(Continuation of The Whole Enchilada with ACT’s Recruiting Responses)

When someone considering a new job evaluates pay, often they look at the “rate” of pay and don’t look at the entire package.  This is especially true when a driver looks primarily at a “sign on bonus” or mileage pay that a trucking company advertises.  If you are not careful, you will fall victim to a “bait and switch.”

Tunnel vision could cause you to miss many important elements of pay.  Look beyond what is advertised.  Your pay consists of many items that, all put together, comprise your total compensation package. Make sure you get the whole enchilada.

There are a number of questions you should ask the recruiter.  Be sure to get a pen and paper to write the answers down from each company and compare notes. If you don’t understand the answers, ask again.  If they can’t answer the questions, run!  Pay shouldn’t be ambiguous.

If you are a good driver with a good record, the question is not whether you can get a job. The question is whether you will get the job you deserve. Recruiters are highly commissioned to get you into their orientation. Ask the right questions.  Do your homework to make sure you get what you deserve for your skill and experience.

Questions for Recruiters

1. What is the rate of pay? Starting Pay can range from .39 to .45 depending on years of experience and hazmat endorsement.  Drivers can earn up to .50 based on tenure with the company.  Is this for northeast? No, actually, we only go northeast of Pittsburgh less than 1% of the time.  Is this for certain operations? No Is it tiered? Yes (see above) Does this vary by length of the haul? No If so what is the average rate per mile? We pay the same per mile.  Short haul operations tend to have higher rates but fewer miles.  Long haul operations tend to have lower rates and higher miles.  One trick is that if you are dealing with a publicly traded company, you can research their SEC filings online and learn their average lengths of haul and average miles per week per truck.  This is public information for these carriers.
2. If you are talking with someone who advertises “guaranteed pay,” what is in the fine print”? We don’t have any guaranteed pay programs.  Our commitment is to keep you moving so you can maximize your pay. Some may advertise this but won’t pay it if lists of conditions are not met.  What is that list?  N/A
3. What are the average miles a driver in your fleets gets per week? 2,324 miles per working truck in 2014.  What is the average per year? 124,800 What was the average W2 pay of your drivers last year? $53,167.30   What was the high? $65,797.67
4. What is your per diem allowance? .11cpm single .14cpm team  (An amount that is deducted to represent road expenses to save taxes)
5. What benefits do you offer?  Health insurance? Yes Dental? Yes Vision?  Yes Long term Disability? Yes Short term disability? Yes Group Life Insurance? Yes Legal Protection Insurance?  Yes  What does each cover?  Varies by policy type  What does each cost? Differs based on insurance type, age, personal, spouse, family, smoker, nonsmoker, coverage amount. Please see the Drivers Weekly contributions schedule for specifics.
Some medical plans look inexpensive but do not cover much.  What are the co-pays?  Varies by policy Deductibles? Varies by policy What is the charge for family coverage?  Varies by policy  If you are divorced, will this insurance meet your obligations to your children under that decree?  For health insurance, confirm that it is actually insurance and not a health plan. We have real insurance offered through Blue Cross Blue Sheild.  If you end up in the hospital, the maximum out of pocket in-network is $3,000.  That is a highly competitive medial plan.   Some inexpensive products look like insurance but are really not.  These offer a schedule of a very limited coverage.

6. What do you offer in terms of holiday and vacation pay? Yes  How long do you have to work at the company to qualify? 1 year for vacation, holiday pay is immediate  Does it increase with tenure? Vacation Yes, 1 yr/1wk, 2-6yrs/2wks, 7+yrs/3wks, holiday pay does not increase with tenure
7. Do you offer layover pay? Yes How much? $100 in layover pay for a load wait time of 24 hours, $50 additional layover pay will be paid for each 12 hours of load wait time following the original 24 hours. How do you define a “layover?”  A layover occurs anytime a company driver is away from home and sits without a dispatch for a consecutive 24 hours, has drive time available, or their truck is in the shop for repairs.  Layover is not paid if a driver refuses a dispatch, is at home, or if there is an Act of God causing the layover (weather, earthquake, etc.).

