Cheap Freight of the Day

With the advent of autonomous trucks, we may never get to the point of a real, critical driver shortage. Yes, it is still years away and plenty of technical tweaks are required, but I believe we will see it become somewhat commonplace in my lifetime at least.
 
EricG said:
I can't wait for someone to hack an autonomous "Otto" truck full of Budweiser beer and change the delivery location for the truck.....

new technology poses new problems as we all know.

I just hope the delivery address they program into the truck is my house!
Click to expand...
Already talking to my programmers!! ;-) Seriously though, what if there is thousands of these on the road and they discover a bug that would require a recall?
 
  • Like
Reactions: EricG
TransAction said:
Already talking to my programmers!! ;-) Seriously though, what if there is thousands of these on the road and they discover a bug that would require a recall?
Click to expand...

That's primarily the reason this process is going to take a long time before it goes into open market. In the end if they can demonstrate that self driving cars are safer, there will be nothing stopping them from taking over the entire market.

I just read an article where someone died because an automated car messed up:
http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/...iver-tests-future-of-driverless-car-1.3664803
 
MikeJr said:
If true, that's sickening. But, if there's less drivers than needed, do they need to work for this kind of compensation? Would it be drivers that are not able to run to the US and are stuck competing with rail rates? I don't get the logic of paying this to a driver... It certainly doesn't encourage a massive pool of capable people to enter the workforce in our industry...

Mike - you know we missed you! Hope you are well sir!
Mike
Click to expand...

Thanks Mike, and yes, I am well :)
Part of what you said is true ... there is quite a significant portion of drivers out there that will not cross the international border. The biggest reason for Caucasian Canadians is the drug testing. Most of them smoke a little weed on the weekend, and that puts them out of service for operating in the U.S. The biggest reason for Middle-Eastern, and African-American, Canadians, is that they are scared to death to drive in the U.S. for fear of getting shot, or worse.
Anyways, regardless of the reasons, there are an awful lot of Canadian drivers competing for the east-west lanes. In a lot of cases you can get a truck to come west to east for less money than you can get the rail to do it.

Loaders makes a very good point ... why don't they work at Mickey D's? ... Well, it certainly would make sense if they did. That way they would be home every night, or at least have the opportunity to pick up an extra shift or a second job. Stuck in a truck for two weeks is your only opportunity to earn.

@Freight Broker .... "I've met drivers recently who can't drive a manual." ... me too ... and I hired him !!!
 
TransAction said:
Already talking to my programmers!! ;-) Seriously though, what if there is thousands of these on the road and they discover a bug that would require a recall?
Click to expand...

Heck the Russians hacked Hilary's campaign, and America said nothing ... But if they hack those Budweiser trucks, it's World War 3 !!! ... LOL
 
Michael Ludwig said:
Just getting back to the board and catching up ... bet you all missed me didn't you ??? ... LOL

Anyways, I heard thru the grapevine that some carriers plying the cross-Canada trade are paying their drivers by the hour to go from Toronto to Vancouver. Driving time only, minimum wage !!!!!!!!!!!
So that's like 54 driving hours at $11.25 an hour ... $607.50 and you have to feed and clean yourself for 5 or 6 days out of that ... geez, my friggin' dream job <insert seething sarcasm here>.
Click to expand...

Most drivers on long haul routes are making easy $5,000-$6,000 a month. The ones with really low wages are rare as they're not legally allowed to work so they work for next to nothing with an beat old truck and owner operator.

Some of the carriers I talk to are paying insane amounts for 'experienced' OTR drivers. There's drivers with 6 months of experience who swear by the fact that they're 'experienced AZ driver.' Paying $5000+ a month for a driver with less than 1 year under the belt is insane.
 
You have not even seen insane yet, i don't care if they have a year experience if they get the load and equipment down the road damage free and on time and run enough miles to pay for themselves 5 or 6K is nothing. I have drivers with just over 1 year experience that would put a 20 year driver to shame on work ethic an professionalism so why would I pay them any different?
 
  • Like
Reactions: RobsanT and StartekSt
$5500.00 a month is not an insane amount for a highway driver who passes the carriers requirements upon hiring. Based upon the average hours per week spent driving plus the amount of unpaid time in the bunk I would consider it more of a starting salary. $7500.00 to $8000.00 is closer to what the wage should be. Hopefully it gets there and shortages will be less of an issue.
 
  • Like
Reactions: snafu
The real question is ... would you do it for $5000 a month? If the answer is no, then you are answering your own question. Why should someone else do it if you won't?

It's a very difficult job if you want to have any kind of family life ... and most people do.
 
  • Like
Reactions: snafu
whatiship said:
$5500.00 a month is not an insane amount for a highway driver who passes the carriers requirements upon hiring. Based upon the average hours per week spent driving plus the amount of unpaid time in the bunk I would consider it more of a starting salary. $7500.00 to $8000.00 is closer to what the wage should be. Hopefully it gets there and shortages will be less of an issue.
Click to expand...

Well then, companies better be getting $4.00/mile and us brokers would be pushed out of the equation.
 
StartekSt said:
Well then, companies better be getting $4.00/mile and us brokers would be pushed out of the equation.
Click to expand...
I didn't say it was going to happen any time soon, and it probably wont. I just think that's what they should be making and I hope they get it someday, cause they deserve it. I also think for the investment that a broker (O/O) makes and the risk that he takes you should also be paid more. And yup, $4.00 a mile would fix a lot of problems.
 
  • Like
Reactions: StartekSt
SNOOPY said:
Apparently Loadlink has a contest going on that whomever posts the most freight, wins some sort of prize. That could be what Autolinx is doing. I've actually heard of a lot of carriers/ brokers doing it. Stupid and waste of time if its not your business to post in the first place. Plus, power brokers such as CH should kill the contest anyhow!
Click to expand...


True but actually all of the winners have been smaller brokers and carriers. I get the emails showing the winners.
 
whatiship said:
I didn't say it was going to happen any time soon, and it probably wont. I just think that's what they should be making and I hope they get it someday, cause they deserve it. I also think for the investment that a broker (O/O) makes and the risk that he takes you should also be paid more. And yup, $4.00 a mile would fix a lot of problems.
Click to expand...

I often ask my carriers what their top reason for demanding more $$$/mile is, the good ones say that it's to improve their operations and services. While the bad ones say they want to just make more $$$$ hehe.
 
Profit is not a bad word. Everyone needs to earn it, companies that work hard to service their clients deserve more of it (just my opinion) and yes, improvements like equipment, facilities, technology and employees cost money. You need to earn profits in order to better serve your customers and to grow your business.

Different carriers may have different rates per mile for other reasons like - they run TL one direction and LTL in the other, the delivery location you are sending them is close or far from their regular return lane, etc... Dispatch often doesn't get into all of those specifics when booking a shipment, nor do they always take the time to talk about more than the one shipment they are working on. Too bad because you can learn a lot about each other and maybe hook up on other business if only people took the time to communicate more - on the phone or in person preferred! :)

Keep well,
Mike
 
  • Like
Reactions: StartekSt and Igor Galanter
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom