What a difference 3 days makes

[okie]

First of all been off for a week with Gall Bladder Surgery. Called boss after released from hospital Tues morn. I am actually cleared to be off to the 13th. I assured boss it would not be that long. Last we talked she says, of course most important is to get well. I tell her I understand the Crete policy about a truck sitting 5-6 days gets cleaned out and made available. Oh no we can "hide" the truck 4 a week or so then you call and tell me how you feel and what you are thinking on Friday. 1st thing this morning she leaves a message, Call me as soon as you can, I need to know if you want the shop or you to clean out the truck. I mean it has been seven days and we need to get it rolling again. Well I am not to happy with the change of tone. So just got on here to vent a little. The sooner I realize that it is all about the company and not the driver my feelings won't get hurt so much. Nobody ever calls and says hey you have drove 7 days a week for x amount of months, don't you want a day off.

[Uturn2001]

Odd are some operations manager or other bean counter was looking at assigned trucks and miles ran and seen your with a big goose egg and demanded to know why and backed your FM into a corner on it.

One thing I would like to suggest though, is do not go back to work until fully cleared by the doctor to do so. If you buck the orders and something happens you pretty much placed full responsibility on your shoulders regardless of the cause.




One thing I am curious about though is, if you knew the company policy why did you not clean out your truck before having surgery?

[okie]

I was aware I would probably have to clean out truck, the reason as to why I did not do it b4 I left was. I arrived back at the yard that am with a stomach discomfort. Did not know I would be headed to the ER in a few short hours in doubled over-screaming pain. Did not know I was headed 4 surgery and a 3 day hospital stay. This little paincation was not at all planned for.

I however was not aware of the all encompasing policy of, in my managers words.... do you want to come get your stuff out of the truck or have the shop do it for you. We show up and take my stuff out and sweep her out and wipe her down inside real quick cause hey I am still on pain meds, I then go in and they say fill this out and it will have to be cleaned to company specs. Which involves Armorall etc. Well I am already in pain, its 15 miles to a town with cleaning supplies , more excuses, more excuses. So I write on this checkin in sheet my reasons and sign away. So I am sure it will be recleaned and I will be billed on my first real pay check no matter what the size of the check. Of course that will be the same check that will have my employees share of insurance premiums for the leave taken from it as well. All in a days work.

[Jay B]

So I guess they will have some $5.85/hour minimum wage guy clean it out at a cost to them of $11.70 and then charge you about $300 for it. Sounds fair to me.

Oh, and the minimum wage guy still makes more money than you do if you figure all the non paid hours you work as a driver.

[tweety bird]

We had a similar frustration when we worked for Digby (Digby green- not Navajo- they got bought by somebody or another) a while back. We were teaming and we'd just stay out for a long time. Their policy was that no truck could be parked for more than 4 days. Well, we'd stayed out for a really, really long time in order to have a week at a youth camp in upstate New York- that meant we had that week plus a couple days buffer.

We got a call 2 days in from some office peon insisting that we get back to the truck. We were safe because we parked our truck in Ohio near home rather than in Tennessee at the terminal. We made a call to our dispatcher (who really liked us) and he told us not to worry- we wouldn't be getting any more phone calls.

Office peons are jerks.

Anyway, I get your frustration. When we quit and cleaned our truck out we thought for sure we were going to get hit with a bill. We had a cat in the truck and, even though she didn't smell and we always took good care of the litter box, we figured we were screwed. We did a very thorough job cleaning, but I was still surprised that they didn't charge us a dime.

[Kevin0915]

So I guess they will have some $5.85/hour minimum wage guy clean it out at a cost to them of $11.70 and then charge you about $300 for it. Sounds fair to me.

actually it does sound fair to me. Besides, if i am the company, it is my truck. and the driver knowingly accepts it with the policy it gets cleaned according to a checklist anyways. Now granted, seeing this driver on pain meds, and knowing he had gone to the ER, i would have to be a little lax on the 'rules'.

Oh, and the minimum wage guy still makes more money than you do if you figure all the non paid hours you work as a driver.

As a driver, you KNOW that you are only paid the miles you drive. You KNOW that sitting at a shipper for an hour or two (maybe half the day) comes with the program. Don't like it, switch DMs or whole companies all together...that is IF you have a good reputation with your DM, and dont turn down loads on them all the time. Other than that, regardless what job you have, say you are a cook at pizza hut, you think you should get paid when you arent working? you think maybe you shuold get paid when you make a pizza at home? sitting at a shipper is not working....it is just poor planning. the company should give you detention pay for sitting long enough.

[golfhobo]

So I guess they will have some $5.85/hour minimum wage guy clean it out at a cost to them of $11.70 and then charge you about $300 for it. Sounds fair to me.

Oh, and the minimum wage guy still makes more money than you do if you figure all the non paid hours you work as a driver.

No he doesn't.

NO driver out here actually works 14 hours/day, 7 days a week with no more than a 10 hour break per day.... but, even if he DID, he should be taking home better than a grand a week (which means grossing MORE.) But, let's say he only grosses $1,000 for a 98 hour week.

$5.85/hr X 40 hours = $234

ASSUMING double time (doubtful) for another 58 hours of real solid worktime...

