Mike, I understand how you feel as most of us also feel the angst of the current trucking industry economy, but you seem to be a bit confused here. Fighting the influx of Mexican trucks is in no way supporting the big trucking companies but is in fact quite the opposite. They are the ones who stand to gain the most by allowing these trucks into our country.
Who do you think will be opening terminals in Mexico if this is allowed to continue? The small operators (one of which I work for) or the huge trucking corporations? The big companies will do so to get even cheaper labor and higher profits. You're actually arguing on the side of the very people you claim to despise which tells me you haven't really looked into this issue very closely.
Also, you claim the Mexican trucks are no worse than our own, which tells me again that you don't quite know what you're talking about. The vast majority of Mexican over the road equipment is the old, worn out trucks these same huge trucking companies sold to them when they couldn't safely or cheaply maintain them any longer. I've had first hand experiences with Mexican trucks and Mexican drivers and I can tell you without a doubt that neither are safe to operate on our roadways.
I do agree with you regarding the pay system in our trucking industry. It's an antiquated system that should have been scrapped years ago. It's paid by the mile, basically piece work, and only serves to encourage drivers to break the rules in order to make a living.
This is exactly why I do not work under that pay system but instead work for a percentage of the load. And we don't haul cheap freight.
The trucking industry turn over rate is basically churn. It's drivers hopping from company to company for a few extra cents per mile only to find that they're still making about the same money. The whole pay system needs to be scrapped and drivers should either be paid by the mile with a guaranteed daily earning, paid by the hour, or paid salary. This piecework crap does need to go away as it falls far short as it fails to pay a driver for time spent sitting in traffic, sitting at a shipper or receiver, or sitting and waiting for a dispatch. It's what amounts to slave labor in many respects and should be halted.
OOIDA has been saying these same things regarding pay for years.
Interesting point Mike, for an outsider like myself to understand, perhaps you should expand on your acronyms. We use a lot in the military and when you first use it in writing, you generally use the entire term followed by the acronym in parens.
eg: United States Marine Corps (USMC).
In other words who is USIS DAC, OOIDA, and such? If I knew, your points would probably make a lot more sense.
USIS and DAC are the new and old names for the same thing. It's a driver information database. Both employers and the DOT can and do report information to it including violations and work history information. It's notorious for having incorrect information, often placed there by a company trying to create problems for a driver who has quit. It's very difficult to get information corrected.
OOIDA is the Owner Operators Independent Drivers Association, of which I have long been a member. It's a trucker's advocacy group. It's pretty much the only trucker's advocacy group as the ATA (American Trucking Association) represents the companies and not the drivers and they are quite often in opposition to what we drivers are wanting. OOIDA and the ATA butt heads quite often.
