Getting paid

It's warmer tonight, so far. Don't know if that will last, but I'm enjoying it while I can. It's still dark, though.

In the past four days I've driven about 1800 miles. I didn't get paid for them, though. As far as the company's concerned, I haven't done anything yet. Maybe next week.

No it's not corporate heartlessness--though it certainly feels like it sometimes. Y'see, OTR* and Regional** drivers are paid by the mile.*** And before they pay me they want proof that I actually picked up that load in Hooterville, and actually delivered it to Gotham City.

The normal way to do that is with the Bill of Lading. This is a piece of paper that lists all the things that were loaded onto the truck. I have to sign it when I pick up the load, to say I actually did pick it up.**** Then, when I get it to the consignee, he signs it to say I actually delivered it.

Now I have proof that I actually did my job. So I have to get it to my company, so they'll pay me. This usually involves putting it in an specially-addressed envelope and dropping it into a Trip-Pak(tm) box at the nearest truck stop. I'm not sure what happens next--I get the impression that Trip-Pak(tm) gathers up everybody's envelopes, scans the contents, and sends the scans to the correct employers. Then, I think, they send the hard copies by more leisurely means.

Once the company gets the scanned bills, they confirm that somebody actually signed for the load and credit the appropriate number of miles to my payroll account. At the "end" of the week they add all the miles up, multiply by my per-mile rate, and start deducting. What little is left over I get a day or two later.

Which leads us back to this week. I sat around for a day because of truck problems. On the second day I picked up a trailer and started toward a destination about a thousand miles distant, with one stop on the way. On the fourth day I dropped my trailer, picked up another one, and hurried to my next pickup--where I waited some time before learning they had nothing for me to pick up. I told my dispatcher this, and he found me somewhere else to go. On the fifth morning many boxes were wheeled into my trailer and I was rolling again. Another eight hundred miles. I got it there on the sixth day--today--and was sent here, where I will pick up another load in the morning.

As you can see, I've been busy.

But I didn't actually deliver a load until the fourth day of my work "week." And as it happens, my pay "week" ended the day before.

So as you can see, I haven't done anything.

It does even out, of course. I'll be paid for all those miles--next week, after they get the bills. So I'm not losing money. On the other hand, that money could have been handy this week. Bills are a lot more consistent than paychecks in this business. A bit of money in the bank can be a VERY GOOD THING when you're a trucker. Maybe I'll have that someday.

I wonder what they did before Trip-Pak(tm) and fax machines. Carrier pigeons? Trust their very livelihood to the U. S. Post Office? (No backups, remember--the copy machine wasn't commonplace either.) Hold on to everything until the next time they got to a terminal--and do without their money until then?

They was men in them days...
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*Over The Road, as opposed to Local (drivers who deliver in a single city, county, or whatever), Line-haul (drivers who pick up a load at Point A, deliver it to Point B, turn around and haul something back to Point A--and then do it all again tomorrow), etc.
**Like OTR, but in a smaller region
***And that may be a whole 'nother post right there--how many miles from Mayberry to Metropolis? The answer is not what you think...
****This can get complicated. For instance, what if I didn't actually stand there and count the cartons as they got loaded on the trailer ? (A lot of shippers won't let me into the warehouse to do that.) Or worse, the trailer was loaded before I got there? Well, I can note on the Bill that I'm taking their word for what's aboard. But a lot of shippers will scream to high heaven if I do. They won't let me check the load, but they expect me to take the blame for anything that's missing...