Taking care of employee's

[Waterloo]

(02-20-2017 )Brock Wrote:  I have always ran my company by trying to put my drivers first. I have always paid more then others and paid 100% health benefits and given my drivers my truck if they were broke down so they don't lose time and so much more.

The last 2 of my drivers have gone on to buy Thier own trucks with my help.

I've had other owner operators get mad at me for the wages I pay because they say it makes them look bad.... luckily I don't care but all their drivers try and come work for me and rarely do mine leave.

The problem I've ran into is that it is never enough for a driver, they always think they are entitled to more and it seems the better I pay..... the less they seem to take care of my equipment.

It makes no damn sense, by paying more and treating them great.... I have literally created a bunch of entitled little brats!

When I paid less, it seemed the drivers had drive to move up in the pay scale but when I start at the high end.... they seem to think it's cause they are the best driver in the world and are owed something.

No wonder guys sell Thier trucks and just go back to running one.

My experience too... One truck is plenty, I have no desire to go back to those days... And yes, they could destroy a piece of equipment in seconds. The difficult part of it all, we had to hire ten drivers to find one keeper. What really amazed me was the complete lack of knowledge they had when it came to the industry they worked in. And I am not speaking of being a mechanic, just simple paperwork that we all do, scaling a load, planning a trip or routing themselves properly. I had one driver that I could cut lose that knew what to do and did it well. The rest I had to babysit 24/7... It was not fun, nor profitable. It was a happy day when I sold those last few pieces of equipment.