8. Do you have driver loading or unloading? Very very minimally. How often? Very minimally. What is your pay for this? $100.00 for a tire load of 100 tires or more. $50.00 on any Goodyear loads under 100 tires  $75.00 for driver assist on some insulation loads Do you reimburse for lumpers? Yes
9. Do you pay detention? Yes  How much free time before you pay? 2 hrs. What are the conditions? $10.00 per hour, with a maximum of $100.00 paid for the first 24 hour period. Drivers must send in all required messages (macros) for the load in a timely and accurate fashion.  This includes:  Arrival at Shipper, Loaded Call, Arrival at Stop and Stop Departure on a multistop load, and finally an Arrived at Consignee, and Empty Call. Must be on time for pickup and delivery. Must get the BOL signed with time in and time out.  Detention Pay will be paid after paperwork is audited for errors or missed steps. Detention Pay will not be approved if any errors or missed steps are found.  We must have all of this information in a timely and accurate way in order to notify and bill our customers timely and accurately. Do you pay detention regardless of whether the customer pays you? Yes  How quickly is it paid? After paperwork audit
10. Do you pay for tolls? If on route, they are reimbursed
11. Are there other opportunities to make money, such as recruiting? Or training? Yes, recruiting, MPG quarterly and yearly bonuses, pay differential for hazmat endorsement, clean roadside inspections
12. Do you have a 401(k) retirement plan? Yes  What is the match? Dollar for dollar up to 4%
13. Do you charge drivers for anything? No What?  N/A How much?  N/A
14. Do you pay anything for taking a trailer in for repair? $25/occurrence plus mileage pay on dispatch miles.
15. Do you pay for a short shuttle? On loads with dispatch miles totaling 150 miles or less,  we pay $25/load plus mileage pay on all dispatch miles.
16. What is your cap on mileage pay rate? .50  Is it based on performance, tenure or other items? Yes What are they?  Mileage, years of service, endorsements, and fuel compliance to our fuel and route system
17.  Are there bonuses?  Yes What are they based on? MPG and clean roadside inspections How often are they paid?  Quarterly and yearly (2 different bonuses) for MPG, after each clean roadside inspection What percentage of your fleet actually earns the bonuses? The top 25% is eligible for the quarterly MPG bonus, the driver with the best overall MPG for the calendar year is eligible for the annual bonus.  All drivers are eligible for clean roadside inspection bonus pay

Happy and Profitable Trucking! ~Tom

 

 

 

When someone considering a new job evaluates pay, often they look at the “rate” of pay and don’t look at the entire package.  This is especially true when a driver looks primarily at a “sign on bonus” or mileage pay that a trucking company advertises.  If you are not careful, you will fall victim to a “bait and switch.”

Tunnel vision could cause you to miss many important elements of pay.  Look beyond what is advertised.  Your pay consists of many items that, all put together, comprise your total compensation package. Make sure you get the whole enchilada.

There are a number of questions you should ask the recruiter.  Be sure to get a pen and paper to write the answers down from each company and compare notes. If you don’t understand the answers, ask again.  If they can’t answer the questions, run!  Pay shouldn’t be ambiguous.

If you are a good driver with a good record, the question is not whether you can get a job. The question is whether you will get the job you deserve. Recruiters are highly commissioned to get you into their orientation. Ask the right questions.  Do your homework to make sure you get what you deserve for your skill and experience.

Questions for Recruiters

1. What is the rate of pay?  Is this for northeast?  Is this for certain operations?  Is it tiered? Does this vary by length of the haul?  If so what is the average rate per mile?  Short haul operations tend to have higher rates but fewer miles.  Long haul operations tend to have lower rates and higher miles.  One trick is that if you are dealing with a publicly traded company, you can research their SEC filings online and learn their average lengths of haul and average miles per week per truck.  This is public information for these carriers.

2. If you are talking with someone who advertises “guaranteed pay,” what is in the fine print”?  Some may advertise this but won’t pay it if lists of conditions are not met.  What is that list?

3. What are the average miles a driver in your fleets gets per week?  What is the average per year? What was the average W2 pay of your drivers last year?  What was the high?

4. What is your per diem allowance?  (An amount that is deducted to represent road expenses to save taxes)

5. What benefits do you offer?  Health insurance? Dental? Vision? Long term Disability?  Short term disability?  Group Life Insurance?  Legal Protection Insurance?  What does each cover?  What does each cost?  Some medical plans look inexpensive but do not cover much.  What are the co-pays?  Deductibles?  What is the charge for family coverage?  If you are divorced, will this insurance meet your obligations to your children under that decree?  For health insurance, confirm that it is actually insurance and not a health plan.  Some inexpensive products look like insurance but are really not.  These offer a schedule of a very limited coverage.

6. What do you offer in terms of holiday and vacation pay?  How long do you have to work at the company to qualify?  Does it increase with tenure?

7. Do you offer layover pay?  How much?  How do you define a “layover?”

8. Do you have driver loading or unloading?  How often?  What is your pay for this?  Do you reimburse for lumpers?

9. Do you pay detention?  How much free time before you pay?  What are the conditions?  Do you pay detention regardless of whether the customer pays you?  How quickly is it paid?

10. Do you pay for tolls?

11. Are there other opportunities to make money, such as recruiting? Or training?

12. Do you have a 401(k) retirement plan?  What is the match?

13. Do you charge drivers for anything?  What?  How much?

14. Do you pay anything for taking a trailer in for repair?

15. Do you pay for a short shuttle?

16. What is your cap on mileage pay rate?  Is it based on performance, tenure or other items?  What are they?

17. Are there bonuses?  What are they based on? How often are they paid?  What percentage of your fleet actually earns the bonuses?

