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I have a good buddy that pulls for swift it's a lease to own deal he gets $1.29 a loaded mile pluse fuel and I will say there fuel surcharge is lower than average and also get $.86 a mile on dead head miles. I will say that even with that he is doing better than I am he runs cat parts from laredo,tx to NC and runs AC units back down so he is getting 3,300 miles a week only doing two runs a week and is home every weekend for his restart

Just because they pay there box drivers what they do don't mean everyone else gets that and for a fact they get way more money than they pay there drivers so swift ant stupid all lanes don't pay the same and that buddy of mine after everything is making around $2,000 a week so don't talk bad about something you don't know the facts about...

 

I don't care what their rate is - F MS Swift and the drivers that rode in on 'em!

 

i can't be 100% sure, but i'm pretty sure by making time jumps into different eras of trucking you're kinda comparing apples to oranges. While they're both still fruits, they're very different.. back in the 70's trucking was pretty much a specialty, pretty much learned it from your dad, uncle or a neighbor. Had to have butt cheeks made of steel to survive the rough riding trucks and even rougher roads. Many of the convinces we have now didn't exists back then.

but now anyone can do it, and i mean ANYONE.. There are accounts from wall street turning 18wheels. I dont know any personally, but i'm sure they're out there. Any since anyone can do it, the value of it goes down.. Think of a cb shop, the only cb shop for a 1000mi, cb can pretty much set their own price on anything. But once everyone and their uncle learns how to read a book and solder a circuit board then there's competition and the prices start coming down. And that's what happened with trucking.

The crazy thing is that while it sucks for the drivers, it's pretty good for the rest of America in one way or another. Believe it or not, we're pretty close to the cause and effect of the cost/profit margin. So with that, we're our own worst enemies, it's just one vicious cycle.

If you believe me i'll give you an example.. Look at the carriers that haul OD. Their rate is pretty amazing. Granted they have to pay permits and escorts, it's still kinda up there. The explained reason is because it takes skill. Well that can be said about tanker, end dump, flatbed, or a van loaded with paper roll stock. But those guys rate aren't that wild. I'm pretty sure there are people in this country that believe it takes serious skill to drive a semi, but now a days it really doesn't, a volvo is pretty much like driving a Chevy Suburban, and i know plenty of people that tow boats, so if they can get across town knowing they have a boat in tow, i'm sure they can make it across the country.

 

apples and oranges aint got nothing to with it. you missed the point entirely, its a matter of economics, if the started pay for a new driver was 23 cents a mile in 1979 it should be well above that by 2012 just because of inflation.

when i last drove company as i stated in 1989 3o to 35 cents was the norm, and now its virtually the same ?

by your way of thinking the minimum wage would be the same also. it has risen dramatically, while the per mile rate has virtually stayed the same


and you should move into the office , your way of thinking is exactly why drivers wages are what they are, YOU thik anyone can do it, and accept what they give you.

ANYONE can pretty much do it for a while, but they dont last.

 

no i didn't miss what you were saying, i understood all of it.. i just see a bigger picture.. did you happen to catch the second example involving the OD drivers?

Minimum wage has risen to keep up with inflation because if it didn't people wouldn't be able to survive.. I remember washing dishes in 2003 for $5.25, or something close to it, i think it's higher then $7 now. So if you think about it, the goverment which REGULATES the federal min wage is somewhat on par.. Gas one just a dollar back in 2003, now it's higher along with everything else.. but forget that, back to truckin and the money..

I get paid $0.35 a mile, i can drive 14hrs a day. At 60mph that's 840mi in a day, throw the rate in there and supposedly i make $294 a day. Which is pretty much $21 an hour, now obviously i'm opting out of overtime because that would make the math that much harder.

Now with that thrown in the air, if i'm making now what drivers were making back in the 80's then either the drivers weren't running really hard, or they were living like KINGS cause i'm sure i can make a grand a week (wide open with my head out the window) and if not i can come really close to it.. There are people today still not making that kind of money, but back in the 80's when you could get a snickers, a coke, and a bus ride into town for a nickle or what ever the adults use to tell me as a child, then i'm not understanding.

It seems like the issue is that in earlier times drivers were paid way way way beyond what was really owed, and now it's all leveling out it's becoming an issue.. It's kinda like that guy down the street that owns a shop, that over charges on everything, parts, labor. Takes forever to do an oil change, and something other then what you brought your car in for is always broke. But now that WalMart and Jiffy Lube are in town, and changing oil in 15min for $40 (donno what an oil change cost, i do my own) the guy is getting upset because they're eating into his pocket, all the while everyone else is happy.

There's really only one answer to this situation, bring back regulation, that way brokers can't take 65% off of loads, and trucking companies can undercut each other into the grave, but then that would take away our freedom to be as greedy as we want, make $2000 off of a 100mi load all because the shipper didn't know any better, or because there were no trucks in the area, or because they wanted it delivered as fast as possible.

I already said it, we're our own worst enemies and it's going to be a vicious cycle.

And just as you said it, ANYONE can do it, and NOONE lasts, either we die from being beat to death, or we luck out and are pulled from underneath the wheel in time to spend time with our families before we die from being underneath the wheel for so long.

The real question is how many out of all that are willing to do it are actually GOOD at it, now that's a whole different topic.

WalMart greeter, pretty sure anyone can do it, how many would be good at it though?

P.S
No homo, but i love you guys, it's feels good to have a conversation about stuff i've thought about on the regular and not have it come down to name callin and someone's mom being brought into it.

 

This is going to hurt some feelings....

No one has to work for those wages or be treated that way, ive never worked for one and never will. Theres plenty of small companies out there that would give a new driver a chance but you gotta work to find those places. I hear guys whining all of the time they had to go work for a mega carrier but they never got out from behind the computer and beat on any doors looking for a better job....its so easy to send in an application online and wait for the prehires.

I the 4 1/2 years ive had my cdl i havent made less than 45k a year or been away from home for more than 3 days in a row. This industry is all what YOU make of it.

 

Mitch, you make some good points.


But, I agree with Skateboardman. I was making 1000.00 per week in 1989 as a company driver with 2 yrs exp.home every weekend.

It amazes me that guys are actually making less nowadays. And are willing to do it, and be gone from home for weeks at a time.

Its pretty sad actually....

 

I'm not arguing that it's not weird, but in the end, we're still on par with the rest of the country when it comes down to wages.. Trucking started out as a specialty just like AutoCAD (digital drawings) it was one of the hottest jobs to have, paid out the ying yang, but then everyone went to school and learned how to do it.. now it's just another job.. Pretty much like PhotoShop, if you were good with you, you could make big bucks, but now they teach that in high school, so people know more about it before they hit collage then the ones that actually have the jobs actually doing it, so guess what's happening to that job market.

Trucking is the same thing, everyone needed a job, one that didn't take much training and allowed a person to make money if they wanted to. Three weeks in school, and then six weeks or how ever long with a trainer and you're making $700 a week, all the while there's people that can't even make $500 a week.. Those drivers only making $500 a week, i donno what to say about them, the only time my check dips below $600 is when i go home for my four days.

But since the market is being flooded, a person should only expect to see the rates drop, or stay the same. I'd rather have them stay the same instead of drop.

I mean, think about it this way, in all other job markets, as technology comes into play, old is phases out, and new phased in. Seniors get the boot for younger workers willing to do it for cheap with more knowledge.. but in trucking it doesn't work that way. Your tenur actually gives you a stable footing.