4 ms·

Yup, trucking has become a race to the bottom. Drivers also generally pay their own vehicle maintenance, often on trucks their renting from the company that "h

by munk-a 5y ago

Yup, trucking has become a race to the bottom. Drivers also generally pay their own vehicle maintenance, often on trucks their renting from the company that "hired" them. 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.

Spooky23 5y ago
It started in the 80s. Deregulation of certain types of trucking allowed for unions to be broken by shifting employment to “right to work” states. There’s different types of regulation. The in-state truckers in labor friendly states get a decent deal.
rascul 5y ago
> Drivers also generally pay their own vehicle maintenance, often on trucks their renting from the company that "hired" them. 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. https://www.zippia.com/owner-operator-jobs/demographics/ https://www.zippia.com/owner-operator-jobs/demographics/ https://www.zippia.com/truck-driver-jobs/demographics/ https://www.zippia.com/truck-driver-jobs/demographics/
- joe_the_user 5y ago
  Neither of your links support your claims. I don't know if the OP is correct or not but you're just saying "that's obvious false - no evidence, here's the definition of owner-operator". If you think outrageous BS is obviously impossible, you haven't been around in the last few, where many, many abusive and egregious practices have come to light.
  - rascul 5y ago
    I don't have any references that drivers don't pay for maintenance on trucks that they don't own/lease, I know that from friends, family, and myself having worked in the industry. I don't know how to show that here without being able to find any articles about it online. 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.
    - Retric 5y ago
      I think you misread what they said. 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%.
      - UncleEntity 5y ago
        Lease operator and owner operator are synonymous mostly used to differentiate between those who buy a truck on their own credit and those who lease one and give it back to the company at the end (to usually get another lease). —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.
      - rascul 5y ago
        > 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%. 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.
  - notatoad 5y ago
    the parent commenters' claims are likely sourced from the "last week tonight with john oliver" episode two weeks ago, which covered trucking and made those claims.
    - rascul 5y ago
      Indeed, I saw that episode. I don't recall John Oliver including any indication of how many drivers are doing such a lease purchase arrangement.

by munk-a 5y ago

Spooky23 5y ago

It started in the 80s. Deregulation of certain types of trucking allowed for unions to be broken by shifting employment to “right to work” states. There’s different types of regulation. The in-state truckers in labor friendly states get a decent deal.

rascul 5y ago

> Drivers also generally pay their own vehicle maintenance, often on trucks their renting from the company that "hired" them. 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. https://www.zippia.com/owner-operator-jobs/demographics/ https://www.zippia.com/owner-operator-jobs/demographics/ https://www.zippia.com/truck-driver-jobs/demographics/ https://www.zippia.com/truck-driver-jobs/demographics/

joe_the_user 5y ago
Neither of your links support your claims. I don't know if the OP is correct or not but you're just saying "that's obvious false - no evidence, here's the definition of owner-operator". If you think outrageous BS is obviously impossible, you haven't been around in the last few, where many, many abusive and egregious practices have come to light.
- rascul 5y ago
  I don't have any references that drivers don't pay for maintenance on trucks that they don't own/lease, I know that from friends, family, and myself having worked in the industry. I don't know how to show that here without being able to find any articles about it online. 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.
  - Retric 5y ago
    I think you misread what they said. 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%.
    - UncleEntity 5y ago
      Lease operator and owner operator are synonymous mostly used to differentiate between those who buy a truck on their own credit and those who lease one and give it back to the company at the end (to usually get another lease). —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.
    - rascul 5y ago
      > 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%. 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.
- notatoad 5y ago
  the parent commenters' claims are likely sourced from the "last week tonight with john oliver" episode two weeks ago, which covered trucking and made those claims.
  - rascul 5y ago
    Indeed, I saw that episode. I don't recall John Oliver including any indication of how many drivers are doing such a lease purchase arrangement.