Keep in mind that time is money.  Wasted time takes from your compensation since you are paid by the mile.  Ask some questions around time.

Do they haul many food products?  If so, you are likely to spend a lot of time at grocery warehouses, which often live load and are notorious for delaying drivers.  Ask how many trailers per tractor they have.  If they have 3 to 1, they are probably likely to be a drop and hook operation predominantly.  If it is 2 to 1 or less, there is probably a lot of live loading involved.  Live loading eats into your compensation.

Ask about their CSA scores.  Good scores tend to get a green light at the scale houses more often, while bad scores insure that you will spend a lot of time at the scale houses.

Ask about the average age of their equipment.  Older equipment tends to spend more uncompensated time in the shop, especially with EPA requirements on exhaust systems.

There is a lot more you could ask but this is a good starting checklist.  Prepare before you call.  To truly understand your compensation, you must take the time to ask the right questions, listen to their answers and take notes so you can compare the offerings.  This is the best way to find your long term career.

Check back in on Tuesday for ACT’s answers to these questions.  If you look at the package ACT offers, I think you will find that here, you get the “Whole Enchilada.”

Happy and Profitable Trucking!  ~Tom

 

In orientation class each week, I ask the drivers why they left their previous company.  Often the answer is “miles.”  What does that mean?  After talking with many drivers over the years, it seems that “miles” is synonymous with “money problems.”

Money problems can be caused by too few miles.  But money problems can also be caused by other things.  When someone has a problem, the most important problem solving skill is the ability to see what is causing it.  If the problem is perceived to be one thing, but is really something else, that person will never be able to solve their problem, because they are addressing the wrong thing.

Years ago, before electronic logs, I had an old timer come in and tell me he wasn’t getting enough miles.  I called his fleet manager in and we looked it up.  To our surprise, the guy was getting 4000 miles a week!  Obviously, he needed to be walked down to safety to be counseled and watched a lot closer, but the big surprise is that this man thought his problem was miles.  How absurd!  So we peeled the onion further and learned that he had three kids in college, all with new cars and cell phones and that this driver was paying for all that.

Clearly, his problem was that his expenses were too high.  Yet he thought it was a lack of miles.  It did not occur to him that driving more would not solve his problem.  In fact the opposite would happen.  He would ruin his safety record and likely hurt himself or someone else.  He could quit, which he did, and job jump from company to company, wasting time in orientation and learning new systems. Yet changing jobs would not solve his problem.  In fact, the wasted time in multiple orientations would make it worse!  The moral of this story is when you have money problems dig deep.

Let’s assume first that the problem is miles.  Do you control your miles?  To some extent, you do.  I have always had some drivers who always get good miles and some who never do.  What is the difference?  Some people work harder than others.  Have you ever been going down the interstate and had the same truck pass you several times?  Why is that?  It is because he’s stopping frequently, talking and absorbing all that negativity at the truck stop, then burning fuel as he speeds down the road.  That is no way to make money.  The smart driver is aware that time is important.  That driver is disciplined.  He plans his day before he starts the clock, and then puts in a good day of work.  That driver gets more miles and burns less fuel.

How many miles do you get at home?  Obviously, none.  Do your bills keep coming while you’re at home?  Yes.  But home is important.  So you have to do the right things to maximize your financial ability to spend time at home.  Get with your spouse and come up with a plan and a budget.  If your expenses are too high cut them.  Don’t you think someone can go broke, even if they made $200,000 per year?  Don’t you think someone could save money on $50,000 income per year?  The difference is managing expenses to income.  Proper time and money management means more miles and more time at home.

Managing your home time is important to your budget and your family.  Drivers who deliver their first load on a Monday tend to have good weeks.  Drivers who deliver their first load of the week on Tuesdays tend to have bad weeks.  Plan when you go home, but equally important plan when you leave.  The most deliveries are made on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Learn the freight cycles.  Freight tends to be bad during holidays.  Freight is softest on the first week of the month and strongest on the last week.  Freight is softest on the first month of a quarter and strongest on the last month.  Fall season of October, November and the first three weeks of December are harvest time.  So when should you be home and when on the road to maximize your miles?  Stick around, ask questions and you will learn the flows so you can maximize your miles.

Sticking with a company and learning the customers makes more miles.  Job jumpers never get ahead.  They spend too much time in orientation and never learn the new company’s system.  Who lets you park at their facilities?  Who will load you early?  These are not things in the directions.  They are learned by trial and error.  Long tenured drivers get more miles because they know the system.

Be a runner.  Do you cherry pick loads?  I find that my high milers take everything offered to them.  They know that running is good and that involves taking it all, short, long, heavy, light, north, south, east and west.  These are runners.  Those who try to outsmart the system get frustrated because they don’t see what our planners do and they are just guessing.  If they guess wrong, they take the chance that the load they want doesn’t exist and so they sit.  Those who try to outsmart the system sometimes get the load they want, but sometimes they outsmart themselves.

