Adjusting for inflation, truckers today may make about $10k less on average annually than they did 40 years ago. But not everyone in trucking is struggling to make ends meet. On Forbes’ list of billionaires published this week, there are seven names that most people in trucking will recognize.
Topping the list with an estimated combined net worth of $7 billion are Tom and Judy Love, the founders of Love’s Travel Stops. Their son and current President and COO of Love’s, Frank Love, sits on the board of NATSO, the organization whose CEO recently said that if truckers would pay for parking, “the truck parking issue would be gone.”
Fellow NATSO board member Jimmy Haslam is also on the list. The current CEO of Pilot Flying J and owner of the Cleveland Browns NFL team, Haslam is worth an estimated $2.7 billion.
The last four are all founders of large trucking companies. Fred Smith, the founder of FedEx, is worth an estimated $4.1 billion. Johnelle Hunt co-founded J.B. Hunt along with her late husband in 1969 and is now worth an estimated $2.8 billion. Brad Jacobs Founded XPO Logistics and is worth an estimated $1.7 billion. And finally, Jerry Moyes, who co-founded Swift Transportation alongside his father, is worth an estimated $1.2 billion.
Just how much money does the LOVES need?
How much money do you or I *need*?
And who defines “need”?
The lust for wealth is never satisfied…they serve mammon. Ergo, they “need”more. Their “needs “are insatiable, therefore it’s never enough… does that help? YW!
They needed $12.00 for a shower last night. I told em to pound sand.
Get a membership to Planet Fitness. Showers all across the country for $20/month.
Yeah, let me just slide my split axle flatbed right into that planet fitness parking space…
I do routinely.
I see trucks parked outside gyms all across the country. Maybe you should practice maneuvering in tight spaces. Oh wait, you did say you drive a flatbed. My bad. Practice backing up for a bit then give parking lots a try.
That is correct , get a membership for any 24 hrs gym nation wide an u could get a work out an a free shower .
I didn’t know that..
Get a loves card and you get reward points for fuel purchases and I store purchases. Then you just use the reward for your showers and you don’t have to pay out of pocket
Don’t matter how much they need they take the risk investing their money I don’t care how much they have
Love’s doesn’t charge for parking. However, they are also a penny cheaper on fuel that all the other big ones.
Now if all the big ones thru in a shower with $20 pay parking would you park there?
Apparently, more.
Hey don’t forget me.im on that list.too.total net worth 3 dollers.
😂 I have you beat with a $5 net worth.
I wish I had that kind of money.
You can have that kind of money…. Why don’t All of us truckers band together and build our own Brand that cater to us. Truckers Owned and Operated! It just takes a few Smart and Business Savvy Truckers to get it started and the rest will join hands. “If you Build it, They will come”. We buy land…. Use a Trucker with a background in Commercial Real Estate with his/her Real Estate License to help broker the deal, land scouts to find great locations to invest, etc. And, We, the Trucker can make the list too. I’m Game!
* Each Owner/Operator already have our foot in the door because we’re already running a small business. We can build from their… Our “TruckersUnite” Account can be funded literally overnight by all involved! Just let me know! The Dream is Real and “Can” start today!
Thats a great idea truckers in our current economic system truckers will not get paid fairly your making around 10k less than 40 years ago because of this greedy corporate America toxic trickle down theory whos redistribute wealth from truck drivers from walmart workers making 9$ an hour etc through very bad policy, when in reality the base pay for a class A truck driver in 2020 adjusted for inflation since 1980 you would be making no less then 70-80k a year instead of 30-40k its wage slavery your wages will continually go down if not tied too inflation like we did in 50s and 60s after 1970s that huge tax burden corporate America used too pay has been pushed onto the backs of hard working Americans….soo these corporations through campaign financing laws garbage allows unlimited bribery pay little if any taxes at all, then turn around and get billions in tax subsidies which they dont invest back in company those subsidies are meant too keep people employed and they do stock buybacks and pocket all the profits give to shareholders its disgusting the wages truck drivers are making given what they were making 40 years ago…
Well you can’t spell soooo….
Damn you got me beat I got 2.75
Truckstop always are looking fir ways to steal truckers money & then trying to made truckers pay to park to charge very high prices on everything!
That’s how people become rich
Well here in the uk we pay in all truck stops and service areas up to £34 per nite it’s a rip pay it or risk loosing your fuel or load
You mean theft of fuel or loads is that common in the UK ? Wow, I guess I didn’t know how good I have it. On occasion J pay the $ 15.00 they charge here, but rearely need to. And I often park anywhere but a truck stop, because I want to feel like a human and eat real food.
Of course they have earned the riches they enjoy but it would be reasonable if they would allow their customers and employees some of the comforts that have made them rich. I don’t envy their fortune or the hard work they have struggled with to get wealthy but at some point they should look out of their protective cocoon and find some fairness in the world. Small gestures of consideration make big impacts on those of us who labor in their interests.
We don’t know what type of philanthropy the Love family participates in, so why judge? They may give a lot of money away. They should put more money into Michael McDowell’s number 34 Ford Mustang and make him competitive 🏁🏆on the NASCAR race tracks for a change. As for me, I’ve always had good experiences at Love’s and they are my preferred Truck Stop. Nice, clean and modern.👍
You are right about the #34 Ford.
Their fuel/food prices, coffee and hot dog rack is better on the highways than the others, but at many locations they hire children (18-20’s) that don’t know how to, or want to clean those beautifully laid out showers.
