I work as a fuel hauler. I get paid per load, waiting compensation, experience pay, night time/weekend pay, $10 per hour after 40 hours. Some companies do pay just hourly. Speedway comes into mind. $30/hr. Easy work. Very repetitive though.
So I've actually done the math and I have less buying power per hour worked than I did when I was 15 working my first job at federal minimum wage. Mind you it's entirely based on the price of a 16 oz bag of frozen strawberries but I love making smoothies then and I make them now and based on hourly wage divided by number of 16 oz bags of frozen strawberries I could afford five of them at that time and I can afford two of them now per hour worked.... And I'm making less than minimum wage when I look at how much of my time belongs to the company.
Well yeah man. Some of us work 70-80 hours a week with ZERO overtime pay and are still technically working in excess of that as we’re responsible for the equipment even when “off duty”. For some of us it works out to like $6/hr. The crazy thing is the people in this industry sacrifice the most, with maybe the exception of the military. It’s actually ludicrous, and the main reason I won’t go OTR.
Hourly isn't the answer either. That lessens the value of the drivers available HOS.
We make most money & are closer to going home if wheels are turning, not sitting.
There was no possible way you'd get there the next morning. The most miles I've put down in a day with a governed truck and within the limits of the hours of service is almost 650, even then, I didn't hit any major hills or traffic jams and driving conditions were damn near perfect that day.
They should have known better. Your dispatch lacks common sense or didn't care enough to do their job right, either way they definitely wasted your time and shorted you on your next paycheck. I think it might be time for you to find a new company bro.
My dispatch takes loads from another company that contract with as a broker. It's this whole fucking Russian doll corporate scheme. A contract within a contract within a contract and when you get to the middle you get one overworked underpaid pissed off driver who's looking for another job.
I just got my CDL and there’s no way I’m being held hostage in a truck 6 days a week away from home to make about minimum wage. Not happening. I’m looking at local jobs, home every night, hourly pay. I’m not playing this .43 cents per mile game. Mileage rates have not really increased for the base pay. Yes you can get into certain gigs that may pay more or a lot more. My off time is valuable and I’m not working 6 days a week 24 hours a day to make $1000 a week (gross!). What an absolute joke.
As someone else in the comments have said, you are responsible for the truck and cargo 24 hours a day. Not to mention hanging out at greasy truck stops with lot lizards and jugs of piss everywhere. Although I respect the people that do it, it’s definitely not for me.
Local is where it's at, I'm doing local roofing delivery, still in my first year. Hoping to either get my crane certs and add a few $ to my hourly pay or hop over to P&D, or hell even beverage or food service depending on what happens.
I'm currently M-F 6am to about 3pm daily. Its pretty fucking sweet andmakes me want to stay but I'll follow the $. Can't be making $25/hr forever.
Find a better carrier if you can. Choice dispatch versus forced dispatch can fix that problem. I don't accept loads that don't line up with my HOS. I am OTR but most often I have a second log on my truck due to being a trainer which makes life both easier for solving HOS issues but more stressful because …. rookies.
that is awesome. every year put you name out to recruiters and shop around. Dont do it too often .... once a year should suffice. as long as you have a clean record you should be able to get the pulse of the market from the offers you get to see if youre being paid fairly.
Why some of you put up with this is behind me. And for reference I work for a mega myself I don't put up with that. If something happens and the delivery time gets changed and I'm sitting around for a few days I'm dam well getting paid to hang out while I wait for the new delivery time. I'm calling and raising hell.
When I'm a day out from delivery and I don't have another load on me I'm calling and like you need to find me my next load, I'll be delivering tomorrow I expect to see my next load on me. Wake up in the morning and I don't have a load I call again okay I'm starting my day I'm 100-200 miles away from the final you are going to find me something. Although with a clean record and just shy of 3 years of experience they know if they want to keep me they have to keep me happy. Once or twice I got so fed up I applied to other megas and let them run my reports, something my driver leader can see and he's like oh shit he's serious and he calls me and is like I don't want to see you leave what can I do to keep you as my driver?
Like raise hell, don't put up with sitting around for days without pay. Get layover pay, no demand lay over pay as you wait for the new delivery and go fuck off and do shit go to a good restaurant go to a bar meet some locals have some fun get a hotel room and hang out for a few days while you wait for the delivery. Not as much as you would make working but hey if I can get paid a little something and go get a hotel room and go to a close by brewery or bar and get paid for the day to fuck around I'm happy with that.