Maybe the problem is not miles.  “Blame,” “Denial,” and “Excuse” will defeat you every time.  Don’t accept the general answer, “It’s miles.”  Take charge.  Ask yourself the hard questions.  How do you manage your time?  How do you select your loads?   Add up all your expenses and give them a hard look.  Control your time and your money or it will control you.

Drivers have inconsistent paychecks because they are paid by the mile.  Miles vary by week, month and year.  Although, the paychecks are not the same each week, the bills are.  When a driver and his spouse don’t budget and take charge of their money, the result is a tense conversation on Fridays.  What a stressful way to start the weekend. And it causes drivers to be out on the road more instead of at home.

List your bills.  Track your spending.  Work with your spouse to make a budget.   Since your pay is different from week to week, plan expenses to be 80% of your average income.  That way you’ll always have the money for emergencies, slow times or extra time off.

Abraham Lincoln once said, “Give me 6 hours to chop down a tree, and I’ll spend 4 of those sharping my ax.”  Today, making a good living in trucking is more about trucking smarter than harder.  Sharpen your ax and I think you will see the benefit in money and lifestyle.

Happy and Profitable Trucking,

Tom

Texting while driving is a growing trend, and a national epidemic, quickly becoming one of the country’s top killers. Drivers assume they can handle texting while driving and remain safe, but the numbers don’t lie.

Texting While Driving Causes:

• 1,600,000 accidents per year – National Safety Council
• 330,000 injuries per year – Harvard Center for Risk Analysis Study
• 11 teen deaths EVERY DAY – Ins. Institute for Hwy Safety Fatality Facts
• Nearly 25% of ALL car accidents

Texting While Driving Is:

• About 6 times more likely to cause an accident than driving intoxicated
• The same as driving after 4 beers – National Hwy Transportation Safety Admin.
• The number one driving distraction reported by teen drivers

Texting While Driving:

• Makes you 23X more likely to crash – National Hwy Transportation Safety Admin.
• Is the same as driving blind for 5 seconds at a time – VA. Tech Transportation Institute
• Takes place by 800,000 drivers at any given time across the country
• Slows your brake reaction speed by 18% – HumanFactors & Ergonomics Society
• Leads to a 400% increase with eyes off the road

82% of all people own cell phones.  The average person texting looks at their phone for 5 seconds and can easily travel the length of a football field while going 60 mph and not be aware of things outside their window.  There is somewhat of an addicting quality to cell phones.  As a result, more and more people are doing something with their cell phones while driving.  I’m sure you see it every day around you on the road and the dangers are obvious.  This makes your job as a professional truck driver even more difficult and you have to be paying attention, be vigilant and leave room and an escape from those you share the road with.

The FMCSA rule imposes sanctions, including civil penalties and disqualification of noncompliant drivers from operating commercial motor vehicles in interstate commerce.  Additionally, motor carriers are prohibited from requiring or allowing their drivers to engage in texting while driving.  FMCSA amends its commercial driver’s license (CDL) regulations to add to the list of disqualifying offenses a conviction under state or local traffic laws or ordinances that prohibit texting by CDL drivers while operating a CMV, including school bus drivers.

Drivers will face 60-day CMV disqualification after two violations within a three-year period. Three violations in a three-year period will result in a 120-day disqualification.  There are also fine and penalties.

In the final rule, FMCSA defines texting as “manually entering alphanumeric text into, or reading text from, an electronic device,” and says such actions include short message service, email, instant messaging, a command or request to access the Internet, pressing more than a single button to initiate or terminate a voice communication, or any other form of electronic text retrieval or entry. Obviously, this does include taking pictures or videos while driving. It also includes using the Omnitracs mobile communication device while driving. We do discourage all use of gps not designed for trucks because they don’t have truck routes in them and we could top trailers or otherwise be in places we shouldn’t be.

ACT’s prohibits all use of cells phones except in a hands free mode.  Common sense tells you that you should refrain from using a cell phone altogether in dangerous situations such as bad weather, congestion, constructions zones, school zones and other situations that require your undivided attention.  Common sense also would tell you that when you use a cell phone, it should only be for required communication, not to get into long conversations to pass the time.  These types of conversations are better saved for times when you are not driving.

Technology can make our lives easier but can also cause problems.  Assume that anything you do on your cell phone or computer can be discovered by lawyers with a simple subpoena to the cell phone company.  The same is true for social media sites.  Nothing which you post on social media is private.

If you follow the rules and common sense, you can enjoy the benefits of technology and avoid the pitfalls.  Follow the rules…, “IT CAN WAIT!”

Happy and Safe Trucking!

