Witte Brothers, Inc. - Troy, Mo.

As far as I am concerned I AM NOT PAYING THEM TO LET ME WORK THEY ARE GONNA PAY FOR ME!!!!!!!! And as for the powers that be they dont care they probably all drive diesels and fuel up right there at the yard. So I suppose that you could say that you local drivers are gonna have to start all of the OTR. Now you will know how we feel when we have to do your work for you....

 

They do pay you to work, but cant continue to lose money letting drivers take the truck home for the weekend. They are only expecting for you to pay for the fuel that you use to go home...figure out the fuel mileage and look at the price of fuel. Previously they were charging 1/2 cent per mile for drivers to take the truck home, but fuel was alot cheaper then. Why exactly do you think that they should pay you to come home and go to work? If you live 130 miles from Troy, then that is 260 miles per week that you are putting on the truck to get home and to work. With the price of fuel at over $3.00/gal you are using at least $75/week of fuel just to get back and forth to work. Over a years time that is nearly $4000 of fuel used. The rest of us that take our own vehicle back and forth to Troy every week are not given $4000 so why should you? And just for your info, I am not a city driver.

 

For your info its a penny a mile. And most reputalbe companys let you take your truck home without charging. I am not saying that its not a good company I am just saying that its a crock that WE out of towners have to pay for it. As for a cheap car I guess I could buy a diesel truck and make them pay anyway. And I am sure that you get more perks than the rest of us. Living so close by you must get home at least 2 days before us. And if they would make it a flat rate every week it would be different. And we only use 20 gallons of fuel. and we only pay 2.70 at the terminal. That is only 54.60 a week It is a little extreme that we are going to have to pay almost 200 a week for nothing.

 

I guess I was wrong on what you were charged to take the truck home, the 1/2 cent is for those that live within 100 miles and 1 cent over 100.

I dont really know any company that operate like ours that would let you drop your trailer and the terminal every week, then drive home 130 miles and the drive back and pick up a trailer and not charge you a mileage or flat rate for the fuel that would be used, I would challange you to name just one company that would let you do that for free. I am not talking about a company out of state that lets you take the truck and trailer home when empty, or when going by the house, that is a whole different thing altogether.

If I took my truck home, even just living in St. Louis, I would still be charged for the fuel just like you are.

I'm also not sure what perks you are talking about, I normally leave out about 34 hours after getting in, if I get in on Friday, then I normally leave Sunday, If I get in on Saturday, then I normally leave on Sunday anyway. I dont know how getting home 2 days earlier would be a perk, I personally would rather be out making more money than be home for an extended period of time.

I think that a flat rate based on the mileage to and from your home would be fairest. In using the miles in which you do per week it could be more per mile home than some drivers might pay. I will bring that up to them and see if it can be changed for how they are going to figure it. I am not sure how you came up with the nearly 200/week that they would charge you, is that a firm figure? If so, how much per mile are you going to be charged to take the truck home?

Just one more thing. I know that the comment about buying a diesel truck and still making them pay for it was just a comment out of frustration, but, I would not recommend threatning to steal from the company, as I know for a fact that they are watching this thread.

I will let you know what I find out about charging a different way.

 

I wonder if these companies will charge their drivers by Rand-McNally map miles? We know the answer--it'll be hub.

If they charged using the Randy scheme, it wouldn't be so bad if you were working at a place like SwiftQuit and it lived down to its reputation and actually charged by Randy miles.

I remember some of my loads at that company paid me about two-thirds the miles I actually drove at 6.5 mpg. I wonder if they would charge me Randy miles today if I bobtailed those runs home at 13 mpg? I'm sure it'd be "NO". They'd charge me hub miles at 6.5 mpg as if I were loaded, absolutely.

 

They are going to start charging us .466 cents a miles and it is every single mile throughout the week that we drive not just home miles. Marlynn says that it is going to be for every single mile that you drive through out the week. HAPPY LATE THANKSGIVING also...

 

Well what do you know Witte is considering a flat rate for us drivers now. Finally someone is reading my solutions to a problem.

 

I said that I was going to talk to mgmt, I talked to the GM about it on Tuesday and he said then that he was looking into it. I talked to him again today and was told that they are going through with it, I hope that it will work well for you now. Also happy late Thanksgiving to you and have a Merry Christmas.

 

thank you very much by the way you have no idea how much we appreciate all your help I hope it make a difference, Merry Christmas to you also.

 

Making company drivers pay to go home and while they are under DP? Unbelievable.

The way I see it., if the company can't afford to pay the fuel costs to get drivers home, then they need to shrink their hiring area so they can afford it.

It never ceases to amaze me what drivers will put up with. Paying for load locks, fuel to get home, Qualcomm, PrePass, Hotels and Bus fare etc...

Next they will be charging drivers to keep the truck clean and drive to the dealer to get the company truck fixed ,I suspect.

Bottom line is, how much does the average driver at this carrier make a year, how many miles do they have to run to get avg pay, and how many hours do you have to work to get it? And I mean all hours not just the hours on your log.