LMFAO!
T/A & Petro: 300 parking spaces
Pilot & Flying J: 150 parking spaces
Love’s: 10 parking spaces (8 paid)
You mean pilot 10 loves 150
So well said….tks for saying!
With your same logic ( which is basically the same as the other guy “Hall” only camouflaged with denial ) you should come out of your “fairness “ cocoon and realize that “fairness” is what you have already been given. The opportunity to compete with others like you, in order that “ you” may better yourself! Instead of looking towards others who have overcame to do it for you. The only comforts they enjoyed in getting rich as you put it, were a good nights rest for all the hard work they did.
Ah yes and so continues just why trucking is always short of drivers. We dont pay enough. Next. Are we paid too much? Are our benefits too large for eth work we do? How else can an industry that screws an entire group of workers screw them even more. How teh entire US economy hasnt collapsed given how teh people the worker bees that is are screwed beyond belief is beyond me. This report just clarifies why teh rich need to be taxed at 90% or more. They could care less about the workers of the US that have made them ridiculously rich, so rich and so spoiled that they should pay for their greed by being taxed or better yet losing their riches as things get nationalized and run by non profit organizations with just enough extra to pay teh workers kick out the rich aholes of the US. Unappreciative ^&*^&^* fill in teh blank for yourselves.
You rearly need to learn that net worth includes real estate and everything the company owns. The article did not say “self” net worth. If you tax these people at 90% will they and their companies stay in the US? They are rich enough to go buy their own darn island and not worry about taxes for any country. If they do this what happens to the employees then? Yeah state run or fed run would really work right? Congress can’t even agree on what type of toilet paper to use, how will you get them to agree on how to run a company?
Congress uses toilet paper? We’d all be better off if they used fire hoses to clean out the swamp! Just say no to socialism, communism oh, and all its variations!
Funny all non union companies and the two otr companies is the ones that cheat there drivers out of miles, pay per mike and those damn scams leasing programs!! I see why there rich losers!!
100 % agree
And we wonder why the cost of living is so High, what with the new trend in this country of Who can be the richest of the rich.
Jeff Bezos didn’t pay taxes two years in a row, neither does GE. Most wealthy above a million Dollars pay far lower percentages and often no taxes while our roads languish and the middle class gets fleeced. In the fifties and Sixties when marginal tax rates were higher for the ultra wealthy, the country flourished. Even though they were at 70-80 percent, with tax shelters the effective rate was around 50 percent and the money benefited everyone. Nobody wants to live in Brazil with ultra wealthy neighborhoods and slums where the police drive around and shoot everyone like rabbits.
That’s a pointless arguement, and anecdotal at best. Bezos is nothing compared to the tax his employees pay. So, you could try to tax him all you want, but if he fires or moves employees/operations, everyone loses.
It’s really just simple economics. Save the victimhood grandstanding for the AOC videos…
Good for them!
What a surprise! The people getting rich in trucking are the ones exploiting the truckers…!
Who’d-a-thunk-it?!
Don’t you know yowler!!
I disagree with the comment “if truckers would pay for parking the parking issue would be gone.”
Virtually every reserved parking place is paid for and used every night. So truckers WILL pay. The problem is there just isn’t enough parking. Most truck stops could convert 50% of their parking spaces to reserved/paid and they’d still be overflowing. We simply need more parking spaces, period!
I maintain that municipal authorities must make one space available per X amount of residents. Otherwise, forfeit any federal tax dollars. The biggest limiting factor to truck stops and truck parking are municipal laws.
Ever try and get a permit to build a truck stop in LA? Seattle? Boston?
Easier to get a permit for a conservative to speak at Berkley than permission to build, even if you can raise the $1MM plus for the permit.
Years ago we got the fuel surcharge added on to most trips. We need to have the same added onto shipper/receivers that keep trucks longer than 2 hours unless they provide parking.
He is talking about companies creating more parking spaces if they were able to charge truck drivers to park there. But I agree that won’t work. I refuse to pay for parking. Might as well get a cheap hotel room sense I run my truck all night anyways. The US government needs to build more rest stops on the interstate. Truckers that are bobtail need to stop taking up parking spots. Park up front. And leave the full size spots for guys and gals that have a trailer.
Yes, and if shopping mall or Towns put in areas where truckers could walk to the stores and restaurants, the lot would more than pay for itself. How many times do truckers think – oh I wish I could go to that restaurant or a pharmacy or clothing store, museum- you mane it.
But truck stops ate usually isolated Islands of health killing food and double priced sundries.
The ones that are taking the paid spots are the ones usually that the companies will pay for parking. Not all of them will
Another misleading heading……Love’s and Pilot are primarily gas station companies who have a few trucks to haul their own product, otherwise they are just parasites in trucking.
I wonder when Wal-Mart will start charging their customers to park? Maybe their parking issues will magically disappear…..
Same with any retailer, even Bob’s Taco Wagon……
I remember when loves started the never was to good on parking
Hey!
Leave Bob’s Taco Wagon out of this. He never hurt anybody…
Ha! Ha!
