I agree with Mackman about pay. otr drivers are very under paid when you account for every min away from home. 50k -65k isn't a lot of money in todays world, It's not! Consider this, in America you would need to earn 350k per year and have assets in worth of ten million to be cosidered rich. That's less then 10% but if they ever get hit with tax rates like the 60% it's not a lot of money. Time! My Time is worth more then a few cents paid mile. I'd need to considered LTL. I love the road I do this because I enjoy thinking but people isn't it time for a pay change.

Question: where did this concept paying by the mile come from?

 

Mileage pay only makes sense in a dedicated linehaul operation where the driver receives accessory money when the wheels stop turning (delay, traffic, breakdown, etc). Otherwise, it's a complete hose job.

You see guys sitting around waiting to get loaded/unloaded, waiting on loads, waiting on maintenance/PM's , etc. Like Tom Petty sang, "The waiting is the hardest part." There's a grocery warehouse a few exits down from where I live and in the morning, there's sleeper trucks lined end-to-end along the street and highway off-ramps.

Why are they doing this for nothing? I never could, nor do I still understand why OTR drivers willingly donate their time/labor away for $0.

 

Hey 50-65k is wishfull thinking with most OTR comanies more Like 45-50k...With hose job operations like Werner paying a driver more like 30k , And treating the driver like he should beleive he's privilaged to drive their truck for them .

 

How true! I want local so badly. I need to get off the road because of crappy pay.