listening to drivers complain......

[Everything Apax]

I listen to drivers, both expeditors and reg transporters, complain about many things including rates. I wonder how many drivers realize that the are their own worst enemies as far as rates go. We as drivers allow the brokers to pay such low rates for many reasons, the biggest being our inability to band together. I wonder if drivers realize that the brokers get more pay than drivers for just picking up the phone and/or tapping a few keys on their keyboard to post the loads. When will all of us unite to get our rightful pay? A strike is necessary. Drivers are afraid to strike because they need money. All of us do and thats where banding together is key. We need to take care of one another to get through the time we would have to be down. I am keeping this short just to get the thought out there. Look into what brokers get for the loads you take and see what YOU make. Not fair.

 

[guido4475]

Don't everyone talk at once! lol....

A strike...just imagine....they'll be shipping in those yellow penske cube drivers over by the boatload.

 

[Everything Apax]

I understand the discomfort of a strike but its that or continue complaining about something that was brought onourselves. We do a great service for this country, we are what keeps it moving and puts the products on the shelves. Yes there will still be people driving during a strike but not enough to replace us as a whole. A month tops and we can get that money from those greedy brokers and put it into thw hardworking drivers tgat deserve it.

 

[paullud]

I used to think the same thing but if you actually start looking into what brokers make you will see they don't make as much as the driver. Well that is as long as you don't accept the first rate they offer. I book my own loads so I deal with the brokers myself and will only accept a rate I like. I will turn down a cheap rate but the next guy will run it. There isn't a strike that is needed but an education of O/O's that needs to happen. There are many avenues for this including message boards and radio shows.

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[Everything Apax]

As I said, there are many reasons for our low rate of pay and the lack of education is part of it. You say drivers need to quit underbidding one another, that is exactly right. A strike is what needs to happen to educate and band together. A strike is the means to get drivers to stop that. You say brokers dont get more than us. A customer pays x amount of money to ship the freight and out of x amount of dollars that broker receives a bigger percentage than us as a driver after expenses. Brokers were put into place from deregulation to create jobs which is great but they weren't put there to take money from us. If anything i can only hope that my posts begin the education process and gets drivers to start being more conscious.

 

[wvcourier]

Google has been testing a driverless car for a few years now...not so people can text and ride, or get drunk and get home ok, like the msm is reporting,...but its to take the place of Truck Drivers. They are already building special lanes on some interstates for them.

Sent from my Teddy Ruxspin

 

[Monty]

Two things ... one, I am on strike. I quit.

two, don't haul the cheap freight. I once started to deadheaed from California to Ohio. I was told the freight would pay my "fuel". I told the person on the other end, "I'm not out here to make fuel money, if I need fuel money, my wife will send it to me."

Oh, on the way home, I picked up a load in Oklahoma going to Knoxville that paid MORE then they wanted to pay me from San Diego to Jacksonville.

 

[purgoose10]

Most drivers would complain if they got 100% of the revenue.
I enjoy listening to drivers who think it's easy to be a broker. Broker gives driver 99% of the revenue, happy driver. Driver calls back when he's back in the area and the phone's disconnected. Wonder what happened to them??
I saw a strike back in the early 70's, didn't do a thing. Now a days you can't get two drivers to agree on lunch much less a strike.

 

[zorry]

Saw a google driverless care near Google HQ yesterday.
Driver had hands very near the wheel. Co-driver was using a laptop.
If you get more for your brokered loads, spread the word.
I had diner with a TL o/o that told me he was getting by.
He needed tires. He couldn't afford them. He may be keeping the wolf from the door but he wasn't getting by. He was going broke and didn't realize it.
Know your costs. Work with a broker that understands your costs, will pay you to operate at a profit,and give him the best service you can.
There will be No Strike. For more reasons than will fit in this post. ( lack of leadership, lack of a defined common goal, laws that most of us wouldn't understand,.....)


You can always become a broker.
Yeah, let me know how that turns out.

 

[paullud]

As I said, there are many reasons for our low rate of pay and the lack of education is part of it. You say drivers need to quit underbidding one another, that is exactly right. A strike is what needs to happen to educate and band together. A strike is the means to get drivers to stop that.

A strike wouldn't stop drivers from taking cheap freight, they will just run more of it while you aren't working and really tank the rates.

You say brokers dont get more than us. A customer pays x amount of money to ship the freight and out of x amount of dollars that broker receives a bigger percentage than us as a driver after expenses.

Not on the loads I take. We run a lot of military freight so I get to frequently see the rates and the most I saw a broker make was around $300 which was a small percentage of the load. If you are taking loads that the brokers are making more than you on please go on strike because you are tanking the rates for the rest of us.


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[Everything Apax]

I agree that getting the drivers to agree is difficult hence my original post. and my father was part of that strike and it was helping but drivers gave in once asked if they could just get freight for hospitals, thwn schools then drivers just went back to work altogether. third partt brokers are ones going out of business not established brokers with customer base which is where most freight comes from.