Don’t be hatin on Bob’s Taco Wagon. I’ll find you! Just sayin. 🙂
Trucks.are the heart of America everything .and I mean every thing.that every body has or wants .is brought in buy trucks yet we are fully being. Singled out and discriminated against. We have no place to park now as it is pretty much every warehouse that you would see we deliver to .those places you would figure would have parking for us .NO!!! WAY CITYS.MAKE MONEY FOR TICKETS .OFF US, EVERY WAREHOUSE THAT HAS TRUCKS BRINGING LOADS IN OR OUT SHOULD BY.LAW HAVE PLACE’S FOR US TO PARK.WHEN WE RUN OUT OF HR’S.WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO PARK ON ANY STREET IN WAREHOUSES DISTRICT
I think we all need to park hour trucks for two weeks .company trucks and owner Operators. Maybe things will change your for you can get anyone to stop for 2 weeks
3 days is all it takes.
I drove for 40 years and you new breed drivers are saying the same thing we did years ago. The union drivers strike and the regular companies keep rolling. Same bitching just years apart. And one reason the truck stops are charging for parking is that some of you are too lazy to bring your piss bottles to the trash and just dump them outside your truck as you are leaving. Somebody has to go out and clean them up so the truck stop has to pay to clean up after the drivers that do that.
They are charging because drivers will pay to park there. Some drivers actually plan thier route and know where they are planing to stop for the night. You can be 600 miles away and pay and reserve the spot before you even leave to head that way. And you know you are going to have a spot there to park. That’s why they charge.
RJ – you nailed it man, if all these disgruntled drivers would stop being so darn disgustingly slovenly, I mean it is an absolute crap-hole on some of these stops. A person can’t even walk from their ride to the bldg without getting the bottom of their shoes sticky from all the urine on the ground they just had to wade through. It’s an absolute travisty! And you’re right, no one is going to clean up that mess for free, heck they barley find someone to do it for pay.
Well said!
I WAS getting my pre-trip exercise while parking at the WalMart by taking my gloves and a cart around the lot picking up the trash. Much of which was previous tractor trailer driver trash.
I guess WalMart is getting tired of this crap and just not allowing any tractor/trailer not a delivery to even enter their lot.
I thought truckers were shutting down 4/15/19, I’m new to this industry (12yrs) and I haven’t seen any kind of truckers unity, if trucker will shut down for 2wks for better Trucking, then let’s do it or stop bitching😎
Its 4-12-19 black smoke matters.
Blue smoke matters more haha
Things would change before we did it if they felt we were serious. Broadcast that we will shut down for the first two weeks of may and by the middle of April rates will be up. Well have states building larger rest areas… Etc You see what happened when the airlines said they were going to shut down. The government damn near opened the next day, and travel is not as important as the transport of goods. People need that tissue!
Hahhahaaaa don’t make me laugh, American truckers will never go on strike, Americans are so busy working to pay bills and credit card that they can’t afford to stop working 24 hours, american truckers are slaves by their own will. Truckers go on strike all over the world for simple stuff, but here in the states we get raped all the time and we bend over and baaaaa baaaaa
You got the nail on the head. Nothing will ever change positively in trucking for driver. And it’s our own fault.
*hit
The solution is to just get out of trucking altogether. It is hard but possible. If more current drivers just left, it would have the same effect as a strike.
I got out 2 1/2 years ago, I was making good money, way better than I’m making now with my own store, the shoplifters are stealing me blind, but hey I’m home every night!
Right!
Do you remember the southern border test??? I think they are getting ready for that…(US Trucking Companies)
American Truckers have no balls… The umwa coal miners of the 70 s were the last real men
I have to agree , the weak minded steering wheel jockeys we have today are going to just keep driving and complaining. But actually realizing that trucks power the national economy and actually do have the power to bring everything to a halt. That’s the comical part unity, sacrifice, realizing they have to take a chance to achieve something. Not in the good old USA not anymore to many people want handouts and the new generation lacks any testicular fortitude to stand up for themselves.
We live in a country where all people know how to do anymore is complain but still be complacent sheep. So if you think anything is going to change I have a truck I’ll sell you that gets 250 miles to the gallon
Yup. And if you cant handle it…find another job.
I have been an 0/0 for nearly 40 yrs. And talk of a strike has been talk the whole time. Talk that’s all it is
We like to talk.
Care for any cheese with your whine?
They’re on the lists of billionaires because they started businesses that made them money… that’s the idea! It’s called capitalism! If you want things to be handed to you by the government, move to Venezuela.
Thousands of people work for those companies and the others they do business with. If JB Hunt and Don Schneider hadn’t bought International cabovers in the 80s and 90s, the Navistar group would have gone under and the thousands of people who worked for them would have been without jobs. The hundreds of truck stops where those fleets bought fuel would not have stayed in business and provided jobs for the people that live near them.
THEY GOT RICH BY GIVING OTHER PEOPLE JOBS TO SUPPORT THEIR FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES.
Truck stops don’t steal money from drivers, drivers agree to pay the higher price at the truck stop. Take your business elsewhere. If they give you a receipt, you bought it – it wasn’t stolen. You made the choice.
If you’re not making enough money, fix your budget or get another job – supposedly there’s a driver shortage so they should be plentiful.
It’s easy to play the victim, it’s easy to complain, it’s easy to remain entrenched with the naysayers. I’ve made more money in the past 2 years than I ever have, and I turned around and bought a friend’s company that’s making me more money than it did him. Am I going to be on the list of billionaires? No. But I’ll be on the list of people who have amassed personal fortunes of over a million dollars because I worked for it.
@John Galt
Well said and so refreshing to read a sensible comment from a driver that can spell and use punctuation.
This is my 21st year trucking and I enjoy the job as much today as when I started.
