Question of the Week?

[ilovdieselsmoke]

At the bottom you'll find the question I borrowed from "WRFaircloth", (a new trucking agent) in Savannah, GA.
He makes a good point, "what does the trucking company agent or company need your FSC for?"

Maybe one of these container outfits who are taking it all, 1/2 of it, or a percentage of our FSC can explain this glitch in our paycheck...





wrfaircloth


Junior Member
**member is offline

Stop b*t@hing and let's do something about it!

You just said a whole lot driver. These are the things I'm trying my best to change, But I can't get drivers to believe me. I do understand why, But what I don't understand is if you're willing to continue to work for companies who are taking most of your money, Why aren't you willing to take a chance and move to another company who will not? This is my deal.........I have been a driver myself for 23 years. I now have my own agency and I'm trying my best to change up a few things. First...As the agent I get 86%. I am to divide that up to pay the drivers. I've decided that I'll give the whole 86% to you. Then deduct anywhere between $20 to $45 per load, depending on the rate, For my work and expenses. I.E. Yard rent and such. As for overweight....I'll take $10 per load until I get back what it cost me for the permit. Once the permit has been paid for you get it all. As for haz-mat....I really don't care to mess with it at all, but in the event we do, I don't see any reason what-so-ever why I should get any of that. That extra money should go to the driver. He or She is the one who has the extra headache dealing with the d.o.t. and possibly putting your life in danger. Detention pay??? Why should we get any of that? It's your tires that aren't rolling, It's your heat or A.C. that's running while your sitting there, It's your fuel burning, It's your time away from home. Drivers, I've been told more than once that I need to stop thinking like a driver and think like an agent. I'm not exactly sure what that means but I didn't like the comment. Now....As a driver my question would be......86% of what??? Ok, Here's the deal....Most companies are billing the customers anywhere between $1.20 to $1.25 a mile plus the fuel surcharge. I know you think it's more than that but it's not. Remember, These companies are under bidding each other real bad. Now the BIGGER companies are getting more than that but they don't pass on the bigger part to the driver. And remember, I'm not taking most of the %, You are. If you want to see for yourself what I'm billing the customer I'll show you. And not some printed out paper that's easily changed, I'll show you just what's in the computer. I'm hoping I can cause a major change in the way we get paid. Even if I never lease on the first truck. Just maybe I can set in motion some changes around here. This is OUR time drivers! Let's give it a shot. I promise you, The other guys around here are NOT going to offer you what I'm offering. They need you to pay off their expensive vehicles and boats and their own trucks that they have running!

Oh yeah............You'll also get 100% of the billed fuel surcharge. What the hell do I need with that?! [/size]

[Watkins]

At least someone has the ba!!$ to stand up to the good ol' boyz club. You gentlemen keep the faith. The odds are favorable that an overhaul of transportation is soon to happen at the ports.

[chessie]

beats me? i see a couple trucking companies in norfolk who deduct a portion of the fuel surcharge. i wouldn't work for them but they don't have a problem finding truckers that will. either these drivers are ignorant to what is going on or desperate to work for anyone that will hire them.

[morgan]

they do this at every port. steal our fsc money. most see nothing wrong with helping them self to anything that passes through their hands. it's considered fair game if we don't find out.

[guestintidewater]

I know Rush, Gilco, RDT, Expedited direct, Time, Road link, and I am sure many others keep some of our fuel surcharge! If you know others call them out!

[ahoskienc]

which ones do it openly verses those that sneak it from under the table claiming they pay a full 100%? i know big daddy & gtb takes a % right from the contractor check for which they claim is administration fees. the rest lie about what they do pay or take half of it paying it out one way loaded. it's like everything else in this business. they feel if no one catches them it's ok to steal from o/o.

[truckerusa]

This practice should have been stopped years ago. Maybe one of the companies can explain why they feel any of this money collected from their customer to supplement today's extra cost of diesel fuel somehow belongs to them? If you ask one of their smaller customers they'll tell you they thought the company was giving that money to us. Some even get upset to find out they're being billed for something falsely. I consider that theft by deception but you don't see anyone filing charges against them. Maybe we should push the issue. The other practice is to lower the rates back to what they were twenty years ago then add the FSC to bring them back up to today's substandard crap they pay. I have an idea. Drop the FSC and pay $2.00 per every stinking mile we travel. No gimmicks. Just collect what's honestly due you and quit cheating us with all this double talk baloney.

[oboy@ivorva]

Hey Mr. Faircloth, I believe ya. Your system sounds fair. I hope it catches on but it's gonna cause controversy. The companies are used to secrecy or covering their tracks on the billing end.

[drayerman2]

I cant believe I came apon this Thread! Well, its gonna create a lot of Controversy. I hope others think about this post and jump on the Wagon. Because Im to the Point, Im gonna activate my numbers and deal direct with the Steamship/Rail lines. Are you other drivers aware that if you pull tin cans under your own authority that you can get 86%? If you get your own Blanket Permit, you can get the 50 bucks already configured into the rate. Every Overweight Load. So this guy WRFaircloth is exactly accurate in what he says. He is being Honest. Something we all need to consider and really think about.

[retired]

I don't think anyone doubts Mr. Faircloths intentions, the question is how long will it take because financially he cannot keep up. The Co. he is an Agent for will start charging him so he will inturn have to charge the O/O. It won't have to be your fault or his, if the customer doesn't pay they will charge him who do you think will then be charged for that. Everything you say is mostly true, however it gets much deeper than that. The 50.00 for overweight is not necessarily an extra charge per load it depends on the contract and then if you leave it and it pushes your rate over the lowballer where do you think the steam ship line will give their freight. I agree there is a problem but it starts with all the low ballers we tend to blame every co out there but still lease on with the Agents. There are too many hands in the pie by the time they get a piece. I know I did it for a year and found out the hard way. That's why I quit, Mr. Faircloth may be the one too pull it off and I wish him well, but be careful.

