Thuck driving has changed a lot since the days when you could spot a driver by his sunburned left arm. My first job after high school was hauling building materials all over north Texas. Some days the old '39 REO and I would start at 4:00 in the morning and get back at 8:00 in the evening ....... for a day like that I earned $14.40.

 

And you used to walk to school 40 miles in the snow up hill both ways.

 

...did they have snow back in those days?


I'm not a truck driver, but I'd have a hard time staying with a job that paid 12.50 an hour flat. I'm closer to $20 an hour here, and sometimes still need to work some overtime to keep all things afloat.

(OK, mostly my bar tab...but still...)

 

With no shoes...lol

 

You're damn right we did...but it wasn't the sissy snow like you younguns have now days. It was a real mans snow...came down with razor blades and rusty needles in it. And we didn't have any shoes back in the good old days, so we walked barefoot through it...and BY GOD WE LIKED IT!

Tim

 

Somehow I don't think this thread has the response Wizard351 was looking for.

Looks like you're going to have to pay better and give them reasonable hours. 60 hours should be a rare exception, not the norm.

 

id freakin love to make 12.50/hr for driving, driving ANYTHING. hell i make $7/hr working about 20-24hrs a week in a vacuum cleaner repair shop, and i'm freakin married and have to pay rent and all the bills and whatnot, i dont know how the freak i do it. but at age 25 my knees barely work, and theres not realyl much other work i can do where i dont have to be on my feet all day. (i have a stool i sit on infront of my workbench). $12.50 doesnt realyl seem that bad, everyone else, quit yer bellyachin'

 

In all due respect nick, if you want to be making more money, go do it. You may be limited with your knee problem, and if thats the case then that would be a special exception. I dont think anyone is really belly achin', just stating that they dont think for a professional driver, 12.50 is worth it.

 

Dude, that sucks!

 

Two words: market-value. They could be leaving becuase the market supports a higher wage elsewhere.

 

well i got back a few min ago this guy tore up my truck the passegerside dash is gone from the glovebox down wire's hanging everywhere. $750 a week isnt that bad a dough around here most dump driver's only get around 10 bucksper hr. as far as overtime goes truckin falls under the ag law and if ya pay milage or salery no ot ever. my guys get the same pay if they haul 1 load a day or 4 so some days they do good and some days better. it only takes them 15 min to load and 6 min to unload all they have to do is turn a handle to open the hopper and drive. and if ya put into a milage factor if they get a full day its about 300miles for $125 thats 42cents a mile i know otr guys that dont get that much and they dont see home for months. 60hrs is whats alowd in 7 days ,you can ether run 60hr in 7 days or 70hrs in 8 days by law

 

I couldnt even think of living off of $125 a day. Dosent matter what it breaks down into by the hour, its the same number on paper at the end of the month when the bills are due. I am salaried a grand or so more than what your guys make a month, I also have two weeks a month off in which I can have as much overtime as I can handle, and yes my company does pay overtime even though we are salaried cause of the schedule.

 

I don't it's too much of "what's wrong with folks today", but more so in "whats wrong with the economy today".

With the prices of many things today and the minimum wage factor is not even over $6.00 per hour. Making $10.00 per hour just not too long ago seems like a great wage, but factor in just fuel prices and the prices of just monthly utilities, makes it hard. Let alone trying to afford health insurance if the employer doesn't pay it. It's funny, every year I get a average raise, but then I keep getting the "due to increased cost and labor and blah blah blah, we have to increase the blah blah blah by certain amounts of cents or dollars to give you the best blah blah blah we can offer on my TV cable, internet, garbage, utilities, etc.". So, I get a raise, but everything raises right with it. Even if you get a raise, you still don't really get ahead. Think about someone who makes $10.00 per hour at 60 hours /week at $600 which after taxes is really like just over $400 and break it down to food, fuel, monthly utilities, childrens' school expenses, insurance, vehicle maintanence, rent or mortgage, etc. Doesn't take much just to live check by check. It's tough to work 60 plus hours per week and not have any time or money left over.

 

It also must blow for him too.

 

Wizzard that was really poor of your hired man to damage your truck. I try to take care of the semi I drive, as much as i take care of my own truck.