How Do Trucking Companies Get Away With It?

There are also times where you will come out ahead on miles. Say for instance you pick up on the western edge of the zip code in Ohio and deliver to the eastern edge of the zip code in Arizona.

Like Brett said, it will iron out over time.

Old School is right. Don't go looking for extra ways to be discouraged. We all know trucking is not perfect and even if the government was to step in and take every drivers option and fix everything that is supposed to be wrong with truck did you know that drivers will always come up with another way that they are being screwed out of something. There will always be something wrong in trucking. It's a matter of balance. Keep the worst stuff out of trucking and keep most of the good. Just like in Washington there maybe a great bill being pushed through but it has other stuff attached to it that does not make it so great any more.

It's how trucking has always been and I don't see anything coming down the pipe line that is going to change it anytime in the future.

As far as the miles go unless your company pays practical milea you will get shorted on what you actually drive. As far as this particular load issue.. Not all companies are like this.. Not saying I dont do my fair share of sitting but I get paid $12/hr to do it. Thats what sucks about working for most big companies.

Dang, I want a deal like that. Where did you find that at?

its called dentention pay. Most companies have it and it varies you give the 1 1/2 and they pay you after. Unfortunately my company doesnt hire out of NC

Thank god I don't have to worry about detention pay. They offer it at Werner but almost every load is drop and hook for me.

What we don't need is more government regulations. But there are already laws on the books. Wage and hour laws.

I knew the mileage thing. It was that way when I was in trucking before. How ever, if the company routed me a certain way and it was more that what "dispatch" said it sas suppose to be, I got paid the extra miles.

It is no different than being sent 60 or 80 miles out of the way to fuel. And yes, I asked for a different fueling location and was refused.

If I were getting paid better than 27 cents a mile, 30 miles here or 50 miles there wouldn't hurt as bad.

And no. I didn't know about the 27 cents before commiting. As with recruiters. I was told I would start at 27 but I would get raises. Yeah, 1 a year.

I have had jobs where I worked off the clock for 30 minutes or a couple of hours. That is part of getting the job done.

But never in my entire life have I worked anywhere that I was refused pay for the company's mistake.

Even when I had my own business and a job fell through, I didn't just set around and wait. I went out and worked to find another "repair" job.

If I was an employer and sent people out on a job, say a construction job. And due to not getting a delivery of supplies, they didn't do anything all day. Just sat around and waited. Should I have to pay them? Yes I have to pay them. That is where wage and hour laws come into effect.

We don't need more government regulations. They have screwed it up enough as it is.

Keep it safe out here, the life you save might be your own. Joe S

If I were getting paid better than 27 cents a mile, 30 miles here or 50 miles there wouldn't hurt as bad.

And no. I didn't know about the 27 cents before committing. As with recruiters. I was told I would start at 27 but I would get raises. Yeah, 1 a year.

I am sorry you feel you were not told what you will be making. That was one of the very first questions I asked in my quest to find a company. You are blaming someone for your lack of research. All I can say, you seem very unhappy with your choice. You have two options:

1. Hammer down and get the job done to the best of your ability. Complete your first year.

or

2. QUIT! Find a different company. Find a different career. Whatever.

I know that when I start next week a few things will surprise me. Some things will be not what I expected. Other things will be better than I expected. Hopefully, you will figure out what is best for you. Going to a job that you hate everyday is horrible. I have been doing just that for the past 5 years. That is why I am making a career change. I am going to take a pay cut big time. Sometimes, it is not about money.

Those of us who've been in this forum for a little while know that Joe did his research and labored over this decision. I think Joe's experiences illuminate for all of those new drivers reading this thread just how tough and discouraging it can be trying to break into this career. Wine Taster, you will find out for yourself that Joe's experience is not so unusual. It takes a real resolve to get to the point where you feel like you've started succeeding at this stuff. Don't forget that the turn-over rate in truck driving is almost 100% - there are reasons for that and Joe is just vocalizing how tough it can be.

