements... I have many more... I average about 3700 miles a week.



Heres another... Yeah thier a little old, but I already had pictures of them handy.



Like I have said before... I dont let moss grow under my feet.

Edit: and just for the record I have ran 4100 miles in 7 days before, it just is not an every week type of load. I'll have to look for that settlement.

 

Most people take there best week and use that as a bragging or recruiting tool. Very few people, if any, make that type of money consistently.

 

I do... Notice I have never said what company I work for... Not a recruiting tool.