Guaranteed Pay...Best Thing Since Canned Beer Or Demotivator? 😜

Our guarantee is based on truck revenue and availibility. it is not a true guarantee or minimum. so take extra time off and bam...you make less than you would normally.

are you really sure there are no strings attached? i get the need to relax and not burn out, especially while teaming. but i would want the time off planned.

Hey Rainy and BIg Scott.

Yes, you're exactly right. We are indeed on a dedicated account and our guarantee also comes with 3 requirements that have to be met:

1. We must be available for dispatch 6 out of 7 days.

2. We must have no avoidable service failures. Unforeseen and unavoidable delays do not count against us however; mechanical breakdown, mudslides, delays caused by the consignee or shipper etc,. etc. don't affect the payout.

3. No negative safety reviews.

In addition to the above minimum, we also receive a $100 per week 'driver retention bonus', paid every Friday. Plus, by meeting the minimum weekly requirements, we automatically get a $2500 quarterly bonus; paid out every 13th week.

If we meet those three requirements, then we get the minimum pay, and the bonus, regardless of miles.

It's a really decent deal. Frankly, when it was offered to us, I was very, very sceptical. I kept asking and researching to find out what the 'catch' was. To my amazement, there actually isn't one.

However, in order to make the same money as the 'minimum guarantee' at our normal mileage rate, without invoking the 'promise', we essentially only need to run 4800 miles in a 7 day period....hardly taxing for a properly managed/run team.

What sticks in my craw is the attitude of 'that's good enough...why do we need to do anymore." I have never operated that way in my life and am probably too old and 'long in the tooth' to change now! lol

Right now, i guess I'm feeling my age! 😔😏

lol

Cheers,

Simon

I would tell him shape up or ship out.

Well...... to be blunt, if he doesn't shape up after your talk, I'd kick him off the truck or if he's lead seat, I'd jump trucks. I don't have time for that type of B.S. it's one thing to stop if there's time on the load, but completely another story if he's "sand bagging". His laziness is affecting the good on your table.

We have one dedicated route that a few drivers are on here. It just runs from Omaha to NYC/NJ or Boston, every week. The pay is $1500 or .55 CPM , whichever pays more. Most of the time, they make more than $1500 each week. However - there is very little room for error.

It's a great run for a hard worker who isn't afraid of the Northeast, but those loads are very important. If there are problems, late deliveries, or you get off of schedule, the gravy train can stop.

I think routes like that are what's best for guaranteed minimum.

On that note, I think ALL Regional/OTR drivers should be salaried, based on their last 6 months. Makes it far easier to budget with a steady income. For an experienced driver: First 6 months is mileage pay. The second 6 months are the average of the prior 6 months. The next 6 months are the avg of the prior again, and so on.

The Top performer's pay will keep going up, and the lower performers will find themselves blaming others somehow, as is the norm anyways. You still need to work with your dispatcher , do favors, take loads no one else wants to land the gravy loads, but you don't have to worry about having a bad check in the middle, followed by a great check. You still get paid for all of your miles, its just balanced out to avoid the peaks and valleys. (Or you could do it quarterly, yearly, monthly, etc...)

It's for exactly that reason that my company has, and has always had, stipulations on receiving the payment commitment.. basically they don't often expect to pay it because if you manage your hours and utilize all your driving time, you'll exceed it. Ours is merely offered to offset a screwy week where things beyond your control happen. Excessive breaks will disqualify our drivers.

Good luck with your lazy codriver.

Honestly Simon, your just prolonging the inevitable if you remain on this truck with Chris. It’s not an isolated incident. It’s a culmination of many other idiosyncrasies that just don’t coincide with your morals & work ethic. Ponder long & hard my friend. The track record is evident. The next step should be too. Good luck my friend!

What sticks in my craw is the attitude of 'that's good enough...why do we need to do anymore." I have never operated that way in my life

I've never operated that way either. I'm always pushing hard. But of course that's not the norm. It's certainly one of the big reasons turnover is so high in trucking. Some people embrace the opportunity to run hard and make great money, others are looking for "bankers hours" as someone recently said in another conversation.

I listen to a lot of motivational speeches on YouTube and Arnold Schwarzenegger said, "I always wanted to be the very best at everything I did. Many people are just happy getting by, and I never fault those people because I believe there are many paths to happiness. But I always had big dreams. I never had any patience for small thinking."

So in a way you can't fault him for looking for the easy way out. Laziness is the most natural human condition. Even our bodies are lazy. They won't build muscle or endurance or bone density if they don't have to. You have to force your body to become excellent.

Maybe he just doesn't understand the value in shooting for excellence in your life. Some people get that, others don't. I had a best friend for a lot of years that somehow convinced himself that the less effort he put into life the easier his life is. Of course he's way overweight, he's broke as a dog, he doesn't have any marketable skills, and although he works full time he needs government money and handouts from family to support his own family. Somehow he believes that's an easier life than someone who is in excellent shape and has invested the time and discipline it takes to develop a strong career and build up some wealth. To me that makes no sense.

I heard someone recently say, "If you only do what's easy, your life will be hard. If you'll do what's hard, your life will be easy." I totally agree.

I can't think of anyone I've ever known that was once lazy and became ambitious. I also don't know anyone that went in the other direction. I think ambition is only present in those who see the logic in it. So you'll probably be best off accepting that this is the way he's always going to be and you should probably not allow yourself to be held back by someone who is less ambitious than you are.

Brett

Nice reply, and by the way, I so definitely stealing that quote....

Chris