One of the main purposes for this website is to help prepare the wannabes that are about to test the waters of this career for the harsh realities of life on the road. It's no cake walk, and it is especially tough on the beginners. They just don't have the understanding or the experience it takes to hold up under the weight of the difficulties. The truth be told, it is just about impossible to really prepare someone for everything they will encounter. I've got a lot of faith in Joe, and I think he's gonna come out on top, but he's got some valid frustrations with the job that we've all encountered in one way or another.

I do think though, that you just can't compare this job with a job where you earn wages by the hour. Joe, those wage and hour laws apply only to wage and hour jobs. A salesman working for commissions may work his tail off and not make a dime all month if he doesn't produce anything. A truck driver who works by the miles he drives doesn't make much money if he's sitting. And Lord knows he's gonna be sitting at times. Part of the reason for committing to that first year at this job is just because it will take at least that long for you to get accustomed to the job, and for the company, you work for to get accustomed to you. This job just takes a while to really start to take shape so that you and your dispatcher start to mesh together like a couple of fine tuned gears.

Hang in there Joe, I think you've got a good handle on this job, but you've got to get past the mental stress it's putting on you and move on to being a producer that they can count on. The more you're focusing on how they are not treating you right or fair, the more you are not going to be willing to do what it takes to be successful at this. I know everybody's introduction into this job varies, and I think I had extremely good fortune in my dispatcher. Hopefully things will get better for you soon.

Joe, I also started at .27 cpm and I understand that if you aren't moving you aren't making too good of a check. I've always encouraged people in here to not concern themselves overly with their starting pay, but to concentrate on being a producer that gets it done. That is where the money comes from. It wasn't unusual for me to have 900+ dollar paychecks even at .27 cpm.

Sorry, Old School.

I was not trying to think I know how it will be. But the post from Joe are super negative and I just need to keep a positive focus as I my move forward. I am sure I will have frustrations out there. That is part of life. As for him researching companies and getting paid less than he was told, NO. I don't get that. If I walk in the door next week and get told that what the recruiter promised me in pay was not true, I will walk out as fast as I walked in. That says a lot about the company. I have been told in writing what I will be offered as starting pay if I manage to get through school. You guys have all offered helpful advice but his last post was more of the same. If it was a vent, I get that. We all need to vent sometimes. Hopefully, things will work out for Joe.

Opppps! I just realized I misread his post. He knew it was 0.27cpm. The raises are the issue. Sorry. I was wrong. That is the one question I have had. I am not sure how my raises will work so we will see. Maybe I will be here saying the same stuff .... who knows? Time will tell! Joe, good luck man.

Our company briefly went over how we were paid. Since I was new I didn't know what all the terms meant.

As it sits I make .26 per mile to the truck. I didn't know what that meant and thought that I would make twenty six cents per mile that the truck went. Lol. I was very wrong.

When I found out about this zip code thing I was upset. I was getting shorted at least one hundred miles a load. When I started including my paid miles vs. the miles from the route they sent me on my pay sheets, somehow that went down to about 20 to 30 miles per trip.

They also didn't pay me for down time while I was waiting for a truck to be repaired. Another trucker told me I was supposed to be paid and when the truck broke again, I mentioned it. I got paid.

The first time I had to buy supplies for the truck, they wouldn't reimburse me. After that I sent in a list of the things I need and that I needed routed to the nearest terminal to get them. They told me to buy it and they would reimburse me. Now I just have to take that extra step every time to get reimbursed.

The lesson is, "Know what you are supposed to get and don't be afraid to insist on it."

Now as an aside, I think if they can send you a route that gives you mileage down to a tenth of a mile (including how far you have to drive off the route to the fuel stops they want you to stop at), then they should be able to pay you for that amount of miles. They still don't quite match the odometer but it's a lot closer than the zip code to zip code.