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Post by FUSION on Oct 19, 2014 19:31:13 GMT -5
Why 'Fusion' is the only one trying to correspond on this website?  |
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Post by chaindrive on Oct 21, 2014 13:27:39 GMT -5
most drivers working at the port do not care. it is dog eat dog at the piers today. how do we win respect when we have no respect for each other? i am going to leave this business soon. there is very little hope anything will ever change. i do not see it happening anymore. at one time i thought we had a chance but good luck with that. the trucking companys enjoy the confusion and so does this port. i say let them have it. ship it all by rail. they claim they can so prove it. i have seen good drivers here come and go. now the majority are stuck in gear after years of doing nothing but b^t(hing without participating while a few stood up for the whole. each time drivers are brave enough to take a stand there always seems to be the same dummies who will work claiming they are to d**n broke to stop their truck. i will run until next summer but if no change in rates i am gone along with many others.
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Post by ilovdieselsmoke on Oct 29, 2014 20:53:16 GMT -5
Just been extremely busy working things out with some new motor carrier authority. I find it amazing how much red tape there is in the simplest of things one seeks to do. I now see exactly why our government will never agree to a flat tax rate. The unemployment rate would be astronomical in Washington. That however is not the department I was dealing with but very similar in the way they are totally delusional at what reality is here in the field outside the beltway. I have no idea how truckers will ever solve their problems but NOIDEA (OOIDA) certainly cant do it for us with their Grain Valley retired power structure. Most of their top leadership hasn't been behind the wheel of anything larger than a Mercury in over thirty years.. The Teamsters certainly cannot do it either because they also are so far up into the Heavens above the earth they cannot see the ground below... Nope,,,, somehow truckers are going to have to form some type new group that can seriously lobby for them but how will that materialize is above my pay grade. I would love nothing better than see that happen because it would do us all good to bury the cheap freight right under this current pile of legislators sh^t that has been shoveled out to us within the past several years...
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Post by Company Man on Oct 31, 2014 12:50:51 GMT -5
Mr Smoke unfortunately I think you are right, the funny thing is you all really do have the power, but no one of you can do it and no 10 of you can do it. BUt as a collective group you can do anything, Shippers and CO would have to listen. I find it interesting that on the East Coast Truck Drivers are so far apaprt from each other. Just so you know there are Co and Management that do respect you guys and wish you would succeed but we have to stand back until we know you have a solid core for us to work with or we will suffer the consequences. I know that sounds cowardess but we just don't see that we would have enough support from your side to stand up to the rest.
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Post by FUSION on Nov 1, 2014 5:20:14 GMT -5
Both Co-Man & Smoke are wrong, but you both have a point. I know from experience that you can make a difference from the company that you lease on with. You can talk to the drivers there about what everyone else is getting pay and adjust amongst yourselves. Then go back in the office and renegotiate. P.S. YES, even if it is in the contract. It's better cooperation with a few than mobilizing a movement. Just look at FTBT. = A JOKE!
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Post by Freight Gal on Nov 2, 2014 12:10:45 GMT -5
I agree with smoke/coman. You drivers are the only ones who can force industry rates to increase. It appears many out here are perfectly happy to move these containers for any amount offered. I see very few drivers who challenge rates quoted to them. Most do not even ask how much the lanes pay yet they call them self an independent contractor owning a truck. This dispatch scenario takes place everyday at my company. Organizing a few drivers at one company is only a temporary quick fix. That may work for a limited few individuals but really doesn't solve your issues. Why not take that thought multiply it fifty times over. If your not satisfied with current driver associations you have now call a serious driver meeting to explore the subject of changing this system. Drivers you must do this entirely on your own. We can offer suggestions but antitrust laws make discussing this matter openly problematic for trucking interest. I'm sure there are those of you on this forum who understand this very clearly. I would also like to be able to ask for more money but that's not going to happen unless a floor is established first Only you can make that happen by refusing to haul for these current rates.
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Post by FUSION on Nov 2, 2014 17:41:10 GMT -5
I can only agree in principle but the completely, Freight Gal. I do what I can from what I got to work with. Everyone's situation is different and getting drivers to agree let alone come to together. Well you know. Hampton Roads drivers are followers, not independent thinkers. They are told what to do and they do it, no question asked. They can-not follow or fight for the right principles but will sit in for hours at the ports and settle for what MC pays them. Drivers think outside of your smart phones. Act!
P.S. saw this on Craigslist: Come on drivers Your cost to run a Paid For truck is around .90 CPM. So when you take on a job paying "$1.50" per mile you are running for .60 CPM, you can drive a company truck for .45 CPM. So you are really making an extra .15 CPM, is that worth it? Do some math, it's not that hard to figure out, you have IFTA, Heavy Hwy Tax, Maintance, Personal Property Tax, Business License, etc. Most are one major break down from being out of business. If we all would not work for welfare rates we would be making a living for us and not some not a very nice person sitting behind a desk going home at 5 everyday. These folks don't mind driver turnover. There is a sucker born everyday, don't be one. THINK!!
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Post by fatman on Nov 3, 2014 21:05:03 GMT -5
it will take lines backed up for five miles for a big action. that will cause drivers to explode in all directions with no organization whatsoever. in virginia there will probably be a couple more new groups springing into action without a clue how to accomplish any real change! it happens every time.i have been around twenty years in this area and we still are stuck in the same gear as back in 1992.
