Truck driver Tilden Curl says there’s an old adage in the trucking industry: If the wheels aren’t turning, you aren’t earning.
There is truth to that statement. Much of a trucker’s day is spent waiting to drop off and deliver goods, and many are paid by miles driven rather than hours worked. As a result, drivers who spend four or five hours waiting to deliver or pick up cargo are often not paid for those hours.
“You wind up with truck drivers putting in 70 to 80 hours, and a lot of it is tied up with just sitting there and they don’t get paid for the bulk of that time,” said Curl, a 30-year trucking veteran who serves on the board of directors of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association. “If you don’t get paid for all of your time, then it’s not an attractive job.”
