This is an excellent article in the Magazine " The Face" - "Are we all in Denial?"
Enjoy
http://theface.biz/magazine/denial/
Enjoy
http://theface.biz/magazine/denial/
Is there a shortage of Drivers or shortage of Cash in their pay envelope
- Thread starter bubba-one
- Start date
10
Drivers have been saying this for years.
Most companies are still in denial though.
When even something like overtime pay is mentioned for highway drivers.. companies scoff at the notion of paying or say it isn't payable to drivers paid by the mile or plead ignorance of the laws..
Most companies are still in denial though.
When even something like overtime pay is mentioned for highway drivers.. companies scoff at the notion of paying or say it isn't payable to drivers paid by the mile or plead ignorance of the laws..
30
30
Until the shippers are willing to pay what they should...and lose the "lots of carriers out there to pick & choose" attitude - hard to find more money to float down the company chain. It's not just drivers that are suffering in this industry. Staff in other capacities are not getting raises and not being promoted. Or they're given a new title with a boat load more work - but no increase to offset it. Customer service positions being abolished only for dispatchers to all "share the role". Cuts and positions not being filled are common place nowadays. Why pay a salary when you don't have to?
I certainly wouldn't want to be part of that % of Canadians out of work right now. Having to start all over again...with less pay, no holidays and no seniority. Having to work hard again..to prove your worth. Sometimes we need to also consider what we DO have in our current roles - not always what's missing. If you can't pay your bills in your current position - you've got to find offsetting income elsewhere.
People do what they have to do...to make it thru each day. A starving man will always find food somewhere...he has no choice....
I certainly wouldn't want to be part of that % of Canadians out of work right now. Having to start all over again...with less pay, no holidays and no seniority. Having to work hard again..to prove your worth. Sometimes we need to also consider what we DO have in our current roles - not always what's missing. If you can't pay your bills in your current position - you've got to find offsetting income elsewhere.
People do what they have to do...to make it thru each day. A starving man will always find food somewhere...he has no choice....
30
In terms of shippers paying more...I don't think they will unless it comes down to a serious shortage of trucks. I would LOVE to be the first one to raise my rates to what I think it fair based on operating costs, profit, risk etc. But I can't. Because someone else will come along and give a better rate. I am not talking about the relatively small difference between the high and low rates out there today. I am talking about fair based on the reality of the cost of running a trucking operation. I am sure at the end of the day drivers make more than I do. And I am the one ultimately with my neck out on the line. It's a silly business we are all in....but like DRC said, we all have to earn a living and we will never make what we want to make or what we think we are worth. We all got into this business for different reasons, but at the end of the day, almost all private sector businesses are in the same boat; stagnant rates, higher expenses, more regulations. It all translates into less for the workers and not to mention less for the owners also! I don't think the story is very different for all sorts of businesses. We just have to make to best of what we have to work with.
10
People will do what they have to...
It just won't be driving a truck for the peanuts most are claiming they can pay.
There's no driver shortage...there's an abundance of carriers that STILL live in denial.
How many more years of spewing the same old tired rhetoric about driver pay increases are needed but unfortunately not feasible because of rates must we go through before the boys stop crying wolf...
It just won't be driving a truck for the peanuts most are claiming they can pay.
There's no driver shortage...there's an abundance of carriers that STILL live in denial.
How many more years of spewing the same old tired rhetoric about driver pay increases are needed but unfortunately not feasible because of rates must we go through before the boys stop crying wolf...
30
Along the lines of this thread discussion earlier - just another example of everyone wanting and needing more pay.
I appreciated this article below and the way in which the "protest" was conducted. FAIR action on the worker's part...along with a FIRM message to back it up. I'd be curious to read the follow up on this one - and I'll be sure to post if I find one.
Wal-Mart
I appreciated this article below and the way in which the "protest" was conducted. FAIR action on the worker's part...along with a FIRM message to back it up. I'd be curious to read the follow up on this one - and I'll be sure to post if I find one.
Wal-Mart
A hundred years ago when I started in this business there was not so much of a shortage. Drivers did not make huge money but somehow a driver could make enough to raise a family. If his wife worked they did well enough to be considered middle class and lived a nice lifestyle.
Today, (like most jobs) unless you have 2 incomes coming in the possibility of owning a house, saving enough for retirement and living fairly comfortable is out of reach for most.
Years ago, a driver would put up with making a little less because he really loved the lifestyle of the job. The freedom of the open road, seeing new places and being almost like your own boss was enough to entice a certain breed of people to the driving profession.
Today, a lot of the freedom is gone with Satellite tracking since someone always knows exactly what you are doing, travel has become cheaper with discount airlines, and you don't feel like you are your own boss so much anymore because of the strict regulations from assorted different branches of the government that you need to adhere to.
Combine this with long border waits, working half your hours without getting paid and the fact that most of the general public looks at you as a menace rather that "A knight of the highway" like the old days.
Today, (like most jobs) unless you have 2 incomes coming in the possibility of owning a house, saving enough for retirement and living fairly comfortable is out of reach for most.
