If I were to be paid to pick apples @ 25 cents per apple.
Having only 14 hrs a day to pick apples, and I wanted to make the most
money I could in that day, stepping on that dead branch may seem risky
but I did it before and it did not break.
But if paid by the hour I would maybe thing twice.

meslippery

As usual YOur analogy has no bearing on anything other than you want to drive a truck and be paid by the hour. WE HAVE ALL GOT THE POINT GO FIND A JOB THAT PAYS BY THE HOUR. YOu may have less time for putting silly comments that mean absolutely nothing

Well we disagree. Someone paid for there time is less likely to
cut corners.
You Kevin say slow down and be safer. Good advice, but why not
reward good behaviour? instead of doing it on the drivers tab.

40 cents a mile @ 63mph =$25.20 per hour
40 cents a mile @ 33mph =$13.20 per hour
40 cents a mile @ 10mph =$4.00 per hour
40 cents a mile @ 0mph = 00000

Oh I do work by the hour and still have time for silly comments.
Ask James about sleeman all most NO turn over.

meslippery

Hey Kevin, I might know how to get someone to quit grinding you about hourly pay, EOBR's, and some of the other thorny subjects! Why don't you, as a well respected - I presume, manager type person from a big, honest, well operated fleet please explain, in your own words, why most big fleets including yours are so dead - set against the idea that drivers and O/O's should be paid by the hour based on perhaps an EOBR or a log book or Qualcomm sattelite type system which all would prove how many hours the driver was doing something at the direction of their employer. I was in Calgary today, catching up with some old friends of mine who happen to have climbed the ladder into the offices of the trucking companies which they used to drive for. I asked around and found that there are several companies that had to start paying drivers hourly wages 3 or 4 years back to get the right kind of drivers to hang around. Not surprisingly, driver and O/O turnover all but disappears when companies are willing to pay for all the time that they expect their drivers to be on - duty! Wages seemed to be from the mid $20's to mid $30's per hour and the highest I found was $40.00/hr for a really good lowbed driver! I have a couple drivers who I pay by the hour, one @ $28.00 and the other @ $32.00/hr for 5 axles or less, so I am wondering why the 'big, well managed' companies are so terrified to consider doing the same and be fair? Maybe you can tell us how it could be more fair than to pay drivers for all the time that they are doing whatever it is that you want them to be doing? It works for welders, mechanics, carpenters, bulldozer operators, etc. so why wouldn't it work for truck drivers?? Wait a minute, apparently it does work because there are some companies who DO pay their drivers by the hour and have been for quite some time! How can that be???! Maybe they are not honest enough? Maybe they ARE honest and respect the people who make the wheels go 'round and compensate them accordingly! Curiously waiting to find out why most outfits are so afraid!

40 cents a mile @ 63mph =$25.20 per hour
40 cents a mile @ 33mph =$13.20 per hour
40 cents a mile @ 10mph =$4.00 per hour
40 cents a mile @ 0mph = 00000
I am not quite sure who would drive on average 33 MPH. or for that matter 10 MPH. However some of us enjoy the industry and love the business. THe pay scale IS WHAT IT IS, AND NOT MUCH YOU OR I CAN DO ABOUT IT. We either survive or get out. It appears for many months your comments have been angled towards getting paid by the hour, yet, all you do is harp on the same subject. I have said before and will say it again, I am bringing to the forefront issues that effect all of us in the industry. I wrote about DUE DILIGENCE and defending it in court and you still harped about Getting paid by the hour.

If you are unhappy take it up with your employer, if you are happy, say so. However the laws are the laws, BE IT EOBR'S, SPEED LIMITERS, ETc. we either work within what we are given or get out or break the law. I do not want anyone to break the law. In our industry with so many people in it and DEREGULAITON AS I AM SURE YOU ARE AWARE ( I hope), every Tom Dick and melsippery, can open up a company and charge whatever they want, to their customer.

Some of the biggest players in this industry cry integrity yet, they also CUT RATES, BECAUSE THEY HAVE A GREAT BACKHAUL. Not everyone works for an employer who has a product to sell, and has to get it to market. Some own companies that provide a service to that company.Carriers go in and undercut rates that heave been established for years, yet don't care. Companies switch carriers for $5.00 and have no loyalty anymore.

Therein lies the problem, DEREGULATION, PRIVATE ENTERPRISE, FREE MARKET, RATE STRUCTURE, WHATEVER THE MARKET WILL BEAR, BACKHAUL VERSUS HEADHAUL, AND THE LIST GOES ON. Instead of continually loking at yourself and your own problems or situations,Everyone in this industry has to try to see the big picture and the whole industry.