Tom

Over the years the question has come up from time to time from drivers regarding payment based on computer miles versus actual or hub miles.  Recently this question was posted to our Facebook page:

“Got a question for Tom and everybody. With today’s technology being adopted by the trucking industry as soon as it becomes available ie: gps tracking, qualcomm, elogs, cameras, roll over sensors, distance detection systems, social media etc. As these technologies are beneficial for the carrier and driver, probably more so for the carrier in the beginning for safety and truck location, here’s the question:  WHAT TECHNOLOGY HAS BEEN IGNORED, SWEPT UNDER THE RUG AND BASICALLY NOT TALKED ABOUT FOR THE LAST 30+ YEARS BY THE TRUCKING INDUSTRY THAT HAS BEEN AVAILABLE FOR AT LEAST 15 YEARS THAT WOULD BENEFIT THE DRIVER UP FRONT? This is an industry question, not ACT specific.”

I’ll address this best I can.  Have you ever been in a cab where you wondered if the cab driver was taking you on a long route to make a bigger fare?  We and all carriers are paid by the mile and our drivers and most drivers in the industry are also paid by the mile.

So how do you compute the miles?  Drivers talk a lot about “hub miles” which really means the actual miles driven.  How would that work?  Let’s say we place several drivers on a run from Kansas City to Chicago.  One driver decides to go up to St. Joseph and then over on US 36.  Another driver decides to take I 35 up to Des Moines to see his girlfriend and then over on I80.  A third driver decides to go over I70 to St. Louis, stop and see his family, and then up through Illinois.  The fourth driver has his son with him who wants to see the Omaha zoo.  So he goes up to Omaha and then over I80.  All drove a different amount of “hub” miles.  Yet, the shipper pays the same miles on each load based upon computer generated miles.  Obviously, paying by hub miles is absurd and does not work at all.  Companies who tried this approach would likely be out of business soon, unless they paid drivers at a much reduced rate of pay.

Therefore, shippers and truckers use computer generated miles. These are programs which state what the miles are for each shipment.  In some cases, they are favorable and in other cases, they are less favorable.  But on the balance they do work well.

We are in a highly competitive business.  There are hundreds of thousands of carriers competing for our business.  When a shipper goes out to the market to find carriers to haul its freight, they have a contract, a computer mileage basis, a fuel surcharge and rates to bid on.  Shippers are who we get miles from.  All of these contracts use either Rand McNally or PC Miler to determine the miles which will be paid.  Carriers then submit prices for the business on this basis.  They take into account the terms of the contract, fuel surcharge, the miles calculations and other matters in deciding a price.  Usually the lowest price will get the business.

The shipper, not the carrier, determines which mileage formula and which surcharge formula will be used for the carrier.  They have hundreds of carriers and are not about to do a different mileage formula for each one.  Nor will they pay based on hub miles.  They also do not pay for deadhead miles or out of route miles.  This is the real world of trucking.  If any of our drivers decided to start their own company by getting their own authority and insurance, they would price the same way.

All carrier/shipper contracts state the basis upon which miles are calculated.  The carrier then in turn determines which computer system to use to pay its drivers and contractors. The rate reflects this.  If we used PC Miler instead of Rand McNally, drivers and contractors would be paid less per mile.  All of our owner operator contracts state the basis upon which miles are paid.  The rate reflects this as well.  This is a contractual deal that all parties know going in.  All company driver employees are hired based upon the understanding of how miles are calculated as well.

The computer mileage system is a basis point for determining pay and has been used for decades. Could technology track actual miles?  Sure.  Will the industry adopt this?  No.

Thank you for asking the question and for giving me the opportunity to respond.  I am sure this is something everyone wonders about.

Take care,

Tom

 

One thing that is easy to forget and deserves some contemplation is the question of how we affect other people.  Are you a force for making others feel good or bringing them down?  These are things people of good character think about.  It is also good business.  For this reason, “mutual respect” is one of our core values.

What effect does negativity have on others?  What effect does it have on you?  Negativity is something everyone in trucking is familiar with.  It goes by a number of names, bitching, rumor mongering, complaining, whining, trashing, gossiping and others.  You all have heard it in drivers’ lounges, truck stops, on the CB radio and increasingly on social media and cell phones.  To understand this fully, simply ask yourself…how do I feel when listening to negativity?  The answer is obvious.  Once you understand this, you also understand the effect you have on others if you engage in this type of behavior.  Everything about negativity is negative!  It deflates and demoralizes those in their jobs, it takes away from ambition, drive and success, and it makes others feel bad.  It accomplishes nothing good.

So why do some do it?  I could derive from a low self-esteem, fear or anxieties in their lives and some folks are just miserable people.  How do you counter the effects of negativity?  The old Polish saying is that when I feel myself being drawn in to someone else’s drama, I say to myself, “Not my circus, not my monkeys!”

