I got the Job! Its 35-45 min away and I'm beyond excited :lol: Thanks for all of your input.
For those who would rather work for cpm or less your welcome to it. I am pay for a days work that I earn. It cost money to get your cdl,endorsements and maintain the cdl. I prefer to know what I'm getting paid not hope i get enough miles to make a decent check that week. I have no problem with OTR was going to do it and may one day but for now I'm an hourly, I mean Daily paid truck driver. Thanks

Thats the only way to truck. These BBR OTR guys will never understand it. Good Luck to you.

It's not that OTR drivers won't understand it, it's a pretty easy concept:

Get paid for the hours you work.

All I was saying was that OTR carriers can't afford to do that, that's just not what the business is. Anyone that tries will be driven out of business...and to mandate that for every OTR driver would drive the economy under.

Dont' get me wrong...a well paying hourly job sounds GREAT....but there will NEVER be many of them...us OTR guys will always be necessary, and paid by the mile.

whatever you do, do NOT INSULT THE REST OF US by claiming we are too ignorant or stupid to understand why people like hourly jobs... :evil:

TomB985, SAID do NOT INSULT THE REST OF US by claiming we are too ignorant or stupid to understand why people like hourly jobs... :evil:[/quote]

TomB985
I WOULD NEVER INSULT ANY OTR DRIVER,I WAS GOING TO BE ONE AND I HAVE FAMILY THAT DOES/LOVE OTR. ONE DAY I STILL MIGHT DO OTR. BEST OF LUCK TO ALL DRIVERS OTR AND LOCAL. THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP.

I was not tryin to insult you sorry if you took it that way.

I just dont understand why anyone will run for 35-40cents a mile and wait at docks for free and sit at truck stops for a day or two waiting on loads and not get paid nothing(maybe a cheap azz layover pay).

I always wanted to go OTR myself. But once i added it all up it is not worth it in my eyes. Too much free time you are giving out.

This is the stuff that gets me worked up. Saying we dont earn are OT. I earn everybit of it. Cuz you dont get OT dont be mad at the ones who do. When we are sitting in traffic together guess who will have the smile on there face LOL. Keep on truckin.

I understand what you're saying...but I don't agree with the idea that all of the OTR carriers are screwing their drivers...if that were the case...nobody would drive their trucks!

I like to look at the other side of things...I bring everything with me that I want on the road, and my truck is my home out there...so when waiting at a dock, waiting on a load, or otherwise...I can do whatever I want...such as read, get on the internet, listen to music, talk with my wife...definitely NOT work stuff! I don't mind not being paid for that, as long as I get paid well for what work I do...i.e. driving!

That was always my beef with CFM...he had the attitude that anybody driving OTR was a sucker who was being taken advantage of by his company...but what he didn't seem to understand is that most of us are out here because we WANT to be here...I'm very happy with my job, mainly for the reasons you wouldn't like it...but that doesn't mean it sucks!

BTW...I do NOT get paid by the mile, either...... 8)

How do you figure driving 1000 miles but getting paid for only 900 not getting screwed? Or sitting in traffic for zilch? Or waiting hours for a load to come across the qualcomm? Etc, etc, etc...

One flaw in your argument is turnover rates...average OTR fleet churn is around 120%. Which means that on average, an entire outfit's fleet is replaced 1.2 times per year. So yes, people are quitting in droves at these companies...but they are quickly replaced by a new crop of tax-funded greenhorns churned out at 2-week schools. And earning entry-level wages.

A truck is not a home - it's a work vehicle used to generate profits for the company. When you are shackled to said work vehicle 24/7 in OTR, you give up a lot of freedoms...such as getting laid, going to the ballgame, time spent with friends/family, etc. That may be OK if you're a loner, kook, highplains drifter, etc...but not acceptable if you are like most people who yearn for a normal social life outside of and away from the truck. And let's not forget that you the driver are 100% responsible for the truck, trailer, and load at all times...even when you're "off-duty".

Bottom line is that the driver should be fairly compensated for all time spent in the truck away from home (absent meal breaks, etc).

Heh...I knew I'd hear something about this...

So...since when did any OTR carriers try and claim to new recruits that they wouldn't be living out of their truck, responsible for their equipment, and paid by book miles? Who's trying to pull the wool over anyone's eyes?

Um...who the hell thinks they can have a "normal social life" outside and away from the truck when you are living out of it? Kinda hard, in my opinion. Even worse...who in their RIGHT MIND thinks they can pull this off? IMHO, very few new OTR drivers have such grand ideas. Most getting into it know EXACTLY what it's about, and find that acceptable. Still a hose job?

Those book miles the driver gets paid by are the same book miles the customer gets charged by. If the company pays hub miles, obviously they are going to charge more miles to the customer, at a cheaper rate to compensate...meaning the driver will make less per mile, but more miles = same paycheck.

Hell...if the OTR freight rates would support paying drivers better than they already are...don't you think they would to keep a stable set of drivers?

I tell you what... my company has almost 2,000 trucks, and resembles these big, evil corporate machines you like to bitch about. I see the president of the company around the yard a lot...and he does not drive an exotic car, or live in a multi-million dollar mansion. Where does the money go?

I'm 22 years old, making nearly $60k this year...which I find to be pretty good. I KNEW what I was getting into, and I ENJOY my job...

People like you are one of the reasons I got out of the army...bitching about anything and everything for the sake of bitching...always complaining about how bad you got screwed....give me a break! :evil:

what makes people think that everyone that is not home everyday works for peanuts or for free. mack man...rockhauler, they do not make much in my opinion but it may be plenty for you. that is not for me to judge, so why do you guys judge everyone else based on what you THINK they make. more to life than money. where do you work again CFM? thats right, big secret. and by the way traffic jams and such is part of the job...i am happy that you make hourly rate for doing it, but i am always smiling and always happy. and i can guarantee i have more fun sitting still then you guys do...i got a bigger radio, lol.