What bugs me about OTR

Thanks, I didn't know about 'repowers'.

what is 'os&d'? I didn't think about the "how its loaded" but I can see how important that is.

 

os&d=overages, shortages and damaged in transit. Pretty near any discrepancy between the paperwork and the actual load.

 

r_r, interestingly enough there was a guest on Road Dog today that said if he were to start a new trucking company, he would set it up exactly like you described on your first post and predicted that eventually the industry will need to go that way.

We will see...

If we do eventually go to all EOBR's AND they force you into OD/Driving as soon as the truck starts to move, most companies will need to set up as you describe or change the pay structure, force shippers and receivers to get you in and out in a timely manner or find drivers that will work for even less.

 

The only way you are likely to get the govt to feed you is to go to prison. You have been a steadily employed taxpayer for years. And the govt will insist you stay that way so you can help pay for the people who do live off the govt dole.

 

It comes down to the original laws from before deregulation.

OTR companies with sleepers are classified as "Irregular Route Common Carriers." Linehaul and LTL companies are classified as "Regular Route Common Carriers." IRCC's, by definition, just go from one load to the next. What people have to remember is that OTR companies with terminals did not exist before the 1990s or so. Schneider was first, with its OC's, followed by JB Hunt, the Swift etc. Companies had a home terminal and maybe a maintenance base in cities that were frequent origins/destinations. Even with those terminals/OCs, it's hard to pull people off loads. But it IS easier to hire dedicated/regional drivers because of that. Dedicated/regional is kind of a new thing too. At least, for OTR, sleepers are far more comfy than they ever were pre 1995 or so. I still well remember having no A/C in my mack cabover as late as 1993 or so. And I thought that was normal. Most people didn't have it until the late 1990s. And no power steering either, which is how I got my big biceps lol -- bad backer at first.

 

In a way you do have hubs in every major city and that is part of the reason the major carriers started using the railroad, they can use the rail yard as a staging area for their trailers.

 

Awesome post.

It's like going to school and getting bullied. Do you wait for the teacher to protect you, or do you handle your business?

If you have always been a responsible motorist, if you qualify according to the government regs, you can be a driver, right? So, if you're not making the money you want, or not going home when you and as often as you want, why dont YOU change it? If you agreed to get raped, is it still rape? If you dont like being raped, why do you agree to it?

I was in that Petro in San Antonio, sitting at the counter like I normally do and these drivers are all crying and bellyaching about their lot in life. Been driving 30+ years and hate the whole business. This Landstar driver asked them if they were O/O or company drivers and they all said that they used to be O/O but couldnt make any money at it and so went back to being company. He then asked them who they drove for and they said CR England. Mr Landstar laughed.If you have 30 years experience, why are you working for a bottom feeder? Why couldnt you make money as an O/O? Is it the industry or is it you?

And the solution is more involvement from BigBrother? If you are a football player, you're going to get hurt. The very best players get hurt. If you are a fighter, you are going to get punched in the head really hard. It's unavoidable. If you are a racecar driver, you are going to be involved in a crash. If you are a soldier in combat, someone is going to shoot at you. If you are a cop, you are going to see really bad things on both sides of the law. Think things are unfair for truckers? Try being a lawman. Think our industry sucks? You have no clue. At least we have the opportunity to make decent money honestly.

So, you really have to ask yourself, "Do you really want to truck? Do you really want to roam the highway and deal with the BS?" If you are driving because you cant do anything else, then it sucks to be you. I dont think the guvment can make a mandate to prevent people from sucking, but some lamebrain politician would try if he thought it would get him elected.

 

It's not a question of 'if' we all go eobr's, but 'when.' 99% of the big trucking companies are on them now, and most companies are requiring their o/o's to be on them as part of their lease contract. It won't be too long before the guys who run under their own authority will have to get them. Those 5,000+ mile solo weeks are quickly becoming a thing of the past.

The trucking companies aren't going to force the shippers/receivers to do anything for 2 reasons. #1 being that 50% of the drivers out there are nasty scumbags who absolutely trash anything they look at. These people have a business to run, and it isn't cleaning up after the 5 year old truck drivers. Also, a lot of these places don't have the facilities/ parking to take care of drivers. #2 is that, just like there is always a driver standing in line to take your place, there's always a company that would be more than happy to take your load and these shippers and receivers know it. Their reasoning is "Don't like how we do things? There's the door." These megas don't care if their drivers get screwed. Swift has over 17,000 drivers...do you think they could give two ##### about a driver who just ran out of hours at that Wal Mart DC with the nearest parking 30 miles away? Shippers and receivers know this.

Regarding pay: I don't know how much cheaper they can pay people these days...but I'm sure they can. A few starting wages for you: Stevens $.26cpm; Swift $.25cpm; and the best yet CRST at a whopping $22cpm SPLIT! (.11CPM)

A little more on these shippers/receivers. Most shippers are really good on getting you in and out quickly. The meat plants are the worst when it comes to this. Knowing this, the company I drive for won't even give us a load assignment that picks up at a slaughterhouse until a few hours before dd time. That way we aren't sitting very long. I would guess that megas make trucks sit there for 2-3 days to get them out of the dispatchers hair. I know at Stevens, you do not get any detention or layover pay at a slaughterhouse.

Most receivers are good too (<2 hrs.) The food distributors (ahem Sysco) seem to be the worst here where sometimes they can take upwards of 6 hours to unload a few pallets. And you can bet your ### I get detention for that. Obviously I pull a reefer, so I can only speak about those types of loads.

It really is up to the driver to plan as to not get him/herself in a pickle. The bottom line is that you need to exercise that muscle above your eyes a little, and you won't get yourself in a bind.. The problem is that too many drivers don't and try to rely on somebody else to fix it for them.

 

If they put eobr's in our trucks, I'm not sure we will be able to make our runs in time. They will have to redo everything at my company.