It’s costing more and more for shippers to get their cargo where they need it to go. The capacity crunch is giving carriers record profits, and Q2 earnings for 2018 showed huge gains for most publicly traded trucking companies. Even brokers and freight factoring companies are seeing a huge spike in revenue. So why aren’t truckers seeing their earnings increase as much?
As the freight market becomes tighter, trucking companies are able to jack up the price to move goods. With the capacity crunch as bad as it is, shippers have no choice but to pay higher rates.
According to Bloomberg, in the past 12 months, the cost of shipping goods via long-haul trucks has increased by 11.6%. During that same 12-month period, the average hourly earnings for an OTR driver rose just 0.5%.
Since both freight factoring companies and brokers tend to bill based off of percentages instead of fixed amounts, their pay goes up whenever carriers make more money. But a trucker’s pay isn’t tied directly to their carrier’s profits.
The good news for truckers is that companies have been ordering record-setting numbers of trucks and trailers. Ordering more equipment means that carriers will need even more drivers, pushing up demand. That could lead to carriers competing more fiercely for drivers by offering better pay.
Source: gobytrucknews, bloomberg, americanbanker, joc, talkbusiness, ccj, ccj
If they make even more money when they can’t find enough drivers then there is no incentive to pay drivers more, why should they?
I really recommend all drivers to seek employment elsewhere. The only way things will ever change is when the public is desperate for goods.
Damn right!!! I agree. We all should began seeking employment in other fields and try to work as less as possible operating a truck. Even if this means working split gigs. Also, it would be a great idea if we were to work together as a system to counteract the negative treatment which us drivers have endured for many years! If we help one another, we can definitely control the markets. We have all the power! We just don’t have enough effort! Nothing ever changed by mere complaining! Some form of action is always necessary!
Lets ban together and go on strike. I’m in. 👍. We can organize, nation wide, via Facebook maybe..?
Im in also I believe all of this is pretty accurate companies paying 25 to 30 .com what’s going on out here we should strike ..lets ban together trucking brothers and sisters
Kristine, To go on strike you need specific demands, Better pay? How much? When should the strike take place?
I know, how about 10 DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS TO JANUARY 2?
You know what answer you will get?
I CANNOT AFFORD TO TAKE THAT MUCH TIME OFF.
You have people that cannot afford the truck they are lease purchasing. They live paycheck to paycheck. I have owned 7 trucks so far. I parked mine every 15th of December till January 3.
No it will never happen, Just look. These people that drive now days cannot even MOVE OVER FOR SOMETHING ON THE SHOULDER. Thank God I only have a few more years.
That’s called unionizing. A great idea but nobody trusts unions because they steal your pension funds. But it is the only thing that will work at this time. Big companies don’t want unions because it eats into their profits. So it is damned if you do, damned if you don’t. I say go for it and crush these big companies.
Agree. I can earn more even if I go into a 25k debt to finish my BA in math in 3 yrs or less and have a better R O I than trying to stay in trucking. Starting pay for a BA in math 50k and only have to work 40 to maybe 50 hrs a week on occasion instead of 60 to 70 hrs a week. Much better R OI. Less hassle with regs.
The companies are keeping the profit for them. They are not sharing the wealth so to speak. Owner operators need to stop accepting the rates and ask for better rates. If your line haul shows $1,000, ask for $1,000, not the brokers rate of $500.00. Once you accept cheap loads, you become rather locked in because the broker already knows they got you! Keep in mind, you hold the greatest running cost—-trucks, trailers, fuel, repairs/maintenance, licensing, etc. These are huge! The broker has none of this.
Brokers are desperate for good owner operators. Some are even financing them if they’re willing to sign a contract to haul exclusively for the broker. This is the best time to be an owner operator since the 70s when I started.
Jim, I read elsewhere in an economic article that backs up what you claim. Best time in decades. I purchased my first reefer in April. Hoping this wave of higher rates lasts a few years.
Any advice for a husband wife team with authority?