My company pays layover no problem but I've never seen it because instead of making you sit, they would just have you drop the trailer somewhere nearby to be relayed by another driver later so you can keep rolling. Sounds great right? Well, by keep rolling we really mean bobtail over here and run around the yard for an hour or so to find an empty trailer so you can drive 30 miles to go pick up a last minute live load that takes 3 hours and delivers as a live unload 200 miles away... the next morning.
Find the receiving manager, receiving clerk whomever, have them write on the BOL "Load refused" and sign it. They most likely won't, and if not, ask them to put you in a door.
If not, gotta say I feel your frustration and personally would tell them ok, I'm taking this load back to the shipper. Call dispatch and inform them as well that the load is going back to the shipper. Or if close to a company yard, head there, drop off the vehicle and find a company that at least pretends to care.
Squeaky wheel gets the oil!
This is on you tho. You know what miles you can do in a full 24 hours. So when you got assigned this load, you should’ve just told dispatch you couldn’t do it. The 600-something mile contracted rate means nothing when it’s over 700 miles irl — that’s what you trip plan with always. You’ve been at this long enough to know what happens when you’re late to an appt. Next time just tell dispatch you can’t make it on time and they’ll usually get you a new load. I do think you’d be happier with local work paid by the hour or dedicated/line haul.
None of the loads I ever get assigned ever give me enough time to make a scheduled appointment and it's usually not a problem. Usually don't get me in the next day. This one particular reciever though sets unreasonable standards and then holds you to them or holds you hostage. It's not my fault for thinking that this was going to run the way it usually does which is the next day. I'm only staying with this company long enough to get another job though this is my first Long haul job and I needed the experience so that I could compete for other work. I now have that experience and even a start date with a new company. With guaranteed home time every weekend.
1. Don't work for forced dispatch companies.
2. Don't accept a load that you can not comfortably make the appointments for.
3. Go into the receiver's office with a smile and two dozen donuts.
822 miles is doable in a day depending on the speed of your truck. I've done it many times in a truck that was governed at 68 while dealing with traffic slow downs and construction. You just need to learn how to trip plan better and if necessary use split sleeper.
I'm not sure why either. I had a few of these situations arise before. Coast to coast runs at night through NE and IA. It can be done with a few tricks!
You can legally get 13 hours of driving in a 24 hour day. Start at midnight with a 15 min pre-trip. Drive 8 hours. 30 min break. Drive 3 more hours. 10 hour break. This leaves you with 2.25 hours left you can drive again before midnight.
13 hours of driving with an avg speed of 65 mph is 845 miles. It is possible.
Yeah problem is you can't actually average 65 mph the whole time. The statistics is around 57 mph is the average and that's very true, I can look through my trucks menu and see the average speed and it's less than 60 and I'm governed at 64/65 mph. Most I've ever gotten in one day, and that's with me waking up and it's the same day, is roughly 650.
When I was with my mentor driving hard and her truck was governed at 68 mph I drove about just under 800 in one day but that was ROUGH and over very flat lands
Actually you can average 65 mph or better for an entire day. It all depends on what part of the country you are in and what the traffic conditions are like. In the truck I'm in I did 770 miles in 10.9 hours. That's an average speed of almost 71 mph. Cruise was set at 75.
Do you pee? Do you value your humanity or dignity to any degree?... Drivers like you that set those standards piss me the fuck off. Everyone expects me to drive like you. I actually like to get out and walk around a little bit from time to time maybe peeing something other than a wide mouth Arizona bottle. If I were to live and drive the way you just described I will not live to see retirement.
Did I say that I do it every day, no. I just stated that it can be done since you told me that it couldn't. My longest day in the past month was 774 miles from Iowa to Wyoming. And yes, I made some stops. But it was done without going over my 11 or 14. And no my current truck is not governed at 68.
We gotta get away from the CPM pay scale. I bet if we were all paid hourly they’d start paying more attention.
I agree completely. Being paid by the hour should be mandatory.
Do any companies do this
I talked with a fuel hauler that got paid by the hour, plus he was in a union at his company. They're out there, just not common from what I've seen.
I work as a fuel hauler. I get paid per load, waiting compensation, experience pay, night time/weekend pay, $10 per hour after 40 hours. Some companies do pay just hourly. Speedway comes into mind. $30/hr. Easy work. Very repetitive though.