That is what all of us that write here try to do. Please approach James and ask him to become a blog writer, if so inclined, just remember you have to write more than just about getitng paid by the hour.
P.S. when was the last time you crossed the border and tried to charge back to a customer for border delays, due to improper paperwork, imporper clearance, no ACE MANIFEST setup in advance,no FDA clearance, no TSCA document, NO AQI release setup, Inspection at either side of the border, etc. Yet it is always the carriers fault. Every carrier can compensate what they in return receive. Goods have been delivered and the carrier is left blowing wind asking for money for delays, Shipper (i.E.maybe even your employer) says TOO BAD YOUR FAULT YOUR PROBLEM.
as we have already delivered the goods, and they do not care anymore.
THE BIG PICTURE IN OUR INDUSTRY, consists more of getting paid by the hour.

hey meslippery,
please tell us How much per hour you want to get pay and how many miles are we going to get a day. So I can charge the customer accordingly.

Just simple math circa mid to late 80s drivers at many places (I can name some).
$21.00- $23.00 per hour add 3% per year($21.00 X 3% =63 cents easy math 63 x 25 years
= $15.75 + $21.00 =$36.75 trucks were getting $85.00 x 3%=$2.55x 25 years = $63.75+ $85.00
=$148.75 per hour for truck.

How can you argue with the math?

meslippery

Oh and fuel was a lot cheaper then.

To Kevins Point qoute your price based on all going well add 25% refundable delay
Get paid in advance and if no delays happen refund the delay surcharge.

I know easier said then done but not impossable the goverment can pass a law.

meslippery

Sounds to me like you were in the Dominican Republic, except they use our side of the road. But you are right. On a 2 lane roadway (not highway) they travel 3 or 4 vehicles wide without accidents, because --- they look out for others,and make room for each other, and consider that everyone else needs to get there too!

Kevin, one of the things I don't understand in the general freight industry is how companies have let themselves get into the position where, if they(or their driver) are late it costs them money, but if the customer causes a delay to the truck it is free. I don't mind driving by the mile but loading, customs, etc. should be by the hour, directly billed to the customer, including the cost of truck and driver, as part of the contract, the same as late fees are part of contracts.

Incidentally, I think that if it was a requirement to use a real name to get published, people like meslippery would soon get quiet or say something intelligent.

Paul L.

Hey, meslippery, I don't know your real name or where you work or live, but that doesn't matter to anyone but you anyway. It seems to me that regardless of what others say, you are hitting very close to home with your figuring and that really bothers some of those who read/post on this site. Don't give up - keep grinding on the hourly pay thing! Sooner or later, more companies are going to have to start paying that way to get good drivers and to keep them around while cramming all this so-called 'safety' B.S. down our throats. Why can't these fleets realize that if you want someone to do something that they were not doing before, all they need to do is pay their drivers accordingly? Anyone who has been driving for 20 or more years knows that despite what any clown tells us, it is far less safe now with all the safety crap that has been dreamed up in the last 2 decades than it was in the late 70's and early 80's ( I can't comment before that because I got my class 1 license in 1983 ). At that time, almost everyone on the roads looked up to and respected truck drivers! We all know what public perception is now! Apparently, we should have left things the way they were in the early 80's! If your boss asked you to start doing a more thorough pre-trip and fill out a few more papers and add half an hour's pay to your day, you would gladly do what you have been asked to do. If some suit from the office who has never been out from behind his desk sends you a memo on your sattelite or in your dispatch envelope telling you that 'from now on, company policy requires you to do whatever or else!' with no mention of some pay or some thanks or anything, the end result will not be what they were looking for. Just pay drivers and O/O's by the hour and we will drive as slow as you want, we will leave as early as you want, we will wait all day for you office people to make a decision, and we will sit through as many 'safety' courses and meetings as you can send us to! Want to put a speed recorder or an EOBR in my truck? I'll be right there, and take your time installing it...I'm on by the hour!

Kevin; AS a small fleet operator for over 25 years,I can absolutely say that if we were to pay our drivers by the hour we would not be able to survive with our current customers. Like it or not, this is a free market business. This provides the opportunity for anyone, as long as they meet a minimum standard, to enter this business. It also means that not one person has to earn their living driving a truck if they choose not to. The majority of the global economy is based on this principal, and we're no different. I choose our loads and customers using a number of different factors, and our drivers choose to work here on the same basis. If, and it has happened, a driver chooses not to work here,that is their free choice. Very few, if any, people in our business are forced to work at any given place, and , as with any commodity, the better or best can and will find a situation that meets their needs. Our system is not perfect, but it has provided an avenue for many great entrepreneurs to risk a lot, work hard, create jobs, help our economy grow, and, yes, make some money. I believe every worker should be able to earn a living wage in the field of their choosing, based upon their willingness to be an asset to the employer. If I don't treat my drivers decently, they will not stay. I have to pay fairly to protect my own interests, and retain good people. That is our free market system. Contrary to some views expressed, the drivers have absolute power to control their own wages. Do a crappy job, put up with a lot of BS, and you'll get paid accordingly. Be excellent at what you do, be an asset to your employer, educate yourself with skills that are in demand, and you will be able to write your own ticket. These facts have not changed in a long time.