Thanks
Facebook group called rate per mile masters will give all the help you need.
Work with a couple of companies and ship directly with them giving you the lanes you want. Bypass the broker. I did it with the company I haul for now with my own rig and I am grossing in excess of $350,000 a year. I am home every weekend. It is great.
You mean the never never plan, you never own the truck, and you never pay it off, your stuck with the company wether you like them or not. Leave and you lose all equity in truck, then they just pass on the truck to someone else.
Never, never should mean. Never spend the extra money you earn from buying a truck (until you have 6 months of funds w/o working) and never enter a contract for a truck until you save 5-10K $ min for when s__t happens.
That’s right companies keep their profit here’s an example when ExxonMobil merge make 400 billion profit and it’s funny us taxpayers still pay the companies the research and look for oil talked about a corruption member that was during the old days Standard Oil and the Bush Administration and Hollenberg and the corrupted Democrats and Republican government
I agree, the more O/Os settle for low pay they are dooming themselves to wages way below what is acceptable & fair. Also, large trucking companies that take the loads that pay crap severely handicaps wage increases because shippers will always chose them. Everyone needs to try to stop driving for companies like JB Hunt for example bc they’re really bad about accepting ridiculously low prices. Lastly, I think all truck drivers need to ban together to unionize and go on strike. If the industry is at a standstill companies will be forced to cave on higher pay. They couldn’t afford to allow the striking to last so it will be solved fast & drivers will be back on the road within a day or two. Wages that match the level of work & skill of drivers is worth a couple day’s pay.
Back in the day, the editor of “Over Drive Magazine” was to organize O/O’s for a national strike that would address wages, surplus fuel charges, and other concerns of O/O’s.
He took the money, and ran.
I think today the only way to get started, would be to work with ATA for representation. ( my opinion)
You don’t want to join forces with the Teamsters, you’ll loose more then your money with them.
The larger problem is those imigrants, who have come to this country for a better life, and have become O/O’s by brokers, and companines that have made deals to get them a truck, their loosing money from the start, with older equipment, that’s always in need of repairs, to make them any revenue for profit.
Those drivers, will always take the “low ball price”, and not understand what it means to join forces for more revenue.
What their making here, is better then what they left from their home country.
Great idea, but how do you get everyone on board, to be effective.
You need to go to ATA website and read their mission statement. They care nothing about drivers except “how much have you made for me today?” And “don’t get in an accident and cost me money”. That is ALL they care about.
This is EXACTLY what it is cause with the rates I am paying on loads there is no excuse for drivers not to be making more. I myself am a broker (not the scumbag kind) and I have been paying ridiculous amounts of money to move loads the past several months to the point its just nuts. So with that said I have worked both sides of the fence and the trucking company I worked for was run by the lowest form of human filth on the planet I mean a total world class scumbag. He would get paid a lot of money to move loads then have the brokerage side of his office tender it to the trucking side at a much much MUCH lower rate and then claim thats all they could get on the lane and thats what he paid the drivers off of. Pretty sure it was illegal but nobody really could do anything about it. That said EVERY single trucking company I worked for outside of the one I work with now was scummier and shadier than the one before it. So as drivers dont fall for that BS your dispatchers are feeding yall saying oh the rates suck out of there so this is all I could get you cause there is a very VERY good chance they are lying and pocketing a huge chunk of the profits.
Maybe because trickle down economics is a myth and (generally) people in positions of power don’t actually reward the bottom guy when business is good?
You don’t really believe that do you? Corporations don’t “stash” money. When their profits go up, they spend that money to make more money. Supply and demand drive pay. As long as drivers will accept low pay, the companies will keep giving it to them
I couldn’t of said it better driver..Just say no to cheap freight..We do all the work, take all the risks, sleep in trucks & sacrifice being away from our families months at a time & we accept the short end of the stick 🤔🤔🤔🤔
That’s why truckers are in a weak spot: we spend 14 hour days thinking about safely getting 80,000 lbs moved around, others spend all day thinking about how to pocket the money…They call it being “smart” yet if everyone else got “smart” no freght would be moved, civilization would shut down.
