Profile For Marcus K.

The 1099 method of being a company driver makes it easy on the company - they just write you a check.

But it will hurt you. As mentioned, you pay all the taxes. (think about coming up with 30% of your total annual pay and writing a check on April 14.) Also, you won't have health insurance unless you buy it without company subsidy. And no workman's comp or unemployment insurance.

I'm not a lawyer, but I believe if a company has its employees on 1099s, they're illegal.

As I understand it you pay the 15% , could be higher now, on your net not gross after deductions.... Then you pay regular income tax in your tax bracket to the state or what ever. You have to keep out 40% of what you make to cover the taxes. It is a losing deal if you do not make very good money. I would say average company driver making 1000 a week would want to make 2500 as a 1099 to have the same lifestyle. You have to buy your own work comp and you have no unemployment or health insurance. Your only hope is that your deductions make up a big difference. I am 1099 and the pay seems like it is going to be far less than I am used to. Even with deductions I think i will not make enough to pay my bills and keep any back. I am used to making around 800 to 1200 a week on average as company driver. i will probably make 6 to 800 as 1099. It is a losing deal. As a company driver I can make 1K a week and bring home around 800 of it or a bit less. As 1099 that is most likely going to be take home 500. Plus no benefits. I did it because I needed a job but would never do it if other options were available unless it paid at least half again as much as the same job as company driver.

E-logs Not at all. I was speaking of the small guys on that. Fact is that something like 53% ? I think that was the number , of small companies are going to go out of business over the e-logs. That is from a survey done by who ever it was any way , OOIDA ? They simply cant afford to put them in trucks in a lot of cases. The other factor is a little shady but it is necessary. If you knew the grain and aggregate side of stuff you would understand why . Hauling grain: it is very hard to get the job done. Have to do so many loads to make the money. The elevators like to close at 3 or 4 and open at 8. If you are not the first in line at a lot of these places you going to be there all day and maybe longer. Next unload late a day. Next load late a day or more maybe... Running " illegal" is the only way anyone gets this done. Except for the big guys, they have other trucks doing things that make up for grain losses. Small guys with only 2 or 10 trucks have to do what they do. Faking a log so you can go a couple hours down the road to be there at 3 am so you are the first in line is not so bad of a crime but still it has to be done. You cant afford to miss unloading and getting your next load to unload spot. E-logs will cause grain haulers to lose on average 3 loads a week as far as I can tell. I could not afford to lose that much every week out of my check. When e-logs come out that is all over and most will either have to adapt to other types of loads or go down.

You might think that this is not so bad but it is. The grain will be late . The grain must be moved on time. It has to be where it has to be for storage. When there at not enough trucks that can afford to only pick up , lets say for reference 6 loads a week instead of 9, because they now have to run on a tight rope, then there will be a shortage of grain and that is real bad for everyone. Prices will go way up. A loaf of bread that cost 1.50 will be 3.50 and so on. Send that right down the line to your local burger joint. Cattle eat grain. It will be a bad thing for the economy and real hard on those who do not make a lot of money and struggle to survive as it is.

You come back next year and let me know how many Companies went out over them e-logs.

It makes a lot of sense. 15.00 an hour for flipping burgers at burger barn ? NO WAY. But decent pay for the truckers that this country would collapse over if they all stopped is reasonable. Do you realize that if the little guys go out over regulations that the big guys are going to take over the aggregate business ? This means huge increases in the cost of things locally. A load of rocks to build that road in town that I used to deliver will now be delivered by some big union and you no them guys make big money. How is your town going to afford that? Now to be fair I worked for a small company that had real good contracts and paid a good wage. Most doing what I did would not make that unless hauling mud and other crap I did not haul. I had it easy. But still big union trucking companies will kill us off if they take over grain and rocks. It is like Harley Davidson workers. You can't afford one because they make 50 an hour to put it together. Unions at work.

Well you know what? I am thinking of putting up another blog as soon as I get the one I am building tonight going . I was thinking about a trucking blog for all them fresh start students and B guys wanting to go A. Maybe you would want to contribute some articles some time. If I put it up I will be looking for people to contribute and help them newbies. I like to hang on the indeed class B forum. Lots of questions to answer there !

Have a great night and God bless you and have a safe trip down that highway.

