What’s funny is when I took over as a driver manager for my brokerage company’s small fleet that we use to service a government contract, it was not going well and driver turnover was costing us so much money.

Eventually I found some amazing drivers and really pushed hard for raises for all of them and broke down why they deserved it, why it was important, and how it will benefit us.

One pushback I got from upper management was “You do realize at the rate you’re asking for, these drivers will be getting paid more than you are getting paid”

And I said “Yeah that’s okay because I sit in an office from 8-5 with A/C while they’re doing 15+ drops in the Southern heat unloading heavy cases at each one and sometimes getting back late.”

But wouldn’t ya know it, we raised the pay and I still have several of those same guys working for me going on 6 years now when it used to be a win to have one stay for a year or two. We’re also profitable because they’re more motivated to ask me to put more stops and miles on them because they can visualize how much more money they’ll make which in turn increases how much money the company gets per load and packs way more into each month.

It’s so crazy! You pay workers fairly and it benefits everyone! Obvious to us, but somehow still an insane concept to upper management people.