No actually, if everyone got “smarter”, there would be even more competition for “smart” jobs, and the slightly less “smart” guys who don’t make the cut would end up as truckers.
Less smart people are truckers? There’s a news flash lol
That sounded a tad naive to me,,,,Whoomever wrote that obviously does not watch U Tube or he would know there is something way more sinister if these big guys are buying units without bodies to put in them,,
Obviously the NEW WORLD ORDER,,,SOROS,,,ILLUMINATI,,,,FOREIGN RELATIONS COUNCEL ETC,,,has a plan to screw us poor blue coller working stiffs again
by lowering the age or requirements or opening the borders to fill the seats and
keep the status quo!!!
DMW
^ Yep you’re exactly right. I see the writing on the wall too & have already made plans once I get out of the trucking industry in 44 more days & taking my 2 million safe driving miles & shelving them. The good ole days of trucking are long gone in the rear view mirror so it’s time for me to look ahead & it won’t be driving a truck because I can forsee exactly where this industry is headed & it isn’t pretty for the professionals & old schoolers still left. Get out while you can!
That’s true brother how are you have all these young drivers 18 and above driving are highways in 80 thousand pound rig that are so unprofessional we trained or from a different country don’t even know where our laws and regulations and how to drive a truck or, just put blinders on and just keeps sucking the money for these schools in these states
Well…all I can say is this, your report shows driver pay only going up .05%. and yet between the start of 2018 and year’s end, pay has gone up at my company which is one of the larger ones at 5400 trucks by a full 17%. Plus with the implementation of a well thought through per diem program, our drivers can recover a great deal more on take home pay yearly over and above the previously mentioned 17%. In my personal situation, that’s going to put making $100k a year within easy reach without even the per diem pay. Per diem would of course lower the on paper gross pay, but the net would be as if I were making even more than $100k gross without the per diem. While every company does things differently, in some cases, mine for sure, our company is taking those increased profits and passing them right through to the drivers directly in the form of higher pay. And yes…I can 100% back up my claimed earnings with full documentation.
I’d be surprised if your company were atypical.
All of my profits go into waiting for digital clock saying I can make delivery. Or waiting for receiver to allow me to deliver or waiting for high prices lumper to figure out how to count to 23. A good paying load is only good paying when it is off the truck. Adding extra days to a load because of extreme amounts of wasted “real world” time, kills the profit margin more than anything else I can think of.
Absolutely agreed.
I’ve received a .05 raise per mile in the past 6 months. Am a company driver. Even got $1000k recruiting bonus. My company (Crete)doesn’t hold out for long.
5cpm is poop and sign on bonuses are gimmicks
2500 to 3000 stay out for 21 days Crete dispatch things there god company suck
Remember that’s a controls company by the government and it’s a training school not for truck drivers it’s for suckers who want to learn do your math and trucking before you go in trucking
Nope….not here they don’t. 7cpm in one year with the new productivity bonus. Raising the shag and detention/breakdown pay. Doubling the referral bonus. Things are definitely looking good over here.
I meant 1k there.sorry for that misleading mistake.
Well to start with your working for the wrong company Crete carrier there one of the cheapest company’s that don’t pay enough to start with
That’s sad because that means the dry van industry totally sucks. I found Crete one of the highest paying dry van carriers in my research.
They absolutely are. And they don’t BS around about it. You can top the scale starting with only a couple years of experience in like 5 years. Some companies I could mention, would take me at 24 years experience, and it would still take over 12more years to reach the top of their pay scale.
Isn’t Crete a training company ?
No. We train very few over here. Most training is just to get a limited experience driver up to speed with the company and ensure they are safe and legal behind the wheel. We take a very limited number of drivers from schools, and only certain ones that are vetted by the company.
