... Gutierrez’s truck has more than 500,000 miles on it, of which 200,000 are his miles. He spends upward of $1,200 a month on fuel for a truck that gets between 5 and 7 miles per gallon. Until recently, maintenance and repairs accounted for $250 a month with insurance amounting to $7,000 a year. Throw in highway taxes and permits and Gutierrez was clearing $30,000 or so a year.
Gutierrez already quit once, shortly after giving OffPeak a chance. He was ready to move his family to Las Vegas to find another job. Los Angeles Harbor Grain Terminal Chief Executive Howard Wallace, desperate for reliable drivers, offered to buy Gutierrez’s truck for $6,000 and pay him an hourly wage to drive it. Gutierrez still foots the fuel bill; the rest Wallace pays.
Gutierrez, figuring that his truck wasn’t worth more than $5,000, took Wallace up on his offer. That’s not something that Wallace can afford to do for every driver, and he knows he will lose more of them.
“When I started in this business in 1970, trucking was considered a profession and they made pretty good money. Now they are considered basically just labor. ... They are not being paid a professional wage,” Wallace said.
LA Times
