Drivers Pay

[Bruno]

Drivers pay is way over board if your doing the 60/40 split. When I stated back in 1995 a team would get 50% of the truck and they paid fuel and the tolls. Yea fuel was 1.20 a gallon too but we didnt get a FSC either. So some owner's started paying teams 60% to help with the cost of fuel. Then some of the different compaines started giving the trucks a FSC to get the cost back down to 1.20 a gallon. When that happened the owners should have put the percentage back to 50%. I have seen a few small fleet owners sell there trucks because the drivers gets way to much. Drivers want the nice's trucks with EVERYTHING on them and want as much money as they can get.

Don't get me wrong I feel everyone has the right to make as much money as they can get.
But if you want the truck with all the extra's then you should understand the owner has a BIG TRUCK payment, Road taxs, repairs and so on.

So on that note.

If you drive a owners truck and you want 100% of the FSC then you should only get 50% of the base. That's only fare to the owner who has a $3000.00 a month truck payment because he got the truck setup that way to make the drivers happy when they are on the road. Drivers need to be fare with owners.

 

[jaminjim]

Good luck with that. Have you told your teams that you are cutting the pay by 20%?

 

[Bruno]

We don't pay our Teams like that Jim. And never would. You know what im talking about, you was an owner at one time wasn't you Jim? All I'm saying is some drivers want as much money as they can get from the owners. Why can't they start out at 50% plus 100% of the FSC and work their way upt to 60% if thats what they want to get paid. The Fleet I manage gets paid different. The drivers each get 20% each minus the FCS and tolls. They also pay the own workmans comp. If they don't pay that then they are not true comtractors and the owner and them can be fined by the IRS. Been their done that.

I just have been seeing owners give drivers the world. I put a add in the news paper for Drivers and had over 100 calls about team drivers wanted. If an owner needs drivers e-mail me and I will try help you out with the list of drivers I have.

 

[Turtle]

All I'm saying is some drivers want as much money as they can get from the owners.

You say that like there's something wrong with it. There's not. Only a fool would want less money than they can get. I own my van, and I want as much money as I can get from my carrier. More even.

 

[davekc]

Like the freight rates, it is a supply and demand issue.

 

[Bruno]

Nothing wrong with getting paid a fare wage. But some of these drivers want a new truck with everything on it and wants the owners to give them the world. All I'm saying is that owners are giving way to much to some drivers. If you want 60% thats fine, but it should be 60% across the board. Not 60% plus 100% of the FSC, The owners have to pay fuel tax on the fuel that the drivers buy. So if they get 100% of the FSC then they should pay the 100% of the fuel tax too.

 

[Bruno]

Like the freight rates, it is a supply and demand issue.

More like the fuel too Dave lol. How you been Dave.

 

[davekc]

Doing well.
Thanks for asking.

As for fuel issues, whoever is paying the fuel, should pay for the fuel tax. Too much of a mess to seperate them.

 

[cheri1122]

Bruno is correct, that if the driver gets 100% of the FS, they should pay the fuel tax (or get any rebate due, if they followed Leo's advice, and fueled smart) and I, for one, do.
As for drivers who want the good stuff, they should get that too - when they've proven that they deserve it, with high inservice & acceptance numbers, and will take good care of it. Good owners & drivers take care of each other. Bad drivers & owners deserve each other.
It just takes some juggling to find the right partners.( Like dating, if I can remember that far back..).

 

[Bruno]

I had a driver call me and wanted 65% of the gross to the truck plus he wanted 100% of the FSC and wanted the owner to pay his workman comp, and one hotel every week. I was like your not asking for much are you. I told him we don't pay like that. I thought it was funny.

 

[cheri1122]

But you didn't laugh - even when I offered to skip the hotel if I was home for the weekend
Seriously, some folks will ask for the moon, figuring they have nothing to lose: the worst you can do is say "no", eh? And the best thing you can say, IMO, is "When you earn it, you'll get it" If you stick to that, everybody wins.

 

[Bruno]

Bruno is correct, that if the driver gets 100% of the FS, they should pay the fuel tax (or get any rebate due, if they followed Leo's advice, and fueled smart) and I, for one, do.
As for drivers who want the good stuff, they should get that too - when they've proven that they deserve it, with high inservice & acceptance numbers, and will take good care of it. Good owners & drivers take care of each other. Bad drivers & owners deserve each other.
It just takes some juggling to find the right partners.( Like dating, if I can remember that far back..).

