Why do drivers have to accept freebies

You don't. Now I your case it may be an investment into tour future.

But every driver decides what his time is worth, and if the compensation he is receiving covers everything he does.

 

I was going to respond to this thread but you said almost exactly what I was going to say. Thank you, I’m glad there is one person out there who gets it.

 

That is a silly argument. We aren't paid the same. I do understand what you are trying to say, it just doesn't make any sense.

 

If you got paid for everything you do, a gallon of milk would cost more than a gallon of diesel....

 

Thats a false statement

 

You can always tell the people who have never worked a performance based job.

I am a general contractor. You are a framer. The home owner and I sign a contract to build a certain house for a certain amount of money. I hire you to frame my house for a flat rate. You have a 5 man crew. You pay your guys by the hour. I don’t. You’d better crack the whip and get your guys moving, because if it takes longer for you to build than what you thought, that’s not my problem. If I see one of your guys fiddle farting around milking the clock, I don’t care. If you see it, you want to rip his head off.
When you get done, you want your money. But the homeowner hasn’t written me a check yet. Not your problem, you did what you said you would do and when you’re done, you need your money. That’s fair.

I need a truck repaired. I come to your shop and you print me out an estimate. You pay your mechanics a flat rate. If it takes one mechanic a week to do an in frame vs a day and a half for another, that doesn’t concern you. They get paid the same. One is just a better wrench turner than the other. The other guy is going to starve to death. But that’s part of the performance based industry.

Trucking is a performance based industry. You hire me to move a load. I agree to a rate. A flat rate. If I break down, do you pay me, the owner operator extra for breakdowns? Now I put a driver in my truck. I pay this driver a percentage. The truck breaks down. I will pay break down pay to keep my driver afloat, but if he runs into a fatality on the road and the road gets shut down, and it takes him an extra day to run the load, I’m not going to pay him for that. It’s part of the business, right?

“But Six, there’s a lot of the industry that’s unfair...when slow shippers and whatnot have drivers there waiting for days. That’s unfair.”

That’s true. I started off in a reefer and I sat in a dock for 48 hours waiting to get unloaded at Food Lion in Lakeland Florida. I cleaned the truck out and went flatbedding for that very reason. If I don’t like it or don’t agree with it, I don’t do it. There are some times where things don’t go according to plan. Big traffic jams, accidents, road closures.

“Oh, they should pay all trucking an hourly wage...”
Like Mc Donald’s, right? Ever been to a burger joint and got really crappy service? Stupid kids standing aroun with their thumb in arse milking the clock. They don’t care, they are getting paid by the hour. Everything is nasty at those places. The owner loses money left and right, and the kids ride the clock until they get fired. That’s exactly what you guys would do. Ride the clock until the owner has to close the doors. So that’s why things are the way they are.

 

You need to write your congressman and get the FLSA repealed. You'd enjoy your McDonald's experience a lot more.

 

Goods in the US have been artificially cheap for a long time. I was paying the equivalent of $5/gallon way before the US ever got a taste of $3 gas.

 

I get paid for every second I’m on the clock-and I clock in AND out at the front door of the plant. So that includes pre/ post trip, paperwork, settling up with the cash room etc etc. I also get OT past 8 hours. But I still sit and wait. I waited 3 hours at one stop yesterday. These places don’t care how much we get paid to sit. Most of them just assume drivers are paid by the hour.

My point is paying the driver for it won’t change the wait times. I get paid to sleep sometimes. Seems crazy to me, but if the company really had an issue they’d go to these receivers and tell them they need to get their drivers out faster.