Old School ; Not so crazy. I live in the real world where I can see how people are treated. Corporations are very greedy and they can tell all the tales they want about how tight money is but it is only tight for the little guy. 1 week , home every day. up until I quit there to go regional grain I had never slept in a truck. Now you tell me what living in a truck is really worth when I can do this and live at home and not unload a 72 foot trailer or put up with all the other things you put up with.

Nothing is terrible for you if you like it. But as a whole I would consider living in what amounts to a tiny closet and having almost no activities to do like as in a normal life, to be miserable. Maybe that is just me.

I also consider truckers to be the most valuable " commodity " this country has. " One day without a Mexican ? Without a woman? " yes but maybe try one day without truckers. The country would have almost unrepairable damage. So to that note I say we are all worth far more than the average trucker makes. If everyone parked their trucks at the same time for one day the pay would jump way up fast. Sure the small guys can not afford that but all them big guys could eat it and not blink an eye. You work for a small grocery store stocking shelves and make minimum wage. you work for Kroger and get 10.00 an hour doing same thing. So everyone cant afford a big wage but big guys can. It all depends on where and what you do and who you do it for. Google is an example of how to treat employees. On a far less cash scale , look up the box company in Ca. that guy is amazing. His employees get what others dream of and he is not bankrupt nor is he google cash rich. Just depends on the CEO's and how greedy they want to be. }

I am absolutely worth that and so are you. You have no real life. No family life to speak of. Most married people no doubt get divorced . Can not blame them I would not want to sit around waiting on my spouse to come home for a couple days every month or two. It is not the market that sets them prices. That is insane. The cost of goods and living rises like crazy yet the cost of a truck to deliver it has not went up since what? 1976 . I don't know for sure but it has been straight lined a long time. It is not greed to want to get paid a good wage. Living in a truck is a specialized deal for special people and I bet most would rather not do it. If I can make 1k and go home and not do half the work you do then what are you worth? Work just ain't loading and unloading. It's sitting and waiting and being bored stiff and fighting for a space to park ... Pay could be much more. Now I might be a little high strung on the 3k a week but that is what living in a truck is worth to me. Maybe 2K. But then I love sitting at home and watching TV and having a glass of whiskey in the evening. Yea I know I ramble on a lot . That is why I am a blogger. I also go a little over when I am ranting on something. No, I would be driving but made mistake of hauling grain. Want a good one? I was fired from last job , where again I made in the 900 to 1k a week range but regional. Home a lot. I refused to pull a trailer Tulsa to Wichita that had no blinkers. They demanded I did. Second time they demanded I pull that trailer like that. Told them no way. This time they fired me for not pulling it to Wichita. Thing is they said they pay me well I should just do it. No money worth a wreck or me going to prison over it.

Can't say as I completely agree with you. The reason I would never drive OTR is the pay. Perhaps some lucky drivers get paid well for that sweet union run but as a whole I see the big guys paying new drivers a couple hundred a week to train. That in it's self would stop me from thinking about it. I would not get off my couch for that. Then they pay a little more but still only a few hundred more and again I would not get off my couch for that. 500 a week is not enough to move me off the couch and into a truck. Then go onto being on the road for a month or so at a time. Living in a truck is miserable and you still have to pay for your house and the upkeep. So now you have even more expenses unless of course you have someone at home taking care of that but then that is more money in bills they are racking up. Companies pay new drivers crap. Most of them pay crap even at their highest per mile pay scale. I normally make a 900 to 1000 and sometimes more a week and go home every day. OTR would require at minimum 3k a week for me to even think about it.

Now on to that fair per mile stuff. Like you said , if you are happy with what you make as a whole then it is good. I have never been paid by the mile but figure it might be about the same as % depending on the per mile rate. How ever one must figure in some things that just are not fair no matter how you slice it. When you are stuck waiting and getting paid nothing and the reason you are waiting is the fault of the customer then you should be getting no less than $20.00 an hour as a company driver and far more of course as a O/O. I ran grain. Some companies paid after 2 hours of waiting no matter what the reason. Some paid nothing no matter what the reason. When I pick up a load at the customers request of course , and deliver it and get told they do not need it or have room for it or are broke down, I expect to be paid for all them hours and sometimes days I sit because of them. That never happened to me. I always sat for nothing. There is nothing fair about that. Now I did make good money as a whole but still yet when you figure that only made maybe 700 in a week that I had to sit for a day or so then in the end I am out money. My yearly pay would be far more if paid for all that NON work stuff. Heck I would rather be doing something and not being paid than sitting in that sleeper staring at the walls and not getting paid!