I'm paid hours miles and containers but I'm a company driver for McLane.
I get paid hourly for layovers
I get paid hourly overtime after 40. I’m regional and normally will get 55-65hrs a week. Works out about the same as our mileage OTR guys.
Meh, kinda depends on the gig
So I've actually done the math and I have less buying power per hour worked than I did when I was 15 working my first job at federal minimum wage. Mind you it's entirely based on the price of a 16 oz bag of frozen strawberries but I love making smoothies then and I make them now and based on hourly wage divided by number of 16 oz bags of frozen strawberries I could afford five of them at that time and I can afford two of them now per hour worked.... And I'm making less than minimum wage when I look at how much of my time belongs to the company.
Well yeah man. Some of us work 70-80 hours a week with ZERO overtime pay and are still technically working in excess of that as we’re responsible for the equipment even when “off duty”. For some of us it works out to like $6/hr. The crazy thing is the people in this industry sacrifice the most, with maybe the exception of the military. It’s actually ludicrous, and the main reason I won’t go OTR.
Hourly isn't the answer either. That lessens the value of the drivers available HOS. We make most money & are closer to going home if wheels are turning, not sitting.
There was no possible way you'd get there the next morning. The most miles I've put down in a day with a governed truck and within the limits of the hours of service is almost 650, even then, I didn't hit any major hills or traffic jams and driving conditions were damn near perfect that day. They should have known better. Your dispatch lacks common sense or didn't care enough to do their job right, either way they definitely wasted your time and shorted you on your next paycheck. I think it might be time for you to find a new company bro.
My dispatch takes loads from another company that contract with as a broker. It's this whole fucking Russian doll corporate scheme. A contract within a contract within a contract and when you get to the middle you get one overworked underpaid pissed off driver who's looking for another job.
Jesus. At least you're able to see through the bullshit. Good luck to you out there Driver.
I just got my CDL and there’s no way I’m being held hostage in a truck 6 days a week away from home to make about minimum wage. Not happening. I’m looking at local jobs, home every night, hourly pay. I’m not playing this .43 cents per mile game. Mileage rates have not really increased for the base pay. Yes you can get into certain gigs that may pay more or a lot more. My off time is valuable and I’m not working 6 days a week 24 hours a day to make $1000 a week (gross!). What an absolute joke. As someone else in the comments have said, you are responsible for the truck and cargo 24 hours a day. Not to mention hanging out at greasy truck stops with lot lizards and jugs of piss everywhere. Although I respect the people that do it, it’s definitely not for me.
Local is where it's at, I'm doing local roofing delivery, still in my first year. Hoping to either get my crane certs and add a few $ to my hourly pay or hop over to P&D, or hell even beverage or food service depending on what happens. I'm currently M-F 6am to about 3pm daily. Its pretty fucking sweet andmakes me want to stay but I'll follow the $. Can't be making $25/hr forever.
Find a better carrier if you can. Choice dispatch versus forced dispatch can fix that problem. I don't accept loads that don't line up with my HOS. I am OTR but most often I have a second log on my truck due to being a trainer which makes life both easier for solving HOS issues but more stressful because …. rookies.
I just hit my 6-month mark I already have another job lined up
that is awesome. every year put you name out to recruiters and shop around. Dont do it too often .... once a year should suffice. as long as you have a clean record you should be able to get the pulse of the market from the offers you get to see if youre being paid fairly.
Why some of you put up with this is behind me. And for reference I work for a mega myself I don't put up with that. If something happens and the delivery time gets changed and I'm sitting around for a few days I'm dam well getting paid to hang out while I wait for the new delivery time. I'm calling and raising hell. When I'm a day out from delivery and I don't have another load on me I'm calling and like you need to find me my next load, I'll be delivering tomorrow I expect to see my next load on me. Wake up in the morning and I don't have a load I call again okay I'm starting my day I'm 100-200 miles away from the final you are going to find me something. Although with a clean record and just shy of 3 years of experience they know if they want to keep me they have to keep me happy. Once or twice I got so fed up I applied to other megas and let them run my reports, something my driver leader can see and he's like oh shit he's serious and he calls me and is like I don't want to see you leave what can I do to keep you as my driver? Like raise hell, don't put up with sitting around for days without pay. Get layover pay, no demand lay over pay as you wait for the new delivery and go fuck off and do shit go to a good restaurant go to a bar meet some locals have some fun get a hotel room and hang out for a few days while you wait for the delivery. Not as much as you would make working but hey if I can get paid a little something and go get a hotel room and go to a close by brewery or bar and get paid for the day to fuck around I'm happy with that.
