This is what change should look like. Will you do it?

I was almost with you until you got silly..."Add up the hours….Most of you are lucky
to be getting minim wage…"

 

Ok Ed. I want to know how to fix this. Get to shipper or receiver and the industry standard 2 hours free is enacted. Happens everyday in nearly all forms of trucking. Why do we work free for 2 hours? Regional large and small carriers are doing this all day long. Help me understand how this happened.

 

From what perspective do you want to fix it from? And who is "we"? For employee drivers you work under the conditions of your employment arrangement with your employer. Some employers pay their drivers when they wait and some don't. If you work as an employee for a company that doesn't compensate you for time at all and only for miles then you can see if you can have that changed at your company. If you can't then your other option is to seek employment at another company with a more appealing compensation package.

If you're asking from a carrier's perspective then the issue can be addressed in the carrier's contracting.

 

Something a carrier could do to pay employee drivers for the two hour load/unload time is pay their drivers a few cents less per mile in order to give them a load/unload wait time paymet. This might change how drivers feel about their compensation but it wouldn't change the overall compensation. Would that appeal to you?

 

We're not paid what we're worth. . We're paid what we can be replaced for.

The CDL mills need to go away.

 

Carriers could, and do, say the same thing.

 

Well Ed. I think we need to establish some facts. No situation covers every scenario. If we believe as drivers, the industry norm says we will give up some amount of time for free to either load or unload. I believe this to be a fact. You say maybe not. We can disagree about that. However if I am correct then to seek another employer in an industry that allows this courtesy labor, I will change companies only to find similar situations. Not always but I think often. I have been around trucks and trucking enough to hear people explain how their pay works. Far too many sit for free sometimes. I think we should try and change the industry to thinking that is never OK. That starts by individual choice of saying I won't let my employer do that to me. Lets be truthful drivers, are there times when you don't get paid for the work you do? Are you OK with that? I'm not.

 

The two hours of "free" time is common industry practice. We don't disagree on that. But, at least in business, nothing is free. So calling it "free" time is a misnomer. So if you understand that then drivers are paid for their wait time but it isn't separated out from their mileage pay. That's why I asked a few posts back would you like to be paid a little less per mile in order to be "paid" for your loading and unloading time. If I pay you $1,000 to do a job for me and you agree and do it for that amount I could care less how you want to break it down for yourself I only cared about what the price is so I can pay for the service. You can call it $1 for linehaul and $999 for looking good while you do it. It doesn't really matter.

There is no reason to change companies only to find similar situations. That shows you didn't look before making the change. Do your homework on who you're considering going to work for and that will help you find a better employer. Finding a good OTR job that compensates you separately for all your activities will be quite a challenge. You might find you're not even happy with the amount they're willing to pay for detention. There is a certain amount of where these conditions are just the "nature of the beast" and if you don't like it you're better off finding a different gig for yourself rather than trying to transform the "beast."

Drivers can calculate their earnings per hour even if they're only compensated per mile. Whether they like that number or not is an individual judgement but the calculation is easy enough to do.

Jaguar115 wants less drivers to be able to enter the market. You (TP Hauler) want to change the method of driver compensation. That's just two people. You both probably agree with the emotional feel of the original post and already we don't really have agreement on what the problem is or what should be changed. Add more people to the conversation for more disagreement and conflicting opinions. Which takes me back to each individual needs to find their own best solution because some sort of national cross-company driver union isn't going to happen. I know there is one, but it's still a company by company thing and they're not making progress in OTR or regional. Or if you still insist on "changing the industry" then have you tried unionizing your company drivers yet? If not, why? You'll get more done doing that then posting general rhetoric to drivers on the internet that don't even work for the same employer.

 

the teacher with a masters degree making $30000 to start in Greenland Nh
isn't paid what she is worth
Commercial Fishing crews work for a % of the catch they catch nothing they make nothing
millions of americans are salaried employees paid for 40 hours
and work 50-60
is a farmer paid what he is worth?

I will make over $60000 this year with health insurance
and happily work till job is done

if the complainers cant do the job better to rise above the cdl mill rookies
for more pay or at least working less for same pay
that isn't the cdl mills fault

 

Actually Walmart pretty much has it right. As I understand it you are paid mileage when you are driving, hourly when you are loading or unloading and a lump sum for every night you sleep in the truck. This recognizes not simply all the time you are working but also the hardship of being away from home. Of course, you could think that you are getting paid good enough mileage pay that it compensates you for the hardship of being away from home, but I think separating it out as an item seems right.

Another way to look at this is to ask where could a working guy without a degree or advanced technical training of some sort earn the $50-70k that an experienced OTR can expect to earn? If most of us went looking for a working class job other than driving we would end up earning significantly less that we are now.