Trucker wages...decreasing as time goes by.

May I ask which town that was? I also grew up in West Texas, and it was a wonderful experience.

 

Who are you working for or if you don't want to say, what sector (OTR, LTL, flatbed, etc. etc.)?

 

If they paid more money, turnover would not be that much of a problem. I worked in the postal service for 16 years and people never quit that job because the money and benefits are great for what you do.

Trucking is a different animal though, they work the crap out of you with all the hours and when you add it up, you're not really making much more than someone who works in retail or fast food. Of sure, you get the privilege of being able to work 70 hours a week, but who really wants to do that?

Especially when you see what the CEO's of the trucking companies make and notice the expensive vehicles in the reserved parking spots at the corporate office. All of that excess comes because of the short changing of the driver on wages and benefits. The buck stops at the driver level, hell you have to fight and argue just to get detention pay at times. Not to mention the liability of being sued, which is something that they never mention, ever.

Of course, there are the corporate stooges out there who will say I'm wrong, but whatever man. No one will change my opinion of the corporate greed going on every where you care to look. Hell, just let the illegal aliens drive the trucks for 5 cents per mile, I don't have any skin in the game, so I don't care how the game is played or ends.

 

I am so board this morning.

I have to distract myself from a driver accident issue that has me up since 1am, so I’ll ramble on.

Sorry there is a hell of a lot more to driver retention than money.

try hiring quality drivers and see what they really want, it isn’t money.

One means of retention is caring about the driver, I have had three accidents to deal with in July, one of them was almost fatal. I take steps to have a difference from other companies for the drivers, like backing them up, supporting them and their family when something happens like an accident and respecting their decisions.

The last accident I had to deal with, I flew people out there to help the family, I paid for the drivers family stay in a hotel and provided other support to them. I even paid the driver for the load he could not deliver and paying him for a while as he recovers.

that is a little of what I do to retain drivers, drivers who are excellent and hard to find.

and it isn’t about money.

sorry but you are wrong.

here is why …


There are two parts to a trucking company, one and most important is managing of the company not the driver driving a truck.

Without managing the company and limiting the liabilities that are done through management of the company resources the company doesn’t last long.

the driver is an important part but not the most important. The driver is one person or resource in long line of resources to provide a revenue stream.

no matter if the driver is an owner operator or company driver, there is management of the resources involved.

the ceo is the responsible party for all of it, it is his job to ensure the driver has work and his effort is compensated when he is successful.

the real problem is if we want to see the driver respected by the company, then we have to stop the super easy access to the industry and the amount of money being made by the driver unless they earn it by being professional.

Here is what I mean.

I started when the most you needed to be a trucker was a truck and a enhanced drivers license - my state had created a profit center through what is called a chauffeurs license, most other states never had anything at all.

when I started, it was a profession by the fact that drivers did the work usually never didn’t do anything else and treated it as a profession with pride.

when I started, I had two family members owing fleets, one local and one otr. They were also drivers with sixty or better employees, no office staff and the same girl who did their books for both operations.

the burden of liabilities were small, people didn’t have trail lawyers advertising for clients to crash their cars into semi trucks.

Now there is a huge liability in the industry, it has become complex because of the regulations and new economy.

now people don’t want to know how to better themselves, they want to know what other people make and demand to get that amount of money,

but what about the driver, theg are being screwed because they work so hard?

Wrongo!

drivers now have the easiest time, they have Cadillac type rides, most sleep in home like comfort and they have limited working hours, yes you read it, less working hours,

in fact they even make more now than ever before, they really do.

this is one of the very few industry where it comprises of a simple license and very little education.

to be exact, outside of some service industry work (burger flipping), this is one of a couple places where someone can quit high school, doesn’t have to have much in reading skills, doesn’t need to speak English fluently and can find long term employment making between $50,000 and $100,000.

Take a formerly equivalent job, auto worker. I remember my friends brother quit high school in January of 1965, he bummed around for six months and he dad kicked him out of the house, he went to work at an auto parts store which allowed him to return home by paying rent. he applied to GM for a line job because they were begging for people. He worked at GM at different plants until he retired in 1996, with a great pension. He just died a few months back after enjoying life. Most auto companies now require more of a high school education, in many cases assembly line job require a minimal 2 year college degree.

