truckers look out

[ben45750]

Also...... watch crude hit $100 a barrel today. Think thats going to help us?

Choperbob is right, we need look out because it's going to hit us hard.

[choperbob]

yeah, a union will not do anything good except cost us, the drivers. just the situation is getting bad, for all of us. smarter minds than mine will have to come up with a workable solution. lots of good ideas are out there. hos changes, well i dunno. fuel price breaks? who knows.

[Drew10]

ben 45750 said:

Logging 100% legal isn't going to raise rates or make things better for us. It will cause a demand to put more trucks on the road to cover the extra freight.

I disagree. Do you hire more employees to compensate for an underproductive employer, that is the analogy. Assuming Im giving 150% of my time, (productive)(fuzzy math, because Im "hiding hours" we are talking HOS) and now Im giving 100%, staying within the boundries of the HOS, (relatively speaking, underproductive)and Logging it like I do it.
So do you "hire" more employees to compensate for the "underproductive employees. Hardly....
If your company has a truck and driver that is only producing half as much as previously, you do not purchase another truck and hire another driver to "pick up" the slack of the less productive truck and driver, NO WAY.
Now thinking in our senario, if everybody ran legal and are only giving 100%, well, they cannot terminate you for underproductivity, (remember everybodys logging legal, and staying within the boundries of the HOS. Companies cannot afford to basically double their fleet of trucks and driver employees. To maintain the same level of revenue out of that truck and driver (as the cost of operating that truck/driver has increased). The company has no choice but to raise the "rate" of freight.

Some time in the not to distant past, the trucking industry thought It a good idea if we could set our own freight rates, Um, didnt seem to work), for alot, and worked really well for others. Basically making the Trucking industry competative. After all this is supposed to be a Capitalist country.

Look at ANY large or mega career, you would probably see a sudden spike in their growth shortly after deregulation occurred. Gee, I know one company owner, that FLAT out admits it, what to guess which one, give you a hint, his initials are C.L. He capitalized on deregulation. Cant fault him for it, or any other company owner.

Do it Legal, Log it Legal no exemptions. Id wager things would change real fast.

[ben45750]

Assuming Im giving 150% of my time, (productive)(fuzzy math, because Im "hiding hours" we are talking HOS) and now Im giving 100%, staying within the boundries of the HOS,

Using your numbers, 100% and 150%. Turn those numbers into miles, 1000 miles in 2 days and 1500 miles in 2 days. In a 6 day work week 150% would equal 4500 miles and 100% would equal 3000 miles.

Whats you average miles per load? 750?

Running (100%) 3000 miles per week with your average load miles would be 4 loads. Running (150%) 4500 per week with your average load miles would be 6 loads.

So that means you are pulling 2 load less per week by running "legal". A shipper isn't going to let that freight sit, they are going to hire someone else to move it. They are going to call the mega carriers and tell them we have this extra freight that isn't being moved "do you have any extra trucks"? Mega carrier is going gladly except. If this is happening industry wide the mega carriers are going to add more trucks to their fleet to cover this extra freight because more truck on the road means more profits for them.

So in the end your making less money, but your running legal and the freight isn't waiting for you when your 10 break is up because someone else picked it up and delivered it while you were sleeping.

1500 less miles a week at 6mpg @$3.50 a gallon means your not burning $850 worth of fuel. If your company is making $1.05 per mile that means they are losing $1575+FSC, but they aren't spending the $850 in fuel and if they are paying you .38cpm they aren't paying you $598.50 in mileage pay. So they are losing $126.50+FSC by you running legal. So in actuality you running legal would be a good thing for them. Drivers running less miles means more freight becoming available giving the mega carriers an opportunity for their company to grow.

Problem solved?

[ben45750]

well, they cannot terminate you for underproductivity, (remember everybodys logging legal, and staying within the boundries of the HOS.

Any company can fire you for anything, anytime they feel like it. They can also let you sit and starve and give the miles to another driver that is willing to give 150%.

[Drew10]

A shipper isn't going to let that freight sit, they are going to hire someone else to move it. They are going to call the mega carriers and tell them we have this extra freight that isn't being moved "do you have any extra trucks"? Mega carrier is going gladly except.

I understand the "logistics" of operating in our "real" world. These posts are looking at ideas that may help change the way trucking exists. Shutdowns, strikes, etc.
My comments were assuming all drivers, regardless of employ status, company, O/O etc. would stay within the HOS, and "log it like you do it", and not run 150% (just an arbitrary number, I used as an example). Including logging line 4 honestly.

