Hub vs. Book Miles

Hub miles means you are payed by the odometer.

book miles are usually payed by House Hold Movers Guide,Which means as the crow flies,As much as 15% less miles.

 

I'm not a driver, so this may not be the answer you are looking for. But I believe hub miles are actual miles driven based on the truck's odometer, while book miles are those miles calculated by a company's selected software program.

I'm sure someone with more knowledge will chime in here, but if a company pays based on book miles, you might want to find out which program they are using and post it here for input. From what I've read earlier, some programs short-change a driver while others are more realistic.

 

Hub miles = Paid for what you really do

Book Miles = Not paid for all you do. Companies also use this as a method to terminate your services, it's called excessive out of route.

Another term, Practical Miles. Be sure and ask what software they are using to determine "practical". There can be as much as 5% differance between Rand Mcnally household movers "practical miles" and PCMiler practical miles.

 

That reply is both simplistic and of course leads some people into believing that truckers are victims of EVERYTHING. This seems to be getting more prevalent as the years tick by, but I guess everyone now is a victim of something.

The fact is that route miles (the various different ones) are how the companies get paid. They cannot really pay more miles when they themselves do not get paid more. This has been a trucking fact forever. This is also something that isn't going away anytime soon. Even with GPS on every street corner, there will be a set mileage for most loads because the shippers and receivers really should be getting their freight delivered in the shortest most direct route available.

Paying hub miles is best for the drivers and for the companies, but there is just no way that most companies are going to get anyone to agree to paying them for miles that THEY do not control. The set mileages are just the only way to set the prices.

As for getting rid of drivers for OOR miles, I happen to agree with it! A company is not there to provide a company driver with a means for unpaid sightseeing or running here and there to go play in the woods somewhere. Again, if they are not getting paid for the miles, its stupid to incur costs for running them. MOST companies will OK some OOR at the driver's request. But there have been many cases where a driver does something really stupid and costly that needs redress. Either the Driver should pony up the dough, or they need to be gotten rid of.

 

Well, the matter becomes that where do you draw the line of what is excessive? When I ran for Covenant (who uses RM's HHG), there were a few runs that the shortest route wasn't practical (not approved truck route), so the next quickest route would add miles (around 200 miles, on a run that QC said was 168 miles). If I did a few turns of that run, by the time I'm done, I've accumulated a bunch of OOR miles. Should I be fired? I of course would say no, but if some common sense isn't applied then I might have been.

Also, mistakes happen. We miss out turns, some roads aren't marked, or are poorly marked, others we are told to travel, only to find out it's not truck route. So now what? I agree, that if someone out there is CONSISTENTLY running way over miles (even way over what can be practically expected), then something should be done. However, I don't think we need to give some of these crappy companies out there anymore reasons to fire drivers...

Just my $.02.

 

The problem is that it is the crappy drivers who are excessively using OOR mileage who are getting fired and the companies are taking flak for it on these boards because the driver has a big mouth and no sense of right and wrong and usually believe that no matter what, its his or her right to do whatever they want with the truck. The route your talking about was probably well known and covered by the company. Some clown going from FL to IL via Des Moines does not.

 

Yeah, you're right Fozzy, if someone doesn't have enough common sense to truck sensibly (like the FL to IL analogy) then odds are, they won't last long anyways. My concern was more about crappy companies that might try and get rid of a driver, and use excessive OOR miles as an excuse.

 

I agree, but it's been my experience with companies and drivers that the old adage; "there is this version and that version and then there is the truth". I have worked for and with quite a few companies and can tell you that drivers being fired for nonsensical reasons is so rare that you'd come closer the spotting big foot riding a unicorn which is being chased by Elvis through a meadow of four leaf clovers than find more than one or two drivers who where fired for unjustified "trumped up" reasons.

 

######, now that was funny! I can barely type, ROFL!!!