There aren’t many drivers who can boast that they’re helping to literally build their community from the ground up. Ready Mix Drivers are the exception. We were able to talk to Marcus, a ready mix driver with PAHL Ready Mix Concrete to learn what the job’s like as well as some important factors around it, like pay and home time. What is a Ready Mix Driver?
Job RequirementsTo get started as a ready mix driver, you will need two things; a CDL and driving experience. Depending on the job, ready mix drivers must have either a CDL A or B. In addition, employers who are hiring for this line of work typically look for drivers who have experience in similar jobs such as tanker and liquid hauling. Experience with automotive maintenance is also a plus because ready mix trucks require more cleaning than many other types of trucks. Those are the resume requirements for being a ready mix driver, but to be successful in the position, drivers should check off a few extra boxes as well. Given the amount of labor required for loading and unloading, a high level of physical fitness is a must. Similarly, a strong work ethic is extremely important for ready mix drivers. Employers want drivers they can rely on who know how to overcome obstacles and will work hard to get the job done. ProsPay & RoutineReady mix jobs typically pay well. This is particularly true considering that many positions are local and only ask for a CDL B. Many (but not all) ready mix jobs are paid hourly. If you’re looking to bring in some extra pay, being a ready mix driver in the heavy season is a great way to do it. Ready mix jobs offer a great mix between job consistency and new people and places to meet. Marcus shared his perspective on his typical routine,
Home TimeThe majority of ready mix driving jobs are local, meaning that drivers will be home every night. This makes ready mix driving a great option for drivers who are unable to be on the road for days or weeks at a time. Customer InteractionIf you’re a social driver, a ready mix job might be a great fit for you. Depending on your customers and routes, you may have a high level of customer interaction. As a result, strong customer service skills are a huge plus. Ready mix drivers will often return regularly to the same construction site, so drivers who can build lasting relationships with customers are extremely valuable. ConsJob Seasonality & Weather ConcernsThe nature of concrete work means that ready mix jobs are highly seasonal. Depending on where you live and the weather conditions there, the length of the season can vary by a few weeks or a few months. In addition, ready mix drivers need to be prepared to work outdoors in a range of weather conditions. As Marcus puts it,
ScheduleIf you like to sleep in, ready mix driving might not be for you. Most days will start early in the morning, as 6:00 AM start times are not uncommon. Most drivers can get used to this routine pretty quickly, but if mornings aren’t your thing, ready mix work will be a challenge. Job PhysicalityA lot of manual labor is required, so ready mix drivers should make it a point to be in good shape. In addition to loading and unloading, ready mix drivers are responsible for cleaning and maintenance. Because concrete can harden in the mixing tank, drivers must carefully clean it out at the end of every shift. On a good day, this might be primarily hose work, but tough concrete pieces may require drivers to chip away at them manually until they come off. Finding Ready Mix JobsOne of the best places to look for ready mix jobs is in your community. The majority of these jobs are local, so drive around town or a call up to some ready mix companies in your area to see if they’re hiring. To find a ready mix job that is a great fit for your qualifications and personal lifestyle preferences, you can also check out Drive My Way. We match qualified drivers with companies that fit each driver’s specific qualifications and lifestyle needs. Looking for a new CDL Job?Drive My Way matches you with a job based on your preferences like pay, home time, touch level, and more. The post Everything to Know as a Ready Mix Driver appeared first on Drive My Way. https://ift.tt/P6ouBd0
