Rates to Alberta

A little late to the fray here ...
I have it on good authority that there is a certain segment of the trucking fraternity that is setting a new standard in western Canada rates by paying their drivers, shall we say, "differently".
These drivers on western routes are being paid by the hour. Here's how it's done ...
Run your mileage program from Toronto to (in this case) Edmonton. The return gives you the number of miles to be driven and the number of driving hours required.
Take the number of driving hours required and multiply that by minimum wage ($14.50?) and there you have it ... the new driver cost on a western route.
 
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Funny (sad really) how some companies will heavily discount the drivers wage portion of their operating costs. Do they also take the same approach with say... preventive maintenance, don't touch it until it breaks? Or tires... lets slap on the cheapest crappiest retreads we can find? Or fuel/lubricants....give me the re-cycled, recycled goop? I fear not only for the state of our industry, but also for our fellow motorists out there. As a freight broker, the only way I can make money and maintain a happy customer base, is to supply them with quality service offered by professional, conscientious operators who do what they say at a compensatory rate. As I have said before, brokers who exclusively use carriers offering the cheapest rates, are not thinking long term and run the risk of having to do a lot of "tap dancing" with their customers when things continually screw up.
 
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Agree then when their trucks break or inspection failures. We look bad in the industry.
Like I always say cheaper is not always better.
you get what you pay for
 
Not all of the "western carriers" have taken this approach. It is hurting all in the industry, that I can attest to! we have "sat" trucks for days in eastern provinces due to the crap rates. Hopefully the economy will stabilize and we can get back to decent rates to make decent living for all of us!
 
Not all of the "western carriers" have taken this approach. It is hurting all in the industry, that I can attest to! we have "sat" trucks for days in eastern provinces due to the crap rates. Hopefully the economy will stabilize and we can get back to decent rates to make decent living for all of us!

I agree. Not all western carriers do that. If I had to guess, I would suggest no western based carriers do that, but I did say was there is a "certain segment" that does participate in this practice.
Again, if I had to guess, I would probably say the list of carriers that do participate in this practice looks very, very similar to the list of carriers that embrace the "Driver Inc." model.

On another note ... if you are going to wait for the economy to stabilize, you are going to wait a very long time.

The United States of America is in full-on U.S. First and f*ck everyone else mode. Donald Trump will be re-elected as president, and there will be another 4+ years of this nonsense. Don't expect economic relief or stabilization anytime soon.
 
I was specifically referring to the AB economy to stabilize. Shovels in the ground for new pipelines will help everyone out here. Donald Trump re-elected? I nightmare about him and Trudeau nightly! Thank you for the feedback. Enjoy your day gents!
 
I was specifically referring to the AB economy to stabilize. Shovels in the ground for new pipelines will help everyone out here. Donald Trump re-elected? I nightmare about him and Trudeau nightly! Thank you for the feedback. Enjoy your day gents!

Yes, I'm afraid so ... Donald Trump will be re-elected. Unfortunately, so will Trudeau, but the saving grace there is he will have a minority government.

As for Alberta ... Jason Kenny is going to be takin' names and kickin' ass. Essentially he has the same goals as Rachel Notley. The difference being Notley was trying to be polite about it. Kenny has no such desire.
 
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@Michael Ludwig. "Essentially he has the same goals as Rachel Notley"
Kinda like sayin Doug Ford has the same goals as Kathleen Wynne.
Gimme a break!!

That's like comparing apples and oranges. The ultimate goal for both of them (Notley & Kenny) was/is to put Alberta back on the economic map so it can regain its place as the economic powerhouse that it was and should be.

The other differences are just fluffy bullshit by both of them.
 
I don't have much sympathy for Alberta regardless of which party holds power. They live and/or die by the price of crude oil. High oil prices, let the good times roll, low taxes, budget surpluses, high salaries. Low oil prices, poor me, high unemployment, declining government services, deficit budgets. Sure, would an octopus like network of pipelines help by allowing them to sell off more of "their" (still part of Canada though, right?) oil, of course. I have never been a fan of their attitude, at either peak or valley of their crash and boom cycle.
 
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@loaders, head shake. A lot of "Albertans"came from the east. this could turn into quite a heated debate, but I am going to focus on trucking and supporting 'CANADA'. Good day sir!
 
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I certainly didn’t intend to stir anything up with my post. I was merely stating my take on Albertan politics, not the people of Alberta. Surely you agree that high prices for crude oil have a very positive effect on Alberta’s economy and conversely, low crude prices can bring on some hard times. Call me a communist if you want, but I like to think that Canada’s natural resources belong to the country, as opposed to whatever Province they happen to be located in, or under. Rhetoric like”freeze in the dark” and building a “fire wall” don’t do much to promote nationalism or elicit sympathy during the hard times of low crude prices.