They need to mandate hourly w/ OT after 40

CPM wasn't a govt mandate and there is no reason to ask the govt to "fix" it. Inviting the govt to "fix" something just pushes more power toward big companies and lobbyists working for industry trade groups. EVERY driver is still free to work for hourly pay, or percent of load, or cows per month if they decide that is the best option. None of us have a right to dictate someone else must give me a job and pay me how I prefer. That's just tyranny from another direction. A truck driver could start his own business and provide show trucks, pay a $100k salary, and haul 100 cotton balls across the nation if he thought it would make money, but it doesn't so they make unreasonable demands and blame others.

 

Would that mean you'd have to send in x number of hamburgers for taxes?

Sorry, couldn't resist

 

I would take a job being paid cows per month.

 

Now this I don't agree with. Some are very good and a person that knows his numbers can do it and make a better living than a company driver. The normal truck driver we see today will fail 9 out of 10 times and that is his fault for doing something he has no clue on what he is signing up for. Can't fix stupid if they sign up on own and not read or hire a lawyer to go over the contract. Business 101 is know what you sign!

 

I own my truck and am leased under a carrier’s authority. I haul exclusively for them. I can pick and choose where and when I want to go, but I can’t go pull other freight with their name on my truck. Should the government step in and protect me from myself?

 

I’ve made different choices so the government doesn’t need to make sure I don’t harm myself. Now let’s look at the reason why many people enter in to a lease purchase. The highest reason would probably be they can’t go to a bank and finance a truck on their own for one reason or another. So if someone has a history of poor choices that keeps them from having an adequate down payment and good enough credit for traditional financing why is it the government’s job to step in and take this choice away from them?

I doubt anyone has ever been forced to sign a lease purchase at gun point. And I doubt anyone has ever been forced to work at a carrier that has a complex pay structure. People make their own choices, and some people end up with a tough road in front of them because of their choices, but that doesn’t mean those choices should be removed. Others make the exact same choices but don’t follow the same path once they do and they end up owning a truck after a completed lease. So because not everyone can do it the whole process needs changed or taken away? I could fail and lose my truck but that doesn’t mean traditional financing needs revamped. It’s not the government’s job to ensure everyone has a smooth path in life. That just leads to handholding and probably drags more people down than it lifts up.

It seems we have two different views when it comes to personal responsibility. You won’t change my mind and I won’t change yours, so I’ll just bow out now.