what happened to freight?

Just pointing out that in other sectors pay has actuall dropped in that same time. And yes, I am planning on getting back into trucking.

 

Companies drivers wages are consummate with what they are to be according to the Department of Labor Inflation Calculator: Drivers were making .17 per mile in 1980 and now they are making around .49 per mile looks like their wage kept up pretty close with what they are supposed to be making. The independent carrier on the other hand has been pounded and their rate per mile has not kept up. Yet they still have to compete by paying the current wage in the market, thereby reducing their profit margins and this is why you see a lot of little guys going out of business today.

 

Exactly. How many folks bought bottled water back then ? close to zero.Ate at McD's all the time ? very few. I agree the cost of living has risen in the past few years, always has. My point is we are living differently, using more services --- in some case better , some worse, than past times. And those are the things that can make our living costs higher.Not just inflation. Back in 1985,how much was your cable bill? very few had cable then, now most do. Cell phones in 2000? Close to no one had them to pay for.Computers ? 1990---- no one had to pay for the service.Food items ? We all eat more prepared, higher priced food then years ago. Higher quality food costs more,.These items alone have added to the costof living, not just inflation.

 

Not too many truckload carrier pays .49+
Many still pay in the .30s for experienced drivers

 

My dad started at .11 in 1980 which is equal to .32 today. I was using the top level payout of a driver in 1980 for the example. So taking that into consideration the wages per mile in 1980 were .11 - .17 and today would be .32 - .49, looks about the same as it should be. I see several carriers advertising these kinds of rates on the back of their trailers as well as on their websites. I guess it depends on the caliber of driver you are, I was making .42 per mile when I was a company driver for Celedon in 2008 - 2009. I was not griping I thought the pay was consummate and they treated me pretty well as a company driver. I just wanted to run my own show, that is why I bought my own tractor and did eight months at Landstar before moving totally on my own.

If my numbers don't look correct here is the link for you to play with your self.

http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm

I guess what I am saying is that company drivers will always gripe that they are not getting paid enough. I have had drivers make $100 K in a year in my program and they were just as broke at the end of the year as they were at the beginning when the first started working with me. Whose fault is that? Mine or theirs? I made very good money with Celedon and have nothing bad to say about them at all. Before that I was at Swift making .32 per mile when I left them, I also have nothing bad to say about Swift as well. I just did not want to run the Proctor and Gamble account for them, my choice not theirs. Both companies paid me the adequate wage for my reentry experience. I would like to take the time to thank both of them for taking the risk and making money with me while I was getting my two years back under my belt. I can guarantee that I will never let my CDL go again.

 

Would you think if $0.50 or $0.60+ a mile were the NORM ...that more guys would be looking to enter the career?

It's pretty pathetic that the wages are on track with 1980's standards....dang that was 25 years ago....and the industry hasn't progressed. Pretty bad!!

Allot has changed since then, including a dramatic decrease in drivers lifestyle and dramatic increase in harassment by electronic devices.....like check calls constantly while you try to rest.

 

You are right a lot has changed, no more cab-overs, no more bills and pills, no more not having A/C, no more not having cruise control, no more not having power steering, dealing with wedge brakes vs. s-cams. Hey what about not having cell phones and standing around the pay phone waiting for dispatch to call with your next load, or sitting at the table waiting for them to call you while you rack up a bill on a prepaid phone card. What about getting tickets for about anything that the ICC could find wrong with your equipment, even if there was nothing wrong with your equipment. I remember my dad carrying around at least $500.00 in cash all the time to take care of such things. Yep things are so much harder today, you make me want to hurry up and go back to the old days.

The only thing that we independents want from the old days are the rates to be consummate, the sleeper birth split the way it used to be, and the respect that used to be there. To be left alone by the government (but that has always been the complaint).

 

I'd say there's quite a bit more than that left to be desired by today's standards...but that gets it started.

 

You guys are looking at it all wrong. Trucking has been and will be a low education low skill job. You pretty much don't need to be literate and I'm sure there's a ton of drivers who are elementary school drop outs.

That being said what's the difference between now and 50 years ago? Technology.

People who make the most today are usually in a high tech related industry. Back when drivers were getting paid well, most of these high tech jobs didn't exist so truckers made a good wage but so did the milkman and the cashier at walgreens.

Truckers are pretty much clumped in the same class as those who clean toilets and man the cashier at mcdoanlds, it's how society views it whether you like it or not and can say a million arguments doesn't matter.

Point being, as we get more high tech, truck driving becomes less valued (doesn't matter if the world stops without trucks). Less valued jobs (mcdonalds etc) get less pay. That's the present and future of truck driving.

 

You are hitting very close to the problem. Until I started only hiring Veterans that is the majority of what I had seen out of 21 drivers 18 did not even finish junior high, some not even past the sixth grade. They had driven a truck for 20 years but could not adapt to the new style of trucking. Hated technology even though it could make their life easier, still gripe and complain about not making enough money but wanted to continue to erode the market by running illegal books. When we went to electronic logs, it was basically my decision to leave the old dinosaurs behind and move forward with the next generation of trucking. Maybe the new guys will understand that we should stand up and take back what is ours, our freedom to truck, and do it the right way