Years ago, a driver would put up with making a little less because he really loved the lifestyle of the job. The freedom of the open road, seeing new places and being almost like your own boss was enough to entice a certain breed of people to the driving profession.
Today, a lot of the freedom is gone with Satellite tracking since someone always knows exactly what you are doing, travel has become cheaper with discount airlines, and you don't feel like you are your own boss so much anymore because of the strict regulations from assorted different branches of the government that you need to adhere to.
Combine this with long border waits, working half your hours without getting paid and the fact that most of the general public looks at you as a menace rather that "A knight of the highway" like the old days.
Like pretty much anything the biggest thing that drives up price is supply and demand.
Less oil, higher price for fuel
Fewer seats available to concert or hockey game, higher price for tickets
Bad orange crop, higher price for orange juice.
Once most carrier's have loads to cover and trucks parked with no drivers the pay rates will eventually have to go up.
simple economics 101.
Less oil, higher price for fuel
Fewer seats available to concert or hockey game, higher price for tickets
Bad orange crop, higher price for orange juice.
Once most carrier's have loads to cover and trucks parked with no drivers the pay rates will eventually have to go up.
simple economics 101.
A big problem is there are 1000s of companies out there so competition is crazy if there were only 10 companies they could control shipping rates and raise prices, however who knows what they would do with driver pay probably bully people like crazy. However the oil business says that may not be true. I do find companies that are bitching about not finding drivers are the ones that want to pay next to nothing. When I was driving I had to work for less because I was new but when I became experienced the company didn't want to pony up so I left the company I went to had no problem finding drivers because they paid a reasonable rate. Your never going to get rich but you should be able to live reasonably.
20
The day is coming, and it's already marked on your calendars as Midnight, September 30, 2017 ... the day the EOBR becomes mandatory. That will be the day when driver wages will start to seriously rise. The $30.00+ an hour driver is a reality.
The EOBR for all intents and purposes corrals all drivers into one gigantic pool of drivers, each working within the confines of the regulations, with no possibility of working beyond those regulations. For work purposes, no one driver is any better or worse than the next.
The most successful carriers will be those that offer the best jobs, whether that be by pay, benefits, home time, or what have you, and control the largest portion of that pool of drivers.
Currently and in the past transportation economics was done by establishing a rate for service, subtracting carrier expenses, and hoping there was some semblance of profitability at the end of the rainbow. Transportation economics will change to a cost plus profit margin model. Shipper concern over the rate will be at the bottom of the list instead of at the top as it is now.
Gone will be the days of cheating a log book to get one up on your competition. Our "world" will be turned upside down. Drivers will be at the top of the hill, shippers at the bottom. Carriers, as we have always been, will be in the middle ... we simply need to become aware of our changing role and be able to deal with it.
Brokers and 3PLs, don't for a single second believe that you are going to be able skate through this change unscathed. For you there will be no more throwing a number at a shipper, lowering it until you get the business, then flogging it out to as many carriers as you need to get the load(s) covered. I envision that you will need to establish a lane and work in concert with the carrier, the shipper, and the receiver. The most successful brokers and 3PLs will establish a lane from point A to point B, then establish a lane right back out of point B back to point A, not at all unlike railroad schedules.
I could go on for hours on the this subject, however suffice it to say, that in my humble opinion, the EOBR is the greatest thing to happen to for-hire commercial transportation industry since the inventions of the rubber tire, the internal combustion engine, and yes, even sliced bread !!!
The EOBR for all intents and purposes corrals all drivers into one gigantic pool of drivers, each working within the confines of the regulations, with no possibility of working beyond those regulations. For work purposes, no one driver is any better or worse than the next.
The most successful carriers will be those that offer the best jobs, whether that be by pay, benefits, home time, or what have you, and control the largest portion of that pool of drivers.
Currently and in the past transportation economics was done by establishing a rate for service, subtracting carrier expenses, and hoping there was some semblance of profitability at the end of the rainbow. Transportation economics will change to a cost plus profit margin model. Shipper concern over the rate will be at the bottom of the list instead of at the top as it is now.
Gone will be the days of cheating a log book to get one up on your competition. Our "world" will be turned upside down. Drivers will be at the top of the hill, shippers at the bottom. Carriers, as we have always been, will be in the middle ... we simply need to become aware of our changing role and be able to deal with it.
Brokers and 3PLs, don't for a single second believe that you are going to be able skate through this change unscathed. For you there will be no more throwing a number at a shipper, lowering it until you get the business, then flogging it out to as many carriers as you need to get the load(s) covered. I envision that you will need to establish a lane and work in concert with the carrier, the shipper, and the receiver. The most successful brokers and 3PLs will establish a lane from point A to point B, then establish a lane right back out of point B back to point A, not at all unlike railroad schedules.
I could go on for hours on the this subject, however suffice it to say, that in my humble opinion, the EOBR is the greatest thing to happen to for-hire commercial transportation industry since the inventions of the rubber tire, the internal combustion engine, and yes, even sliced bread !!!