"They're hiking pay significantly" !????

Thank your for your service.

 

I'm almost 42 and hate the idea that I might still be Truck Driving in my 50s or later. I see many other jobs around my town but they would be a big pay cut. I tried college and it just got me debt.

I wonder if the best I can do is aim for home daily or fuel delivery. My company also came up with a 4 on 4 off slip seat so I might consider that though I kind of cringe at the idea of slip seating.

 

If you are among the top company drivers....IMO....now is a great time to consider changing companies. You will not get 30 more cents per mile where you are....no matter how nice you ask....you could get it though by moving IMO. Honestly, I would never go back to company driving for less that 1.20 per mile. LOL.

 

I disagree. If you're valuable where you are, they know what you can do and what you're worth. Moving to another company, you have to start all over again having to prove yourself. You'll have to start all over again building seniority, and you will start on their low scale, and may be moving to a company that sucks in many regards compared to where your are. IMO, moving should be a last resort to be used only if the current company doesn't "get right" on their pay scale upon the threat to leave, OR there's a lot you don't like about them in addition to their pay. I can vouch for the fact companies will cough up serious money and make other changes to keep valuable employees they are about to lose. But you have to be realistic about your expectations and factor in all the other pros and cons not related to pay. Taking a 15% increase in pay is stupid if you end up with a 30% reduction in available work opportunities

 

I agree you have to be careful of course. If all is well go in and ask for .25 more per mile.....or much more. Like I said I would go back to I.T. before I would drive for 55 or 65 pennies per mile. The money is out there and brokers and carriers are raking it in. Thinking that 55 or 65 pennies per mile is good is part of the problem.

Lets see drivers start asking for what they are worth not accepting what is the "norm".

 

I hope those few extra pennies per mile the mea companies are raising, will not force them into Chapter 7, or 11 Bankruptcy. I've seen in the books, and in the Trucker magazines were they supposedly are giving raises to drivers. I have to laugh. If a company want to reduce the turnover rate of their companies. A novel idea is to tell the good, and bad points to the company, pay a real per mile rate so drivers can actually make money to pay their bills/support their families, stand beside their employees, not three miles in the rear of them, better benefits where the driver is not paying out half their pay to insurance companies, offer real incentives to the drivers, open door policy meant from the janitor to the CEO, COO, CFO, and/ or President of the company. Employee quality people that have the intestinal fortitude to actually appreciate the drivers/employees when they need to get home for hometime, or emergency situations, stop acting as if your company is the only one who has bills, stop the lies, and abandoning drivers due to the driver not agreeing with management/dispatchers, payroll, and so on, say what you truly mean, and mean what you truly say, have compassion for your employees, show the loyalty to your drivers, as the drivers have shown your company. Listen to the drivers when they have a grievance, or issue with an office employee, or other employee in your employment. Do not jump to conclusions and point a finger at one or the other in a hastily fashion, or be fast to blame a driver for the incident, STOP putting lies on a drivers D.A.C, just to be an ***, or because you have an issue with that particular individual. Maybe if those in the cushy seats whom sit on their ***** all day, would take time to talk to their drivers and be human. Maybe the driver's would choose to stay if he/she felt truly appreciated, needed, and that their opinions, feelings, and employment matter to those in company. Driver shortage, turnover rates would decrease by at least 50 - 75 %

 

Make that a 100 hour work week for OTR work. If we are not actually burning up the 70 hours allowed in the Logs, there is a lot of time extra we are dealing with the loads.

Hiking pay ha. I laugh. No one will hike pay high enough to keep truckers long enough to be worth ####. Not while they are dismissing preventables and druggies out of the industry within 90 days.

If I was to ask for 1.00 a mile as a company driver or a 3000 dollar a week salary as a company driver with the experience and so on the employers will first laugh me out of the state. Then hire 3 immigrant truckers at .25 a mile because they don't know what good pay is in this industry.

No one is taught anything about expenses. They are brainwashed with 60K, 70K, 80K and so on annually in pay promises made by recruiters. But they then learn 40% is gone in taxes, 20K is spent in expense on the road and so on. They would be lucky to have 10,000 dollars by January 1 next year after all the other bills such as home ownership, property taxes etc. are all paid for the year.

Even as a husband wife team, we only grossed about 67K together in 2001, essentially due to excessive interchanges of taking trailers off solos who were late and customer Accounts were threatening FFE to be fired and another motor carrier will be found to run their freight. The Fuel bill FFE paid to our tractor and reefer was about between 85000 to 100 thousand dollars (Information is directly off the ECM of our engine which retains life time information such as total engine hours accumulated etc When we turned in our Tractor, it had just about 7500 hours on that engine at about 10 months old. from 16 miles to 221000.

Not to count the previous years I spent with FFE as a solo with several very good trucks which did not accumulate as much fuel spending or engine hours etc.

The one reason I don't bother with FFE shorting our pay from potentially 150K a year for the two of us doing what work we did in particular by over half and the other was literally from the family. What was left of them. My parents in particular. "How come you don't hold a job for more than 6 months? Why don't you do 30 years like we did?" and other BS annoying comments. In 2000 when one of the parents made that comment again for the 900th time in my entire life, I exploded and told that parent to essentially #### about employment. If they don't find more cheerful and supportive things to say I might not be around them at all when they would like me to take care of them in their aging years.

Guess what. They are aging and Im not the one sticking around to take care of them. Im too busy out here in the south over a thousand miles away in relative peace and quiet trying to repair a lifetime of medical accumulation of damage among other things. That's my own job. Staying relatively healthy so I can take care of my ex when its time for her to go through some really important surgery in about a year. Just like she has stuck by me going through and planning to do some important surgery. I had a Xray taken a few days ago and it probably shows the entire joint for the left leg is gone and will need a new joint installed with the old one chopped out and thrown away after they make sure it's not bone cancer which is one of the things I am being tested for as I type this.

If it is indeed Bone cancer well. Hospice will be called in when it's time. One of my previous doctors had that problem system wide and ate a .45 round into his C section via the mouth to end it at 66 years old about 20 years ago. He knew what was coming and decided to go out on his terms before it really got bad.

But trucking is such a wonderful industry doing something not too many people get to do and keep America rolling. Of all the food, medicines and freight Ive delivered to the people everywhere I hope they liked it. If they did not, I would be very offended.

 

Here’s a great great editorial about how there’s no shortage, just a stagnation of wages.
Complexities of job growth | PerryCountyNews.com

 

Are you the real Forrest Gump?