A large number of drivers start with a lame company because a lot of good ones cannot insure new drivers. Let Ed get a couple years grip on the industry first and he will decide what he is and isn’t willing to do. 🙂
All the big companies will cheat you out of money the only companies that make money is oil rig guys 35 6000 a week or the people to drive for the government like anywhere from 350 a mile to $18 a mile so I’ll do your history and do your math
Here’s a good one for your truck drivers the California DMV so you do six test for the test for the CDL you pass 5 and you failed the six one you have to take them all over at $55 per test talk about a scam money laundering and unfair to people that have learning disabilities or short memory but she has old timers
, what’s taking so long for my comment on this on this website scared to post what I wrote
Really? I’m making between $93-96k this year at Crete. Does that sound cheap for a company driver to you? Yes…I can back that up too.
Steve….if you want proof of what I make here at Crete…feel free to look me up on FB. I’ll show you that Crete is anything BUT cheap. Last name is Kingsley.
It all boils down to greedy companies and drivers not unionizing for better pay .
It would help greatly if schools taught math competently and how to apply it to the real world.
Drivers have accepted garbage pay for decades because the high schools they went to never taught them how to use numbers.
Uhh, Jim.. They may not be keen on figuring how many miles multiplied by rate per mile, but I’m sure they understand a pay that reads $H.17
Being paid by the mile was a way to lower the cost for the trucking companies. Railroad workers are paid by the hour not the mile. Train engineers were making over 80k in the 1980s. The railroads also are more efficient in cooperating with each other even though they compete. Example
A BNSF train has a UP car and a C S X car on it. And so forth. Train crews from WA don’t run in TX. The crews swap about every 150 to 200 miles. Hauling each other’s cars is more efficient than having to unload a car from one railroad to load it onto another..
THE BROKERS ARE ROBBING US BLIND. WE NEED TO HAUL DIRECT AND CUT THEM ALL OUT. THE GOVERNMENT MAKE A LAW ON EVERYTHING ELSE. THEY SHOULD MAKE A LAW NO FREIGHT UNDER $ 2.50 A MILE AND THE WEIGHT DONT MATTER. $ 2.50 AND UP. THEY STILL WANT TO PAY LIKE THEY DID IN THE 70 S AND 80 S PAY.
Right. So your solution to too much government is more government?
AMEN!!!!!!!!!!
Cut the leeches out of the industry they didn’t come into being until just maybe 20-25 years ago Brokers or nothing more than blood sucking leeches scabs they get the loads before the trucking companies in the owner operators cut them out of the system and watch the amount of pay go up for drivers.
All started with deregulation, brokers came in and have,screw ed the industry, look at ch rob u blind, so the CEO of trucking companies say ooh.,they make 8 mil a year driver make 8 bucks a year,fair enough
Do the brokers do anything else besides arranging loads between the shipper and the company? Why isn’t there platform similar to Uber? Drivers or dispatch goes on line to look for the loads near you. Why do we have share profit with the middle man? Some of them are really greedy. I don’t know how much they average per month but it’s still not enough for them so they found ways to charge us for being late and I’m sure at least in some cases that they keep those late fees for them selves. One time I spent 5 hours waiting for a load. The shipper didn’t even have the product ready, but the broker told us I need to be there first thing in the morning. One lady int the office told me after about 3 hours of waiting that the broker is going to charge them late fee. I naively thought that this time I’m gonna see some of that money for my wasted time. My dispatch didn’t even know about this. I asked them, why is the broker keeping that money it’s not like he couldn’t arrange other loads while waiting right? The world is so unjust because we allow it.
These Shippers and carriers have a lot of loopholes in their contracts. I’m sure they can beat around that.
I’m an owner operator myself and I’ve leased to a few companies in the past 6 months, its horrible!!!! 25% of the load and 25% of the drop pay??Wtf..? They blow your phone up and tell you lying stories to get you to sign on, company’s and brokers need bi laws on how much We allow them to take for there services!! This is our industry, not there’s!! I believe it is time for our industry to get a real representative to stop the unethical control of the companies and the brokers,,!! We need to have them regulated……..
