Over the course of the past year, company drivers and owner/operators were invited to participate in our fourth annual national Driver Satisfaction Survey in a variety of ways. E-mail invites were sent to a subset of the circulation of Truck News and Truck West. Invitations to participate were also provided at leading industry shows. The survey was made available in both French and English.

In total, the responses of about 200 professional drivers are included in this survey. Fifty five percent of our driver sample consisted of company drivers and 45% of owner/operators. Sixty five percent worked in the for-hire fleet sector; 20% in the private fleet sector; 3% worked in a government fleet or a driver service, and 11% worked for an owner/operator. While 57% were based in Ontario, the survey included representation across the country. Seven percent were from the Maritimes; 6% from Quebec; and 31% from Western Canada.

The average age for survey respondents was 50, with 25 years of driving experience. During that time our average respondent worked for 6 different companies and has spent the last 7 years with their latest employer..

The vast majority of company drivers (96%) drove solo.

Pay by the mile/km was the most common form of payment for our survey sample with 50% of drivers reporting that’s how they were paid. Pay by hour (22%) and by trip (22%) were the second most common forms of payment for our survey sample. Other forms of payment included by the tonne, and by salary.