Hiring a driver

To do it right, You list them as employees..
You can pay mileage / percentage or salary
That all depends on your setup

 

I'm pretty much set up like you described. I have a shop that we do work for the public in as well as our own. I have 2 full time employees in there and 1 driver full time. I float from driving to the shop where ever I'm needed most and my son does the same. We pay the shop guys by the hour, the driver on percentage. The only 1099's we do are truly contract labor guys, that have their own truck. It was a headache at first till I found a good CPA to do payroll. He set up everything, they just pick their check up on Friday. I also give my employee's the option to let him file their taxes at no cost to them. It's not much of a perk but every little bit helps.

 

lease them the truck .. you'll make a lot more

 

I think orangep was being sarcastic as most around here think that on a lease the company makes all the money and the driver ends up working for free.

 

I do that and it makes some money but not a lot, I won't go into the details.

As for doing the right thing, learn the business first and then learn how to hire employees. There is nothing worse than finding a guy to drive and then having to deal with a poor employee. It takes time to find the right people, pay them well and so on. This isn't a get rich over night thing either, there are a lot of legal things to cover and a lot of PIA stuff to do.

 

As he might have been sarcastic, but on a lease, you can dictate what the drivers hauls, and if your like most lease's, you'll still end up with the truck, In the lease, the driver has to sign the truck on with you hauling your freight, running under your authority, diver will pay a weekly truck payment of around $550, plus 3 types of insurance, which is around $600 per week, and fuel, the rest is yours, pay him/her .90 CPM plus a fuel surcharge, At the end of the 3 year lease, then have a $45000.00 balloon note left to pay if they wish to keep the truck, or they can turn in the truck, remember? they can't alter the truck in any way, they can't change the governed speed you determine, the truck must stay the way it is until they pay off the truck, this is the typical lease deal set up with most companies, So! lets look at the numbers: payments at $550 per week = $85,800, actual cost will be up to you, insur. at $600 per week = 93,600, actual cost is more around $43,200 (this is based on what I paid in 3 years) Fuel is his/her bill so let's figure what you will save on that? lets base it on $3.00 per gallon, If the driver averages 2800 per week, and let say they average 6.5 MPG that = $201,600. for 3 years, Now lets look at what the pay is, .90 CPM + FS .45 CPM = $1.35 CPM at 2800 miles per week = $589,680 for the 3 years, Sounds good so far, right? OK lets start deducting, for the 3 years that's around $381,000 which = $208,680 for the 3 years to the driver which = $1,337. a week before taxes, if you pay him/her as a employee? what are you going to start him/her at? lets look at those figures? let say .42 CPM = $1,176.00 Per week based on 2800 miles, But you must cover part of the taxes for the employee, So as a lease op, he/she won't make any more than a company driver, Oh yeah! lets not forget, the driver will be responsible for the repairs, So yeah! Lease the truck to the driver, you'll make more money

 

That's kinda one sided advise right there. If the driver was on here posting a thread small company wants me to lease a truck and pay me on a 1099 you would say run far far away. I think the OP is looking for a fair solution for both him and the driver