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Sportacus said:
What do you all think would be a fair hourly wage for your on duty and driving time?
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fair is whatever the market dictates & should also be regional... I mean I personally think that I should be making at least $100 per hour, but we all know that isn't going to happen

joews said:
Maybe if they changed the law so all time on the job was compensated with guidelines on how long certain tasks take to complete so slackers don't abuse the hourly rule and leave the mileage pay.

Like 30 min for a COMPLETE pretrip/postrip
15 min to fuel
15 min per break and hook
Punch in 30 min before gate time
All waiting time at the terminals compensated by the hour, even at a reduced rate would be alright since we're not 'working', just giving away our time.
Getting breakdown pay as soon as it's called in.

I'm sure there are more things that can be added but this is just a general idea of what should happen.

These trucking companies have been taking advantage of lax labor laws and it's about time the little guy gets a bone.
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all of these items should be flat rated, much like the drop & hooks are - I have personally seen the abuse in the "shuttle" pay as that was being used prior to this change.
 
White said:
Some work more efficiently than others. Those folks don't deserve to make less for the same amount of work. Hourly should be reserved for jobs that don't involve a predetermined amount of work or for manning a post.
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Sadly, some folks refuse to pre-trip/post trip and then claim to be more efficient. Others speed and drive recklessly in the name of making more per hour, and claim they're helping the company by "expediting the freight and servicing the customer". FedEx solved this in California by converting their road drivers to hourly. FMCSA has openly advocated for the last 5 years that Congress should pass a law requiring all truck drivers in America to be paid hourly to eliminate the natural incentive to speed and cut corners that task pay creates.

For the benefit of the motoring public at large, I hope they do it.

ST
 
silent trucker said:
Sadly, some folks refuse to pre-trip/post trip and then claim to be more efficient. Others speed and drive recklessly in the name of making more per hour, and claim they're helping the company by "expediting the freight and servicing the customer". FedEx solved this in California by converting their road drivers to hourly. FMCSA has openly advocated for the last 5 years that Congress should pass a law requiring all truck drivers in America to be paid hourly to eliminate the natural incentive to speed and cut corners that task pay creates.

For the benefit of the motoring public at large, I hope they do it.

ST
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I don't believe for a minute that the assholes that don't pre/post trip would start doing so for hourly pay. They simply don't care & will claim their 15-30 minutes pay picking their sack or jawwing on their parrot. You can't fix stupid. As far as driving, I believe the safest speed is the same speed as the traffic in general. Our trucks are governed below local speed limits. And I think we've all seen our share of dangerous driving that is unrelated to speed.

26 year safe driver:poke:
 
Though many tend to think of it as such efficiency does not mean speeding/driving recklessly cutting corners or omitting pre and post trips efficiency has more to do with the ability to plan accordingly than anything else. whether it be in the yard or on the road... whether you crisscross they yard 5 times during a drop & good or keep everything close with no wasted movements... whether you stay informed about the road ahead of you so that you can avoid traffic/delays or blindly sit in it... unfortunately being hourly is more beneficial to the latter.

The fallacy that being hourly makes everything fair & equal is based in the assumption that everyone is doing their level best... whereas out here in the real world we know that just isn't the case
 
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The old adage, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" comes to mind. The company is comfortable with the current pay system of mileage, hourly, and whatever else that they pay us for. My personal opinion is that the company pays pretty well. It's also my personal opinion that, if you give those management college boys a chance to cut your pay and sell it as a raise, they'll high five each other and sleep well. Why mess with a good thing that rumors say is going to get better, shortly?
 
Dracula said:
The old adage, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" comes to mind. The company is comfortable with the current pay system of mileage, hourly, and whatever else that they pay us for. My personal opinion is that the company pays pretty well. It's also my personal opinion that, if you give those management college boys a chance to cut your pay and sell it as a raise, they'll high five each other and sleep well. Why mess with a good thing that rumors say is going to get better, shortly?
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The company is happy...FMCSA has been calling for a conversion nationwide on all trucks to hourly, and they've mandated the electronic logs effective 12/2017. They're about to mandate speed limiters and huge fines for tampering with said. Really think hourly pay is far behind? In the words of WC Fields, "Be glad you don't get all the government you pay for!"
 
Anyone against being paid hourly ; do you guys never have to sit in traffic for free? Inch by inch with the clock ticking for free? Do you guys never have to sit in the terminal and wait an hour or 2 or 3 for free? Do you never have to take equipment to the shop to get a light fixed or a tire changed ? I guess if you never experience those things then mileage pay is great. Unfortunately many drivers of all types are spending hours and hours on duty for no compensation and I don't think any of us are here for our health or charity work.
 