Cheril your very right. We have a team the has been with us for 3 years now and they take very good care of the truck they are in. They get all the extra perks like paid hotels when they are running hard, bonus's each month, vacation settlements every six months. But they earn it. This team just did a record week of $14,112.00 since last Friday in a DR unit.
I talked to them and told them to get a Hotel after they drop their load and they both was like WHY. I about fell on the floor. Now that is a good team.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Bruno..Are you abit surprised at the lack of negative posts? Regarding your opening statements...I thought there'd be some lambasting you..like are you nuts. But you've had good feedback from the members.

 

[pelicn]

The best thing our owner did for us was show us exactly what the truck expenses were for each month. We now "have a clue". Our owner provides us with excellent equipment and a great pay package. We try to run to the best of our ability, keeping in mind those numbers he gave us. We figure if we can keep him profitable, we in turn, will be profitable.
Good post Bruno!

 

[OntarioVanMan]

The best thing our owner did for us was show us exactly what the truck expenses were for each month. We now "have a clue". Our owner provides us with excellent equipment and a great pay package. We try to run to the best of our ability, keeping in mind those numbers he gave us. We figure if we can keep him profitable, we in turn, will be profitable.
Good post Bruno!

Great to hear some good stories about owners for a change...

 

[Bruno]

Bruno..Are you abit surprised at the lack of negative posts? Regarding your opening statements...I thought there'd be some lambasting you..like are you nuts. But you've had good feedback from the members.

Yea I thought some would try to have a field day with this post. But it had to be said. Honestly we don't even ask our drivers to pay for fuel or tolls. We have always paid for the fuel. The only thing our drivers or the drivers of the fleet I manage pays for is their workman comp. In return they try to keep the fuel cost down and we try to put them in hotels more now with the higher cost of fuel. Hotels are cheaper than running the truck all the time or Idle Air at $2.00 per hour. Plus they can get a shower and just get out of that truck. I just wanted to post this for all the owners that are paying the 60/40 spilt with 100% of the FSC. I know a few people right now having a hard time making it doing it that way.

 

[Bruno]

Great to hear some good stories about owners for a change...

Yes there are some very good owners out here. The owner I manage his fleet wants his drivers to have the best and so does me and my wife. But He doesn't know alot about this business but he did name his company a very good name. at the time he filed the paper's with the state of Ohio I thought to myself "why did he name his company that".

"Integrity Motor Freight"

I ask him why he named his company that and he said " I want my drivers to have Integrity and Pride in there Job". At the time I was like okay. Now I understand more, he may not know much about this business, but he is a smart business man. He didn't get where he is today with all his other companies because he just throws his money around. He is a smart Business man.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Sounds not only a great owner but also great individual....and a great business person....tough combination...seems he understands the human aspect of this business and you yourself as well....the little twinks that make this biz alittle more tolerable. The attaboys, the bonuses, the kudos where the drivers really feel appreciated...It sure would make me feel more responsible to the truck....

Some people don't understand what we do out here....we live and breathe our truck, the truck is per say the blood of our livelihood. We live in them 24/7 ...we are dedicated to our truck, without it there is no biz, without it there is no success.
The commitment to this business MUST be 100%, the ones that can't or don't make this commitment will and do fall by the wayside.

 

[nightcreacher]

Back in about 1989 I decided when my main truck was paid for I needed a second truck,E unit.I put in it a H?W team that had been working for schneider.Now this was my 1st time with a second truck,and had lots to learn.MY 1st lesson was,drivers like being home on weekends,no matter what,this couple was out fro 5 days,delivered in texas,and then dead headed home,when i asked why,i couldnt belive my ears,answer was why not,your paying the fuel,so along came the split percentage for drivers pay.Now back then fuel was under a dollar a gallon,and there truck got 6 mpg,so this was about 200 bucks for them to drive home.After a discussion,their new pay was 50% for them,50% for me.They could draw 50% advances off their loads,with that they paid for fuel,tolls,and if they wanted a motel.As far as I know this was the birth of the split pay with drivers buying fuel.Needless to say,they didnt deadhead home after that.They made me money,and they made what they needed,but went and bought their own truck.Over the years Ive done different things with the split pay,incentives to get the drivers to take care of the equipment.Ive had dispatch call me wanting to know where my truck was,drivers diconected qual com,I had one team blow up a motor on a brand new truck,I had a team get towed out of a run away ramp,blaming the trailer brakes faulty,just out of adjustment,DOT sited them,I paid 850 bucks for wrecker to tow them out,just lucky they didnt get killed.I have one driver now,1 truck and even though my income isn't what it once was,Im not pulling my hair out anymore either.

 

[Bruno]

Thanks Steve that was a great post.