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Post by FUSION on Nov 5, 2014 21:18:39 GMT -5
Well at least you have clean Porta-Potties and trash cans. Oh yeah and lines paint per request. Wow! Now that's making things happen. Thanks to the media circus and its director. Clowns with PPE vests, how sweet.
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Post by pothole on Nov 5, 2014 21:55:25 GMT -5
yep we've come a long way baby. porta potties, five times the extra work for same moves and still i see drivers happily moving cans for $. 90 cents per mile. will these suckers ever learn? i just now had one driver tell me if he can get his own authority the liner services say he can get work direct for them. wow what a clever idea,why couldn't anyone else think of doing this? reckon they will put him on? better start looking for a factoring company that likes waiting for their money 180 days, ha, ha, ha, ha. these guys amaze me with their well thought out business plans. bankruptcy, bankruptcy. i say strike, baby, strike. $5 bucks per mile is a good sound figure. stop the trucks, stop the cans,let santa's elves come pick them up. i'm game.
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Post by FUSION on Nov 6, 2014 5:14:01 GMT -5
As one sucker to another, you ever wonder why you are suggesting striking w/o a plan? NO. Just help those that are concern with Porta-Potties and trash cans and we all can get along at the next group meeting and present this as news using power point.
P.S. are you making up pay per mile? Because if so, I like your fantasy.
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Post by pothole on Nov 6, 2014 15:09:27 GMT -5
in today's world? yes $5 bucks per loaded mile is minimal pay. they have it. anything lower is fuzzy math. poverty sucks when you work everyday. why continue to be a broke working stiff eating at mcdonald's while the bosses who pay out piece meal slips can afford to eat at ruth chris steak house? the money is there in shipping. we don't demand it so they spend our share too. there's to many people skimming off our green backs. there always will be unless truckers unite. face book wont collect our share. it sure doesn't look like ftbt will be able to make it happen but maybe i am wrong.
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Post by FUSION on Nov 7, 2014 6:34:40 GMT -5
Sound jealous. Well lets break this down pothole. Worry about what 'you' could get pay but the same 'Delays" at ports will remain. What is the means of making more money if you're sitting. Beside, you sound like a smart man. I think you have got this figure out. You don't need support from the 'Trucking Community' if you can negotiate your own price. Right?
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Post by pothole on Nov 7, 2014 15:43:10 GMT -5
yeah well it's hard to negotiate any decent prices when we have so many dummies running around working for half or one third what they should be charging. i survive because i pull most loads that are hot. those loads have to be there on time. they have to be at the dock or in other places because the customer needs that to happen sooner then later. if these people can pay extra for same freight going to same place but only pay this when there's not sufficient number of trucks to haul it there then that is our fault for not demanding a fair rate each trip. yes they can pay that price everyday but only if placed in that position? port trucking is a weekly game with more losers then winners. each of us could be winners but there are to many out here working this port who have no idea how much to ask for. so start with educating the ones who do not understand how the system works. hold driver meetings that educate our own not reports on what the port claims to be looking at fixing. if we had our act together the port would be asking to hold meetings with us not the other way around. they would fix everything without confrontation with us. i make what i need every week so that will continue no matter if one thousand more drivers in tidewater go bankrupt. it would however be lot easier if everyone or at least the majority were working from a similar rate sheet. fix that and you are well on your way to correcting many more issues here in wonderland.
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Post by FUSION on Nov 9, 2014 15:37:34 GMT -5
Or pothole, you can assume that some of those so-call hot loads or loads most of us (me included) will not touch because of weight or destination. Yes they (the MC's) are holding back but it's good to have a good conversation about freight price negotiation on websites like this because Funny-Facebook & Co. won't. Easy to call a bunch of drivers dummies and I agree for the most part but it's better to educate them so we all will be better off in the long run. As far as the ports meeting with us, ah yeah!
And as for A**-clown director for FTBT, it's not hard to figure out that he has his own agenda.
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Post by mackattack on Nov 11, 2014 21:31:45 GMT -5
hot load? i see the hot load as one that cant be moved on schedule because everyone is to tied up to move them. that could be an easy load but the shipper cant find a truck for it. most loads are handed out to the cheapest trucking companies first. i see this play out everyday. yes been doing this nineteen years now. as the call out list begins to thin the rates increase down the list. if this broker has seventy loads at $2hundred bucks to start with -the trucker gets $125 of that- those same loads could be $8hundred by time the last boxes are handed off to move. now if the company at the high end rate thinks they can get their drivers to work for the same rate or a little extra then the $2hundred dollar company they will just pocket that extra money. no one knows the difference. at least not the truckers who pull the loads. the few who pull the high end maybe get -$250- and think they are getting something over on the ones who moved them for -$125- but they also got screwed over too. everyone gets screwed at the ports in hampton roads except those at the top of the food chain or the dock workers union.
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Post by FUSION on Nov 13, 2014 6:51:05 GMT -5
Good insight Mackattack. Always good to have good info out there even if most drivers don't understand it or read it on sites like this. They (drivers) are busy liking each other on Funny-Facebook w/o any results or add value info. Its all about the base...
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