I actually do agree that if the large chain truck stops charged for parking it would drive the creation of more spaces; mega carriers would then have to respond by reimbursement to their company drivers. More business would occur in smaller non-chain truckstops that don’t charge for parking- helping them grow their business and aid in expansion.
It’s so easy for people to complain about what they don’t like, but far more difficult for them to come up with a viable solution.
And John Galt uses paragraphs too. What novel idea. To all you ranters who use run on sentences without paragraphs…you are a NO read!
@John Galt
Ayn Rand was an elitist lunatic and Atlas Srugged nothing but the endless incoherent rumblings of a crazy woman !
As much as I hate bolshevism, which you know absolutely nothing about first hand, I also hate the other extreme created by this aristocratic cronyism of the present day private bolshevism of the corporatists.
All I see in all of these discussion is the two extremes: You either go full blown state bolshevism, or on the other end of the spectrum, you embrace feudalism. Either or, the faceless unwashed masses are being used as un inexhaustible source of slaves which come free into this world by virtue of birth only to serve the elites, be them state elites of the bolshevik ideology or the self made “capitalist aristocracy”, or both as in the present day corporatist tyrannical cronyism.
Ayn Rand’s world consists of a very small elitist group of “self made gods” which are served by a mass of faceless and brainless slaves which eventually get replaced by technology, right?
Bolshevism likewise creates only two classes of people: the political elite and then the rest of the “proletariat” = the slaves.
In both cases we deal with a dystopian utopia concept, right?
Listen man, you may have made yourself a millionaire because you’ve got the smarts to use the system to your advantage, but don’t you ever confuse work with the ability to use other people’s energy and time to create for yourself wealth !!! That’s called USURY, not work.
The Rothschilds devised a system with which they enslaved the whole world of 7+ billion people through the fractional banking system and the fiat currencies made out of thin air. They create worthless paper which has absolutely no intrinsic value whatsoever, then through collusion with the political elites they use it as the perfect instrument of enslavement. Currency created out of nothing for which they collect usury for a debt which can never ever be repaid, capisce?
The Rothschilds got everybody beat, including “John Galt”. They’ve created the perfect pyramidal power structure with which they’ve conquered the entire world. The dystopian NWO utopia is not so new, since it originates in the ancient Babylon of the days of Nimrod.
Now, with the advent of technology the world elites don’t need any longer the huge amount of slaves that got them where they are today, and now they desire to reduce the world population somewhere around half a billion people. This is where the new ideology of population reduction for the sakes of environmentalism comes from. All the “John Galts” of the world like Bill Gates, Basos, Musk, etc., the technocracy of the world, are actively involved into bringing forth the implementation of the NWO ideology which includes mass depopulation.
Anyway, Ayn Rand’s god is pure unadulterated greed and, greed foments every other kind of evil you can think of !!!
reporter: “Mr. Rockefeller, how much more money/wealth do you need?”
Rockefeller: “Just a little more!” (the world, then the universe, then godhood. Where does it stop? The oblivion?)
Every person on that list does one thing well. They answer a need. The only way to get rich in a capitalist society is to fill a need. The beauty of it is that it is a cooperative endeavor. They offer something you need, you respond by patronizing them. All this talk about unfairness and bolshevism and cronyism is just political class warfare. You have the same opportunities to achieve the same level of wealth as each person named in the article. I have the same opportunity. America’s rich haven’t exploited anyone without their consent. Except for the government.
Lol, if you count loves and pilot owners why not count the Walton family ? They own Walmart and have many trucks there.
In addition XPO and fedex are more of a door to door delivery/mail carrier.
Well hell, now I know why everything is so overpriced at Loves. They had me convinced it was hard to make a profit!
I stopped at a Loves, I 55, the new one in Arkansas or Missouri, can’t remember, point is, the refused to take American money to pay for a snickers. It was a couple of president dollars.
As for California. Out of pretty much all the states Californias 55 mph for trucks is 100 percent Discrimination.its all about money has nothing to do with safty .the speed limit .should be the same for truck as it is cars that would be alot safer than. Me changing lanes at 55 mph in frount of a car doing 70÷mph. There going to run right underneath my trailer its a lot safer to match the speed.its already bad enough that out of a 100 cars two might letme over.
I agree with you. 55 for trucks is unsafe when cars are doing 70. I went to California this past December in my motor home and was surprised to see the 70 mph speed limit for cars and kept remarking to the wife about how traffic would get blocked up with one truck passing another at 55-60 mph and impatient auto drivers trying to get by the slow trucks. California needs to wake up.
Fool! That vehicle your operating is not a sports car, and you sir are a thin line away from destruction with your false security. It’s drivers like yourself thinking they’re the only ones who know how to drive, that are causing a lot of the anger on the roads, not to mention the rise in insurance rates and the extra attention from the starters.
40 years ago also corresponds to the deregulation of trucking (in the late 1970s). Follow the money to see who benefited from deregulation, it doesn’t seem to be the average driver.
Every body petty much thay see a truck god forbid them to be behind a truck thay will race up cut the truck off truck driver turns Blinker on to change lanes.no most of the people id say 80 percent of the drivers won’t let us over.thay speed up or thay stay rightnext to us and act like thay cant see any of the blinker lights running down the side of my .truck.4 brita blinking lights.
If u build it they will come…… single handily hedged inflation…..unskilled labor……..these issues will continue to plague the industry.
