I work for em. I'm going to agree w/ part of what ya say & disagree w/ part of it. This reply will kind of go back/forth agreeing w/ ya & disagreeing w/ ya.
All in all they pay ok. Like any company, they're not perfect, but for some drivers they're the right fit. I make $92 for an 81 mile route. That's over $1/mile in a car. The challenge I have is I drive about 30 miles to start the route & 80 miles home. So if they don't have anything going home I'm driving a lil over 200 miles for $92, which is about 45 cents/mile. If someone lived in the middle of the route, they'd fare better.
The good about them is if ya gripe enough, they actually listen. I'm the #2 griper in Flint out of 6 drivers, though they just hired 5 or 6 more. Actually I'm not so much griping as writing out long letters logically (in my opinion anyway) explaining why something isn't right. So far I'm 2 fo 2 on getting the desired result after one of these letters. Also what's good is if ya work in the daytime, they have quite a bit of freight so ya can put together some pretty decent runs by taking 3 or 4 or even more at a time.
The bad is most of their runs blow chunks if taken solo. I like to work at nite & most of their runs at nite are solos. I can see where they need to get these covered, but I don't think it's fair to ask a driver to take a solo run that's going to break even/lose $$ so the company & daytime drivers can make $$.
That's where the griping comes in. I just got done writing a 4 page letter to the owner. Lo & behold, I no longer have to take that run unless I'm already near it, which is fine. I like the company & like to drive. All in all I like it there as things are now, but I have to admit if they were to force me to take that run I'd look for another company.
If ya live in the Detroit area where there's lots of freight, ya can make $20/hour or so in a car. If ya live in Flint it's more like $9/hour & then any extra runs bump ya up some. I'm not sure about Grand Rapids. Today I did pretty well but yea there are days when I don't. The main thing for me is I'm sleeping in my own bed every nite. That to me is huge.
I was never told ya get all the stuff you did. I was told 43% + fuel surcharge. Some runs they'll bump it up for ya if ya have special circumstances. The minimum wage thing is because you're an employee, they take taxes out of ya as if you made min wage. So if I have a $700 check, they take taxes out as if I worked 40 hours at min wage, which is about $280. So rather than paying taxes on $700, I'm paying it on $280. In other words, they take about $50 out of my check for taxes rather than $250. Even then, at the end of the year I'll get it all back due to my miles.
I TOTALLY agree w/ ya on low paying runs. Yeesh!! The run I mentioned above was an 80 mile round trip run paying like $13. It's 80 miles cuz you're going 40 to take it & 40 home cuz you WILL be coming home empty. If ya gripe they'll bump it up to like $23, but it's still brutal & I wouldn't keep working there if they insisted on me taking it. At least at that price. At the same time, during the day ya put 3 or 4 of those together & ya have $39 or $52 for 40 miles (one way) & then something else after that going in another direction & it can work out pretty dang good.
Yes they have thier faults. Whoever negotiates for em is getting their tails handed to em by whoever's shipping things. They seem to have an awful lot of low $$ freight. Almost every solo run they have is going to be brutal. Then again, at least during the daytime they have quite a bit of volume, so ya can put together a bunch of what would be junk runs & make out pretty well. I know some drivers who are making $50-70,000/year in a car. I've worked there since Jan. & most of my checks are in the $6-700 range w/ a couple being over $1000. I'd say 20-25% would go back in the gas tank & then the rest is mine. Nothing spectacular that ya couldn't do elsewhere, but steady & I enjoy driving.
They also have some neat runs (for some people) where they'll handcuff a briefcase to ya & fly ya to Japan. Also, they have runs where ya deliver a movie to a theater & watch the movie. None of those types of runs appeal to me, but some people absolutely love em.
All in all I like it there. There's a few things I'd like to improve on, namely being on call so much, but the on call hours should come down now that they've hired more drivers. The manager at the Flint office is fair, so that's a plus. I reserve the right to change my mind if they insist on me taking that nite time run I mentioned, but until then I'm pretty happy w/ things.
Take care,
Danny