Get your authority. That will put you in the 70 to 80%.
..or buy trailer. 100% of what you negotiate.
I’m a O/O leased through a company and I get broker loads and some brokers are undercutting loads to below 70 rates so they can make there profits. Trucking companies are doing the same thing you have to work twice as hard to make ends meet and na j e a good living can’t even go home if you gave a truck payment much. Rediculous really.
Search out another company if you have a good work history and driving record, you can do much better. In the first 4 months this year working every week and only averaging 2150 miles a week grossed 100,025. took some vacation and back at. We choose our own loads back and if I didn’t like the rate asked for a bit more and majority of time got it. I had loads out good enough a few I bounced home 700 to 800 miles empty. When I say good enough the revenue to truck trailer was $6200 to $7300 for the week.
If they can keep driver retention low, then they can keep their rates high. Supply and demand.
In a perfect world, higher demand for drivers should result in better benefits and pay and competition for drivers. But leave it to the big companies to find a way to profit on the driver shortages by raising their shipping rates instead “because our drivers are in short supply”.
At least that’s my observation.
Im new to the industry. Thanks Andrew H, for shedding light on those of us on the dark. Your point is well taken
So let’s see… The job is offered to a driver. Pay is discussed and agreed upon. Driver stays with the company for 3 months and says pay is not enough. Driver leaves, gets another job in trucking with the same pay.
I’ve seen this over and over. Why are they accepting the low pay in the first place?
Driving a truck for a big company is basically being paid for looking out of the window. Everything is regimented. Very little responsibility except for the driving itself. Why should a person that only knows how to drive make anymore than $15/hr?
For starters, driving is Truck driving is the eighth most dangerous occupation in the U.S. Second, unlike a fast-food worker, who is paid $13.50/hr in NYS right now, and will be paid $15/hr starting in 2019, you don’t get to go home at the end of the day. Eating out, sleeping at odd hours, and sitting around in a driver seat all day are all unhealthy activities. Eating out all the time is expensive. On top of that, often the company is trusting you with loads valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars. So drivers have to pass background cks, drug screens, keep a clean driving record (including in their personal vehicle), and get certified. All things a fast food worker does not need to do (and most fast-food workers couldn’t do).
Lev> troll much? Obviously you’re not a driver!
I worked for a flatbed company up by Detroit Michigan for two years during that time I was supposed to be getting 26% of the gross any company that says they’re paying by the gross but not posting the gross amount on each bill of lading is skimming on drivers I caught one load with the gross because the dispatcher sent me a pic of the info with the gross amount on it when I got my pay out sheet for that load it was supposed to be $208 instead it was only $158 hired a private investigator who used the right to know Act my being an authorized employee status with the company and checked into the loads that I hauled in a two-year period Total amount skimmed was $18,162 needless to say I don’t work for them anymore.
The Wildcat strike of 1974 was one of the best things ever happening to the trucking business a Nationwide shut down again for 36 hours would put the driver pay up to where it needs to be without a shutdown trucking companies are going to keep ripping off the drivers God have mercy on anybody working for a percentage of the gross because your Trucking Company ain’t showing you no mercy!!!!!!!!!!!!
Very well said. I agree 100 percent
I was making 31% of the gross in the late 80s pulling a reefer from Mich to Calif & back.
It was fine in the summer months, killing it, but winter I’d run from N.Calif down to Yuma, AZ picking up 5-6-7 pick-ups of 2 pallets of this, 4 pallets of that pulling on 1000 miles over 2-3 days picking up produce then had to hammer back to the midwest. Didn’t get paid squat til i was loaded. Being paid percentage only pays good in sales, not in trucking. But i remember hauling strawberries in season ( a short window) & it paying $5000 to the truck & I was getting 31% of that back then. That was when being paid percentage rocked.
