More specifically, they are protesting the wait times (up to 12 hours now), not the inspections themselves. These wait times are generally unpaid, I believe they get a single flat fee per border crossing.
> One trucker told the news outlet that prior to Abbott’s order, he made two crossings into the U.S. a day. Now, he’d be lucky to have one or two a week given the long delays at the bridges.
People express concerns that those jobs could get automated away, but I don't necessarily share those worries. Most of those people working those jobs are near retirement age, and we'll have a real problem filling up those positions in the coming years, at least in this region. Barely any young people want to work such jobs.
https://tucson.com/news/national/walmart-boosts-trucker-pay-...
- unloading pallets, some over 1.5k lbs in weight. When they’re stuck, the truck driver is responsible for getting them out, and that’s that. Not every small biz has a forklift lol.
- you drop off your load in a warehouse and nobody is there to receive it/unclear directions/your pickup directions suck. You spend the next hour walking around a warehouse searching for someone to sign for you.
- backing up to a dock and interrupting traffic = outraged commuters who get ridiculously upset
- unloading broken pallet loads by hand.
I couldn’t and wouldn’t do it.
Not to say that it doesn’t suck being a truck driver, but most of my experience has been that if the load cannot be unloaded by the receiver, the shipment is taken back and the driver is still paid for the attempt.
Go find a builder class, you'll learn a lot and have a good time, even if you decide not to go forward with it.
I don't know when this all shifted in the past twenty years but it feels like the teamsters union (both here and in Mexico) needs to step up their game.
If the statistics are accurate, and my math isn't too horrible, in the US, something around 47% (679,127) of drivers (1,441,014) are owner operators. I'm not sure how many of that 679k are leasing from the company they drive for, but it's certainly not 100%. Drivers are not paying for their own maintenance when they don't lease/own the trucks.
I am well aware that outrageous BS is very possible in the trucking industry, having seen it and been subjected to it myself. It's not new, even if it has recently come to light for people outside the industry.
What I tried to show is that the drivers who are paying for their own maintenance on vehicles leased from the company they drive for is smaller than "generally". I don't know of any articles that show those numbers so I tried to show other statistics that would imply it. I thought the way that the comment I replied to could be perceived was unfair.
Drivers also generally pay their own vehicle maintenance, often on trucks their renting from the company that "hired" them.
47% of owner truckers are owner operators and 100% of them are paying for maintenance. Some of the remainder are leasing from the company they work for and also paying for maintenance which is what’s pushing things over 50%.
—edit—
Should add lease operators almost always do this so they have a warranty on the truck because things get really expensive really fast when they don’t.
Those are included in the 47% owner/operators.
Edit:
Well, the page linked with the statistics doesn't mention it specifically, but I'm not sure why a lease purchase owner/operator would not be included in that number.
The other option was for the employer to own the truck. They might then lease the truck to their employee but the difference is the lease automatically ends if their fired.
Company drivers pay for nothing related to the truck unless they’re really, really gullible and are working for some super shady outfit.
The upside is if you lease a truck you keep most of money from the freight fees and if there’s a warranty your cost are not too outrageous.
Source: I drive for an owner/operator leased on to one of the big carriers and due to the way they have the computers set up I can see what the truck gets paid per load.
There’s different types of regulation. The in-state truckers in labor friendly states get a decent deal.
2. How much would it impact the costs of goods to pay truckers an hourly wage during these downtimes?
Abbott is using the inspections as a political bargaining chip to regain title 42 expulsions.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-12/top-texas...
Under no circumstances would one expect that Greg Abbott would do so, as he is wholly driven by a sandman's ideology.
And most trucks destined for California from Mexico will just enter the US in California, so delays on the Texas border will not play as big a role in California as it does in Texas.
Please read my brief comment before calling me short sighted.
2. Labor cost is the largest portion of trucking costs. This would double or quadruple those costs if the idea is to make the trucker whole for Abbot’s temper tantrum.
FTFY. Why would you used different denominators, this isn't an algebra test, it makes communication harder for no reason.
The labor to maintenance/insurance/etc. ratio seems to track pretty accurately. So maybe I should have said 3/6, 2/6 and 1/6 respectively (since the other responder wanted the same denominator).
It’s a stunt by the Texas state government, just like the activation and fleecing of Texas National Guardsmen on low paying state duty doing a whole lot of nothing.
It sounds good on talk radio though.
2. That's never going to happen because it has never happened before.