Ground=scam. It's really that simple. You can bleat all day about how wonderful your drivers have it, and when you're finished they still have zero in the way of benefits and low pay. It's really that simple. Nobody needs to visit Quad Cities to know what you're doing. Nick "gets" it, as do the rest of us. You seem to be the one not facing reality.
i dunno about Ground ops that well, but at least they walk into a pre-loaded vehicle & don't have to waste unpaid sorting /loading time
some HD routes are pretty profitable if you can run-gun to the tune of 20-25 stops per on road hour; this week i'm pretty close to the terminal & have a tight service area, allowing me to clock out close to MaineGroundDriver's time (well 1600-1800) so they're making over $1k for at least 50 hours
as a swing/cover, i had to re-negotiate my rates so it can be worth it to me to work that day. If the contractor can't find enough volume, he'll either operate in the red ~ & pay my minimum salary or dissolve the route & split/flex the stops to neighboring routes
during peak, i know to go w/ the temp agency so i will get paid to load/sort, drive to the service area, return to base & any OT tacked on to all those other tasks that a contractor usually doesn't pay for...