As of this moment the spot rate for Salinas, CA to Detroit, MI is $6,500.
Salinas to Bozeman, MT is $4,000.
Truckers would have to stick together I think it was a country in Greece for the truck drivers went on strike for three months and they ran out of food supplies to give the truckers what they want and what this country will never happen we don’t stick together like the union days we went on strike they paid you it’s broken and will never be fixed for the truck drivers remember that you got to remember when JFK Jimmy Hoffa used to have debates off of stuck up for the truck drivers then JFK got a special forces in to take us down
Aint capitalism just grand? Of all the regs Trump killed, the one untouchable deals with truckers. Why? Because most of the biggest trucking companies are in “red” states and coupled with the tax cuts, what better way to redistribute the wealth. Damn shame people pay so much to party loyalty, while the wealthiest make off with money.
There are countries that dont allow capitalism why not move to one of them ?
If there was a true labor union for truck drivers to join, not like the fake ones that mostly serve as Far-Left political action committees, perhaps this would help us out more. What do you think?
There’s no greatunions anymore I had friends that were in the union with 30 to 40 years when they retired they got screwed on medical their benefits and their pensions remember this is what the government wanted because unions were corrupted and they paid the government offold guys know this too bad the youngsters are just another number
Union loaders and unloaders suck.
Maybe union drivers would suck as well, and increase rates for independents.
Hope so. lol
Bring on the strike.
This article is BS drivers are making 60 cents to 70 cents per mile, i used to make 32 back in 2011, q2 earnings were high but q3 is a total oposite
There’s no greatunions anymore I had friends that were in the union with 30 to 40 years when they retired they got screwed on medical their benefits and their pensions remember this is what the government wanted because unions were corrupted and they paid the government offold guys know this too bad the youngsters are just another number
All otr driver should make 4200.00 a week take home after taxs.city driver should take home after tax,s2000.00 plus,all all retirement and benefits set in stone… all drivers would be happy and economy would move faster it’s a no-brainer but remember central banks in the government control us it’s discrimination because the government gets what they want and their pay hikes their salaries their bonuses and their pensions their retirement all set in stone they get their way we lose
The economy would come to a screeching halt. A gallon of milk would be $10. You’d be making all that money and still couldn’t afford to live.
I agree with you 100% I’m making $$$ hand over fist. Did 14wks straight where I grossed an average over $2000. Then went on an 11day vacation and just finished 5 more weeks in a row over $2K with the next one looking great too. Not bad for a 65mph company driver.
Trucking companies always have made Profits this is Old News..Drivers never see those huge Profits ..It’s why Bad companies have 3 to 4 Thousand Trucks.
Truckers that are company drivers should strike at 1 time. Every one has bills to pay but this is ridiculous. As co. drivers we still do all of the work, take all of the risks and sacrifice the most.
If you’re not making great $$$ in trucking in this economy with the rising pay and heavy freight volume. Either you’re working for the wrong company, or personally doing something wrong yourself. I’m killing it out here week after week. As are almost every driver I personally know. When I find one that’s having major complaints….after listening to them a while, the problem is usually self inflicted
Look at the drivers. Minorities, women and immigrants. Who gets paid the least in this country? Minorities, women, and immigrants.
A failing business model that Mega carriers have followed for decades. Only the consumer gets screwed almost as bad as the driver.
If you drivers want a raise just quit. If there is a shortage like they say you should be a valuable asset. As far as rates I have not seen a increase. I am a Owner operator working for a small company I did see a 40 percent rise in fuel cost. The Eld everyone is bitching about is fine . Change the HOS to Driver friendly 12 -15-80 exempt loading and unloading. 24 off if you are away from home. 48 if you are home. Have a wonderful day and be safe.
Get your authority. Rates for reefer went up from 1.96 national average on ELD mandate day, to over 2.64 by Feb. About 2.40 now.
