Posted on 05/11/2014 7:19:52 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
I read these stories and I wonder, are we supposed to feel bad for the trucking executives that they can't find people to do the work for the wages they offer?
Maybe they need to pay the executives less and the drivers more.
Truth be told, there is way too much snobbery towards trucking. All You have to do is stick in a set of music or whatever and make sure you are doing your job. It sounds like the ideal job for someone who wants to travel and end up seeing the country and then getting more then enough time off. It would also end up having a good way to fit in plenty of partying.
Fully agree; the ones doing the actual work should be the ones getting the better pay. These pampered bureaucrats put frankly, are the ones making it impossible for anyone to make a living.
You've got to be actively looking for work to be considered "unemployed".
So if you are too discouraged to look for work because you've found absolutely nothing, you are not unemployed. Your classification is "out of the labor force".
If you decided not to look for work at all, but instead have decided to sit home and watch TV, you are not unemployed. You are out of the labor force.
And if you are actively looking for work, but your definition of "active' does not match the government's definition of "active", you are not unemployed. You are out of the labor force.
And here's another interesting thing. If your work was very temporary and part-time during the month in question, you are counted as employed! You are living the American dream!
The main “Help Wanted” in the United Staes of America, is to help all politicians running for office in November to CONVINCINGLY defeat all Democrats who have voted for any and all of B. Hussein’s Laws and Regulations - - - - .
Until then, the Obama Depression will continue to spread like the malignant cancer that our sorry Doormat Republicans in the House have so cowardly and willingly permitted.
Who pays for their fuel?
Most of what the management class does can be automated too. I think they sense that and that’s why they are grabbing every dime than can.
Author Rich Smith: I know it must be a coincidence, but Richard Smith used to be President of Smith & Soloman Truck Driving School in North Brunswick, NJ
If the feds want to improve the industry, they would get out of it altogether. Of course, the Fed NEVER improve anything except their access to your money and their ability to push people around.
Suggesting more regulations isn’t helpful.
There are a ton more jobs amiable out there. The unemployment rate should be zero by all the “help wanted” signs I see. I think people are enjoying the monthly check right now. Not sure what the ones who lost their bennies are doing...they should be applying for some of these jobs advertised.
When I drove in 1984 the going pay was about $.10 a mile for team and $.20 I think for a single driver. No runs from dispatch? No Pay! I wonder what the pay is now?
How do you propose to get the shippers and receivers to not take advantage of drivers? The clock doesn’t necessarily stop on the HOS while the driver waits. That means he isn’t getting miles which is how most drivers are paid. They are not paid by the hour.
That is a hell of a good question. The underground economy? I think people are working but not choosing to contribute to the statist project.
I drove for a while. The driving was the easy part. The never ending paperwork and hunting for permits for every state, was the hard part.
I saw the writing on the wall once they started allowing Mexican truckers enter the US. It won’t be long before English speaking truckers are but a distant memory.
It’s a real shame because truckers are salt of the Earth type people.
The biggest problem is that long-haul truck driving is a job where the compensation is usually based on mileage, not time -- so a driver is paid a fixed rate for a route regardless of how long it takes to deliver the load. Between increasing congestion and increasingly onerous Federal hours of service rules, the actual compensation for long-haul truckers has declined over time even if the per-mile rates have gotten higher.
Exactly. One of the problems drivers face is that the time they spend at a shipper/receiver is considered on-duty time, and since they are paid by the mile it is uncompensated work time for the driver.
My wife and I spend 3 or 4 months a year working as oilfield gate guards down in south Texas.
The oil companies and contractors are begging for drivers. There are billboards along the Interstates advertising for them.
Drivers delivering water or diesel are making $80,000 - $100,000 a year and are home every night.
I’ve been told that one of the big problems is finding drivers who can pass and keep passing the drug tests.
Nope, you're on the hook for making sure the load is put on there correctly; your hour-plus waits at places like the Oakland Port are on your own time because you're paid by the mile; breakdowns, accidents, and bad traffic are all likewise on your own time; paperwork before during and after; waiting at scales; that's just what comes to mind immediately.
...and a waitress sandwich....
Would any sane person sleep in the sleeper in NYC or Anycity New Jersey? The thrill of pulling onto a lot you just drove hard for 12 hours to pick up a promised to you load and route you home for the weekend passes you going out the gate. Then you discover the dispatchers who didn't talk to each other have left you sitting there from Friday till Monday when the companies production line starts back up and maybe you get a load out by noon headed 2000 miles from your home.
I drove about 8 months and quit. I took a job at just $1 over minimum wage working maintenance in a nursing home. I made much more money, was home every night, and had minimal stress.
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