Per Hour vs Per Mile

.. I keep hearing that OTR pays (24/7) about $5.50/hr?

 

Just doing some quik math,

11hours(max you can drive at one time) x 60mph (average?) x $0.29per mile(average beginning pay?) / 11hours worked = $17.40 an hour.

Of course we all know thats a bit unrealistic, espicially when most OTR drivers don't get to go home at the end of an 11hour shift and are still stuck at the "office" so to speak and the odds of doing 660 miles in a day are slim.

So if you figure doing 11hrs driving and then sleeping for 10 then another 3hrs driving to give you 14hrs possible in a given day to drive, that gives you,

14 x 60 x $0.29 / 24(hours in a day) = $10.15 an hour for 24hrs of being "at" work.

However, we all know thats unrealistic as well since there is so much more to driving then just the driving. As has been mentioned, strapping, tarping, waiting for loading/unloading, traffic, bad directions, time in the shop, pre trip inspections, dot inspections, scales...... I know some companies compensate for these extra jobs, however that depends on the company and I've got no idea how the pay effects lost driving time etc....

I'm just a newb, so what do I know, but oddly enough even here in central cali I can't find a job that pays as well as some begginer OTR trucking jobs do per year. Seems most of the jobs here are sales(yuck!!), or require a degree or experience I don't have yet, or pay $10 an hour or less. I really have no idea how most people can afford to live in this state. Does everyone but me have a college degree? I guess I'm gonna have to force myself to be a mechanic again so I can make $20 an hour so I can pay rent. Uggghhh!

 

This may not be possible because of family connections, or other concerns of which I am unaware, but my advice would be to join the exodus from the Golden State and find a place with a cheaper cost of living. Las Vegas is booming and there is lots of work, but at the same time there is a housing shortage there. Reno is always nice as an alternative, and Nevada is a cheap place to live. And if you are willing to move further east, there are lots of places where you can make a good living and not have to pay California's tax rates, nor put up with the crazy politics out there.

I am retired from the military, and one of the things I learned in preparing for retirement was that if you could keep the cost of living low enough, you can make out pretty well in almost any job. I live in Michigan, and make 62k a year freom riving the truck, and another 15k out of my pension. And I live in an area with a relatively low cost of living, so the money goes a long way. A home in my area worth 100k would sell for 250k in Cali, and the houses would be the same.

In the long run, it's not really how much you make that counts, but how much you have to spend for the basics. After they are covered, then you get the rest of the money for your own purposes. It's very hard to beat an area with a low cost of living.

 

Personally, I have always been fond of by the load pay. Percentage when in someone elses rig.

 

Percentage pay is great if you are an O/O, you have a legal right to the freight bills. As a company driver, you do not have any legal right to the freight bills. If you can not have a true copy of the freight bill, you do not know what your pay should be.

Mark

 

I found my goal job and it was pay by the hour and all local driving. If you were to add up my hours on the job against a job OTR it's ridiculous on the difference. I worked no more than 60 hours a week and that grossed me at $1645 a week. And when I say 60 hours a week that meant away from the truck. I did OTR for many years and the companies just don't pay you for all your time. There's a few that pay good but if you look at the hours you're away from home it's not so good. But then you have a few drivers that want to be in the truck all the time so it wouldn't be bad for that type, but not me.

I believe the best advice is to set your goal on what you want out of trucking. Keeping your record clean and building a name for yourself will get you to that goal faster. I also believe in specialized hauling is the way to go so you're in demand for your training.

Burky, you and I have alot in common and I agree with your thinking on moving to where your dollars count. But as a truck driver Las Vegas is not the place to go. For one thing the cost of living is not the same as it used to be. I sold my house (2000sqft) in 2001 for $145,000 and now that house list for over $400,000. Second truck driving jobs are hard to find because Las Vegas is in the middle of the line. Most of the trucking into the city comes from the L.A. area and the drivers do a turnaround there in Vegas. If you're line hauling then the trip is only a little over 200 miles from L.A.. Viking, UPS, ABS (if they're still around) are the only one's that come to mind. There's a couple of local companies like Anderson and Sons and Las Vegas Trucking but they have their own nightmare stories about them. I think you'd have a better shot in Reno. We've found out along time ago when we got out of the service if a city has something the majority of the people like then the cost will be high. Since I'm retired now the second time we're looking again but it's hard to move after you get settled in for a few years. Besides, the cost is going up everywhere.

 

Well, since he was referring to doing mechanic work as opposed to driving, I did point out that LV is a booming area, but that there is a housing shortage, and a shortage implies very high housing costs. Possibly I could have made that thought with more clarity, but that's the point I was implying. And that's why I suggested other areas more strongly than I did LV.

 

Mark,
I am speaking from personal experience, before obtaining / inheriting my authority, I drove for a local company as company driver, on percentage, and always worked out to about between .40 to .48 cpm which in included empty as well as loaded. (That was back in 1991 running dump wagons, flats, and a few reefers after buy out of another local company)
Sure as a company driver you have no legal leg to stand on for proof of invoiced charges, but as an O/O you do, but also think, if you are that suspicious of the broker or company, should you really be hauling for them in first place? and go ahead and ask for proof, see if hauling for them is an option in the future......Would guess not...Would probably be viewed as an insult.
Besides, as an O/O you should have good ideal of what certain lanes pay in your chosen Field, so that would be your first clue as to whether or not to accept the load in the first place, that is since the O/O variable was brought up.

 

I know a few O/O that get copies of all the freight bills with their settlement statements. I do not have blanket trust for any company I work for. I keep track of that I should be paid on an excel spreadsheet, and balance that against my pay statements when I go home.

I know to many of the big companies that will be just about anything to make a buck. Big companies don't change unless they can make a buck on it, just look at company fleece programs.

What keeps running through my mind is: What advantage does it give the company to pay percentage over mileage?

Mark