Practical, Hub or Actual Miles..Oh, My!

Actual miles = the miles you run to get to the receiver.
Practical miles = the miles running the shortest practical route. Not necessarily the shortest total mileage.
HUB miles= actual miles that the Odometer runs. So yes, same as actual.

House hold movers guide miles = short miles, you loose out on both ends, and it is based on shortest route whether a truck can take it or not.

 

A lot of companies pay you post office to post office. They don't even go by where the shipper/receiver is located. Just the post office in town.

 

Some under HHG are for border to border. Sometims on routes that trucks cannot even drive on.

 

Not sure, Poly Trucking used to pay Hub miles.

A few others, but not many.........

 

And no one hit it completely right yet!

HUB miles is paid off either a hubometer that's mounted on an axle OR off the odometer in the dash. You write numbers off of these when you START a trip, get to fuel stop, cross state lines, get to shipper and the receiver then you start over. It used to be a great way to get paid until drivers either took advantage of the "Honesty" of a driver.

PRACTICAL miles is from computer programs or HHG.
Practical is a practical route most of us would take. Look at the map and go. Yes it does have that 5%-12% of a shortage on the pay.

SHORTEST Miles is also a computer model. It pays the SHORTEST route. So you can see what I'm explaining pull out your Rand McNally. Open it to PA and look at I-70 where it comes out of WV. See it? OK do you see HWY 11 running next to it? NOW the Practical route will put you on I70 and run you up to the toll road if that's where you are going. BUT shortest route will pop your silly arse on and off I-70 on to hwy 11 and will cost YOU and that BFI (yes a BFI as only BFI will pay you this way!) time, and fuel! Yes all the stop signs, the city traffic, and the getting on and off what should have been a cruise control set speed limit getting you where you needed to go but that shortest route is actually screwing you out of those hours!

Those college educated MORONS who think paying shortest miles is saving money! Those 15 minute marks on your log book are actually worth money to you AND BFI! Not a one of those took preventative management in college!

I made a sheet for you to look at. It is a common program that a lot of companies use route. It's almost the same as what the rest will show. Another program was screwy and can't figure out how to get to the freaking toll both at the toll road! I gave up on it but this goes to show you what a short (in blue) or practical (in a pinkish color) is. Now look at the printouts. You'll notice that, that oh so great short route is a whopping 1.6 miles shorter!Some BFI saved a whole $.45 CPM if they paid $.30 CPM! BUT look at that route and if you've ever been in that area or driven on that road that savings for those pathetic 1.6 miles will cost them almost a gallon of fuel from the stops the pulls and the traffic as that road has a lot of side streets and driveways AND tourists! And that time of 17 minutes difference? ROFLMAO! NOT! It CAN take longer but still you're both out 15 minutes minimum for $.45 whole cents!

NOW for the really great news. BFi ACTUALLY WINS! They know you're not stupid enough to take that route! So they in their wisdom made $.45 off of you by not paying you that 1.6 miles and those miles add up the longer the run! You should see what it does on I-80 in PA and other roads! You the driver will do whats easiest.

Want to get BFI off that shortest route pay scale? Take their routes! A bean counter is finally going to notice that something ain't right when EVERYONE in the fleet starts taking these insane routes! Get together, all of you start on the same day! I'll bet when they start looking at QC locations and seeing that you're following BFIs rules" they'll get the message out that it's practical routing now! It's not rocket science but these BFI's at trying to "cut costs" and screwing you both will see that being cheap can cost in a lot of the cases!

For proof of this ask a real owner operator if he would take a shortest route or a practical route! Now there is a little problem here. SOME shorter routes are better than the practical route! These you will figure out as you gain experience!

The below attachment is a DOC file. Your word processor program should open it just click on it if the window pops up asking you how to open it!

 

I've been paid hub miles at two of the four companies I've been with. Technically I am paid hub miles right now but that is my choice since the truck is paid on percentage. Both companies that I ran hub miles for are still in business and still running hub miles. So to say that NO ONE runs hub miles is wrong. Not many do though.

 

Good info Rollover!