Bad or good deal for OTR Flatbed?

In this situation that you have I would just focus on your gross pay every week. The bossman has just shuffled the chairs on the deck by paying different on empty miles, but pays a bit better than average on loaded miles for a new guy. Would you feel better if he paid $.57 a mile but paid you for all miles? In the end your paycheck would remain the same. He has it figured out how much revenue that truck needs to produce on a daily/weekly/monthly basis and how much out of that revenue he can pay a driver. How he gets to how much he pays is not as important as the gross pay at the end of the week (at least for me).
@Chinatown tells the story frequently of some companies that may not pay that well on the mileage, but they have great assessorial pay which more than makes up for the lower mileage pay.
It also seems like a good place to work. That would be a major plus.

 

There ain't nothing wrong with that . U are doing it the right way. I run my clock the same way if I'm getting paid anything other than cpm. The problem Is the cpm itself it causes you to have to manage the 70 clock since you only get paid to drive, and there is so much extra time spent doing flatbed work... I will say there's nothing wrong with the way ur doing it. Don't let anybody tell you there is, or force you to do something u don't feel comfortable doing. At the end of the day you are the captain of your ship and whatever way you feel is the right way to do something then that's the way it should be done

 

The whole idea had me worried a little bit. Since about 2020 my pay has been trickling down steadily with many tiny pay cuts, accessory, and benefit cuts. This is maybe what's coming next?

 

I think you need to really rethink what honesty is in this industry...

Whether you know it or not you are now playing a game of cops and robbers. Guess what? You are not the cops. It is in your best interest, being on mileage pay, and your companies best interest that you learn what is accepted for time shaving practices.

Once you understand that the weighmaster is the cop and you are the robber, you'll understand that every time a new regulation is enacted then the majority of drivers are staying up late at night to figure out a way to make it work to their advantage.

It's human nature and been around since biblical times.

 

Agreed. I consider it shady, but...alas, I learned my lesson with the first low life O/O I encountered that bounced checks, so that kind of 'system' is a no go for me, I don't care what the working conditions, equipment etc, are like. I don't drive for free if they don't work for free.

 

Just think, when I started flatbed was .32/mile had to do 201 miles DH to get paid then was 50$ plus mileage.
0 for tarp, no accessories no detention. oversized. Regardless of what it was paid am extra .10/mile.

 

I don't think it's a huge deal, small company he said there's only 5 trucks or so... boss man probably ain't getting paid to deadhead or trying to pinch pennies wherever possible in this current market... the company I'm with has 110+ trucks and was paying .65 a mile the first month I got hired then they cut it to .56 due to the "economy".. alot of veteran drivers that been around since the company was founded in 2012/2013 said kiss my ### and they went on to different gigs.. i think cutting pay that much was quite ########### but what do I know I'm just a dumb driver.. they have made good on their word of slowly bringing it back. We can make .58 a mile if u drive 50 hours per week... lol kinda dumb but better than nothing... but we do get paid all deadhead miles

 

He is a new driver. Cut him some slack... he has a good mentality and is going about things the right way. I'd rather have more guys with his mentality out here on the road than the exact opposite

 

Bad.

You can make that kind of money if not more pulling a dry van.
Meanwhile you have to secure/tarp loads and taking on more risk.

$50 to tarp?
That's trash.
Rather be going down the road than tarping for $50.