The Boss Say's.....
Ten things I wish would change about trucking 1. Pay by the mile only. I think that a drivers pay should be a combination of hourly pay and mileage pay. By the hour to reflect and encourage respect for a drivers time spent away from home. By the mile to reward and encourage driver efficiency and productivity.
- Trucking company policies against the use of inverters. Drivers need household AC power in their trucks for comfort and economy. DC appliances are unreliable and inefficient at best. I would like to see Companies kill two birds with one stone. Idle time fuel waste and a truckers need for household power can be addressed with the use of APU's.
- Tendency of law enforcement to hold drivers accountable for things that need to be addressed by trucking companies, the dot, and shippers. For example the burden of compliance for anti-idling laws are placed on drivers when really trucking companies should be required to provide alternatives to idling to provide in cab comfort to drivers. Another example would be parking restrictions on interstate on ramps. I agree that parking on access ramps is undesirable, however I don't see much effort to provide additional parking to alleviate parking shortages.
- The long way home - I always find that I always have to take the long way home. I live in central Ohio, but I will deliver a load in Tennessee only to get a load going to Wisconsin from there to Cleveland and then finally somewhere near home. Why is it so complicated.
- Drivers need more time at home - The general expectation of most companies is that you have to spend 6 days out for every 1 day at home to make a decent living. That is just 16 hours out of 168 to take care of your personal business and spend time with loved ones. 16 hours because a driver will need at least 8 hours of sleep in the comfort of a real bed. Compare to 9 to 5er's Who I estimate will have 57 hours per week to dedicate to personal activities. In a modern society wouldn't you think that 4 days or 84 hours per week should be enough time dedicated to earning a living.
- Lack of respect and appreciation. A couple things that I do believe are required for an individual to consider his job a professional level occupation is the the society in general shows a sense of respect and appreciation for the job you do. However as far as I know the Department of Labor still classifies truck driving as unskilled labor. Would you even contemplate having a medical doctor spend 24 hours away from home for 8 - 11 hours pay. This on a good day. A sales rep will have all of his meals, accomodations, and other work related expenses paid when he is away from home overnight.
- Clueless office personal this doesn't describe everyone, but it surely is frustrating that when you really need some assistance you end up dealing with someone who has no insight for what you are dealing with.
- Excessively punitive traffic fines. I am all for highway safety, rules, law and order, and all that stuff, but I am a bit tired of law enforcement lining their pockets with money from truck drivers for trival offenses. Few examples Louisiana miss a scale $500.00, Kentucky headlight blown out have replacement on hand that's great $138.00, Ohio used left lane briefly on turnpike to avoid traffic hazard $250.00
- Complicated regulations that vary from state to state. If we can't get rid of the complexity can we at least get a uniform set of regulations across the continental 48. I am not a lawyer, and I don't have a paralegal to research ever archaic law for the various states I travel in.
- Customers that treat drivers like crap. I hate going to a shipper who thinks it is okay to ask me to do extreme things for their benefit. I mean the things I do are done for free because I only get paid by the mile. For example it is becoming a more common request that a driver leave the comfort of his cab while waiting to be loaded or unloaded in exchange for sitting in crowded room in a plastic lawn chair, another customer I visited has a staging area nearly a half - mile from the shipping office. They expect you to park your truck in the staging area and walk to the shipping office to get a door assignment, and then walk back. I am not exaggerating about the distance, I counted 83 trailers parked along the walk.
I think everything I mentioned would be remedied if Truck Drivers could get the respect and appreciation that we deserve for the skillful job that we do, and the sacrifices that we make to provide transportation of goods that our economy is so dependent upon.
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You're right about the points you make. I agree with you completely on all counts. My thoughts on these: 1. 500 miles @ .40/mile = $20/hr. You probably worked for 16 hours to earn that, so it's $12.50/hr. Oh, you were actually out for 24 hours? 8.33/hr. 2. I think they believe inverters harm the truck's electrical system. I don't know where they got that idea. 3. This is related to number 10 also. There is a tendency to beat on the guy in the truck because he's "there." This applies to law enforcement, shippers, receivers, etc… 4. It’s complicated because dispatchers are lazy. It should be a prerequisite to be a driver first. Nobody should ever act in the capacity of dispatcher unless he has at least 2 years of driving experience. 5. Truck lines only make money when the trucks are moving, Letting you have even 1 day off is a major concession to your being a human. If they could figure out a way to eliminate even that 1 day, they would, the greedy bastards! 6. This pretty well explains all the rest of the points. I suppose everybody still holds the stereotype of the truck driver as a big, ugly, greasy, cigar-chomping oaf. Nobody I know who drives fits that mold. Maybe just 1 guy, but he smokes cigarettes, not cigars. 7. I remember one in particular who was a real "box-o-rocks." The people who have the real authority like to hide behind these folks, since they can make all kinds of bad decisions, order the underlings to do or say this or that, and then blame them for the problems, or at the very least blame it on miscommunication. 8. Trucks are big vehicles. Shouldn't their fines be bigger? This is just stubborn, deliberate ignorance on the part of politicians. 9. See number 8, above. 10. More stubborn, deliberate ignorance. A decent shipper would have a CB at least.
1. Could you explain a feasible way for drivers to be paid by the mile and per hour and still allow the company to make a profit? 4. It is probably difficult because of a lazy dispatcher, or it could be a lack of freight out of the area you are in going close to your home in Ohio. I'm not sure as I haven't ever dealt with finding freight going to your home base. 5. I would say you probably have to spend 5 days out for every 2 at home. You simply can't compare trucking to a 9-5 job. Trucking is and always will be different from a regular job. It is a time consuming and often demanding job but if you want to drive that's what you've signed up for. My father has been a owner/operator for 40+ yrs, several times he has had multiple trucks and hired drivers. He still works as hard as any of his past drivers and harder than many. We try to make sure when we have drivers that they are given the time off when they need it for something specific as well as regular home time. However, there are exceptions to any rule. If one of our customers has a load that has to be delivered at a certain time/date and you are the only one here than guess what you will be the one taking it. 6. Lack of appreciation and respect is often caused by drivers themselves (including owner/operators). If you don't bathe regularly or if you verbally abuse those around you or if you don't keep your truck looking decent or if you are an aggressive driver on the road, these and many others give people reason to treat you with a lack of respect or appreciation. Granted by and large these drivers are in the minority but the minority causes the majority to view you as they do. I have the greatest respect for truckers but I've met quite a few that if it weren't for knowing Dad and his friends I would've formed a very different opinion. 7. Yes it is. 8. Definitely agree, there shouldn't be laws made concerning trucking by people that have no idea what entails to be a trucker. Can you say log requirements? 9. Pretty much 10. As far as the walking goes I would say that's just something that happens sometimes. They could probably come up with a different strategy that would remove that walk but apparently it works for them. As for the other, does your company not have someone you could inform of those types of things and they could have one of their reps explain to the customer that you aren't responsible for those 'extreme' things? What happens if you say no? I don't understand why they want you to sit in a room instead of the cab of your truck. Is there some type of safety concern? Again, yes it is a required, skilled job that you complete for consumers and businesses alike. However, as stated earlier it is often the few who ruin it for the many.