Per Diem Screws the Driver

Any company that pays per diem is doing it to save money on payroll taxes. And if they are charging an administration fee, they are really cashing in on their drivers.
Per Diem as an older driver or a driver that plans on staying with a company until they retire does not benefit that driver in the long run, or the short run if your planning on buying a house.
Most banks will not consider per diem as income, thus reducing your taxable income and your buying power (you can't borrow as much).
Per diem is also not considered as income when it comes to social security. So if your collecting that "extra cash" from not paying taxes on 6-10% of your income, you will lower the amount that you will be collecting on social security when you retire. This hits older drivers the hardest.
I just went through the process of looking for a job, first question I asked is if the company paid per diem. If they did, it was a short conversation. These companies paying per diem tells me that they would rather save a buck on their taxes, so where else would they be willing to cut corners? It also tells me that they really don't care about the drivers future, so they probably are not going to care about him having a life off the road.
I did have one big company offer to waive the per diem, but can they guarantee that in the future they will not allow drivers to waive per diem? They couldn't.
I am the type of driver that likes to land at a company, and stay. I have 10 years before my retirement, and I am not going to screw that up with a company that cuts corners at the cost of their drivers. If they are making money off of screwing the driver, they are not making enough from their customers from providing a quality service and doing what they should be doing. Unfortunately, in my searching for a job, there are a lot of companies out there like this.

 

I know it is harder to get deductions unless you have a lot of them. I also know that now that there is no paper logs, there is no paper trail to use. When Congress did this, they should have made it mandatory for companies to give statements to drivers showing their time away from home. It think there will have to be some changes made to the law. But if you take the per diem, you are screwing yourself. Just about everyone buys a house, and if you live long enough, will retire. Collecting a few dollars extra can screw you, especially if your going to be looking for a mortgage or retiring any time soon, or both.
If your in your 20's, invincible (been there), you don't look at those things. Most of these younger drivers won't be driving in 10 years, so these bottom feeding companies will feed on them. But anyone looking to stay in this business should be looking long term. Contacting your congressman would also be a good idea to get these laws changed.
One other thing I did find was that there are a few companies that will pay the per diem on top of the milage rate, at a certain dollar amount daily. Those are too far and between though.

 

Obviously you did...or you wouldn't have taken the time to comment.