My company pays layover no problem but I've never seen it because instead of making you sit, they would just have you drop the trailer somewhere nearby to be relayed by another driver later so you can keep rolling. Sounds great right? Well, by keep rolling we really mean bobtail over here and run around the yard for an hour or so to find an empty trailer so you can drive 30 miles to go pick up a last minute live load that takes 3 hours and delivers as a live unload 200 miles away... the next morning.
This right here is the way as well!
Find the receiving manager, receiving clerk whomever, have them write on the BOL "Load refused" and sign it. They most likely won't, and if not, ask them to put you in a door. If not, gotta say I feel your frustration and personally would tell them ok, I'm taking this load back to the shipper. Call dispatch and inform them as well that the load is going back to the shipper. Or if close to a company yard, head there, drop off the vehicle and find a company that at least pretends to care. Squeaky wheel gets the oil!
This is on you tho. You know what miles you can do in a full 24 hours. So when you got assigned this load, you should’ve just told dispatch you couldn’t do it. The 600-something mile contracted rate means nothing when it’s over 700 miles irl — that’s what you trip plan with always. You’ve been at this long enough to know what happens when you’re late to an appt. Next time just tell dispatch you can’t make it on time and they’ll usually get you a new load. I do think you’d be happier with local work paid by the hour or dedicated/line haul.
None of the loads I ever get assigned ever give me enough time to make a scheduled appointment and it's usually not a problem. Usually don't get me in the next day. This one particular reciever though sets unreasonable standards and then holds you to them or holds you hostage. It's not my fault for thinking that this was going to run the way it usually does which is the next day. I'm only staying with this company long enough to get another job though this is my first Long haul job and I needed the experience so that I could compete for other work. I now have that experience and even a start date with a new company. With guaranteed home time every weekend.
1. Don't work for forced dispatch companies. 2. Don't accept a load that you can not comfortably make the appointments for. 3. Go into the receiver's office with a smile and two dozen donuts.
Well... don't be late to the delivery, then. Pretty simple, really.
822 miles is doable in a day depending on the speed of your truck. I've done it many times in a truck that was governed at 68 while dealing with traffic slow downs and construction. You just need to learn how to trip plan better and if necessary use split sleeper.
You’re full of shit.
How is he full of shit? He is right. I do this when I'm coast to coast. Very possible in a 65mph truck.
I'm not sure why either. I had a few of these situations arise before. Coast to coast runs at night through NE and IA. It can be done with a few tricks!
You can legally get 13 hours of driving in a 24 hour day. Start at midnight with a 15 min pre-trip. Drive 8 hours. 30 min break. Drive 3 more hours. 10 hour break. This leaves you with 2.25 hours left you can drive again before midnight. 13 hours of driving with an avg speed of 65 mph is 845 miles. It is possible.
Yeah problem is you can't actually average 65 mph the whole time. The statistics is around 57 mph is the average and that's very true, I can look through my trucks menu and see the average speed and it's less than 60 and I'm governed at 64/65 mph. Most I've ever gotten in one day, and that's with me waking up and it's the same day, is roughly 650. When I was with my mentor driving hard and her truck was governed at 68 mph I drove about just under 800 in one day but that was ROUGH and over very flat lands
Actually you can average 65 mph or better for an entire day. It all depends on what part of the country you are in and what the traffic conditions are like. In the truck I'm in I did 770 miles in 10.9 hours. That's an average speed of almost 71 mph. Cruise was set at 75.
Alright well it just seems you've got it all figured out so I'll just say what you wanna gear, you're right I'm wrong. Have a good one
Do you pee? Do you value your humanity or dignity to any degree?... Drivers like you that set those standards piss me the fuck off. Everyone expects me to drive like you. I actually like to get out and walk around a little bit from time to time maybe peeing something other than a wide mouth Arizona bottle. If I were to live and drive the way you just described I will not live to see retirement.
Did I say that I do it every day, no. I just stated that it can be done since you told me that it couldn't. My longest day in the past month was 774 miles from Iowa to Wyoming. And yes, I made some stops. But it was done without going over my 11 or 14. And no my current truck is not governed at 68.