Might as well get ready for the big crash. It is coming soon. the gov is trying to stomp out all small guys with their massive regulations. Every bite they take out takes out a small company and lends more power to the big greedy companies. Soon enough there will be nothing to do but drive for them and the rates a re going to drop like a rock in water. The prices of goods are going to soar as it gets harder to deliver them with the driver shortage brought on by the low pay. Just wait till next year when them e-logs get stuffed into grain and rock buckets. It will put many thousands of them out of business and the cost of living is going to go through the roof. I can tell you for certain sure that the small guys can not survive that e-log if they can even afford to put one in their trucks in the first place. All of that is going to come back on the drivers in the form of less pay per mile. Everything is connected.

You can take pain pills and ADD meds. It requires a doctors to note stating that he knows your medical background and knows that you will be safe driving on the meds for most things of this nature but not all . they have a list of things that require this . Ask your medical examiner to look it up , not your doctor . the examiner knows where to look for the proper info . I take ritalin . It is not on the list . I do carry a doctors note any way because most cops are just going to think " amphetamine " and that will cause you problems . Ritalin is not even included in the drug test . Adderall is an amphetamine . You will require a doctors note and the medical examiners approval to take it . As an added note ... People with ADD are 45 to 47% more likely to have an accident if they are not on meds . The rate of accidents is decreased by 41 to 49 % if on meds .

Am I just not seeing it or is there no way of finding threads I post in ? Most forums have a link Watched Threads . If not one tjen it should be sdded in

Oh, also forgot, please report back and let us know how it works out if your friend decides to pursue the opportunity with Swift Or another carrier.

Es or therapy dogs do get most of the protections under law. They have rules just for them . You do need to have a doctor's letter stating that you need the dog for this reason . They require no training. I do not remember specifics but look it up under therapy dogs . You will find companies that sell the dog kits I.e. vests , I'd tags etc. They list the rules on site. Check several as some list it better with more information

Just thought I would add in that I was turned down for the same reason as most turn me down . Everything going great until they ask that same old question that I always waste my time answering ..." So what happened ?" Referring to a 32 year old felony . Get over it ! I have no idea why I even answer these people when they ask about it . If they are asking then their mind is already made up and they just want to justify their ridiculous decision that has no merit . Next time I get asked I will either tell them if they have to ask about something that happened when I had just turned 18 then our interview is over or perhaps if I really want the job I might just tell them the truth instead of what I told the court since other party is long dead and can not be punished . As I really did nothing but take the fall for my brother who would have done many many years if I had not .

unless you want to work for the big guys no one wants to work for .

Marcus, would you please elaborate on the meaning of this statement? And please, make a good argument, because I'm prepared to blast every point you can muster! How in the world do you think they got to be "the big guys" if no one wants to work there? If you can answer that one simple question with some degree of sensible logic I would love to hear the answer, because last time I checked no one was holding a gun to that great host of satisfied productive employees they have turning the wheels across this great land, and getting paid well for it at that.

wow am I slow at answering ! I just figured out how to find my own posts on this forum . Most just have a " watched threads " link at top . Oh well.... anyway the ones people do not want to work for are all them big guys that pay crap to new drivers who will make a couple hundred bucks a week for who knows how long minus all expenses and taxes so take home is nothing much ( must be desperate for work ) , scam them on leases and high cost driving schools that promise that big money job that never happens and even if they give up a job it is most likely crap pay and no miles and then starve them out and laugh all the way to the bank especially if they were ignorant enough to fall for that lease to buy scam that just netted big guy a almost new truck paid for by driver who now has it taken away from him due to no way to pay with no miles given and ruined credit and no home car or anything else he /she lost due to lack of income from the big guy scam artist . I do not need to mention any names like [company names removed] ..... as we all who they are . If you don't know for some reason then just simply search " bad trucking companies "

Great thread . I never paid any attention to line haul job offers until now . I always assumed they were like dry van P&D running around in the cities delivering to stores .