Any company can fire you for anything, anytime they feel like it. They can also let you sit and starve and give the miles to another driver that is willing to give 150%.

I realize you statement is true, a company can terminate a driver for any reason or without reason. However, what I was saying if all the drivers are logging legal, and giving only 100%, an employer wouldnt have a driver available that could give 150%.

Keep in mind that the post and replys are a hyperthetical world (at least for the time). Even getting all the drivers to log legal, would take just as much organization as a stike, or shutdown. But in my opinion it could be the easiest and legal way of getting rates to change, and impacting the industry.

[GMAN]

There is only one thing that will raise rates. STOP HAULING CHEAP FREIGHT!! If you are a company driver hauling for mileage, find one that will pay you a percentage of the line-haul. If the carrier is running for decent rates, you should earn more than you would running mileage. If you own a truck, lease to a carrier who pays percentage. The choice will be yours as to the rate for which you haul. If you haul for cheap rates, you won't earn much money. If you only haul the better paying loads, then you should earn more money. It is a way to give yourself raise without additional effort.

Rates should reflect the cost of doing business. If a broker or shipper tells me that someone will haul a load for a cheap rate, I just tell them to let them. It won't go on my truck. I don't believe in giving my service or time away to someone who will make a profit off of what I haul. The shipper will certainly not sell his product at a loss. Trucking is no different. If people refuse to haul cheap freight rates WILL come up. I have seen it over and over during my years in this business.

[Fredog]

There is only one thing that will raise rates. STOP HAULING CHEAP FREIGHT!! If you are a company driver hauling for mileage, find one that will pay you a percentage of the line-haul. If the carrier is running for decent rates, you should earn more than you would running mileage. If you own a truck, lease to a carrier who pays percentage. The choice will be yours as to the rate for which you haul. If you haul for cheap rates, you won't earn much money. If you only haul the better paying loads, then you should earn more money. It is a way to give yourself raise without additional effort.

Rates should reflect the cost of doing business. If a broker or shipper tells me that someone will haul a load for a cheap rate, I just tell them to let them. It won't go on my truck. I don't believe in giving my service or time away to someone who will make a profit off of what I haul. The shipper will certainly not sell his product at a loss. Trucking is no different. If people refuse to haul cheap freight rates WILL come up. I have seen it over and over during my years in this business.

as a company driver, percentage works well for me, we have a couple drivers who complain, " I gotta deadhead to such and such for free" it never occurs to them that they will still make more on that load than most by the mile drivers will. my average this year at 25% of the gross is 46 cents a mile. BUT the short loads really pay off, some of them give me over a dollar a mile

[Malaki86]

I'm driving for a company that pays me 24.5% + 1% monthly safety bonus + $0.18 per mile dead-head after the first 50 miles. I've been there since the 2nd week of January and have kept track of all my driving miles. So far this year it's worked out that I'm making $0.42 per mile overall. Some loads aren't worth taking (had some were I make $0.20 per mile) but some were literally outstanding, such as one that paid me $0.82 per mile.

[GMAN]

I have had drivers who have made over $1/mile on some loads. Those are not always available, but can make a big difference at the end of the week. Most loads pay my drivers between $0.40-0.60/mile. Even though I don't pay them for deadheading their average pay is much more than a mileage carrier who pays for all miles. When you work on percentage you soon find out who is a good driver and who isn't. Everyone wants to make more money. Percentage offers that opportunity. The more a carrier makes the bigger the driver's paycheck. By the way, most carriers are not paid for deadheading, either.

[One]

Failed economic policy! Many companies went to mexico in the 90s thinking that it was a gold- mine. When their products werent selling well and they coundnt import into the us due to tarriffs, we got the CORPORATE WELFARE 'NAFTA' to bail them out. This driver thing is just to make it cheaper to move those goods north.
ANY republican should he against NAFTA, but since the party panders to the CORPORATIONS instead of the PEOPLE, republican voters get misinformed into supporting crackhead ideas like NAFTA. Call your Reps. and tell your Prez. Candidates you want these trade agreements loike Nafta, Cafta etc. shut down 4 good. Then we can rebuild your industry so we can actually get a us made vacuum again, lol.

[coalregion]

so how many road workers does it really take to fill a pothole.

I believe 6, provided you slice them thin enough..

[allan5oh]

There is NOTHING wrong with NAFTA.

Educate yourselves about it. Not everything the talk show hosts say is true.

[ben45750]

There is NOTHING wrong with NAFTA.

Nothing wrong with forming trade agreements with 3rd world country's huh?