Adjusted for inflation, truck driver wages are now about half of what they were 40 years ago… much worse than the 10K less stated in the article.
And what do these billionaires give back to the truckers?
The arrogance from Love’s on saying truckers should pay to park just to add $$$ to their already over inflated ego’s and wallets.
I wonder if they realize they can’t take it with them when they go…..
Where’s Robin hood when you need him 😂!
They give you exactly what you are willing to pay for. Welcome to the world
Funny i always here crying that truck stops rob.trucker yet the other day i saw a driver purchasing 2 , 4″ straps for flatbed eaxh 35.99. I td him i have 5 kinedynes 30’x4″ used but no tears practillay new just a bit dirty for 10 each accept cash or fuel at fuel pump.. “uhh uhh yeah, no im not interested”
Ralph, cut him some slack, A.) Truckers aren’t typically the sharpest at math. B.) He probably thought you wanted something more than just a deal on straps…maybe a bit of snuggle time back in the bunk as well. I’m not accusing you of wanting that…just, I think people are gun-shy in truck stops when approached by strangers.
But, if he was real smart, he can buy 4″ x 30′ straps at most places for $10 or $11 each. Usually a lost-leader item to get you in the door and buy something more. Maybe they aren’t Kinedynes, but, they are stamped with the same WLL. I know, cheap ones cut a bit easier but, $10 is $10 and if you protect them right, shouldn’t be a problem.
I have bought and sold used flatbed gear….it’s very hard to find anything priced right, most people want like 70% of what you can buy new for…that is no deal. If I can’t get it for $0.25 or highest, $0.40 on the dollar, might as well buy new. Last time I liquidated old flatbed gear, tarps, straps, chains and binders, coil racks, corner protectors, padding, I got like $1,500!!! I was making the guy such great deals, he kept saying “How much for this, how much for this?” He ended up buying everything I had.
His company was likely paying him back for the straps. That wouldn’t be the case is he tried to submit a receipt from “some dude at the pumps”.
@Ralph
I’d say no also because if you actually bought those straps yourself it would be unlikely that you’d sell them so cheaply. Right up there with drivers selling load locks they didn’t buy themselves.
The only thing in that article is it said we are being paid 10k less then forty years ago ,
They don’t mention our expense is a minimum 3x what it was 40 years ago. At this rate with inflation a company couldn’t afford to pay a driver minimum wage 40years from now
The reason why JB Hunt & Swift are billionaires is because they don’t pay their drivers much, the owners take most of the profits!!
Phil, Have you ever worked for one of them? doubtful.
mousekiller , I started with swift. They are liars and thieves.
I spend 9000 a month on fuel , how’s about every time you fuel , we get a park for free on our card, that way there’s no need to charge us parking and you still make your billions
Trucker’s should go on strike, quit the bullshit talk “if the wheels aren’t spinning I ain’t making money” I say stop the crap talk and park those trucks. It’s the only way to make these companies listen. After all, if they threaten to fire everyone, they’d have a hell of a shortage on their hands.
Once again the rich get richer by robbing the little man. After paying over price for fuel and store products, they say paying for parking will solve our problems. If Walmart started charging for parking people would stop going there.
If you people spent as much time working or researching the available good paying jobs,as you do pissing and moaning you might’ve aquired some wealth. 2nd imagine going into business to make a profit,how greedy. I guess you think the land,building,taxes and other overhead are free? Credit card debt is a self inflicted pain, if it hurts to much get out of debt.It really isn’t that hard to do, but it requires effort.
Your funny.
Interesting comments. Sounds like everyone commenting here is in prison and on top of that is being raped in there prison cell. Sounds pretty depressing sounds pretty sad. Well you could leave and try doing something different. Maybe try doing something that won’t make you feel so abused ? You also have the choice to leave the entire country and try living in a more fair & equal country like Venezuela or North Korea. Ever thought about trying to improve your life instead of being angry at other people ?
Oh, Bobbie. You and your misguided attempts to educate and fix the world.
Go back to your tennis court and don’t mingle with the rest of the world.
Parking should be free all over we already spend money on fuel and food
Well guys God didn’t say it would be easy, in fact He said it’ll get worse with time! I’m looking forward to my mansion in heaven with streets of gold. No politicians, con artists, lawyers, judges and most of all no cops to rape you to death for the crooks. There won’t even be any con artist PREACHERS, rapist, child molesting PREACHERS! Keep your eyes on God not people or PREACHERS!
There is no god.
🤙🤙🤙
I been stop for a week going into my second one anybody else wants to tag along
All of this is showing is weakness make a stand and stand together instead of being a bunch of nonsense cry babies that I seen IN THE PAST 30 YEARS! One is start being consistent talking to one another at truck stops protesting at truck stops Flood these places truck stops rest areas shoulders of the road weigh stations malls everywhere and anywhere and across this country, power comes in numbers I been talking for years about this industry it’s funny how everybody waits for someone else to make the stand then complain about it you won’t know til we make the changes I’m in for the ride. I ‘m calling on all drivers lets roll.
None of these bad people will be in heaven with you but there will also will be no streets or gold. That’s just an allegory.
Charging truck drivers to park is just highway robbery. Period!!
If the owners of these truck stops would purchase more land for parking spaces , but no! The truck stops will not do that because they have psychopaths in the home offices coming up with these ideas to screw truck drivers, these psychopaths have no empathy, that’s how they work ( screw anyone to get what they want ).
