Average Pay Today?

The website is showing an opening at our Redmond, OR terminal. Superior Carriers is the company

 

Here's some advice. That's 36 cpm, not 47. Per diem does not ever contribute to your cpm if they're doing it right. It's an industry wide problem and it needs to change.

 

Per diem is a tax reduction, not extra pay.

 

Sorry for the wall of text, But you asked.....

Per Diem in the Tax Code is intended as a deduction of for the cost of Meals and lodging while you are away. They have simplified this deduction by allowing a fixed amount per day without the need to produce receipts.

Ooida covers the basic of Per Diem here:

Per-Diem Rate for Truckers, Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association

If it is better for you to go long form and itemize your deductions it would get entered there. A recent change to the tax code increased the base personal exemption to a value higher than many company drivers have deductions.

What some companies are doing now is reimbursing drivers for Per Diem. Since it is a reimbursement for expenses the employee is not taxed on the money. The employer gets to write off the money as a business expense and does not have to give the govt any of their side of the payroll taxes on it either. An upfront company would reimburse the Per Diem to the employee at the published rate every night they are not at home. That would be an accounting/payroll nightmare for a company of any significant size. So they reimburse Per Diem at an average rate per mile (500 miles per day x 0.11 per mile = $55 per day that should not be taxed, should be a little lower to be totally kosher). The company basically looks at it as a driver will be paid 0.42 per mile total: How they actually pay that out is 0.40 per mile pay, 0.10 per mile as a reimbursement, and many will retain 0.02 per mile as an administrative fee to cover the added accounting (the dark side creeps in). The Company is basically taking over the deduction for an employee that may not be able to take it, saving some payroll tax money, and collecting an administrative fee.

Cool the company gets you some tax free money and saves themselves some payroll taxes. There is a darker side though for the employee. Financial companies do not recognize reimbursements as "Income". So that employee may not qualify for a loan or refinance because of the "hidden income". Entitlement programs also do not recognize reimbursements as income so it will decrease your Social Security, Disability, or Unemployment checks if any of those come into play.

 

Omnitracs at least offers programs to automatically show what drivers qualify for what Per Diem and so larger companies can cover it accurately with little overhead. My company is 100+ drivers and no charge for administration.

 

Why would you go back empty? Couldn’t the office idiots at least book a brokered load that nets $100?

 

Probably related to cabotage and couldn't find a direct back to Canada. Scratch that. They're Florida and it probably wouldn't be as hard finding a load from Canada into the US.