CPM vs. PERCENTAGE

When I was a cpm driver for a bigger reefer company I would stay out for 30-40 days before home time trying to stay in the loop. Yes it was part of my pay but after my cash advance of $175 to live on for a week my checks were not worth being away from the house so long. I switched to 28% with a company that I am home everynight and off on weekends and my checks now are more than the cpm without the advance taken out. On a 4 day work week I made more than a 3000 mile week at cpm. It's a gamble like the other guys said, what the shipper is paying has everything to do with what you make on %. I am happier now, but thats me. The other guy may think he's not getting enough. As for experience, big companies still don't pay what you are worth at cpm, 10 years OTR will still only get you .35 maybe a few cpm more but do the math, .02 X 3000 miles doesn't change your life style.

 

.35cpm after 10yrs? I was at .41cpm with one job and a job I just turned down started me at .37cpm. However, another had me at .33cpm but it was a dedicated job and I worked 4 days on and 3 days off. The lower pay was worth it to me for a set schedule with that much time off at home.

 

I'll be a little more specific about my 28% pay. We run 80% of our loads within 3 states and the other 20% picks up 3 others. Some really short work we do pays well. A couple of drop and hooks take about 45min total from mill to customer and back and pay $28 or $35/hr. Another takes 2hrs and is $42 or about $20/hr. One of the longer runs takes 10hrs if you roll along and pays $125 ($12.5/hr) not so good but if there is a back haul from that customer back to the mill it comes in at $210 or $21/hr. Most of our stuff is drop and hook and the majority of the rest is taken off when we get there so not much waiting. Overall if you average the longer stuff with the shorter stuff it comes out to about the same week as an otr job but I'm home almost everyday and off every Fri/Sat unless I ask to work. There is, however, much less downtime and waiting as we know what we are doing all of the time and there is little waiting for a load. If we get back and there is not a load ready for another couple of hours we usually have the option of either waiting for it or going home and letting another driver cover it. seems to work out ok but it is entirely dependent on the loads the mill is shipping each day and that is all over the board.

 

Good luck, I do feel sorry for anyone with 2 years exp making $0.35, I came right out of training doing a home weekly reefer job and I make $0.38 and my company has a terrible rep, so surely anyone with exp can do better

 

At 12 years of experience I went to work for National Carriers. At that time they required 3 years verifiable otr experience and they started at .32 cpm. I went back to them in may and the pay scale changed but I think it was smoke. .36 cpm for loads under 600 miles, .34 cpm up to something then .32 cpm for the long runs. Made it sound good anyway, 1 month and 2 weeks later my truck was turned in nice and clean. I've seen the ads for better pay .40-.41 cpm but I didn't want to drive for the companies that offered that. National was a big enough name but the pay wasn't there. Switching to % made me nervous. But then I started picking up barriers in San Antonio and delivering them to Austin. I did 3 runs the 1st day, then 2 the next 2 days. 28% turned out to be $150 per run. $450 the 1st day then $300 the next 2 days. Then lded the 4th day late ( had the day off till late evening p/u) left at 2am delivered at 8am reloaded by noon and was unlded and at the house by 6pm. $250 for the ld out and $210 for the ld home. Thats $1510.00 for the week, with 4 exemptions and home every night except the 2am departure I would say that % has some great perks. I don't mind the otr thing but I've got my million + miles in and really like just leaving in the am to run and being home in the afternoon. Just my take on it, we are all different. Yes, if you have 3, 5, or more accident free years you should make the .40 cpm + pay but I personally haven't driven for a company that really pays you (for the experience you have) what you deserve. I did one of those on-line applications and got no less than 50 responses so you know companies need drivers but the $ wasn't there for me to be away from mama and the grandbabies for 30-40 days at a time. As long as "You" are happy doing what your doing thats all that matters.