Why does the industry feel compelled to send all new drivers OTR?

Insurance, Insurance, Insurance... a rookie driver costs more to insure, and the smaller regional companies can not afford the higher cost, so that leaves the mega carriers who are self insured.

 

Truck driving is exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act, which mandates overtime.

New drivers are conditioned to driving 70 hour weeks and working 98 hours on duty when they go OTR.
In this way, the trucking industry tricks them into believing they've got it "good" when they are finally "allowed" to have those jobs that let them to sleep at home. As if.
Drivers live like dirt for a year, then move to something like a Schneider dedicated grind where their hours still get used up, but it's just within a few hours of home.

Fourteen hours on duty and ten off, where else, in what other industry do you find those hours for such low pay?
I can't really think of one, other than farming (which is also exempt from overtime rules, IIRC.).

Overall, the hours, low pay, working conditions, associated health risks of the job, and lack of home time make the trucking industry the most exploitative industry in the United States. It's not the difficulty of the job that drives people away -- the job itself is pretty easy. It's the doing it for eleven hours a day in all weather, day and night, 365 days a year, away from home and for low pay that pushes people out.

Unfortunately, the big corporate players have bought the government and passed laws that legalize mandatory servitude, especially in the beginning of a driver's career, and made it the norm. Humans can be easily conditioned to accept amazingly awful situations and conditions and the trucking industry is no different.

Seventy hours driving? Ninety-eight hours on duty?
What self-respecting people would accept this?
I guess if you've got nothing better to be doing it's ok.

Profits depend on drivers accepting The Suck.

 

nah man, the answer is simply... PEOPLE don't want to do OTR!

The experienced drivers that are smart and have a family could do LTL, home all the time, pension.. free health insurance and make $70k per year.

There's a reason companies like ABF and UPS aren't at trucking schools trying to get noobs like UsXpress and Werner are.
There's a reason they don't blast ADs at truck stops and billboards.
They don't have to.

The good experienced drivers grab all the good jobs leaving the .28CPM OTR jobs for the noobs.

 

Thank you, I couldn't agree with you more, especially on the amount of money for working 14 hours/day, after day, after day, although working a local job doesn't necessarily mean better hours and they could be worse. If people were paid well for working so much, there would be much less turnover.

Why do drivers put up with it? As long as drivers are willing to work, the companies see no reason to pay more money.

I remember when truck drivers made good money. In 1991, I drove dump trucks after graduating from college and I made $13 per hour driving Class B locally home every night. When I got an office job in Boston (using my degree) I initially took a pay cut to do it.

Today $13 is worth $21.91 after inflation, about what I was making driving a bus for the last three years - but only thanks to the Teamsters.

I hate to thank a union, but that $13 local Class B job is now only paying around $18, far less than the $21.91 it should be just to keep up with "official" inflation, much less "real" inflation. Unfortunately, it would seem, the union has been effective, since our non-union counterpart (both under the same municipal umbrella authority) starts bus drivers at just $15 per hour, and the majority of jobs are just part-time.

I'm not really convinced that profits depend on drivers accepting the suck, I think that is a myth all business wants labor to think, better still if they think they are lucky to have a job.

When was the last time you heard any business say "Ahh, hell, we've got plenty of money, lets pay everyone more money!"? Even Apple was in court recently for conspiring with Google and others to keep salaries down - and these are two of the most profitable companies in the world.

 

I stated off with TWO local jobs before I went regional with Schneider. Then again I live near Chicago

 

This career its all about money.Companies wanna hurry up and get the new drivers qualified so they can make the companies money while the newbies are living in the poor house.Every company has a regional or dedicated lanes.You have to ask your recruiter what they have to offer.

 

It's easy to account for that. I can do it in one word... recruiters.

Now to spell it out in case you're not familiar with these beasts...

Recruiters are not held to any standard for accuracy or integrity. There is no recruiting ethics board. They will say or do whatever it takes to fill those orientation seats, and whatever happens after that point isn't their problem

When new "drivers" find out the truth about this career and the rose colored glasses get shattered on the asphalt, the overwhelming majority turn in their truck (if they make it that far).

The rest... well, nobody wants to employ an accident-prone driver.

 

It's all supply and demand. Why on earth would you give a newbie a home every night local job when you got a line of 10yr no accident drivers wanting that job? Newbies get the jobs the veterans don't want. Do the hard work and you too can pick what job you want.

 

Why is it that i get the impression that a few who posted in this thread have washed out doing a job that really isn't hard?

Right from the first post, I think there are too many preconceived notions about companies, a lack of understanding how to play their game but more importantly assumptions that everyone gets ******* by these companies.

This is a customer service industry, not a retail industry. We have to work for our money, but it is based on the customer's needs, not ours.

Most companies want you the driver to be successful but many seem to be crying that they got screwed. They don't take steps in order to protect themselves, the best one is to ask questions when you need answers. Many think that the company is there to serve them, but forget the customer. I've see pumpkin and swift drivers get so mad at a dock worker or dock super when their truck isn't unloaded fast enough - they had things to do.