[moneytree]

the way i read this_____
faircloth is a trucking agent. not a broker. u don't need any mc #'s to work with him. u lease your truck directly to the company he represents to receive the full 86% just like any other trucking company. he takes out a per load flat fee for his service instead of % unlike the other agents who want to play with hidden customer billing plus their short change percentage game. most agents get 84% to 86% and decide what to pay u as a trucker from that amount. in the end u don't know what they really got. i would much rather deal with this guy then bother with my own authority. even though u make 100% of billing with your own authority-mc#'s you will still be trying to collect from the customers or using a factoring company which charge 3% to 6% to front u money depending on who the customer is. some factoring companies don't even want to deal with containers period. if i am right u get your money weekly from faircloth working as an owner operator for an already established trucking company?

[drayerman2]

Moneytree, you said it well. My first thoughts were to hire a factoring company to handle it. But if they dont like dealing, that tells me they got skunked many times in the past with containers. But I dont know how long faircloth can keep doing what he does either. Someone is gonna close in on him at some point.
But somethings gotta give! I like pushing the envelope but I think others need to do so as well.

[scot g]

what happened about talk of opening a driver hiring hall? won't that still work or it didn't pan out?

[drayerman2]

I think its still in the works. Not sure.

[ilovdieselsmoke]

Nov 27, 2011 15:26:11 GMT -5 @scot g said:

what happened about talk of opening a driver hiring hall? won't that still work or it didn't pan out?

As with anything else it takes power by truckers in considerable numbers to make anything happen around the port including a driver hiring hall. Twenty six drivers can't create a hiring hall but several hundred could make that become a reality in Savannah. Shutdowns, strikes, job actions ending without any written contract to bind the parties is a useless waste of time unless the goal is to make a point by getting their attention. Other than that we're right back in the same predicament as before. I won't be a part of any job action without a clear cut plan. We've had enough of them to last a life time. I know there are several drivers in this town who are urging local truckers to do just that but they will fail miserably. Management knows the numbers will be pathetic. The entire action will last no more then a couple of days. A few companies will raise rates to move freight while the disturbance is in progress (depending on the timing) but in the end everything will return to the same. A driver hiring hall is real, it's legal, and it will work. When everyone has had a stomach full of this port rate cutting baloney (including the carriers) we'll get started again. We have several months next year to work this out if the interest is there so let's see how many truly want to put their money where their mouth is........

[crankcase]

this is interesting. u should do a column on this subject. does this involve trucking companies?

[ilovdieselsmoke]

Yes it involves contracts with trucking companies once a driver hall were to open. There could possibly be a driver ownership cooperative in the mix but we're a long way from forming anything unless our general attitude in Savannah changes. First there has to be enough truckers willing to sacrifice a little of their time each month to work as a team. A driver hiring hall contract would establish stability in rates along with work rules where everyone involved could make a decent living instead of the daily transportation auction atmosphere we operate under now.We would also distinguish in a contract what is considered port work to be done by the port or paid to the trucker when the GPA decides to pass their responsibilities to the trucker. At present that's the trucking company or our responsibility to do "FREE" work in the port but that practice would end. Under a contract someone will be billed for their foolishness. Let their customers sort those practices out. You can bet most of that will end once they have to pay the bill or should I say doubled billed! Yes driver, the port actually bills for some of that FREE work they have us do so in reality while on port property we are working as their employee. Yes it can be done as like the International Longshoremen don't do FREE port work neither should we.

[johncc]

i like this idea friend. this is the best game plan i have heard from anyone. is this model in operation anywhere today?

[247plus]

as with all good ideas. no one wants to make that extra effort unless dispatch gives them permission. i have never in my life worked around so many sheep who call them self men. owner-op trucker? phooooooey yeah jack, dream on right to the day the repo company puts the hook on the truck. i can't believe how scared drivers at my barn are of dispatch or maybe they love being screwed over. one of the two for sure. go figure. when i tell the company i need more money for a run they look at me like i'm some alien from planet x. why shouldn't they when the load will be moved by the next driver who walks through the door without a peeeeeep!

[calvin]

i think the savannah spirit has finally burned out driver. what a d**n shame. when i moved to this area back in 1995 truckers here showed they had what it took to make the steamship lines stand up and pay attention. i remember december of 1997 when the majority of savannah truckers went on strike outside the port gates day and night for four long weeks. that was some huge event making national news. several more times after that big december strike drivers showed how to bring this port to a dead standstill. they never won anything substantial in writing but you had to give everyone involved an "a" for effort. over past years the main driver hot heads grew older and retired or plain left container hauling for other reasons. what you see now is mostly the younger generation working. i moved on to refrigerated trucking but do occasionally move a few marine boxes short haul when the price is right. there are a small handful of the older guys still around. if you drivers could ever get your act together for round two avoiding past mistakes you might have a chance at winning a trucking contract. it takes a certain kind of person to hold out against impossible odds but there is a better chance now then ever before. this port depends on truckers to move 80% of all the goods shipped into or out of the savannah port making sure everything is scheduled without delay. if truckers were to stop work for more then ten days it would be a complete disaster for the shipping industry depending on one the largest ports in the united states. think about the power you hold by switching off your key even though you may never figure out how to use it to your advantage! lol