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While we have Veterans Day to honor the living, and Memorial Day to remember the fallen, our service members shouldn’t only be thought about twice a year. They sacrifice their comfort to ensure our freedom every day of the year, including during the holidays. That’s why Wreaths Across America was founded. The organization makes it their mission to honor the service members who are across seas and remember those who are no longer with us by laying wreaths at their headstones during the holiday season. Here’s what truck drivers should know about the time-honored tradition, including its history, and how they can get involved. What is Wreaths Across America?Wreaths Across America describes their overall mission in three simple words, “Remember, Honor, and Teach.” Remember our fallen U.S Veterans, honor those who have served, and teach your children the value of freedom.” Each year, a day in December is set aside as Wreaths Across America day. This day is usually the second- or third-day Saturday of the month. On that day, the organization coordinates wreath-laying ceremonies at thousands of U.S cemeteries across all fifty states, including Arlington National Cemetery. What’s the History of Wreaths Across America?In 1992, after finding his company had a surplus of wreaths after the holiday season, Morrill Worcester, owner of the Worcester Wreath Company made a large donation of 5,000 wreaths to Arlington National Cemetery. Worcester continued making donations like this for the next 15 years, and it eventually caught on to the point that thousands of other people wanted to join in on the good cause. In 2007, Worcester officially founded Wreaths Across America, and the organization has been donating thousands of wreaths every year since. How can Truck Drivers Get Involved with Wreaths Across America?While everybody can get involved with Wreaths Across America by donating a wreath, truck drivers are unique in their ability to help even more. Through their carrier, truck drivers can volunteer as drivers for Wreaths Across America, transporting wreaths to locations where their events are held. Drive My Way client, NFI is one of the carriers that has truck drivers who volunteer for Wreaths Across America during the holiday season. NFI driver and National Guardsman, Jason is one of these drivers. Here’s what he had to say about his involvement with the organization,
Drivers who are interested in volunteering for Wreaths Across America should reach out to their carrier to see if they’re able to donate their time for the cause. And while not all truck drivers may be able to drive for Wreaths Across America, that doesn’t mean they can’t still be involved. Truck drivers can always choose to sponsor one wreath or multiple wreaths. They can dedicate their wreath to honoring a veteran who’s still with us, in memory of a fallen hero, or choose to not dedicate their wreath, and instead remember all who have served. The organization also has an online shop where you can purchase clothes, branded items, and wreaths that you can hang on your own door. Looking for a new CDL Job?Drive My Way matches you with a job based on your preferences like pay, home time, touch level, and more. The post Wreaths Across America: What Truck Drivers Should Know About the Tradition appeared first on Drive My Way. https://ift.tt/tso0WIq Before deciding on a job, truck drivers need to consider a lot of different factors. Pay, home time, type of run, bonuses/incentives and company policies all make a difference in which carrier a driver will eventually choose to work for. Ideally, during the interview process, the recruiter or company representative you’re speaking to will be forthcoming with all the information you need to know to make your decision. In the case that recruiters aren’t being as transparent as you’d like, truck drivers need take it upon themselves to ask the right questions to get the information they need. You don’t want to be blindsided, or worse, tricked, into accepting a job which doesn’t work for you. We put together a list of the 30 most important truck driver interview questions that drivers should be asking before taking a job with a new company. Compensation and PayProbably the most important consideration for drivers are issues around pay and benefits. You want to make sure the company is offering a pay package that fulfils your financial needs. Find out all the details about pay rates, pay models, bonuses, and expected raises. Companies have different ways of offering home time and vacation time too, so you want to make sure you understand the details. Finally, you’ll likely end up negotiating on some of these factors. Have a list of non-negotiable items, so the company knows what’s important to you. CDL driver Tamera shared this recommendation with us,