After they killed Jimmy Hoffa the Mafia took over then the government took over and regulations it’s all about the 1% the greedy corporations to make money Screw The Working Man that’s the facts do your history remember government-controlled nothing’s for the people anymore and remember Federal Reserve central banks it’s and the corrupted government and regulations to the Department of Transportation it’s all about payoffs
You read your history. The mob got into the unions because Jimmy Hoffa was taking the unions pensions funds and giving it to the mob.
. And learn how to right a sentence. You’re giving everyone a headache.
Brokers are the problem. I haul direct for a few places where i live and watch the load board when i can’t get a customers product. I have seen brokers take as much as 600 off the load. That’s usually when i call and question them about there ethics. And then tell them i just booked it for what it actually pays. Or my favorite the double broker kings morons think they are pulling a fast one. I have cost brokers in my area 10k to date cause i won’t put up with there thieving ways any longer.
We have all known for well over a decade that we are being screwed. If you factor in inflation truckers are making less today than they ever have in the past. It’s beyond time for drivers to demand more money. Any company driver running otr grossing less than $75,000 per year needs to quit! Demand what you are worth.
I don’t have to demand it from my carrier. They are throwing $$$ our way right and left. After our latest pay raises go into effect over the next 45 days, our upper 1/3 of our drivers should be well into the $80’s in annual pay. Me, I’m looking at between $100-107K next year if I run the same as this year. All total, the pay raises this year allone raise my gross earnings for next year by over $11K. What more could I ask for from a company?
Truck drivers need to work 40 hours full benefits as our government state officials and City officials remember it’s a big Monopoly in the trucking if you want to make America great truckers should come first remember we move everything in this country now it’s so downsize it’s a joke
I’m hanging it up after 27 years I’m tired of all the crap. Been gone 5 and 6 days a week. So I’m going to drive my neighbor’s sand truck
$700 cash for 3 days work. God bless and good luck to everybody out there I hope you all can stay strong and stay together the more drivers work as one. It’s the only way you’re going to be able to change this industry.
With authority hauling sand should gross at least $6k per week.
A couple companies paying company drivers $1,500 per week.
As long as demand is there.
Good luck.
I once hauled goods for this company…. every so often i would have to help unload a trailer and in return the company would pay me $50 to unload. I found out from a customer one time because i ask if he needed help, he told me that my company charges his compnay $2,000 to help unload!! So out of $2,000 i only get $50…… and who does all the work?? ME!!!
Trucking companies make LOTS of money, but they keep the money for themselves. They treat truckers like slaves. Hope they all go bankrupt!!!
Plus trucking companies got a 15% tax break. Meanwhile I got a 1 cent raise this year.
It’s called CAPITALISM you socialist crybabies.
Do YOU pay more for things than you have too? Of course not but you are all hypocrites who actually believe the basic law of supply and demand should not apply to you – just everyone else.
Some of you even want the government to force others to give you money.
Socialism is ruining this country and entitled, selfish man-babies like you are it’s “useful idiots”. Grow up and take responsibility for your own success – no one can or should give it to you.
Sorry Woof, your rant doesn’t hold water.
If the demand for drivers is high (as we constantly heat it is), and the supply of drivers is low (as we constantly hear it is) then the price (pay) of drivers should be sky-rocketing by now. It isn’t.
So obviously, the “basic law of supply and demand” does NOT apply to truck drivers.
THANK YOU TOM!!!!!!!
rates are high now and the companies are making bank now but it is hard to tell how long it will last so they can pay a lot more now than ever but it is a lot harder to cut pay when the rates fall …… as a owner operator I have been making really good money but I know this can turn the other way really fast …….. it’s not a driver shortage it’s a shortage of people who will drive for what we want to pay them so lower the age to 18 and import drivers and then talk about safety. …
It’s time to start a North American Truckers Union so that we can dictate wages for truckers period.
Time to start the NATU and fight for higher wages and benefits now -let’s go…..
Why should they pay more ?
All the freight that needs to get delivered , gets delivered.
