why the ** do LTL drivers get paid a lot more than everybody else.. Please explain!

I'm OTR regional pulling tankers. I'm paid hourly. My wage if converted is right around .50+ cpm. Maybe if guys would take some pride in their job and rise above a door slammer they would get the wages they want. Why should they pay a guy .50 cpm to back in a dock, sit there for hours, then pull out and do that over and over again? It takes no skill to pull dry van OTR. I did it. Why do you think most "cdl mill" companies like swift, crst, Werner etc pull dry van?
Get a endorsement on your cdl and you will start making good money. Get specialized. Pull over sized, pull hazmat. Something that sets you apart from the thousands and thousands of students that come into this field every day.

 

Good question and some great responses. It actually answers some questions for me. For the longest time I couldn't figure out why drivers wouldn't want to work LTL, but I'm mainly looking at the TEAM side of it - not so much the P&D and solo linehaul aspect.

We (wife and I) drive team. 68 cpm. 6000 miles a week, mainly between KS and CA. Cheap health insurance, paid for drops, hooks, and fuel - breakdown time and waiting on freight at $7.50/hour each. We're home for 2 days each week. It's ALL drop and hook. No unload whatsoever.

401k is matched 50% up to 6% input, there's short and long term disability. We've been given a payraise most every year for the last 7 years of 1-2 cpm. 6 paid holidays, now 7 (birthday), at $300/day per driver, 3 weeks paid vacation and 2 all purpose days. Our 401k balance sits at over $200,000 after 7 years in.

Vacation alone totals some $7,000 each driver per year. Total income - $170-$200,000 gross per year depending on how much unpaid time off we take.

So what?! Blah de blah, money money money. Sure, we've paid off 4 rentals, house and cars - helped out family till the cows came home. But is it worth it and the end of the day?

That's up to the individual(s) - your work ethic, durability, desire or drive for money, household responsibilities etc.

But do you want to do it? Not sure. I'm about sick of it - the money doesn't mean much anymore. I think I actually enjoyed the hungry desire to eat when I was only making ends meet when I was younger.

I "sleep" very little. A moving truck even with the most cautious codriver offers a poor sleep envoirenment. So it's sleep/drive/sleep/drive repeat 5 days a week. As a lot of H&W teams will attest, I'm up at every terminal to drop and hook - I won't let my wife struggle with it - that's my choice - chivalry is not dead. It's nothing to sleep 10-12 hours when I get home. The associated health problems with lack of sleep and 55-70 hours of work each week have taken their toll. Right now I'm battling another gout attack and have run out of indomethacin. There's 20 lbs I need to lose. The cigarettes need to go, and a mile walk every day would be nice. So, it's only a matter of time before we;re done with it.

So - the idea of OTR actually appeals to me again. I remember (vaguely), soundly sleeping in a cab for 10 hours, grabbing shower, coffee, sit down breakfast and trucking along to the delivery. Kinda relaxing, really. I've done nothing but work like a maniac these past 7 years, and watched the bags under my eyes enlarge every year. My poor wife the same - it's not the easiest job for a lady. Tell your wife she'll get 2 showers in 5 days, work 50 hours but be able to buy the biggest diamond she wants and you'll probably get told the diamonds aren't that important.

So - and I've seen it before - some take to this job like a duck to water, stay out 3 weeks and nail 7200-8000 miles a week gross over 200k as a team, and others whine about the amount of work. I've almost stopped reccomending this company to drivers - I used to think all drivers were hard workers and wanted the money, now I realise we're all in it for different reasons, and a dream job to one is misery to another.

As for solo linehaul? I'd kill myself by Day 3. I hate the same route day after day.
As for local P&D ? Love it - love hard physical work. BUT - we live 80 miles from the terminal, and I can't justify commuting 160 miles a day just for a decent paying job - nor moving because of it.

Finally, I'll agree with the union argument. We are NON UNION. But I can walk out of our door, down the road and be doing an identical job for an identical wage at a UNION job - and that's why our company pays the rate they do. Fear. So - without delving in to the argument, I'll simply say I support unions, because I believe they have indirectly led to a better wage in my situation.

That actually cost me $22.00 to write. I oughta be driving. But every now and then, I just get sick of the grind. Cheers.

 

So there you have it folks. A few different kinds of high paying jobs in the industry. There comes a time where the money just isn't important. I've drove 7 miles today @ $513.00. In a new truck. But I'm done with it when the job is over. Time to move on and don't mean in a truck.

 

I believe them to be the best, but I'm on the outside looking in.
When CF closed, I applied at ABF,Yellow,Roadway and Holland.
I chose Holland because they called me first.

 

I don't like it. It's boring and tiring. It's only the pay and time off that's keeping me here.
But don't let my opinion sway you either way. Many i work with love it here.

I'll say this, it's a low pressure job. We don't run illegal, and ABF doesn't pressure us to run illegal. Sometimes they call me up and give me a run that's illegal, but all I have to do is let them know. They don't do it on purpose, they just sit on a computer and set up the runs, not paying attention to the miles.

Like one night I was in the Fresno hotel. Dispatch called me I said go home to Kingman via Stockton. Well that's 670 miles. We can't legally do that in California with the 55mph truck speed limit. I simply reminded them, and they said oops and changed it.

 

Agreed. I enjoyed solo OTR for the first year. Single, no kids. Teaming married is fine too - but not for months on end with kids at home.

The solo 'bag' or 'wild' running you may enjoy - 60 cpm, motel each night - but little to no down time.

I could really only recommend OTR to single guys with no kids. All others I have a lot of respect for.