Best way to be paid? Percentage, by the mile/load or hourly?

For the OTR drivers. Unless you are being paid off one of these ----

you are being paid a percentage. Your CPM determines what percentage that is. Think about this a minute!

 

The bad thing about percentage is that if the owner cuts his rate, the driver takes a pay cut, ready or not.

 

Anything that pay less than $400 a day walk awaye- regardless which methods you can pay by Percentage, Mileage, By the Load, Hourly
.

 

Depends what kind of work you do. If you do a bunch of short in town shuttle runs you obviously wouldn’t want to get paid by the mile.
That being said, what works for one driver might not work for another. Personally I prefer hourly pay. I feel less rushed and don’t have to be in a hurry. Plus overtime is always a good thing. Some guys like being paid by the load, others by the mile. Each has their own pros and cons. Just gotta see what works best for you.

 

Give me mileage or percentage..highest earning potential

 

Went from mileage,acc pay in flatbed to running seasonal for UPS. Right now i can work half a week and get paid the same as i would have in a full 60 hr week. Home every day.

If hired on long term the potential would be better than what i was doing and better benefits.

I dont miss regional one bit. Nor running dayshift.

 

i experienced this. it was tough to cope with mileage pay after working hourly for almost 15 years. 3 years into it i now see it this way - at my job, it’s basically a salaried position (linehaul). the runs have preset paid mileages. i’ll make the same roughly per day, based on the run...regardless of time. i typically pick up a few hours a week waiting on stuff, but that’s paid out hourly. the weeks that suck are the ones where i creep along behind crashes or bad weather. i’m not stopped so i can’t collect wait pay but i’m moving at a pace that greatly reduces my otherwise effective hourly rate. it all comes out in the wash. my average $/hr now is higher than it has ever been, the bulk of my pay is mileage and drop & hook.

id have to make ~$39/hr with ot after 8 to be comparable to my current scale. those kinds of hourly jobs are not very common. plus i rarely work over 50 hours a week. i aim for 42-44 but typically end up somewhere around 46.

 

Three and a half years ago I started driving a truck for the owner, pulling for the oil field. I made good money at 25% of anything the truck made.

Now I own my own truck and trailer. I make 70% of anything billed to the customer. Life is good.

 

I gave your post a thank. But no one can afford me or anyone OTR 70 hours a week. If not more with that 34 reset. I can probably burn that 70 in a few days and call it time off until next week.

However the freight has to move. I don't get to sit and enjoy say a dance hall or sailing etc until next week. Because if the company thinks I am slacking off, they will give load to someone else.

I have learned to eliminate what I call parasitic losses in time, sitting for two days in Denver Walmart waiting to get empty for example. The losses in missed next loads make it so it's not worth it to deliver to Denver Walmart anymore. I'll run for someone else.

 

Salary for flatbed OTR is my favorite for a variety of reasons. The annual pay and biweekly checks are reliable. No more aggravation and rage when sitting and waiting for the next load (who cares why they have u sitting now!?). No more getting jacked with miniature 300-400 mile loads that will then have more sitting, not earning, No more worrying about if they are calculating your miles and tarp pay correct, that is now all included now in salary. Melton Trucklines burned me on roughly 10% of my actual miles by calling them Rand McNally “book” miles. That’s over now. No more worries and no more rage at dispatchers. 55mph states, who cares??? Still get salary. Salary pay is steady and above average in my opinion.