I talk to many drivers and am plugged into some of the rumors and other untrue negativity that floats around.  In my eyes, this lessens the person who spreads.  These types of people are detractors and folks who care little about others.  Their blather is a feeble attempt to pump themselves up and appear more important.  They make things difficult on our team.  I think you would agree that this is contrary to our core value of mutual respect.  It is also silly.  As many know ACT has an open door policy.   Why would one get their information from the rumor mill when you can easily get it from the horse’s mouth?

People never get what they want by complaining.  It’s like a child throwing a tantrum to get some candy.  We are all adults, not children.  If people act like a child, they should not be surprised that others respond like a parent.  When they act like an adult, they get an adult response.  I had a driver bring me some ideas last week.  We adopted them.  He asked why now when others had been complaining.  I told him because he was positive, logical and persuasive.  Nobody listens to bitching.  Being negative is a futile and miserable way to be.  It doesn’t work.  It breeds unhappiness.  Don’t let anyone’s ignorance, hate, misery, drama or negativity stop you from being the best person in life and your career that you can be.

Being positive does good things for you and those you deal with.  Isn’t it fun to associate with positive people?  They don’t gossip or rumor because such things are negative by nature.  Have you ever had a fleet manager who you dreaded when they called? Have you ever had one you loved to hear from?  Don’t you think fleet managers have drivers which they dread when the phone rings?  And conversely, those they like to deal with and trust?  What a difference it makes whether you are a positive or negative person.  If you truly like and respect others, you will be positive.  The great secret is that attitudes are contagious.  You show mutual respect by spreading the right one.  What attitude will you choose each day?

Happy and Positive Trucking!  Tom

Trucking is a high risk, low margin business.  Think about how much you or ACT makes on one load.  We have to haul a lot of loads to make a reasonable amount of money.  Managing the pennies make the difference between a successful driver or company and an unsuccessful one.  ACT and its drivers and contractors are pretty good at this.  But it could take several years of work to pay for just one bad wreck.  A catastrophic wreck could put any trucking company out of business.

One of the things I worry about every day, both as a lawyer and as a leader of a business responsible for the jobs of many people is the shock loss, the bad wreck that can come out of the blue.  We are constantly fortifying our castle, building a moat and trying to keep the barbarians from storming the gate.  At ACT, we are about integrity and that means we are “by the book,” period, no exceptions, no excuses.  We may not like or agree with the thousands of laws out there, but we will and do follow them.  This lets us sleep better at night.

I know that if one of our drivers is involved in a bad wreck the first thing that will happen is that lawyers will race to sign the injured party up on a contingent fee contract which pays the lawyer 30 to 40% of what he or she can collect.  The second thing that will happen is that the lawyer will go on a “fishing expedition” to use the broad legal tools of discovery to find anything that can be used to blame the driver.  The initial volley will obtain driver logs, driver cell phone records, data from the engine computer and anything else that can be used to criticize the driver and ACT.  We move quickly to preserve all of this to the best of our ability because if evidence is lost, we are accused of spoliation and the issue becomes our loss of evidence rather that what caused the accident.

A University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute study found that truckers are actually pretty safe.  They studied 8,309 truck related crashes and of those, the car driver was assigned the fault 81 percent of the time. This should make us feel good, but don’t think for a moment that the fact that an accident is not our fault will prevent a lawyer from suing.  And I have a secret for you…when as much money is at stake as what is at issue in a bad truck wreck, people lie.  What appears to be the cars fault can turn into a “he said, she said” case.  Or the lawyers may find something to criticize that had nothing to do with the wreck.  What looks like an open and shut case often isn’t.

The average trucking company carries $1 million in liability insurance.  This is often not enough to pay for a bad verdict.  We carry much more than this but there is really no amount of insurance one can afford to pay for the really catastrophic accident with multiple injuries or fatalities.  Some catastrophic wrecks become big news locally or nationally.  Often the driver is also at risk for criminal prosecution, which can result not only in a loss of career but also incarceration.  I have seen some cases that became national news where the prosecuting attorney was talking about filing charges even before all the facts were known.

What can we do to protect ourselves in this environment?  We do a lot in the way of driver training.  We screen drivers carefully.  We worry about our CSA score.  We require Smith System Training and invest heavily in safety.  But there is more we can do.

One of the most economical ways we can protect ourselves is through technology.  We have been testing event recorders.  I have been very impressed with what we have seen.  They are relatively inexpensive, especially compared to other technologies, but even more effective.  What these devices do is in the case of an event (caused by G forces) is record video, 8 seconds before and 4 seconds after the event.  The video accurately shows the problem.  Any more than this is not necessary, and too much recording can create extemporaneous facts not needed to determine the cause of the accident.

The event recording is then transmitted for analysis during night hours and available to our safety department and the driver, through a mobile app, for review.  From what I learned from other companies using this, in most cases it shows the truck driver was not the one at fault.  When we are contacted by an attorney, they email the video and in most cases this stops the case from proceeding any further.  It is a simple way to protect ourselves.

