If you're new and gettin' into trucking, here are the facts you'll need to be aware of right out the gate:
1. Most outfits don't pay for line 4, on duty time. You'll need to minimize this time but at the same time make sure you're on line 4 when you're supposed to. You'll give up 9-12 free hours a week on line 4, but there's no way around it. You'll do PTIs, fueling, drop/hook, sit in line at guard shacks for free. Unless drivers got smart and go on strike, demanding to be paid for line 4 time, you'll lose at the minimum 9 hours x 58 mph or close to 600 miles a week in freebie time. Don't cut corners. There are plenty of vultures out there fronting as lawyers just waiting for you to crash so they can delve into your tattle-tale electronic logs and dig up something they can pin on you. Even if it's not your fault. You'll see their billboards out on the highway. "Truck Wreck? Call the Hammer!"
2. Most outfits will claim they pay an amount per mile, but none of them do. They're lying to you. You'll have to give away between 2% to 10% of what you drive. If you drive 100 miles, you'll get paid from 98 miles to all the way down to 90 miles or even less. More giveaways, just like the Line 4 problem. And this is gross pay I'm talking about. I've driven 8 months for a reputable company and in that time I gave them 4100 miles for free. That's about 6200 a year. Multiply that by per-mile pay and it's a good stack.
3. Lumpers are a scam. This game works this way: drivers are forced to pay 200 to 500 to get a wagon unloaded. This is the freight that already belongs to the docks, but the docks want to be paid to unload it. When the drivers pay lumpers to unload, the lumpers give that coin to the dock lords and the dock lords give them a pittance of 20 or 30 bucks each as actual pay to unload. The rest of the fees go into the docks' coffers. What is going on is the receiving docks force drivers to pay a rebate on those docks' freight charges. There is no such thing as a lumper fee, really. It's a forced rebate disguised as an unload fee. The drivers end up paying for these rebates in the form of lower pay.
4. Lots of outfits are require drivers to repay sign-on bonuses if they don't complete some agreed-upon time of employment. If you get that 500-dollar sign on, you'll be expected or required to work, say, 6 months to a year or two. Be aware of this.
Some Things New Drivers Should Be Aware Of
Discussion in 'Experienced Truckers' Advice' started by Tip, Oct 31, 2016.
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