Poor truck drivers! If it isn’t the government screwing a truck driver it’s the so called safe havens they park , fuel, shower and eat at that will screw a truck driver. Period!!
I always fuel at pilot. I’ve never paid for a shower. (yes I do take showers). I stock food in my truck that I buy at the grocery store. Maybe I have a gift, but I never have trouble finding a parking spot. I am a hard runner, I don’t shut down at 5pm, I go all night if I have the hours. I’ll look for a truck stop starting around 8am, when most of the drivers have finished their 12 hour nap and got back on the road.
Good bless the billionaires that build these businesses. Pretty sure the guy who buys my labour for over 6 figures a year is also a billionaire. I see no need to be spiteful.
Remember Drivers strength comes in numbers stop all the nonsense you won’t know til we try, protesting at truck stops rest areas roadsides customers docks places of business everywhere and anywhere , any type of protesting helps on being heard we are the voice of the industry, be positive on shut downs organize is key
Both parties scream socialism and we let the anti-commi statements divide us as un-americian in the name of american capitalist BS. We let them play us every election seasons. A season is 24/7/365 for the political machines. It is Americans fault… We have the government we want. We keep re-electing the same people and parties!
I so agree. Thank God someone else sees the ridiculousness!
Information in this story is completely inaccurate. If driver pay kept up with inflation, over the last 40 years, driver average pay would be over $90,000/year. Show me where drivers on average are making $80,000/year to be “$10,000 less than 40 years ago”
This was my 4th career and I just past a million miles. I have NEVER been in a business where the ones making all the money are treated like we have been. The big wigs tell you what you want to hear and then go home to their families at night while I try to find a place to park.
The lies I have been told at Knight, Werner, USXpress and especially K.B. Trucking would put most of us in jail. I did finish with a very good company however so they are out there.
Most of the equipment has been sub par and I’ve never had management come to my rescue, EVER!
The last straw for me was delivering the 4th load of cabinets to one of the Knight brothers 28K+ square foot home while I was getting such a shitty cpm. There was an island in the middle of the pool, A two story garage and the quest house was twice the size of my apt.
Some one’s doing well.
Be safe my brothers and sisters.
James
Pick a day to start…take a long weekend, like Friday Saturday Sunday…leave your truck PARKED…problem solved! But EVERYONE needs to participate…never happen!
April 12 shut down..go to Black Smoke Matters on Facebook for info on nationwide shutdown.
Listen to this idiot,if trucker’s pay for parking,parking issue would be gone.wtf
Hey trucker brothers and trucker families. I love truck driving for the last 15 years it seems like everybody is against us. Weather is the government ,are the truck stops ,are the trucking companies ,and even the broker s ,we need to all get together and shut it down for a couple days and ” and make Trucking great again”. We shouldn’t wait to it take one more law ,one more find ,one more fee, we just need to shut it down ,Together .love you guys stay safe.
The shutdown is April 12th. Sponsored by Black Smoke Matters. I’m not running that day. Are you?
I’m shutting down. 12th it is.
One thing we of the industry can be sure of, that’s even till Christ returns,
The truck driver will not be replaced and
“YOU CAN’T FAX FREIGHT!!
Another dumb article with a misleading title.
These billionaires are NOT truck drivers. They are corporate owners…most of them are SERVICING the trucking industry, that’s it. Loves and Pilot are not even trucking companies.
Who is shocked to read that the founders or execs at some mega company is wealthy? NOBODY!!!
Welcome to corporate America. ALL company owners and execs are wealthy as CRAP! At least the companies that turn a profit. The execs get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars, the top ones and the owners make millions every year. They also sit on the board of directors for other related companies and get tons of stock options that they exercise and make even more money with! There job, make that stock price soar…and when they do, they cash in!
The grunt workers are the ones who make them the money…do they make hundreds of thousands or a million dollars a year? Hell no!!
Yet, proportionally speaking, the worker pays a higher percentage of their income in taxes than does the rich exec.
I’m not a liberal snowflake, but, we need to flatten the tax system and have 1 rate, make those who earn the most pay their share at the same % rate as the rest of us, no write-offs, no gimicks, get rid of the IRS auditors, send out a 1 page form that says “How much money did you earn last year? Give us X%”
For those below a certain $, if you made less than a certain amount, you pay nothing. If you have kids, and you make less than a reasonable amount that it takes to support them, you pay nothing.
THAT is what we need to be asking for. If we can get to that level, then, who cares how much money these fat-cats make? Let them make a ton MORE…that is just more revenue to run the country with.
But, every time it’s been a platform for someone, we shoot it down. Aka, Steve Forbes, Ross Perot…why???
Same reason you walk up to a guy at a truck stop, offer him a better deal on some over-priced item he’s gonna buy or use his “points” to purchase, and he says “no thanks”. People don’t understand finances and they don’t understand math.
Good comment Mr. Trucker Mike! Wow, I’m even impressed that your comment passed the censorship. My comments never appear even though I never use inapropriate language. I doubt that even this one will pass censorship. LOL
Trucker Mike, you’ve made very good points on a number of issues, but you’ve missed the core problem which stands at the root of the mess we all find ourseves in, domestically and around the world.
Yes, greed is out of control and no matter how you’d try to meditate it, it rears its ugly head in every king of human created system, from first communal human organizations to the present day Fabian Socialism and Admiralty Law Police States.