The same was with medical related jobs. My aunt retired as a nurse after 50 years of being on the job at the same hospital with exceptions of four years overseas as an army nurse. She became an apprentice by just applying for a job, she did it on her lunch hour and was hired that day. It took her 8 months to earn her nurses license and had a good career without the crap they have to do today.

 

EXACTLY!!
I quit my last job of 9 years about 2 months ago. Wages were great, benefits were great, co workers were great, equipment was good, management sucked! At monthly meetings, we would talk about the same issues we were having for YEARS! Never fixed.They worried more about the company image.Instead of fixing the problems, which might have encouraged me to stay, the shipping supervisor was all wound up on getting the drivers nice jackets and shirts! To show others what a great company it was. Throwing money all over the place, instead of listening to the people who were telling you what is wrong.
New job was less money, and older truck, and more hours. But so far, I love it! Great company, great management, great co workers.There are issues, but they are legitimately trying to deal with them.

 

This discussion seems to be divided into 2 parts.
Group A agrees with the conclusions of the article that truckers are underpaid to the tune of up to 50% less (adjusted for inflation) than in 1980
Group B seems to think that truckers make all kinds of money now, if they don't they are just plain lazy.
Soooo, which is it?
Were truckers way overpaid before 1980? And wages now are in line with the skill set, education and responsibilities?

And let's not leave out the other major industries that were deregulated at the same time, Airlines and Telecommunications, and the impacts on the salaries in those businesses. Average pay for a regional airline pilot now is about the same as a truck driver today. He/she has to have a college degree and thousands of hours of training and flight time to get hired.
Or the shift overseas of millions of jobs.
The bottom line is most working class people in this country are making less money adjusted for inflation than in 1980. A declining standard of living with more and more people chasing a shrinking piece of the pie. And it shows. Homelessness, disregard of the rule of law, generally uncivilized behaviors accepted as the norm, uneven reward $ that doesn't corelate with the needs of a productive society.

Rant over.

 

Homelessness, disregard of the rule of law, generally uncivilized behaviors accepted as the norm, uneven reward $ that doesn't corelate with the needs of a productive society.

How true is THIS? ....... Very True.

 

Both. Company drivers, for the most, are under paid. O/I are making good money. If they don't take cheap loads. Even leased on to a mega.

 

I prefer not to reveal the company. It’s OTR and I run all parts of the country. I prefer that to local, but in my local are I found a couple jobs that can keep someone close to home for great pay, well above the area cost of living.

With respect to declining wages, it’s something that is happening in most sectors, but trucking, like other jobs, still have plenty of good paying jobs. Yeah some aren’t so great, but I’ve always thought of those as stepping stones.

 

***********************************This is for VA CDL Holder**************************************

I think if you could last 6 months, then explain to your company why you are going to stop, the reasons, you live abroad being the main one. Do you think that might help you? I understand the 4 month, sweet spot of the year and that alone burns you out. Everyone gets that. I have 5+ years broken up over 16 years. I have 1 ticket for 10 over in calif in 2018. I am getting to the point of having to restart or forget about it stage. We have enough in savings, and other accts, to cover our monthly expenses now until social security kicks in, but I don't trust the gobberment at present, my wife says NO, don't do it, but I am leaning on doing 1 more year in case we lose our nest egg. This country is spending/borrowing right now like Never B4. My social security might not be enough. Anyways, I drifted away here, but maybe you can go 6 months? See about that. I think all you need to do is get your Medical Card and then your CDL is restored. As you know you have to pass the driving/backing range again. So as long as you can do those, pass your Medical exam. I don't know the covid travel conditions in your place. Seem like that might be an bigger hurdle. They are really over playing their covid hand aren't they? Most countries use Hydroxychloriquine at the start and 97% recover and are fine. Philippines seems to have very low death rates. We (USA) lost huge in the Senoir Population, especailly the Nursing Homes, super heavy weights, diabetes, heart/lung disorders. Some countries do not place elderly in those settings, so tremendously lower death rates. These posts are so hard to comment on because the subject of 99% require the response of a much broader, more elaborate answer(s). My response to your post here doesn't stay on just your salary/wages, up or down. So I would like to apologize to the readers for doing so, okay? Thank you.