1. How does your carrier pay? What is the max rate of pay for drivers?
2. How does your carrier handle raises? When and how can I expect a raise? 3. What types of benefits do you offer? 4. How long do benefits take to kick in? 5. Are there any bonuses for safety, fuel, sign-on, performance, driver referral, etc.? 6. Does your carrier offer detention pay? 7. What are the details of your home time policy? PTO, sick time, vacation? Aside from pay and benefits, the next most important thing drivers want to know about are operational details. What type of freight will they be hauling and what runs will they make? Will they need any additional endorsements? What level of touch will the freight be? Will there be majority drop and hooks or live loads? Knowing the answers to these truck driver interview questions will make drivers confident in their decision to either accept or decline a position. 8. What kind of freight do you haul? 9. In which states do you operate? What kind of runs do you have? 10. How do you calculate driver miles? 11. What is the average length of load? 12. What is the average number of miles per tractor? 13. How many terminals does the company have and where are they located? 14. How much of your freight is drop and hook? 15. Are drivers required to physically unload freight? 16. Is there forced dispatch? 17. How are you managing the ELD mandate? EquipmentOne of the biggest concerns that drivers have is the kind of equipment they’ll be using. This is understandable as a driver’s truck is their home away from home. Inquiring about what kind of truck you’ll be driving, amenities, and maintenance are important, especially for OTR and regional drivers. 18. What types of truck does the company use? How old are they? 19. Am I expected to take care of truck maintenance? 20. Are drivers able to take equipment home with them during home time? 21. What amenities do the trucks come with? Refrigerators? Single or double bunks? 22. Is there slip seating? Company CultureIn addition to the questions above, drivers should ask general questions about the company to get a sense of who they will be working for. Many drivers say they are looking for a family-oriented company, which will respect them as a person and not just a disposable number. If the company’s culture is strong, it can help drivers feel a sense of belonging and give more fulfillment to the job. If turnover is high, or there are many trucks sitting idle, it doesn’t reflect strongly on the company. 23. How many employees does the company have? How many drivers? 24. What is the ratio of driver managers or load planners to drivers? 25. What is the company’s turnover rate? 26. How many empty or idle trucks do you have right now? 27. How long has the average driver been with the company? 28. What is the passenger policy? The pet policy? 29. How would you describe the company’s culture? 30. Am I able to talk to a current driver about their experience with your carrier? That last question is especially important to ask. It’s good to do your research on a carrier outside of your direct communications with them. Talking to one of their current (or past) drivers is a great way to make sure you’re getting all sides of the story when learning about a carrier you’d potentially drive for. These are just some of the truck driver interview questions you should be asking when considering driving for a new carrier. There will always be other questions to ask based on the specific company and you and your family’s unique needs. If you’re just starting your search for a new CDL or non-CDL job, consider using Drive My Way. We custom match both CDL and non-CDL drivers with jobs based on their unique needs and preferences. You can make a free profile below. Looking for a new CDL Job?Drive My Way matches you with a job based on your preferences like pay, home time, touch level, and more. The post 30 Truck Driver Interview Questions to Ask During Your Next Interview appeared first on Drive My Way. https://ift.tt/Kdu1kjm This blog is offered by our friends at The National Transportation Institute. NTI compiles, tracks, and analyzes data on hundreds of attributes of driver pay, wages and benefits at thousands of motor carriers per quarter. Learn more about NTI at driverwages.com. With competition for drivers heated across nearly all industries and the bullwhip effects of the COVID-19-era economy still lingering, the 2020s have been and will continue to be seminal years for truck driver wages. Per-mile and hourly base pay has certainly grown, and all factors point to continued momentum for those attributes of a driver’s paycheck. Beyond simply raising pay, however, fleets are also evaluating and implementing structural changes to how — and why — they build their driver compensation plans. From more frequent adjustments to base pay to recalibrating bonuses, incentives, and benefits, motor carriers and private fleets are striving to find compensation solutions that work to attract new hires and to retain their existing personnel. An analysis of driver wages and benefits data compiled and reported by The National Transportation Institute reveals five important trends evident across segments, region, and fleet type that should be on every fleet and driver’s radar. 