From Monarchism and Imperialism to the European Feudalism of the middle ages, all these systems created layers of vassals under the top 0.01% global elite to lord over the peasantry in this pyramidal human societal organization which permeated every other system which sprung out of the different philosophical ideologies from Plato and Socrates to Hegel, Kant, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.
National Socialism, Bolshevism and the Fabian Socialism with its corporatist structure are also built on the pyramidal power structure which creates classes of top elites, power brokers, lords, vassals and peasantry, where the ascension through the ranks is fuelled by greed for wealth and power, fame and fortune.
The most successful ascension to just about absolute power in the whole human history was not by military might, but the acquiring and acquisition of total financial and monetary control.
The top bankers headed by the Rothschild Banking Cartel further developed the system started by the Jesuits of the “Holy Roman Empire”, after merging banking to the occult in May, 1st, 1776. (Mayer Amschel Bauer / Rothschild & Adam Weishaupt – Bavarian Illuminati)
Anyway, by the time of the Willson administration, the bankers already controlled Europe and most of the world through the Brittish Empire and they set their eyes on the “Apple” across the pond and in 1913 with the meeting on the Jackal Island they launched the complete takeover of the American sovereign financial and monetary system which previously was based on gold and silver. With the “Federal Reserve Act”, which is not federal and not a reserve in any way, shape or form, they pretty much gobbled up the entire world for themselves and enslaved over seven billion people these days.
Folks, what the majority of the world doesn’t understand is the fact that in the Fractional Banking System, real money that has intrinsic value does not exist ! I don’t care if anyone makes a billion, or a trillion “dollars”, the dollar amount is completely irrelevant since every “dollar” of this fractional banking represents only debt and is void of any intrinsic value.
The fiat currency of the fractional banking system is being created from thin air, it represents debts and at best is an instrument of this greatest Ponzi Scheme used in a legalized criminal manner for the confiscation of the real hard assets of the world.
Debts can not be repaid with debt ever ! So, how would anybody that still possesses a functional neuron in their brain think that you will ever repay debts with the “IOUs”- “banknotes” of the fractional banking system???? Over 90% of all the taxes collected by governments go towards servicing debts. Even if they were to tax 100% of all the hard toil, blood and guts of the entire world, the debt principal can never ever be payed back to the banking system which created this Ponzi Scheme out of thin air !!! Eventually the whole financial and monetary system will collapse world wide under its own wight as all Ponzi Schemes sooner or later do, when an out of control inflation as that of Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile the bankers have already confiscated and hoarded over 90% of all the gold and silver world reserves and gained total control over the natural and mineral resources of the entire world.
After all this, here we are bickering about hwo are the greed crazed jackals who are making the millions and the billions of this currency, that has as much intrinsic value as toilet paper, in an economy built on the greatest lie since the beginning of the human existence on this planet???
Folks, we’re all on a totally doomed sinking ship, and all we’re doing is arguing and bickering how to rearrange the chairs on its deck !!!
The trucking industry exists in the same paradigm as the rest of this awful mess I’ve talked about already. You can’t fix the starter and expect the engine to start and run fine while wou’ve got piston rods sticking out on the side of the engine block and the crank and camshafts atre chopped into pieces !!!!
If my comment survives the censorship, boys and girls, welcome to reality !!!
the greedy will answer to their Creator
it’s time for a union
We can’t. It’s not legal.
drivers are crying because you’re too stupid to make that kind of money. Good thing there is the trucking industry for idiots like you.
And Moyes is still screwing drivers
Hey, count me in. I’ve got enough money to last me for the rest of my life. If I die next Thursday.
I have $14 on my loves reward card!! Bow down to me peasants!!
Sometimes it’s worth it to pay to park and save the hassle. What really bothers me are these HUGE truck stops (Petros seem to be the worst) that have half the lot reserved and never taken. 40 or 50 spots. That is crazy. They have a good idea of about how many they’ll actually need and are just killing business.
Yeeeeah…..not to say that a person in a capitalistic economy shouldn’t be rewarded for their efforts but…..this makes me really angry. I used to own a truck and I’ve had a CDL 23 years. Wages are up a bit, but trucking is now considered more dangerous than mining. There should be a massive trucker strike/blockade to get the point across to these rich clowns. They put people in positions of being responsible for a huge, expensive, dangerous machine….then pay them for HALF of the time the driver is being responsible for that machine…in addition to doing a highly skilled, high-stress job. The trucking industry’s “problems” could be easily and quickly solved, BY A GROUP OR ADVISORY BOARD OF DRIVERS, BOT THESE GREEDY, disconnected company owners. Just like school teachers, cops, firefighters, etc…MUCH HIGHER PAY, more people doing the job, less demand for the time/life of the worker. RISE UP PEASANTS. You have power.
Not sure what companies they are basing making $10k annually based on inflation, but those drivers need to get new jobs. If you are making less money than you were 10 years ago, then you are in the wrong business or working for the wrong company…or just lazy.
I came into trucking in 1986 making top money for then, and I am making top money now. My standard of living has gone up, not down. My biggest gripe is how they screwed us on tax deductions. But that is another story…anyone that works for a company that pays per diem, deserves to be slave labor, and will never live to the standards that I do, because banks won’t loan them the money to buy a house like I have, since their income is under reported. That is only one example of how drivers screw themselves. You have to be smarter than a 3rd grader to drive a truck, or you will make 3rd grade wages.
