Time to end truckings overtime exemption?

[Shreck]

I didn't.

When you said when your old your old. You can’t enjoy what you do,or something like that,quit picking on me I’m old.

 

[389 Hood]

My brother worked 60-70 hours per week as a car dealer manager. He made a half a million a year, has the big fancy house in Boca Raton and drives his new SUV. Or should I say he DID, drive the fancy SUV. By working like a slave to the man, he neglected to take care of himself and now he's on borrowed time with cancer. All that money and no time to enjoy it.

I'd rather live within my means and enjoy my time with my wife. The more you make, the more you spend. I never lived on credit cards. Like @Electric Chicken I hate debt. When you are in debt, you are enslaved. While some debt is good, such as a mortgage and maybe a reasonable car payment, credit cards at 19%+ interest is pure insanity. Use the credit cards to your advantage. Use their money for 30 days and pay them nothing for the use of it.

 

[BlackBart]

They'd need to balance productivity expectations with the hourly wage though. Like UPS. They make a lot but they bust it and earn every penny.

The FedWrex barns that pay OT got a reputation for bendin over backwards to make sure you dont get it. If this happened across the board it’s a good bet I’d get cut back to 4 days a week

As for the productivity expectations, that requires a TM with gonads to enforce it. At my barn most of the clock milkers are black. That’ll put the TM in a pretty uncomfortable position

 

[mndriver]

nothing wrong with being paid salary for this gig.

A person having a work ethic is another story.

 

[389 Hood]

I'm on a salary. There are days when I make out like a bandit and there are days where they get their monies worth out of me. I started out with a 5 day, 8 hours per day schedule with weekends off. Then I was loading 6500 gallon seagoing container tanks and delivering them dockside. I moved into full transport mode and maintained the same schedule. Because 90% of the loads were of a distance that only one could be done in a legal day, paying me by the load would be a losing proposition. I only have 3 short load customers.

Yes, I have that work ethic where I do what I'm asked to do. We have no forced dispatch. Every incoming load is offered to the company driver first, for acceptance or refusal. When I know I'm at the extreme advantage on the salary scale, I'll pick up and extra load or two to balance those scales. I'm called a 'good fit' and they leave me alone and I do what is expected of me.

We use a lot of carriers which just recently went to an hourly based pay scale. Many of them are milking that clock to the last drop. I see a lot of the trucks hiding under the overpasses napping and driving less than a safe speed on 70 mph Interstates. I see them milking 12 hours out of a 7 hour load. The company is kidding themselves if they think they are profiting from these people. All they have to do is watch the silly cameras that they pay upward of $400 per month each, to see what the employee is doing. But they do nothing or they are branded racists.

 

[Electric Chicken]

I'm on a salary. There are days when I make out like a bandit and there are days where they get their monies worth out of me. I started out with a 5 day, 8 hours per day schedule with weekends off. Then I was loading 6500 gallon seagoing container tanks and delivering them dockside. I moved into full transport mode and maintained the same schedule. Because 90% of the loads were of a distance that only one could be done in a legal day, paying me by the load would be a losing proposition. I only have 3 short load customers.

Yes, I have that work ethic where I do what I'm asked to do. We have no forced dispatch. Every incoming load is offered to the company driver first, for acceptance or refusal. When I know I'm at the extreme advantage on the salary scale, I'll pick up and extra load or two to balance those scales. I'm called a 'good fit' and they leave me alone and I do what is expected of me.

We use a lot of carriers which just recently went to an hourly based pay scale. Many of them are milking that clock to the last drop. I see a lot of the trucks hiding under the overpasses napping and driving less than a safe speed on 70 mph Interstates. I see them milking 12 hours out of a 7 hour load. The company is kidding themselves if they think they are profiting from these people. All they have to do is watch the silly cameras that they pay upward of $400 per month each, to see what the employee is doing. But they do nothing or they are branded racists.

The mixed bag of work ethic is what scares the companies out of doing it. The lazies accept it warmly but the stronger employees end up getting f'ed.

The only way it works is if the wage is actually high and so are the standards for entry and retention.

A lot of good employees don't want to be watched with cameras any more than the lazy ones do. So that's always going to get a mixed response as well.