1. Rapidly Driver Climbing Pay for New EntrantsNo trend in 2020, 2021, or 2022 has been more pronounced than the rapid pace of wage growth for newer drivers — those with two years of experience or less. By percentage, the growth in mileage and hourly base pay for drivers with just one year of experience is more than double that of the highest-paid drivers with the most experience and tenure. For perspective, drivers with just one year of experience in late 2022 are earning more than the highest paid drivers in late 2018. Newer drivers expect this type of rapid and frequent wage growth. Fleets must be cognizant of this trend and ensure they offer a pay progression model that meets those expectations. 2. Incentivizing Safety Over ProductivityThis trend is starting to become clearer in NTI data on driver wages and benefits, but increasingly, motor carriers will move toward pay packages that promote safety and move away from pay packages that promote productivity. Pay by the load, standalone productivity bonuses, and even the predominant mileage pay model will decline in prevalence and instead be replaced with compensation programs that promote safer operating standards, such as beefier and more frequent safety bonuses, hourly pay, and even salary pay. Productivity will become a personnel management issue, rather than inherent to drivers’ paychecks. 3. Smoothing the Bumps with Guaranteed Driver Pay and Transition PayA frustration long held by professional drivers is inconsistent and lumpy paychecks week to week — particularly for causes outside of their control, such as detention time, weather delays, traffic congestion, deadhead miles, and other unpaid or unproductive time that chips away at their earnings. Over the past half-decade, there’s been a pronounced trend of motor carriers offering guaranteed weekly pay options for drivers to help make their paychecks more predictable and to support driver’s week to week through whatever issues may arise on the road. Nearly 40% of carriers surveyed by The National Transportation Institute in late 2022 are offering guaranteed weekly pay programs. That’s up from just 15% five years ago, in late 2017. Look for this trend to continue. Also, look for a rise in transition pay incentives in the coming years. Transition pay is either an upfront payment or a weekly paycheck addition that helps bridge gaps in drivers’ pay when they are transitioning into a job at your fleet. Due to onboarding time and paycheck schedules, drivers transitioning jobs from one fleet to another could go weeks without a full paycheck, leaving them cash strapped and making it difficult to meet their monthly bill obligations. Transition pay helps solve that issue, and it gives fleets another incentive to market in their recruiting programs. Like guaranteed pay, transition pay helps support drivers and their paychecks by offering consistency, reliability, and preventing early-tenure pay gaps that contribute to turnover in the first 90 days. 4. Weighting Bonuses Toward Retention and Tenure — Not Sign-onSign-on bonuses have long been a mainstay in the driver recruiting world. However, they’re not effective tools for long-term retention, and they often can exacerbate churn of short-tenured drivers. The average amount paid out in sign-on bonuses is more than double that of referral bonuses, but more fleets have been placing a greater emphasis on referrals rather than sign-ons over the past year. The number of fleets offering referral bonuses is now nearly 90% in 2022’s fourth quarter, whereas 70% offer a sign-on bonus. Also, the dollar amount offered for referral bonuses on average has climbed nearly 10% year over year, while sign-on bonus amounts have grown just 4%. In lieu of sign-on bonuses, more fleets are evaluating and implementing retention bonuses, tenure pay, and referral bonuses that put a greater emphasis on keeping their existing drivers rather than relying on hefty sign-on bonuses to bring in new hires to replace departures. 5. Meeting Demands for Schedule FlexibilityScheduling flexibility may not sound like it’s directly tied to a driver’s paycheck — but it can and should be viewed as an element of a fleet’s driver compensation package and a vital component of recruiting and retention programs. Increasingly, due to both generational shifts in the workforce as well as a greater desire by most workers for better work-life balance, demand for scheduling flexibility is becoming a force that fleets must reckon with, whether by altering routing and shift options to meet expectations for greater work-life balance or putting resources into incentives and bonuses to compensate drivers for the tougher and more undesirable schedules. For example, for schedules that aren’t desirable (especially for the many fleets that have a seniority-based bid system that consistently leaves less-tenured drivers with the least undesirable schedules), fleets increasingly are building incentive programs that make those schedules more lucrative and help alleviate resentment by drivers working those shifts. To learn more about the trends impacting driver pay and to gain benchmarking insights into how your fleet’s driver wages and benefits compare to peers and within markets where recruiting and retention are vital, visit NTI’s website, driverwages.com. Looking for a new CDL Job?Drive My Way matches you with a job based on your preferences like pay, home time, touch level, and more. The post 5 Truck Driver Pay Trends to Know for 2023 appeared first on Drive My Way. https://ift.tt/W6vr8Zf |
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