Dont like what trucking companys and freight brokers pay ? Then why dont you start your own company and that way you can pay truck drivers what you think they should get payed ?
Yeah great idea. Can I work for you?
You get screwed because you let them. Supply and demand. Shippers need trucks. Trucking companies need drivers. WTF let the white collar dicks live in a fn truck for a month and see how they like it .it’s the same people that complain about gas prices while standing in line at Starbucks for a 5 dollar cup of coffee. Lucky they don’t have to explore or refine milk , it’s already almost 3 dollars a gallon, and don’t get me started on the cost of water,
Right now the economy is good, rates are good and drivers pay is higher than it ever has been. When revenue is good, companies have to keep some of the profits as a hedge for when freight is lean. If they gave all the profits to the driver, then when rates and/or freight volume drops, they will have to lay off the driver and close the doors because they didn’t have enough left for operating costs.
I’ve seen comments on here about “the driver takes all the risks”. Unless you own the business ( i.e. Owner ops, trucking co owner, etc), you are taking no risks except safety. No matter the rates or business volume, the owners still have truck payments, insurance. The facilities to pay for and maintain, office staff and mechanics to pay, and you to pay.
I think we point fingers at everyone trying to solve a trucking problem.The Government when it Deregulated the Trucking industry caused everything to go south.It was all cutthroat from their they sat back and and regulated everything but the pay scale.With new rules and regulations that puts money in their pockets.They took away the service of what a trucker should offer instead of who can run the cheapest freight.
While we demand better pay they just bring in immigrants from all over and flip them into steering wheel holders. They think 30k a year is the american dream and these companys make them think that. Our politicians are allowing this. If they bring them over make the company( crst ect.) also be responsible for making them a citizen and pay for it. If they fail then the company is responsible for sending them back
While we demand better pay they just bring in immigrants from all over and flip them into steering wheel holders. They think 30k a year is the american dream and these companys make them think that. Our politicians are allowing this. If they bring them over make the company also be responsible for making them a citizen and pay for it. If they fail then the company is responsible for sending them back.or fine the company. Also remove the tax break on each student until the student has one year experience
It’d be interesting to see the numbers behind the Bloomberg report. Why would they publish a statistic on hourly pay, when the vast majority of drivers are paid by the mile? It would be much more complicated and prone to error to compute what drivers are making per hour. I suspect the study was intentionally skewed because Bloomberg has an agenda.
Lots of trucking jobs in Chicago paying 75 cents per mile, some of them offer $2500 minimum per week guaranteed. Why would you drive for 40 cents per mile? Oh, right, those Chicago companies want you to register LLC and pay your taxes 4 times a year, not from every check withheld. And no benefits of course. So, its your choice – benefits and W2, or more than 120000/year on 1099, I’ve chosen latter.
They r saying they making profits but there’s not enough driver not making any sense if the industry his short of driver y r they ordering trucks come on make some sense in what being siad looked like most of those big trucking company have shares in the truck manufacturing the one up with these numbers it’s sucks
That’s why they are trying to get 18 year olds to qualify for a CDL. If these companies paid their driver better then the shortage would not be quite as bad.
A pay increase can destroy a company when the economy collapses. Trickle down is a disaster. If “we” didn’t have a “trickle down” economy, the GDP would respond to the cost of drivers. Trickle down does the opposite. Small and medium size fleets can’t risk payroll exceeding profits for a long period. Driver wages are not currently a serious factor in the cost of goods and commodities. It’s currently cheaper to let trucks sit empty than raise wages that will bankrupt the company in 2 years when the economy collapses. Whoever survives the next economic collapse, wins. If your payroll is to high when the economy collapses, your fleet is done. It’s a shame nobody knows why the economy is so unstable and unpredictable right now, that a fleet would park it’s equipment rather than increase wages while freight availability is at an all time high. It’s a bubble, and when bubbles pop, fleets get wiped out.
What? No trickle down, like all Republican say will happen when they give the rich more money