Lincoln freed the slaves... really... You have the option to take the truck into the shop and wait 4, 6, 10 hours for windshield wipers to be replaced. Or you can do it yourself in 15 minutes. To me, now... this is just me thinking here, I am going to make more money if I spend less time sitting. But thats just the way I think.
No, that means that 5% of the companies are unions and pay their drivers an ungodly amount of money to do very little work. Or it means their drivers get paid by the load, or a percentage. Or it means they drive for WalMart Dedicated Fleet. There has to be a standard in place. In ANY business, there is a standard, a base. You cannot just say to our customers "yeah, we know its 450 miles from point A to point B, but our driver ran it in 525 because he swung through the house, so we are going to bill you 525". Whoops! We just lost a customer. I agree there should be safety bonuses, idle bonuses, etc, etc. But I do not see a future in transportation where drivers will be paid miles driven. If anything, it'll go to percentages. You get paid X% of the load. But then, drivers would complain about that too. There is no perfect solution. And just so you know, just to ease your mind, I work 50-55 hours a week for 40 hour a week pay. Salary people do not get overtime, I work through lunch breaks. So... yes, I WOULD work more hours than I get paid for. And I am not the only one. Because the job needs to get done.
No, it was a high-value/high-security load. I cant remember the customer... As for Poland Springs water, that place is a bear anyway for trucks just because of town ordinances, not able to go through town.
Have you actually complained to a Terminal Manager about a mechanic? Or just thought to yourself it would do no good, and didnt bother. After all, Swift doesnt care what you think, right? I mean, except for Terminal Managers there to meet with you if you want to meet with them, to listen to your complaints... Other than that... Why not try saying something. If someone in the shop gives you some crap, go to the TM, but dont scream and cuss. Just state your case. You would be surprised...
I think people are getting the wrong idea about some things, I don't go into a shop for JUST WIPERS or LIGHTS myself, those items are usually part of a list for major mechanical issues. I will fix most anything I can reach or have knowledge of, I had to show a couple Swift drivers how to pop lights out with just your finger a few times while they were looking for special tools etc. making it harder than it actually is. Anything to keep them out of the line I am in or shorten it *Edit good info for new drivers, if its a small repair fix yourself if you can or at a non terminal shop. Otherwise you may be unnecessarily delayed.
Shrek, I agree about getting work done when going home. But when it comes to like a B service, you might be due home time, pull into the terminal, and see maybe 10 trks in front of you waiting for B service at the same time. From what I have heard, you have to wait until it gets done b4 you head home, or get it done when you return from home time, so either way, a nice wait. Myself, I will get it done when return. When time to go home, time to go home. As far as other shop work, that is done on home time, but again, still a wait, like wait in the line to have them look at the truck so that they can tell you to go park. I would like to see them tell the mechanics, you can not go home yet until this gets done, and see how they like it.
Evidently you are missing the point. A driver should be compensated for doing the simple maintenance on his company truck. I do my wiper blades. Bulbs etc. I even tried to back off a brake that had "cammed over" on a trailer and locked a wheel at a consignee. Plenty of brake material. Junk adjuster. Do you think we shouldn't be paid for these things? OTR companies get free labor. You have many non mechanically inclined drivers out there now. Many have never checked the oil in their cars. They had the guy at the Quickey lube do that. They are just driving for lack of other work. That's what I am doing. I do have a mechanical back ground. I took auto shop in college, and took classes at Mack in Florida at my first semi driving job. I didn't call someone to change a flat. I had a 50 ton jack and a bigazz ratchet to change out my tires. And those Dayton wheels required frequent tightening. Pay me or pay the mechanic.
Hire some trailer techs!!! There has to be over 150 trailers in the Decatur that need to be back on the road. Think about all the time and money we could save if we didn't have to drive for 3hrs extra to shag down a trailer to get to the shipper.
The way I see it is I do get paid for doing minor repairs on my truck: by getting the next load while that other guy is waiting in line at the shop for a wiper. That was my theory while running company, too. The other guy is welcome to look around the yard for another trailer. By the time he finds one, I will have that turn signal light replaced, be out the gate and backing to a dock for the next load. And it only took me 5 minutes to change that light. Yep, Swift's trailer. But my paycheck because I got the load and the other guy didn't.
OK how about having to log your time for training? SIM class, log class, whatever else they want you to take on the kiosk or online? REQUIRED TRAINING OR GO ON SAFETY HOLD! THIS OUGHT TO REQUIRE HOURLY PAY. And you should do it for free for what reason?