 

[Wolverine]

Instead of dwelling on all this negativity, why don't you put yourself in a position where you can be valuable enough that you and your truck can "demand" higher paying freight?

I'm tempted to encourage you to strike as I'm sure that would bring more offers to my Qualcomm, but the reality is I probably would just refuse the cheap freight you seem to be stuck with.

Good luck with the solidarity. I'll be watching with amusement.

I listen to drivers, both expeditors and reg transporters, complain about many things including rates. I wonder how many drivers realize that the are their own worst enemies as far as rates go. We as drivers allow the brokers to pay such low rates for many reasons, the biggest being our inability to band together. I wonder if drivers realize that the brokers get more pay than drivers for just picking up the phone and/or tapping a few keys on their keyboard to post the loads. When will all of us unite to get our rightful pay? A strike is necessary. Drivers are afraid to strike because they need money. All of us do and thats where banding together is key. We need to take care of one another to get through the time we would have to be down. I am keeping this short just to get the thought out there. Look into what brokers get for the loads you take and see what YOU make. Not fair.

 

[Mike99]

I listen to drivers, both expeditors and reg transporters, complain about many things including rates. I wonder how many drivers realize that the are their own worst enemies as far as rates go. We as drivers allow the brokers to pay such low rates for many reasons, the biggest being our inability to band together. I wonder if drivers realize that the brokers get more pay than drivers for just picking up the phone and/or tapping a few keys on their keyboard to post the loads. When will all of us unite to get our rightful pay? A strike is necessary. Drivers are afraid to strike because they need money. All of us do and thats where banding together is key. We need to take care of one another to get through the time we would have to be down. I am keeping this short just to get the thought out there. Look into what brokers get for the loads you take and see what YOU make. Not fair.

If you think the brokers makes so much money ,why do you not broke your own loads? I understand your frustration but trust me it is hard for everybody. Customers, brokers and drivers. The economy is bad. Strike will not fix the economy.

 

[Monty]

That "strike" in 1974 .. I was there.

It was an ill thought out attempt by Overdrive and Mike Parkhurst to "show them".

I left, what used to be exit 41 on I-80 in Pa, and was stopped before I reached the Turnpike extension just east of there.

I sat for two days in the middle of the road, unable to move because the roadway was blockaded. I had a load of meat onboard headed to NYC.

There had been no general notification of this blockade, or I would have been aware. It accomplished nothing except to change trucking for all time ... for the worse.

 

[Turtle]

I love it when someone comes on here with the employee mentality and suggests that all of these expediting small business owners should go on strike.

It would be like trying to get all the dry cleaners in a city to go on strike so they could charge more for their dry cleaning services.

 

[Ragman]

I love it when someone comes on here with the employee mentality and suggests that all of these expediting small business owners should go on strike.

It would be like trying to get all the dry cleaners in a city to go on strike so they could charge more for their dry cleaning services.

That's it? Just two paragraphs.

Who are you? What did you do with Turtle?

 

[zorry]

That's it? Just two paragraphs.

Who are you? What did you do with Turtle?

He's tired. He posted a lengthy,but excellent, post about his diet in the sleep apnea thread.

 

[xiggi]

A strike wouldn't stop drivers from taking cheap freight, they will just run more of it while you aren't working and really tank the rates.



Not on the loads I take. We run a lot of military freight so I get to frequently see the rates and the most I saw a broker make was around $300 which was a small percentage of the load. If you are taking loads that the brokers are making more than you on please go on strike because you are tanking the rates for the rest of us.


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Exactly and two many drivers with family and kids that depend on a check every week. Smart owners adapt and make the ever changing market work for them. In today's world a strike of any significants justbisnt going to happen.

Ask tho see hostess workers how it worked out for them.

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[Everything Apax]

so im guessing youre a chosen one that is enjoying a great living and has never seen cheap freight! ha ha what a joke. YOU seem to be the one stuck on the negativity. I'm simply saying that the drivers in this industry are not getting what they're worth wheyher it be bad or good rates in your opinion. I have gotten exactly the response from this post as I surmised(negativity and opposition). Thus post is to try and enlighten. It's simple, brokers pocket money that should be in the pockets of drivers. tThat even applies to Mr. Wolverine that seems to think im complaining about cheap rates personally. Thank you for your feedback, wolverine.

 

[Everything Apax]

It's not that I'm complaining about cheap freight only. And if i became a broker I'd be part of the problem not the solution. I've grown up around this lifestyle, it's not the money aspect that I'm wanting people to key on, rather the injustice of brokers pocketing money that should be the drivers. I believe the broker should get a set percentage all the way across the board regardless of which broker. Do you agree or disagree that you have more overhead than a broker?