The event recorder can also be used to improve ourselves.  It is used as a training device to identify bad habits (of which you may not even be aware) and coach out of those bad habits.  This makes you a better driver and lowers the chance that we will be in a bad accident in the future.  It strikes me that this is a “win/win” proposition.

Some may prefer the cheap video recorders they sell in the truck stops.  I will tell you right now that I do not want these in ACT trucks.  They record too much video which can be used by lawyers to criticize you for things not contributing to the wreck.  I do not know who has these and this makes it hard to preserve evidence to prevent a spoliation claim.  In short, don’t try to be your own lawyer.  They’ll outsmart you every time.  The old saying is that those who represent themselves have a fool for a lawyer…and a fool for a client.  Let us provide proven technology at no cost to you.

After testing event recorders, talking with drivers and learning how we can all benefit, we have made the decision to install these throughout the fleet in 2015.  We have signed the contract and committed.  This is consistent and supports our core values of integrity and safety and it is the right thing to do…protect you, protect all who work at ACT and protect those we share the road with.

Happy and Safe Trucking, Tom

 

The economy seems to be good and getting better.  Equipment and technology is continuing to change.  Some of the change is in the name of government regulation and some in the name of increasing efficiency and safety.

Supply and Demand.  The economy is good for truckers.  2014 saw the first truck shortage in many, many years.  We couldn’t haul all the freight we had and had to turn a lot back for lack of seated trucks.  This should continue and will become worse.  There is a severe driver shortage in the industry which is projected to grow.  Older drivers are retiring, young people are not joining the business and freight continues to increase as the economy improves.  Everyone struggles with this.  The problem will not be getting enough freight.  The problem will be finding enough good drivers to haul that freight.  All trucking companies are struggling with this at the moment.

There is some good news for truckers in this.  We are all, trucking companies and drivers acutely subject to the laws of supply and demand.  This means that when trucks are in short supply compared to freight, we can raise our mileage rates.  When we can raise our mileage rates, we can raise our drivers’ mileage rates.  This occurred throughout 2014 and I anticipate it will continue in 2015.  It is a two edged sword.  We want more drivers.  But we don’t want our competition to get more drivers.  If everyone could get the drivers they wanted, the number of seated trucks would grow and in time there would be more trucks than freight and rates would go down.  I don’t see that happening again in this industry until the next recession.  The morale of the story is.…expect good things, help us recruit good drivers.

Fuel.  To misquote Inspector Clouseau of the Pink Panther series “It’s the fuel, you fuel!”  Low fuel is good for trucking, high fuel is bad.  Pretty simple rule.  The measure of diesel price is heating oil.  It’s the lowest now in many years and the winter is not yet over.  I expect the price with fluctuate throughout 2015 but remain low compared to what we have been used to.  This means everyone will make more money, especially if you use our discounts which have been at historic highs.  Many contractors with good mpg are actually making money now off our fuel surcharge pay.  2015 will be a good year for fuel, our largest expense.

Trailers.  We’ll add a couple hundred more trailers.  Our trailer fleet is rapidly becoming brand new.  New is good… they have inflation monitoring systems and skirts.  Great for mpg!

Trucks.  We’ll continue to add trucks.  We think the manufactures are figuring out these exhaust systems a little better now.  Newer trucks mean less maintenance and less downtime.  They also mean better fuel economy.  We have decided to make our fleet younger.  Our plan is to sell and replace trucks prior to 450,000 miles.

We are experimenting with some auto shifts.  Many drivers hate to get into them and after two weeks declare that they will never go back to manual transmissions.  We’ll continue to test a few more.  A Volvo salesman told me 60% of Volvo’s builds are now automatic transmissions.  The other OEM’s are seeing more on their new builds as well.  Hence an increasing number of new trucks are now automatic. I see this as a trend.  In a few years, I’ll bet manual transmissions are the exception rather than the rule.

New trucks will make a dinging sound if you don’t use your seatbelt.  Buckle Up!  It is the law and we sure want to prevent injuries.

Technology.  Gosh, there is so much new technology coming on the market that it makes your head spin.  New technology will continue to be an increasing part of what we do. Much of it will represent change but will make truckers more efficient, more profitable and safer.  We saw this a few years ago with E-logs, even though the FMCSA has yet to mandate then. Many hated them at first but now can’t imagine being without them.  I predict event recorders will go the same route.  There is a lot of chatter in the industry about event recorders and many good carriers will implement them to protect themselves and their drivers while improving safety.

These are a few of my predictions formed from being in this a while and talking with a lot of folks in the industry.  You may not like them all but on the whole I think we are looking at a very good year in 2015.

Happy and Safe Trucking!  Tom

 

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.

Trucking in recent years has been the subject of constant change.  Think about that old school trucker 20 years ago.  He probably had a big hood truck, three sets of paper logs, was gone 2 or 3 months at a time, got 5 miles to the gallon and communicated by pay phone. When out, nobody had a clue where he was or what he was doing.

