Pay by the hour vs. by the mile

Hourly pay is the way the industry will be going in the future for SAFETY's sake. There was talk about this in the latest congressional hearing about the new safety rules. Of course the CEO's and owners of the trucking companies HATE IT and almost passed out when it was brought up in the congressional hearings - which should tell drivers how good it is for the driver! Several congressmen are trying to mandate trucking to pay hourly wage instead of by the mile saying it is safer because drivers won't push themselves to drive so hard/company's won't have them driving 70 hours a week because they don't want to pay 30 hours of overtime every week. It's a ways off, but the push to change trucking to a normal hourly profession is out there.

 

With advent of the qualcomm gps, I think hourly is the more honest pay. Pilots get paid by block hours. (That's from push back to parking brake set.) It should be the same for drivers.

 

Depends on what the hourly wage is vs the mileage pay

 

I believe the only fair way to pay anybody in any business is hourly. I see that many say that hourly is impossible for OTR because the companies have no way to know if the drivers are working or if they are playing video games but think about that for a second. The companies would know because if the drivers are not working then the loads would not get there on time, it's no different if the driver is across town or if they are across country, the companies would know.

 

It will NEVER happen . Do you really want to work for minimum wage 40 hours a week ? You said carriers won't pay overtime and plenty of CDL mill graduates would work for minimum wage .

 

Well as it stands now, truckers are getting paid LESS than what they were making in 1980 per mile on average. The Schneider CEO even said he is paying drivers less now that what Schneider was paying in 1980. Can you name another job were they are getting paid less today than they were in 1980? I can't.

 

If you add up all the actual hours that noob drivers work now it is way below minimum wage. As far as 40 hour weeks, I doubt a trucking company will stop a driver mid trip just because he's hitting the 40 hour mark. I've worked mileage, salary, hourly/activity hybrid, pure hourly. Hourly is the way to go in my opinion.

Milage pay = needs no explanation.
Salary = expect 14+ hour day every day. They will work you to the max.
Hourly/activity hybrid = The hourly rate is ok. The only time you can take advantage of the activity pay is on weekends when there is no traffic.
Hourly = The best and most honest, period. In my opinion this also the safest.

Ths was my experience, your results may vary.