Another Day - No More Dollars

It would seem that in Texas trucking is handled a bit different than the other States. The State allows everyone to enter, however, to load up and depart the State requires extra steps that the other States do not require.

In James case, he is overweight and possibly over height. In the other States you get a permit and pay your money and away you go within the limitations of the permit you acquired. In Texas you can't just pick up a permit and pay your dollars for the right to drive, you must get a broker and then still jump through a bunch of hoops. The end result is that James is sitting in Texas for another day. He is hopeful that maybe tomorrow he can leave, but there is no guarantee.

As he sits in the parking lot he noticed that there were 6 trucks with Saskatchewan plates parked there. On speaking to a few of the other drivers he certainly found out it is not worth the hassle of being overweight or height. The hassles are just so complicated. The other drivers are loading up with their legal loads and departing back to the Great White North.

So James gets to sit another day and of course seeing as he is sitting and not making any miles, he is not making any money. On a normal day a trucker can drive for 11 hours. If the speed limit is maintained the trucker would be making somewhere in the neighbourhood of 1100 kilometers or 687 miles. At 41 cents a mile that works out to be about $282.00.

In James case he as been sitting since bright and early Friday morning, so for 4 days. That works out to lost revenue of about $1130.00. Mind you if he takes his weekend off (even though it was not at home), then he only has lost 2 days or $564.00. That is still a chunk of change. I don't believe anyone would like to just loose $564 off their paycheck for the week. However, that is the life of a long haul truck driver. If you have to wait for a load or whatever then usually the boss pays you some down time, but it no way adds up to your lost revenue.

Seeing how James was away from home for the weekend, he wants to take a few days off when he gets back to Canada. That may be during the week, so he will again loose a couple days pay when he takes those days off due to not driving. Whether the boss will put another driver in the truck and try and recoup some of the lost income from the truck is another matter. After a few times of replacing the driver with a replacement, maybe the replacement driver gets to take the loads and the original driver gets to sit waiting for an opening in the driver's seat.

I'm hoping this doesn't happen to James, but from the track record of the company he works for nothing would surprise me.