 

[Electric Chicken]

I have an interesting balancing act to play today. I'm getting a flat hourly rate for x number of hours regardless of what happens because it's easier to bill it when it's a mixed bag of lives and drops with many trailers involved. Kind of like the flat rate I got last week.

I have to be safe and productive yet not too hard on my own equipment or fuel or body.

 

[Rigjockey]

I think better pay and better work life balance is going to be necessary to attract and retain new younger drivers.
This should have been done long ago when you look at driver turn over rates for the last few decades.
Everyone likes to say time is money but no one wants to pay for that time.

I am not one of the 70 hour a week guys. Many of the older guys are and some of the younger guys are too.

I have done the 70+ hours a week and didn't really see any gains, I just spent more money and was far less happier.

Now I got a 45 hour week and overtime if I want it and I don't want it.
I have no debt, I don't owe anyone. I live a modest lifestyle and I take a lot of pride in stretching every dollar unless it is going to cost me time, then I have to weigh out if my time or my money is more valuable.

 

[Electric Chicken]

I think better pay and better work life balance is going to be necessary to attract and retain new younger drivers.
This should have been done long ago when you look at driver turn over rates for the last few decades.
Everyone likes to say time is money but no one wants to pay for that time.

I am not one of the 70 hour a week guys. Many of the older guys are and some of the younger guys are too.

I have done the 70+ hours a week and didn't really see any gains, I just spent more money and was far less happier.

Now I got a 45 hour week and overtime if I want it and I don't want it.
I have no debt, I don't owe anyone. I live a modest lifestyle and I take a lot of pride in stretching every dollar unless it is going to cost me time, then I have to weigh out if my time or my money is more valuable.

Agreed.

 

[BlackBart]

I think better pay and better work life balance is going to be necessary to attract and retain new younger drivers.
This should have been done long ago when you look at driver turn over rates for the last few decades.
Everyone likes to say time is money but no one wants to pay for that time.

I am not one of the 70 hour a week guys. Many of the older guys are and some of the younger guys are too.

I have done the 70+ hours a week and didn't really see any gains, I just spent more money and was far less happier.

Now I got a 45 hour week and overtime if I want it and I don't want it.
I have no debt, I don't owe anyone. I live a modest lifestyle and I take a lot of pride in stretching every dollar unless it is going to cost me time, then I have to weigh out if my time or my money is more valuable.

If I can get a linehaul run on a weekend I usually take it. Somethin easy to top off the week…

 

[Electric Chicken]

I used to volunteer for weekend work too as long as it was gravy. But then they started giving it to me with lumps.

 

[Sinister]

While I have no doubt this exists, the biggest problem I see is people’s laziness and desire for entitlements.

@Sinister views this as a net positive. In the short term, I might agree. Long term, there is absolutely nothing positive coming from this.

Short term, we could see overall better working conditions in this industry.

Long term, the nation gets crippled.

Why? Because people aren’t simply learning to live with less. This work/life balance they are achieving, in many cases, is a result of depending on other peoples money via entitlements in order to live this new life.

Given my concern about a possible kidney problem, and who knows what else since being vaccinated, I decided to look into health insurance for the first time in years. Yeah, I’m a cash customer at the doctor.

Given our meal allowence deduction, and equipment depreciation, I input my salary at 60k per year. I did this via a link provided by Uber Freight, which turns out they work with the exchange. I was eligible for healthcare plans that cost over $800/month plus for us that had an actual cost of $0.00. We are talking very low deductible coverage. I was disturbed by that result and just closed the browser window.

My kids can eat at school for free. Breakfast and lunch. They don’t, but they are eligible.

The list is long on what is available if you pursue it.

On the surface, I like the idea of everyone having a solid work/life balance. It has to come from your own pockets, however, to be sustainable. That’s not what’s happening.

Crippling the entire nation?

A bit dramatic are we?

Turn off the talk radio.

 

[Electric Chicken]

Crippling the entire nation?

A bit dramatic are we?

Turn off the talk radio.

Economy going all Roosevelt.

 

[Rigjockey]

Economy going all Roosevelt.

If you mean hell on wheels, then yes!
What? Too soon?

 

[Electric Chicken]

If you mean hell on wheels, then yes!
What? Too soon?

Marco...Polio!

 

[Rigjockey]

Marco...Polio!