Frootloop said:
Anyone against being paid hourly ; do you guys never have to sit in traffic for free? Inch by inch with the clock ticking for free? Do you guys never have to sit in the terminal and wait an hour or 2 or 3 for free? Do you never have to take equipment to the shop to get a light fixed or a tire changed ? I guess if you never experience those things then mileage pay is great. Unfortunately many drivers of all types are spending hours and hours on duty for no compensation and I don't think any of us are here for our health or charity work.
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Yeah, every time the highway is closed or partially closed due to any number of possible traffic problems, and no, my schedule, probably like most scheduled runs, gives me an hour to drop n hook, fuel, and be on my way to the meet site. If you've got to go to the shop, you've got to go, it's your CDL. I don't know who you work for but apparently their schedule system ain't working any better than their drive by shop.
There ain't no way in hell that Saia is going to pay me the equivalent amount per hour that I make by being on mileage and drop n hook pay. Going to hourly pay is a sucker play. The company, any company, is not going to pass on an opportunity to cut pay. To paraphrase your post, I don't think that the company is here for our health or charity.
 
Sucker pay? I drive for Estes Express by the way. So if I average on a particular trip through DC, Baltimore, Philly an average of 45 mph for several hours burning my clock up, having to stop in and out of several terminals and I spend a good portion of my clock for the day to run 350-400 miles and get put to bed. Was my time not as valuable to the company as a guy in the Midwest or Florida running a 600 mile straight shot in 9.5-10 hours who worked less hours and a lot less stress likely? I'm just asking for compensation for all time spent doing company business, no matter how fast or slow it goes due to conditions I have no control over.
 
Should a P and D driver be paid by the stop? Wether it's rolling off a pallet on a customers dock or hand unloading and hand trucking in a couple thousand pounds of Starbucks? Is that being a sucker? Line haul tasks don't always take the same amount of time just like P and D tasks don't.
 
So, you are perfectly fine with screwing around with the pay of a Midwest or Florida driver because you think that your route is harder and more stressful to run then theirs. You chose where to live, work and under what conditions, what gives you the right to potentially dig into their pocket? P& D drivers agree to work for whatever the conditions are for P&D. Linehaul works under the conditions inherent with working Linehaul. Feel free to change departments, if you want to.
 
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Dracula said:
So, you are perfectly fine with screwing around with the pay of a Midwest or Florida driver because you think that your route is harder and more stressful to run then theirs. You chose where to live, work and under what conditions, what gives you the right to potentially dig into their pocket?
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I'm not trying to undercut anyone's pay and I nor most other guys choose where we run during a weeks time but I personally would like to be compensated for all time spent equally and I'm sure anyone else that has drive in certain conditions would also.
 
I can see your point, if you think that you are getting screwed over by your situation. But being one of the guys on my side of the fence, which is the older guys or the lucky younger guys, who have waited our turn or fell into one of the high paying easy good runs, don't rock my boat.
 
Dracula said:
I can see your point, if you think that you are getting screwed over by your situation. But being one of the guys on my side of the fence, which is the older guys or the lucky younger guys, who have waited our turn or fell into one of the high paying easy good runs, don't rock my boat.
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And I have much respect for all of you older hands and I do believe that seniority should rule. I just think that hourly pay should compensate all drivers period fairly no matter what they do or what kind of situation they get in. Aren't the FedEx drivers on hourly line haul doing just as good or better than mileage ?
 
Frootloop said:
And I have much respect for all of you older hands and I do believe that seniority should rule. I just think that hourly pay should compensate all drivers period fairly no matter what they do or what kind of situation they get in. Aren't the FedEx drivers on hourly line haul doing just as good or better than mileage ?
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To answer that, as a FedEx freight driver in San Diego, it was a huge pay raise to go on the clock. In fact, about 15% of a pay raise. I now get paid for everything I do. No more fighting about gettting paid either.

ST
 
silent trucker said:
To answer that, as a FedEx freight driver in San Diego, it was a huge pay raise to go on the clock. In fact, about 15% of a pay raise. I now get paid for everything I do. No more fighting about gettting paid either.

ST
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Good to hear. Hope it spreads like wild fire to the east.
 
I just think that hourly pay should compensate all drivers period fairly no matter what they do or what kind of situation they get in.
That seems reasonable but how practical, I don't know.
http://www.truckingboards.com/bb/threads/our-deeply-flawed-pay-scales-gpd.66906/page-16
If you look at the driver complaints, from the FedEx thread pasted above, not every FedEx region pays the same. Silent trucker went on the clock and it worked out for him, but he works out of San Diego, which is probably one of the more higher paying but also one of the more expensive regions to live and pay taxes in. I'm guessing that Frootloop lives and works in the East since he used DC, Baltimore, and Philly as a work example. Read the complaints, from the FedEx drivers that are working in the East. The pay rate is never going to be equal because companies figure in cost of living. Employees are more expensive in San Diego then they are in South Carolina. It is what it is.

I hope that everyone gets what they want. Me, in five years and the good Lord is willin' and the creek don't rise, I'll be retired. Yea me.
 
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