Well, this morning I parked the truck, and wrote down the mileage. Then, looking back at the mileage that I started the years with, I now know that I drove 124,227 miles this year. And while the final check isn't in yet, it looks like I will make right at 62,000 for income, within 150 either up or down. Having those two numbers allows me to figure out how much per each mile on the odometer I made this year.

I don't get paid by mileage pay, instead working on a combination of percentage, straight fees, and hourly work. How I am paid depends on the specific load, and how far it does or doesn't go, or the type of work that it is.

But, yesterday I was delivering a load in Chicago, and I was thinking about how some of the loads paid if I calculated them on a "per loaded mile" basis.

The load I was doing ran 19 miles, and paid me 100 dollars. Based on those numbers, that load paid a little over 5 dollars per mile to the driver. Obviously, I don't make that for every mile, or my income would have been roughly $620,000 for the year.

I did a few loads earlier this year that were on a weekend, and I drove 15 miles loaded each trip, and the load paid 120 per trip, with me making 4 trips a night. So that load worked out to be abut 8 dollars a loaded mile to the driver, which is even better.

I have a customer in Chicago that I run occasionally, which is a book bindery that uses corn starch to make glue. They are an 11 mile run, paying 100 dollars, which make them clock out at a little better than 9 dollars a mile to the driver.

And in Grand Rapids Mi, I pick up flour at a railyard, run it 3 miles and deliver it, for 75 dollars a trip, which comes out to 25 dollars a loaded mile to the driver. Now, we're starting to talk some real money, and you can make 4 trips a day there with no problem.

However, the ultimate deal was one at a concrete plant in Buffington Harbor In. We had just taken on a contract there for haulage, and I was working the first week at night. The plant manager came out one night and asked me if I coudl do some interplant work, just hauling inside the plant to move things for him. Since we didn't have a contract to do that work, I said I would, and would turn the paperwork in in the morning, and our sales people could get with them and set a rate for the work. (Note: I don't recommend that as drivers you make agreements to take on additional work for your employer at 2 am, but in this case I did and all were happy with the deal!!) So I loaded the trailer on one end of the building, pulled up 250 feet, and then hooked up and unloaded the trailer. We agreed on a rate of 20 per hour to the driver, and I listed 4 hours for the work. In this case, doing the math, 1 mile, divided by 250 feet, x 80 dollars works out to be somewhere between 1680 and 1700 dollars a mile.

And if I could score that money for all miles driven, I would have retired and bought myself a nice little Carribbean island by now.......

wake up, your dreaming again. lol. those calculations are interesting and to bad that couldn't be your rate all the time. it's always nice to see a driver make a dollar or two.

No, they aren't the actual rate, as badly as I would want them to be. But do take a look at the first paragraph. In it I state the total odometer miles for the year, not just the dispatched miles. If I drove the truck home, those miles counted and were included in the total. If I bobtailed over to get dinner somewhere, those miles were also included. Divide the income for the year into the mileage, and see what you get for each and every mile the truck moved this year. Compared to many, those are still livable numbers.

yeah i understand that. i was just stating it would have been nice if that was the hourly rate you made all year.

even at .35 cpm it is 43,000 plus. but at the 60,000 plus you made it comes to around 50 cpm. not bad.

Burky, those are really great numbers. I think that you are doing fantastic, especially with short runs. Thats the kind of deal we are looking for here, just haven't found it yet. We are doing OK, for being new O/O's, would have been better without the in frame this year. But man, you are giving me hope that we can find something like what you are doing, and still be comfortable, after we get this truck paid off. LOL

Keep reporting this stuff, you know that I love the way that you look at things. You've given me several different angles on how to figure what actual loads paid.

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I have always believed that the only honest way to know your true cpm rate is the method I use. It gives the lowest possible figure, but there is absolutely no doubt about the number. Take the total mileage on the truck, and the amount you got paid, and when you divide them together, you have exactly what you were paid per mile. It eliminates any questions about how many miles or what percentage of miles you did not get paid for due to HHG or practical miles systems. It breaks it down into the simplest possible format.

In truth, this year looks to have paid a little bit less per mile than normal. What makes the difference in my case is the percentage of empty miles, since I get paid by the load. If I run empty, then I am runnign for free, and it looks like i did a bit more of that this year than I years past. Typically, I have ended up with a number around 53-54 cpm at the end of the year.

However, there are some customer changes coming up starting on Wednesday that should improve my loaded percentage, with a customer near my home that wil be shipping 6-8 loads a day out, and the loads all go near places where I can pick up backhauls easily. That will improve the numbers a bit.

sounds like you pull bulk. am i right ? either way it sounds like you got a good gig and are really happy with your company. your living the truckers dream, you found a driving job that you enjoy. congratulations.

Yep, pneumatic tankers hauling mainly food grade, though I also do plastics and non food products. In fact, the only thing that we haul that I don't do is powdered lead. Since I don't carry a hazmat endorsement, I don't do lead. And I do well enough without it that I see no reason to go through the hazmat hassles.

THAT sounds sweet!!! So next year will look even better with the backhaul situation you already have.

We, like you, aren't trying to strike it rich, but want to live comfortably. And it would be nice to have the hubby home more during the week, instead of just weekends. I know there's lots of potential routes, but we just have to find the one that works the best for us. Like you did.

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My calculations for the what I ran as an o/o this year are 30157 miles with a total per mile rate or around 1.94 per all miles. Not bad since I pull a company trialer and have only been over 60k gross twice.