[quote="USXRecruiter4080"]
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Originally Posted by scania
I think it's a shortage of companies willing to pay a driver for everything he does out there.
Been thinking real hard about driving,but personally I think an experienced driver should get at least $70,000 a year.
The responsibilities are too numerous to be getting paid the average pay of a driver nowadays.
Just my opinion
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The reason they DON'T get paid what is deserved is because the industry is too competitive. Too many companies offering the same thing.
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Actually, it has little to do with "competitiveness"... Companies have figured out just how little they have to pay to get drivers. And "stupidly" they continue to chum and churn the water for new meat for the seat because at some point many drivers get tired of being taken advantage of. If a company sells its service "cheaper" than the next guy, thats their fault, not the drivers. Apparently the management mentality is still somewhat neanderthal, as they have yet to figure out what "value added" means. Most other industries have. When a number of companies are selling exactly the same thing.... what sets them apart and sorts the losers out is the level of service rendered. The best one gets the highest price.
Your other problems are that management pays itself well, builds monuments called the "corporate office"....and then whines about why they can't pay their drivers... go figure.
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Another reason is turnover rate is too high. Regaurdless of reason, if driver A gets pissed about anything at all he knows he can go to another company the next day.
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Too generic. The question is: Why did he or she get pissed off? If the driver was in the right on the issue....and the "limp wrists" in management rolled over and did nothing and protected the "miscreant" in operations or whatever department...what right do you have to expect a driver to "suck it up"??
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Driver B isn't getting what was promised so he goes to another company.
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If the driver was told he would get paid "X", but then got paid "Y", what the heck do you expect him or her to do? "Suck it up" and take whatever you toss him? Come now. If you got hired for "X", but they stiffed "you", what would you do???? Yeah, you'd just shrug your shoulders and take your bogus paycheck and be happy. Not if you're a human being with a brain. You'd get it right or find another job. But when that happens... do the companies ever investigate and locate the liar and fire them? I'd bet probably in less than 1% of the cases.
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Driver C was paid $1,000 to recruit driver A to HIS new company. Driver B heard about driver C getting paid $1,000 to recruit driver so HE goes to this new company. 3 weeks later everyone is unsatisfied and goes to separate companies.
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And so it is. SO what. The same practice is used in many industries to get employees, especially when there is a demand outstripping the supply.
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It happens every single day. The industry is too competitive.
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No, its not too competitive. Management is just plain "stupid"!!
Now before you get your dander up and get all indignant... I come from the corporate world, worked my way up from Technical Services, to Sales, to Management, and owned three businesses of my own.
Some simple solutions would be:
1. Tell the freaking truth, all of the time! Put it in writing, all of it! Make the prospective employee sign the paper, and give them a copy, after it has all been explained.
2. Issue policy manuals that are clearly written. Standard english, not lawyer gibberish. Then "live by the manual". If anyone....including the boss's wife, daughter, son, brother, or whatever is caught violating it... FIRE them just like you would a driver.
3. Get off the freaking dime. Institute detention pay, and get rid of the asinine 48 hour lay over rule! Companies are little more than thieves when it comes to pay.... You let a driver sit for 48 hours or more then throw him a $50 or $60 dollar bone.... While the company managment wastes more than that on lunch. Companies let drivers sit at docks for hours...with no compensation... Is your time free? Does management give up their time free? Hell no, they're all on salaries, so they get paid even if they're golfing, ooops I meant going to a "meeting".
4. Your company is a first rate "hoser". That sliding scale of pay you have should be outlawed. Lower pay for more miles. That is beyond ludicrous!! Frankly, I think anyone that agrees to that pay schedule needs to be locked in a rubber room for their own protection!
Frankly, I don't think their is a single company in the van or reefer segment that really understands how much money they piss down the drain by allowing some piss-ant with an attitude in operations mistreat a driver in any number of ways.
For instance, take your recruiting departments entire P&L....and look at the waste. 90% of that money spent is wasted. Why? Because just about every van and reefer company hasn't figured out that drivers should be made happy, content, and actually part of the company, and paid accordingly.
If management was to actually look at the real problems, starting by getting their heads out of the clouds, and putting the money where it needs to be spent...and improving conditions...they could end up with a company with a waiting list of people wanting to work there...and not spend a freaking dime on advertising.
Consider this: Add up every damn dime you piss away in every one of the publications, all the billboards, radio spots, newspapers... then take that total and rework your budget where driver pay is concerned... and do some serious consideration for paying realistic layover, detention, breakdown pay, dispatch delay pay...and then do it! See how your turnover drops like a rock!
But it takes guts to do it. And it requires "honest" management to face the fact that their drivers are important to the company.
Just so you know, I work for a non-union tanker company. I get paid 40 cpm for every loaded mile regardless of length of haul. I get 34 cpm for bobtail and empty miles with all miles paid as "Practical miles", not HHG rip-off miles. I get paid $20.00 to get the tank loaded, and if it takes more than 2 hours I get $13.30 an hour after that, I get paid $20.00 while the tank is unloaded, whether I pull hoses, run the pump, or air off, and if it goes over two hours I get $13.30 an hour. If I sit for 15 hours without a load I go on the clock for up to 8 hours at $13.30 an hour ($106.40 for 8 hours), then I only wait 10 more hours and then get $13.30 an hour up to 8 hours, and then repeat if I am there longer. If I have to sit to wait to be unloaded...I go on the clock after 2 hours at $13.30. If my truck goes in the shop or breaks down I get $13.30 an hour from the minute it begins until it ends. I get 9 paid holidays at $106.40 each and don't have to be on the road to collect it. I also get 2 personal days a year at $106.40 each. I also get paid to sleep in the truck at $10.00 a night, which isn't much but if I'm out for 7 days... its $70.00 extra. I am also able to use company paid motels if I will be stationary for a couple of nights, and never see the bill. Theoretically, if I sit for 7 days straight doing absolutely nothing... I'll get paid $744.80. I'm usually home every week unless I choose otherwise, for at least two days.
I had a lousy week last week...only 1634 miles!!! But I still grossed $996.00! And that was a 5 day week. From Nov 1st of this year to Dec 7th of this year I made $5900.00, and can account for more time at home than one of your drivers probably gets in 4 months! The company I work for is proud to say that they have
A TURNOVER RATE OF LESS THAN 25% SYSTEMWIDE!!! My terminal has only lost two drivers this past year. One let go for undisclosed reasons and one who's husband got transferred. We've got guys who've been here forever, and not going anywhere.
And yes, my company also is offering a "referral bonus" because they are growing the fleet. Who knows, maybe some of your drivers will wake up and smell the coffee....and maybe they'll contact me and get more information on how to get paid better, and not get taken to the cleaners on a regular basis.
Your company could do it, just as all the rest...but they all lack the willingness to act upon whats right. They will probably die still wondering why they had to piss so much money away to find "new meat for the seat", when all they had to do was fix some simple problems.
Please don't take any of this personal....your company is really only different in one aspect...the crappy sliding scale, beyond that, well you're right in line with the rest....except for CFI, which is a far better company than 99% of the van companies.
