Truck Driving Jobs

rank · Joined: 02 Oct 2006 Posts: 1268

merrick4 wrote: ... the broker CHR was pushing him..
Brokers NEVER get the cell phone numbers of my drivers. Brokers deal only with me and I have lost loads over this issue but too bad for them.

Idling aside, sounds like this driver aint all that bad. He's not afraid of the miles at least. If you're paying a driver by the mile, he's going to put as many miles under him as he can....and that means speeding, or log violations or both. You need to give him a different carrot if you want him to do otherwise. We have great drivers but they are all 70+ mph drivers and are not interested in MPG's whatsoever. If I slowed them down they would quit.

Best to figure on 4 mpg when doing your cost with a driver driven truck.

merrick4 · Joined: 08 Nov 2006 Posts: 872

I have to admit Rank this guy knows how to move. He's happy too. I think he's always dealt with Mickey Mouse operators. He said today all he needs is better music system in the truck and he'd move right in.

By the way Rank, I just ordered this new thing that you might be interested in.

www.magicjack.com/7/index.asp

Supposedly for $40 for the unit, and all calls to U.S. and Canada are free. Hope it is of some use for you.

Musicman · Joined: 28 Dec 2005 Posts: 31 Location: Central FL

Why not take the truck to the dealer and have the ECM adjusted to shut the truck down after 5 minutes of idling?

heavyhaulerss · Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 545 Location: north alabama

I'll have to say. I'm going against conventional wisdom here.. I agree with Merrick.. when ever i worked for someone. i did what they wanted. the way they wanted. NO incentives. imo... folks have gotten soft & lazy. dont dare ask employees to do something specific. if may offend them. I'm just old school. boss's usually demand performance. not ask for it. I'm not saying i would fire the guy. but i sure would find out what the idling was for.

Justruckin · Joined: 02 Dec 2006 Posts: 179 Location: SE Michigan

Can the driver, Heavy is right. To many soft minded lazy (you fill in the blank) people out here. If he cannot follow directions now, what makes any of you think he will follow them tomorrow?

Been there, DONE THAT! And damn glad to be rid of them all!

Just kidding, kinda. But with taxes, workmans comp and unemployment insurance, it was cheaper in the long run to sell my 5 trucks and trailers. Long story, just glad it is all gone.

Mike

heavyhaulerss · Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 545 Location: north alabama

we were all employees at one time. like myself most of you remember what is what like when you needed a job, bad, & at that interview, you would agree to do almost anything to get the job in order to pay yours bills & support your family. you would try & impress the hell out of the person interviewing you. ovetime? no prob, work wknd ? no prob, work swing shift ? no prob. you were glad if & when you got hired & you really felt proud that you can continue on with life because someone gave you a chance to prove your worth. now we hear there has to be an incentive. thats o.k. but how about a weeks work for a weeks pay ? if i wanted a driver to drive 63 mph i would not consider how to bribe, or beg him to do it. just do it!!

when i aksed for work at a local gas co 20 years ago. i told my boss.. if he hired me just give me 2 weeks at low pay & let me prove myself, & i told him if i cannot be an asset to his co i will leave voluntarily. however if i perform well we will then sit down & negociate my new pay. within a few months after learning my functions, i went on to learn all aspects of the co. i was able to do so many other peoples job. i made myself so valuable to the co that they would do just about anything to make me stay. it's called work ethic. honesty, integrity, charachter, proffessionalism. pride!! lets get that additude back in the workforce. :)

one peice of advice for any newbies reading.. even if you get paid $5.00 an hour.. you should work just as hard as the guy next to you doing the same thing. even if he is making $10.00 an hour. if you accept a job & agree to it's duties, then do your best to fulfill that obligation, until you have enough experience to climb the ladder of success or move on to a more rewarding job.

Justruckin · Joined: 02 Dec 2006 Posts: 179 Location: SE Michigan

Heavy,

All that I can say is this...

AMEN BROTHER!!!!!!!

If only... Never mind.

On second thought...

I was never a good babysitter, and there sure seems to be allot of babies out here that need a good spanking. The unfortunate thing is the fact that most of these babies have babies at home, a wife and BILLS!

Vote democrat, and vote often, that seems to be the mantra now a days. Looking for the easy way, hand outs, etc., very sad. Like you said, no work ethics, but a good public school education, ala the democrats. A sad state of affairs. But what the hell is one to expect? Touchy feely will only get you so far! It will not put food on your table. Go figure?

