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Drivers are cheap. Eliminating them won't yield much. Improved safety will be the biggest gain The article cites $40k average pay per driver. That's fast-food

Drivers are cheap. Eliminating them won't yield much. Improved safety will be the biggest gain The article cites $40k average pay per driver. That's fast-food wages

jotux 10y ago
>The article cites $40k average pay per driver. That's fast-food wages Not really. That's basically $20/hour full-time.
- brianwawok 10y ago
  Sure. But you can ship a truckload of boxes across the country. The driver part of the cost is a buck a box? Which is something sure but not a deal breaker.
- ethanbond 10y ago
  HN tends to be ludicrously out of touch when it comes to wages/salaries.
  - galdosdi 10y ago
    Out of touch is right! Even in Manhattan you can easily live fine on $40k with savings left over, at least if you have no dependents or health financing problems (eg expensive health condition coupled with bad insurance). In most of the USA, a $20/hr job with benefits counts as a good job.
- douche 10y ago
  In many of the places where these truckers live, that's solidly middle-class wages, also. Costs are significantly, significantly cheaper when a good single-family home costs 80-100k.
SuperPaintMan 10y ago
The typical fast food employee makes around 20K/yr, and most cooks can only command up to 30-40K without certifications. The constant supply and ease of training cooks (not chefs) keeps these wages depressed. Trucking wages are not the greatest, but it feeds your family and pays the bills. The cost savings may be small but coming from a small town where 1/4 of the working population has class 3 and class 1 licenses operating these machines. It's a middle class lifestyle for these communities.
Bulkington 10y ago
Fuel and drivers are a close 1 & 2 in motor carrier operating costs, with drivers taking the top spot when diesel is cheap. [1] http://trucker.com/trucker-jobs/equipment-driver-pay-push-operating-costs-higher http://trucker.com/trucker-jobs/equipment-driver-pay-push-op...

Drivers are cheap. Eliminating them won't yield much. Improved safety will be the biggest gain The article cites $40k average pay per driver. That's fast-food wages

jotux 10y ago

>The article cites $40k average pay per driver. That's fast-food wages Not really. That's basically $20/hour full-time.

brianwawok 10y ago
Sure. But you can ship a truckload of boxes across the country. The driver part of the cost is a buck a box? Which is something sure but not a deal breaker.
ethanbond 10y ago
HN tends to be ludicrously out of touch when it comes to wages/salaries.
- galdosdi 10y ago
  Out of touch is right! Even in Manhattan you can easily live fine on $40k with savings left over, at least if you have no dependents or health financing problems (eg expensive health condition coupled with bad insurance). In most of the USA, a $20/hr job with benefits counts as a good job.
douche 10y ago
In many of the places where these truckers live, that's solidly middle-class wages, also. Costs are significantly, significantly cheaper when a good single-family home costs 80-100k.

SuperPaintMan 10y ago

The typical fast food employee makes around 20K/yr, and most cooks can only command up to 30-40K without certifications. The constant supply and ease of training cooks (not chefs) keeps these wages depressed. Trucking wages are not the greatest, but it feeds your family and pays the bills. The cost savings may be small but coming from a small town where 1/4 of the working population has class 3 and class 1 licenses operating these machines. It's a middle class lifestyle for these communities.

Bulkington 10y ago

Fuel and drivers are a close 1 & 2 in motor carrier operating costs, with drivers taking the top spot when diesel is cheap. [1] http://trucker.com/trucker-jobs/equipment-driver-pay-push-operating-costs-higher http://trucker.com/trucker-jobs/equipment-driver-pay-push-op...