A common mistake most drivers will make in figuring out how their pay would equate to in hourly wages, is to take their gross earnings and divide this amount by total hours worked in a week to find their equivalent hourly pay. The fallacy of this method is that it doesn't factor-in overtime pay as allowed by labor laws when you exceed working 40 hours in a week. The proper method of calculation is to use algebra math. The algebraic formula to find your equivalent hourly pay is 40x + 1.5xy = Gross Pay ; where solving for X equals your hourly pay, and Y are hours worked in excess of 40 hours in a week.

To illustrate, say you gross $894 in a week and worked 90 hours to earn this pay. Your total hours worked should include delays at the shipper, receiver, traffic/congestion, and sitting down to do your paperwork. If you were an hourly-paid local driver, you would be on the clock and compensated for these delays. At 90 hours, you're entitled to 50 hours of overtime at time and a half rate. The equation would be set up as 40x + (1.5x times 50) = $894 ; I substituted Y for 50 hours overtime inside the parenthesis. Multiplying whats inside the parenthesis, it shows 40x + 75x = $894. Adding up the variables, it now shows 115x = $894. Dividing both sides by 115 will solve for X; so 894 divided by 115 is X = $7.77 Working the entire equation, we find that earning $894 gross and working 90 hours in a week is equivalent to $7.77 per hour, factoring overtime pay after 40 hours of work.

Upon close examination, you'll find that the more hours you work as a result of delays at the shipper, receiver, and traffic/congestion, the lower your hourly pay becomes. To make up for this, you would have to drive more miles to bring up your equivalent hourly pay. This equation shows the injustice of per mile/mileage pay. If algebra math is beyond your comprehension, take this algebraic formula,
40x + 1.5xy = Gross Pay, and show it to any high school kid who had taken elementary algebra. They will easily calculate your hourly pay for you.

Too bad the trucking industry is exempt from the federal minimum wage standard.
To find out your hourly pay simply divide your total hours of driving and on duty time into your groos weekly earnings. Regular jobs do not pay you for lunch breaks or sleep time so do not factor these hours in. So if you earned $1000.00 gross for a weeks work and you only worked a total of 50 hours then your hourly wage would be $20.00 per hour. If it took you 60 hours then your hourly pay would drop to $16.666 if it took you 70 hours to make that thousand bucks then your hourly pay would drop to $14.285 per hour. If you actualy attempt to figure out your total hours "away" from home and you were gone for 5 full days to make that thousand bucks then it would be 120 hours gone and the hourly pay would drop to $8.333. If you are gone for 7 days to make that thousand bucks then your "hourly compensation" would be 168 hours away from home for an hourly wage of $5.952 per hour. This is where the common refrain of truckers are making less than minimum wage comes from.

Dont forget that alot of truckers do not get paid overtime after 40........

The only companies that do in fact pay overtime are almost exclusively union organized. Without this "contract" truckers are sheet out of luck for any overtime pay.

you would have to do this on a weekly basis though. i prefer the old 50mph average x .30 cents a mile = $15 an hour and just take into account that it will fluxuate depending on terrign and speed limits but as far as im concerned thats how i prefer to break it down as.

i dont count time away from home because as long as i got this laptop and my cellphone charged up im never away from the ones i love.

i close those window curtians and i go away from wherever im at and im home

You are all correct,but,in my days I consider everything.I have driven over the road over 30 yrs and 10 years plus local,on my local days years ago I could not get per diem deductions thru the gov.as the rules say you have to leave your home county to get it. As you know on the road you are allowed per diem as you travel longer distances away from your home,I factor this in on my hourly pay also,you ussually get to keep half your perdiem,as I eat a big meal and little meal eveyday,if you use a microwave you can save alot more. You should add this benifit into your averages on hourly pay as it really makes a difference too. Just wanted to add my 2 cts into your evaluation process.

I think any way you calculate it, it would be just too depressing to think what your hourly rate is.

I was listening to some guys on the radio one night saying how much better mileage is over hourly. I'm hourly and did some calculating in my head that I would have to drive 2500-3000 miles per week at the current average rate to make what I make hourly for driving 1200 miles.

speak for yourself. figuring on my calculations of $15 an hour im overjoyed # my 'hourly rate'

my goal in life was to get a job that pays $15 an hour or more. i got one now. and to think ill get a raise in a month or so is kickass.

yeah yeah yeah you make $40 an hour haulin around local goods blah blah blah i set my goals low so i know i can acomplish them. i did. i have. im happy.

I get more than that per hour and I get to sleep in my own bed at night.

__________________

OTR trucking isn't something that lends itself easily to hourly work, plus there is the opportunity for drivers to milk the system (cheat) if pay were hourly.

If I got paid hourly....I don't know....maybe I'd take an extra hour on that Salt Lake-to-Vegas run. That run to LA from so-and-so that takes 16 hours? It might take me 18. Maybe even 20.

I can see it now if you guys started getting paid per hour....there would arise a sort of "Rand McNally" hourly chart companies would use to calculate compensation, just like auto mechanics use when trying to charge for labor at garages. Only in your cases, if you worked three hours, you'd get paid for 162 minutes. If you worked for Swift and you got paid per-hour, you'd get paid for maybe 130 minutes of that 180.

Going hourly wouldn't do anything but put you right back where you are. The more things seem to change at first, the more you find they stay the same.

__________________
--Paved Dudley--

Yeah I drive a Swift truck
And that means one thing
It means she's slow
It's a typical company truck
It's just all show and no go

I'm gettin' passed by Yella
And even Overnite
I'm gettin' passed by ever' body in sight
46 days on the road
And I'm not gettin' home tonight

No, my hometown's nowhere in sight
And if you think I'm pissed off
You're right
46 days on the road
And I'm not gettin' home tonight


Love pissing off those trucking company insiders.