Happy New Year

I want to ad on an item I just found out looking at my paystub from 12/18. I had a Dh (deadhead) of 211.90 miles, and only got paid .25cpm. This had been going on like this for the last 6 months.

I have no major issues with FAB. They keep me rolling. Paychecks are accurate. Equipment is fine and they make repairs when needed. Love our LOCAL mechanic. Happy New Year.

Happy New Year Everyone,

I want to start this post off by telling you right off the bat that you really do have to be careful when your looking small mom, and pop companies. As I found out today after I tried to give my 2 week notice to my boss (lets call her Linda). Me, Linda, and her son were all in the office talking about my paychecks. The same topic we were talking about Monday night while I was driving when I driving trying to tell her all the bills I had to pay on. I tried to her that I had not noticed that I made more money after we redid the W-4 form. Going into Christmas I was $500 in the red. I felt depressed because I couldn’t get my mom or stepdad any Christmas gifts. Why $675 a week just isn’t enough when I really have to be making $1000+ a week. As meeting progressed her son left and it was me, and Linda. She starts to bring up about one of the drivers who had been on a medical absence because of surgery or whatever, his doctor cleared him to come back. At that moment I tried to give her my 2 week notice, and then she said “you don’t need a 2 week notice” just go ahead and clean your truck out. I tried to wish her well, I tried to tell her on a personal level I liked her, but I couldn’t stay doing this. She just kept blowing me off. Tried to wish her all the best, and none of the worst. I did get that much, but NO Happy New Year! No text Message Saying Merry Christmas. No warning about the impending snowstorm that I would be driving into. NO Layover pay, NO Detention pay, I would suspect that I was getting hosed on some miles to. NO bonuses for being out on Sunday or Holidays.

These people came off as being anti-Christian maybe? For a company like this one I do pray that god will find them and hit them over the head, question is would they say outch? They claim to be republicans.

The tanker drivers I have spoken to all have said that I should be doing a lot better after 2 years. I’m now at 28 months and counting.

So please let this story be a learning lesson for everyone. BE VERY VERY Careful about some. Mom and pop shops can be really really good or they can be really really bad.

Take care; All the best & Happy New Year2021! May you have a prosperous new Year!

MNBenny

Benny .... when Tom (husband person) left driving for Ted (asphalt person) we had a way to go.. to get paid. Tanks were fun, asphalt was great for 4 years .. each year(til winter) and .. then.. it all wasn't. Sounds like 'our' sob story, tbh. Ted's wife got ALL the rigs in the divorce .. and we could buy'em ALL .. or nary a one. Yep. Comfort went to conundrum. (ps: had to pull flats in the winter, which we knew NADA about... boy, I'll post that someday when I'm ready to catch the heat....)

Since finding a 'small'ISH' 400 power units place.. life is good. Any way you could step up to something like this, without quitting the game? O/S is entirely correct.. and our former Bossman .. ie: O/O GUY was a tank yank, as well. (Race, Creed, Gender, Political affiliation, nonwithstanding.)

Just like Bugs Bunny to Yosemite Sam .. 'Be Vewy Vewy Careful!'

Wish you well, sir. Been there, with my husband.

~ Anne ~

I average 2300 2555 miles a week there’s some t/t guys here who I’m on the horn with quit often almost the entire trip they taught me how to figure my eta as me such and have also had my back because I’ll run my clock down to 2 or 3 minutes and I need to figure out where to park to shut dow the latter I’ve gotten much better at hit about 659 to 689 in a day I’m new and I still want to hit 725 real bad but somehow it’s still eluding me ... having to learn how to chain up and find my sweet spot driving in on ice and snow but I’ve made delivery on time!! So far every time except 1nc but I’ve been refused to load my trailer because it was over ten yrs old at a paper plant got dispatched back to same paper plant with same trailer and I asked if they were gonna load this trailer as it was the same 1 and got refused again got sent to another paper plant that was closed on the weekend and closed early on Friday got stuck there till Monday morning took a 1 mile load for my dm as a favor to have it rejected by consigne and told they had refused it 4 other times

No disrespect here old school but hate to say this when sometimes it’s obvious but you can be a really productive worker and companies will just try and get more than they will ever pay for

You can make that argument if you are getting paid a salary. You can even make it when you are paid an hourly wage. But how can you make it when you are paid by the mile?

The beauty of trucking is that you get to measure out your own pay. Every trucking company out there has drivers who are making way more than the "average driver." While driving for Knight, one of my favorite experiences was when this recruiter who would call me begging me to become a trainer for the company. They would lay out all the benefits I would be receiving, and then they'd try to top the whole thing off with this cherry on top by telling me their highest paid trainer made $78,000 last year. They never wanted to believe me when I would say, "Why would I do that? I'd have to take a significant pay cut!"

Trust me Jammer, I know how this works. Most drivers are leaving a lot of money on the table simply because they don't realize how to put it onto their paycheck. Most trucking companies wish their drivers were producing results at a level that would increase their payrolls. We teach people that this business is performance based. We do that because we have experienced the rewarding effects of getting paid that way. You can take two truck drivers from the same company who are earning the same CPM pay rate and find a huge difference in their overall annual income. One may be average at understanding how you play the game, but the other has gained significant advantages through his actions. There are all kinds of ways a driver can be more productive, but it takes commitment and dedication. I made 50,000 dollars my rookie year at Western Express. Nobody else was doing that. They were dropping out right and left. Most of them claiming their pay was worse than being on welfare. Why the disparity?

Trucking has a way of finding out who can produce. It's a lot like sports. The guys who can be counted on to score in a pinch are the guys who are out there on the court. Not everybody gets paid like Lebron James because not everybody has the kind of motivation he has. There are truck drivers who are the same way. Lebron has a drive inside him that presses him to be the best. His motivation is not his paycheck. He played the same way when he was playing for free. There are drivers who insist on being hyper-productive. They are not satisfied with the status quo. Trucking companies not only recognize them, they make sure they are rewarded accordingly.

I had a phone call over the holidays from my former driver manager at Knight. He just called to tell me how my departure had really hurt his numbers. He went on and on about how much he missed working with me. He even said that after 25 years at this he had never worked with another driver like me. Now, I'm not telling you all that to brag on myself, but to illustrate the point. There are plenty of drivers who understand that they can earn more money by just doing their job better. Trucking lays that challenge out before each of us. The top performers are the star players on the team. We don't have to earn the average pay of the bench warmers. We have the potential to be the star players, but brother that takes a lot of commitment and hustle.

I encourage each of you to be star players. That's where the rewards are. I enjoyed a rewarding trucking career, but it wasn't all about the money. I just enjoyed excelling at my chosen profession. I enjoy teaching people how they don't have to slog through their trucking careers. You don't have to be miserable at this. You don't have to be average at this. In fact the bar is set so low that it's fairly easy to be exceptional at this career. Get out there and do it. Make yourself valuable!