There is justice every now and then...
The greed, truck payment, and the fact that you can’t get two truckers to agree on anything will keep them at the bottom of the food chain. The truckers do have the ability to pull this all around, they just think it’s the others truckers job to make his life better.
Swift was in the news a few years ago as they started buying up Mexican trucking companies. At that time the Mexican loved the .10-.12 cents paid per mile while the U.S. drivers for Swift was hoping that the company was not going to drop their .25/mile rate lower.
Until the U.S. Congress changes the current pay scale from mileage to driving time, loading/unloading time, and drop & hook you will NEVER see a living wage again in the Trucking Industry. The power of the companies needs to be removed and swing back to the drivers. The old, “I can always get another driver” statement MUST be removed from the equation. Case in point:
A few years back my brother was out of time, pass his sleep period and had a load that required a 9:00AM delivery. The office gave him a delayed shipment without giving him the required delivery time required. Picking up his gray keyboard he informed dispatch that he was out of time, very tired, and needed sleep with the question as to how they wanted him to proceed.
The Station Manager informed him that he didn’t give a damn about his logbooks or his fatigue, but he wanted that load delivered by 9:00AM the next morning! As my brother and the Chicken Coop Inspector read the incoming message together, he asked my brother if he had enough energy left to move his rig over and park it between them two white lines to the right, cause he was out of service.
My brother only got the needed 8 hours sleep with no fines or tickets. However, within just a few short hours the State Troopers in the State where his home office was located walked in and cited the Station Manager to the tune of $26,000 with the threat of jail time if he gave my brother ANY problems over it. :toofunny: :woohoo: :ro_emote: Funny thing was, whenever he asked the company again about a decision NO ONE would answer his questions…
DesertWolf