What a lot of change has taken place.  Today the successful trucker works smarter, not harder.  He is on electronic logs and uses a smart device or computer to plan his loads before starting his clock. He gets his loads electronically, can check weather, road conditions, routes, construction, fueling and congestion in his cab before turning the key.  He makes more money and is out 10 to 14 days and runs legal.  CSA means that the FMCSA know everything he has done, and computers on the truck and in the Qualcomm send a steady and increasing stream of data back to the company.  He makes more money on fewer miles and gets more sleep. The recruiting advertisers know quite a bit about him, what he is doing, where he lives and more through data gathered from wi-fis, smart phones and social media.  Magazine recruiting ads are quickly becoming obsolete.

The trucks have certainly changed a lot, mainly through exhaust designs mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency.  More changes are mandated for 2017 and now mpg standards are coming into effect.

Change may not be very noticeable at the time, but over the years its constant tug has added up.  Many of us may not have liked changes at the time which we now take for granted.

2015 promises many more changes some of which we control and some of which we must accept.  Some are opportunities and some are just more regulation.

FMCSA is very active on the rulemaking front and they have a full plate.  Here are some of the big changes we may expect in 2015:

1.  Electronic Logs.  The early adapters such as ACT will have a big advantage on CSA as the outlaws try to catch up.
2. Speed limiters on all trucks.  We are confident they will adapt such a rule.  Whether the limit will be 68 mph, 65 or something else, we don’t know.
3. National Drug and Alcohol Data Bank.  No longer will law breakers be able to jump from company to company.  All companies will know who is using.
4. Hours of Service.  Congress gave FMCSA until later in the year to study the restart.  In the meantime we are thankfully back with the old rule.
5. Sleep Apnea testing.  Maybe.
6. Driver Coercion Rule.
7. Increasing Liability Insurance Limits.  This is under consideration.  Could cause many small firms to fold.  We carry way more than the $750,000 minimum.

We in trucking have become accustomed to adapting to the ever flowing tide of regulations.  2015 will be no different.  Next week we’ll look at other changes ahead.

Happy trucking, Tom!

One can become so busy that we don’t take the time to do the important things.  We are all guilty of this.  Trucking is a very transaction oriented business.  We haul a lot of loads, each with many factors to manage.  We go to work and…oops…before you know it the day is done.  This vortex of work can and does cause us to overlook sometimes the most important thing about trucking … people.  Yet as a service business, people are what trucking is comprised of.  How ACT associates, drivers and contractors communicate with each other determines company and individual success or failure.  So it really is important.  With the labor shortage in trucking, the ability to communicate is the skill that separates the good from the average employee.  Is it talent?  Or do we just get too busy with the small stuff to take the time?

Good communication with each other is our biggest opportunity and our largest challenge.  As George Bernard Shaw said, ““The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”

There are so many ways to communicate today, and so many lazy ways to avoid good communication. The range of options includes:

1. Talk face to face
2. Talk by phone
3. Email
4. Send a Qualcomm message
5. Text
6. Use a carrier pigeon (extinct)
7. Send smoke signals

The first two, talking and calling, are the most effective ways to communicate.  It is the difference between interpersonal and impersonal communication.  The first involves a back and forth of assessing people, listening, getting context and explaining.  The last consists of imparting information; such as, “the load number is 12345; the pickup is a noon EST; I like my coffee black.”  Emails, texts, and Qualcomm messages are ineffective when trying to resolve complicated issues or trying to connect with someone on a personal level.  In fact, they often cause the opposite effect of what the sender intends.

The other thing to notice is that the first two methods take the most time and the last, email, text, and Qualcomm, take the least time.

Years ago, when I was younger, I had a very good manager.  One day, he met with me to talk about some behavior that I needed to change for the good of the team.  He approached the issue in a very non-threatening way, stuck to the issue, but was very clear and honest about what needed to be done and why.  As I listened to him, I was impressed with his management talent and I told him so.  I’ll never forget his response, “Tom, good management doesn’t take talent, it just takes time.”

How much time does misunderstanding take?  It is very costly.  Misunderstanding can often result from the failure to take the time to communicate effectively in the first place. In our world of limited time, causing a misunderstanding will result in more future attempts to communicate and more work.  And yet as tension grows, the attempts to communicate are more futile.  If we avoid a difficult person, ignore the problem and put our head back into our work, others will feel disconnected and can easily leave for another job….or worse, just stay and not care.

Set the proper priorities.  Whether you are in an office or on the road, people are more important than whatever task you have before you at the moment.  Invest in yourself and others by communicating, and specifically by telephone or in person when possible.  Avoid the temptation to use electronic messaging as a substitute.  You will find that not only do we start to achieve results, but the investment in time will save time in the long run.

Happy Trucking!  Tom