Mike

DD60 · Joined: 04 Jun 2006 Posts: 469 Location: Rockwall,Tx

He did like 1000 + miles without sleeping. I tried to tell him to slow down and take it easy but he "needs to make money".

How do you hide that in a safety audit? :shock:

rank · Joined: 02 Oct 2006 Posts: 1268

They don't care about a safety audit.
They don't care about fuel.
They don't care about repair bills.

They only care about what affects them, and since they are paid by the mile they are piece workers....they get paid to drive as many miles as they can. If you want to change that, you need to change the pay structure or there will be hard feelings. Next thing you know, he'll be missing appointments because you told him to drive slow and save fuel. Gotta keep your eye on the big picture.

IMO, if you have a driver that doesn't sell fuel, doesn't tear up the equipment and gets to the appointments on time, you have a driver with potential. Then you can work on the other stuff.

And be careful about what you post here. He may be reading.

sidman82 · Joined: 21 Jun 2006 Posts: 396 Location: Long Island,NY

I,ve said this already. Put him on a salary that you are both happy with. Add a performance bonus and fuel bonus.

This is something you will have to determine what that will be. It is just a suggestion, take it with a grain of salt.

I am sure you will work something out.

GMAN · Joined: 13 Feb 2005 Posts: 9393 Location: Tennessee

I think that I would sit down with him and try to work things out. If your only problem with him is the idle time, you are indeed lucky. If you keep putting drivers in your truck you will eventually deal with much more serious problems. If he won't do things the way you want and you feel that is something which you will not compromise on then you will need to decide whether to live with it or find another driver.

merrick4 · Joined: 08 Nov 2006 Posts: 872

Thanks for all the advice. As I've mentioned, he's not my driver, he is only in there for a couple of weeks. He's doing bad on fuel mileage but other than that this guy isn't bad at all.

I will never find someone to care for the truck like me, I have to realize that. I kind of wish now I could keep him.

The guy I am going to put in there is not going to do too well on fuel either I suspect but I know how he takes care of a truck.

This guy now drives with the door shut. You're probably right Rank they don't care about anything safety included, but he actually stopped in California and said all the bills were timestamped and he wouldn't move til he could do it legal (not that I pushed him either, which I didn't). He's a grown man, he fuels at the Flying J and he's he's made his stops on time so I leave him be.

I don't see how salary could work Sideman82. What if there's an issue and he can't run, then I'm screwed. For instance the truck needs to go in the shop for a few days. I don't want him out there for free either, but this salary could be bad for me and only me. I don't see a downside to him for that.

sidman82 · Joined: 21 Jun 2006 Posts: 396 Location: Long Island,NY

The upside is when he is making the truck lets say, $6000 for the week he gets his (example) $900 a week salary. When he makes $6500 for the week he gets his $900. when he makes $4400 he gets $900.

Where as your minimum pay for the truck would be, (example) $3900 to be able to pay him $900 for the week and not lose anything. Anything above that is yours, which in most cases should be all the time except down time like you mentioned.

If you need $3700 to pay him a set salary and the truck is making $4000 a week or more on a regular basis, your making your 3 beans a week on that truck.

Most guys will say, hey my boss is alright, he pays me when I do nothing. Mean while it keeps him happy and you are making more money if you keep the truck rolling. If you are unable to keep the truck moving then it will not be worth it. I mean on a regular basis, not just sitting every once in a while. That really should not effect you.

no_worries · Joined: 18 Apr 2006 Posts: 843

You need to be able to forecast fairly consistently to do the salary thing. I don't think Merrick's there yet. But that's how I would do it too. Salary and a performance bonus. But only if I had a pretty good idea what to expect freight-wise. Tough market for that right now...especially if you're fairly new and relying on brokers.

BigDiesel · Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 6:40 pm Post subject:

I have my driver on a salary plus performance bonuses. I will do the same with the new driver for truck #3. I get the crumbs left over as my wife is the CFO..... :lol: I also have been toying with the idea of paying percentage of the load and have the drivers run the truck as a O/O would. But not sure about that yet.

Truck Driving Jobs

Trucking Jobs

Truck Drivers

Trucking Companies

Class A Drivers.com