$11.70 X 58 = $678.60

Combined GROSS wages for a hard 98 hour workweek with only 10 hours off per day = $912.60.

Average hourly wage for the minimum wage guy = $9.31/hr.

Average hourly wage for the trucker taking naps, playing video games, eating meals, etc. = $10.20/hr. ($1k divided by 98 hours.)

The minimum wage guy doesn't get paid for lunch OR dinner (both would be mandated for a 14 hour workday, so he MIGHT have 8.5 to 9 hours left per day to commute and sleep.

IF you'd rather bust a hump cleaning out trucks 14 hours/day, 7 days/week for less than most of us make for driving an average of less than 500 miles/day and supervising the loading/unloading of our trucks a couple of times a week.... knock yourself out!

:eek::rolleyes:

[Solo]

Right on, golfhobo. And one more thing no one has mentioned yet. The minimum wage guy, in all likelihood, does not have any kind of health insurance, let alone any other benefits. Oh, except maybe the "all you can eat" benefit working at McDonalds. Just ask some burger-flipper about his health insurance. Yeah, it's offered. It's the law. But the cost is undoubtedly way too high for him to afford. This, in addition to the other arguments listed above, is reason enough to dispell the absolute BS statement made by too many disgruntled steering-wheel holders that they make less than minimum wage. The last time I looked, a minimum-wage job paid a whole lot less than $35K-$45K and up. A driver knows going in that he/she will not be paid for sitting still, sweeping out a trailer, fueling the truck, etc, unless they happen to have lucked into one of the few jobs out there that do pay for those duties, or pay the driver by the hour, not by the mile. Should drivers be making more? Yes, absolutely. But don't try to pass on the BS about making less than minimum wage.

[golfhobo]

Good point about the bennies, Solo! I didn't even think of that. Also, as I stated, doubletime is not likely either. Probably only 1.5 time! And getting a SECOND min wage job is even worse. But, probably more likely as MOST min wage jobs would rather hire another employee with no bennies than to pay overtime.

Another thing I have found. Sure, there are SOME jobs that pay good CPM PLUS all the "extra" pay for duties, but that is usually because one doesn't get as many miles as OTR. For the most part, I think the industry "averages" such things out to meet an expected weekly income. What I mean is.... if they pay HIGH cpm, they give less miles. LOWER cpm, more miles. If they pay alot for EXTRAS, you probably won't get many miles either. YES.... there are exceptions. But, not enough of those companies to make us ALL rich!

But, like you say... and I have said many times. I knew what I was getting into and what my pay was based on. I make more money trucking than I ever did before at a good wage WITH overtime. Some people just can't handle the MAIN requirement of the job, which is being away from home, and they will find every excuse they can to justify failing at it.

Those who have found a good paying local job and get home at night should consider themselves lucky if that is what is important to them. Some of us have nothing to come home to, and would rather spend our time in other places of the country.

Do the Mega carriers and training companies take advantage of their newbies? Yes, they do! But, most people have to start that way to get the experience... and PAY THEIR DUES. If you pass that test, you get a career of your own making. If you piss on your shoes and give up... you don't have what it takes to BE a trucker!

I haven't said it in awhile, so here it is again.... Trucking is NOT for Wusses!

[okie]

Are your benefits as wonderful as mine are? I found out today that the 2.5 weeks off for surgery/recovery was not enuf to recieve "short term disability". It seems the policy Crete pays for does not even start paying disability until 29 days off. It is not retro either, you starve for 29 days then they begin providing benefits. So I suggest to all of you that you check on your own companies benefits on short term disability or Aflac or something. We have built a nice savings thanks to trucking, but thought we could replace what was drawn from it with that short term pay back, guess not. We also had what I thought was going to be a problem with dental coverage. I called a few months ago with severe tooth ache pain my wife was having. The lady offered no help or sympathy. She started with, Sir first of all let me go thru a list of what is not covered the first year and also the time that must pass with the insurance before other things will be covered. So this lady begins her list of we will not cover yada yada the 1st year, we will not cover such and such until you have been with the plan for 16 month etc, etc etc. This list goes on and on... I listen for 5 minutes. I get up pour coffee, set phone down add cream sugar. Head back to chair listen for a minute or so longer. I innterupt and say will this take much longer I would like to get my wife to a Dentist? Then say, you know what? forget it , we are going to the dentist my wife is in pain. If its covered good, if not we will worry about it later. It turned out to be covered except the intial $90 dentist required. So that worked out, I just thought it was bull the way it was handled.
So double check those benefits before you need them. DRIVE SAFE

[Uturn2001]

Dental insurance is a joke, IMHO. Once in a blue moon it will really pay to have it, but for some of the premiums charged, the high deductibles many of plans have, and what little they really do pay, many time a person would be money ahead just putting that money away in a savings account.


But yeah you are right. You should know what the details of your coverage is before you need it. Too many variable in policies to assume everything. Insurance companies offer many different levels of coverage and sometimes will even custom fit a policy to what the buyer (read company) wants to have for their employees.

[Walking Eagle]

Co. I drive for pays for everything !! No deductions on dental, medical, etc. If I need time off I still get a check at the end of the week.
Oh I forgot, I own the company An LLC that I put enough into each week to off set pop up exspences. Every driver, weather O/O or company should have a "slush fund" account to cover the un expected !!!!