Don’t you ever get tired of paying? it’s not enough these crooks steal you blind
in there stores at the fuel pumps and in their food joints, to you idiots who pay for
reserved parking to keep others from an open space you suck! that shouldn’t be
allowed, if your dumb enough to be sheared like a brainless sheep you deserve
it, if these places want your business they should have enough parking to go around, the DOT/FMCSA are the worse offenders of the parking problem, these
morons caused this by mandateing (or should I say) forcing you to find parking,
we used to use time management to pick a place to stop along the way now
we for some reason have to get as close as possible before stopping??????
never could figure out why you’d want to wait till the last minute anyway
Heck, all it would take is for fuel haulers to strike for 3 days. Every station would be dry. No fuel, no commerce.
But it won’t happen. The riots would be devastating.
All I can say is get it together drivers if you would like organize please feel free to do so I say to those that are OTR drivers start our own organization,let it be known just because drivers are over this country miles and miles apart the technology today makes us closer than ever use it as a advantage, doesn’t mean that drivers can’t become the biggest organized industry in the country strength comes in numbers I’ll wait for replies just remember 1 more plus 1 more =2 you have to start somewhere.
It’s hard to believe that .47 cpm is being said $90,000 plus, on a 5 day work week my math is not adding up
Swift and Hunt have already placed their orders for autonomous vehicles.
Because they don’t eat and s__ or take cash advances.
Trickle up economics.
When I say that tolls, rest stops, and so on should be infrastructure purchases (like bridges), people wonder how that could work. This may seem a little outlandish to many, but I believe that with fiat currency, it isn’t really where the money comes from that is the issue. Since dropping the gold standard, Congress has been able to print money for any use it deems worthwhile. There is never a shortage when it comes to certain items that Congress deems to be in the best interests of the U.S. Other things always seem to go begging and then you hear: “how are you gonna pay for that?” Truth is, as long as there are enough resources (labor being one of them, not to mention oil/gas/minerals, technology, etc.), The U.S. will never run out of money. Money isn’t a commodity. It isn’t even a real thing. It’s like drawing points on a chalkboard. It’s a way to get people to do things. The U.S. is vastly wealthy in terms of resources. The problem is that most of those resources don’t trickle down to regular people.
As long as truck drivers are willing to work for almost minimum wage, this will continue. The majors have killed the union representation and as a result drivers are all low wage earning slaves. And in ten years automated trucks will eliminate half of the jobs. OTR will be a thing of the past for 90% of drivers.
Maybe if we truckers were compensated more for the work we do….we wouldnt mind paying for parking….I still fail to see how this would solve the parking dilemna anyway.
I being saying for.years… TRUCK STOPS.SHOULD BE A TRUCKERS HEAVEN, but it is the opposite of it.. very hard to find a truck parking, only if you call and pay for it in advance reservation, everything one buying is cheap, poor quality and overpriced at least 5x over retail. And if you need mechanical or tires services.. you will be robed blindly, thats truck stop reality, rest areas we have to compete with Campers and 4 whellers, if we find one open, even so troopers loves to knock on parked trucks doors, disrespecting, the 10 hours rule or 1/2hour break law to perform a truck inspection…that needs to stop… TRUCKERS NEED TO UNIFY, AND DEFEND OUR LINE OF WORK..
While those trucking companies, brokers, shippers, corporations truck stops and NATCO,FMSCA,DOT,law enforcement, becoming millionaires over truckers slavery, truckers and our families are struggling to make a living and educate our kids.. TRUCKER’S NEED TO UNIFY PRONTO
Well loves does share some of that wealth if you buy fuel or have work done you get a lot of points more than pj/ta/petro and you don’t have to pay for parking at loves.
My wife & I were at Love’s in Fife WA. New Years Eve and dropped our trailer to go to a pharmacy for her meds. We left a note on the nose that said we would be right back with Ph.# about 30min latter while at Wal-Mart I get a call from a Love’s store rep. he says he’s going to have it towed if I don’t get back there! I said we are done getting the meds & headed back..please do not tow the trailer. I got back afap & it was gone. I went in and a young young man told me that was policy I looked everywhere a truck driver would be coming there buying $600.00 in fuel then going to park it anywhere as there were very few trucks there 2018 New Years eve. Total bill for going to Love’s $817.60 for the tow (250yrds) the impound was. Next Door! & $600.00 in fuel the Love’s personnel had to be in the loop of money that the tow people charged us, what a shame! I parked outside when I got the trailer back I stopped outside of there lot and entered there front door where cars fuel and there was a Big sign reading “Unatached Trailers Will Be towed at owners expense. There Customer Service sided with the Fife WA. Love’s. I didn’t file a suit because I don’t have the time. I don’t go to that store anymore but We still buy my fuel & shower at Love’s but wish they would pay us back some day they’d make the $ back as we go by Fife WA. 2 times a week usually. We won’t hold our breath nobody from the top ever called us?
Places would be much more open about truck parking if there weren’t so many drivers that throw their trash and urine bottles all over the place.
It’s done all the time. Planet Fitness has more gyms than anyone, across the country. We pull in and park on the side or in the back of many of them just like a walmart.
How is paying for parking at a truck stop going to solve parking.
As always, the chosen few profiteering from the work, sweat and cheap rates and salaries for drivers and truck stop workers in the good ol’ US of A.
It won’t be long before we start looking like the working class in Mexico or Venezuela, It’s just a matter of time.
Greed is good.
Are these people actually worth this much money, or do they operate companies worth that much money? Most owner-operators are technically worth 6-figures– if you count their rig.