60+ CPM THE NEW STANDARD?

That’s correct, regional flatbed 3000 miles a week not likely to happen.

 

That’s a lot of dough

 

Oh yeah? Well I saw a billboard that said their drivers were paid a million gazillion dollars a mile! But that they'd have to find their own way to the Horsehead Nebula for orientation.

 

Sweet deal bro!!

 

The per diem deduction was never disallowed. The form we used to deduct it was voided. Technically, we still can deduct per diem. There is just no IRS vehicle with which to do so. That is why O/O can still deduct it. Different IRS form used.

 

I cant remember the company, but they used to, or maybe still do just I havent noticed lately, advertise up to 72cpm. That was on a "band pay" scale. You only got 72cpm if the load was something like 40-100 miles loaded. If 101-? was 68cpm. If the load was over 1000 miles it paid 38cpm. I dont remember the exact bands or the amount they paid, but you get the idea. One of their drivers told me that the really short loads that paid well per mile often took a full days wait time and delivered with an appt the next afternoon or some such thing. So youd get as much time wrapped up in an 80 mile load as a 450 mile load. They mainly paid the higher amount just to keep the drivers from whining so much when they got stuck with one.

 

Winner.

That's the sliding scale I see on almost all these do called big money company positions.

Big money for under 150 miles, and you have all day wrapped up in it, to make $75.

Woohoo. Where do I sign?

 

If you are not aware of Trucking and decades of 0.34 cents per mile... you will wallow in the persistent low pay.

We ran for FFE in 2000 to 2001. Wife and I were a full team. Including approximately $25200 in trainer paid salary for 12 weeks And wife's 300 base pay during the same training. We ran a total of 306 service days, meaning that were logging 120+ miles from our house in the big truck doing work or waiting to load, unload or whatever. In those 306 days out of 365 days of the year we both earned 67000. We filed jointly in 2002 January that year.

$67000 gross earnings worked out to 210,000 miles driven. (And another roughly 12K miles as solo later that year but I leave it aside, it's all part of the 67000 gross pay. Not much in miles.)

That means each of those 210,000 miles we ran recorded on the ODO meter of the brand new FFE tractor I was issued at 16 miles on the odo, new truck smell and everything mint. Wife joined me at approximately 3000 miles on the truck as a trainee then later as a full team with me. So call it 210016 miles total if you want to be really drill down in pay details.

Each of those 210,000 miles paid us a gross pay of 0.31 a mile (And some more further down the right of the decimal)

That's TWO full CDL A truckers in one truck team running 306 days, 210,000 miles and both of us together earned 0.31 a mile with FFE. The truck and our logs recorded 7500 hours on the Engine ECM, we worked about 7400 hours together that year. You can look at $9.05 per hour gross. Divided by two drivers, her and me. That means under minimum wage of 6.25 or so. Actual would stand at $4.52 per hour wife earned, and what I earned divided equally to gross 67000 to file jointly.

As far as I am concerned the mileage pay is BS. Industry is BS'ing new hires unaware they have been paying 0.34 for decades now. 4 decades or more. And get away with training and orientation pay that is really abusive. around 250 a week average for trainee. Gross minus your comchecking to eat.

NEver mind that Perdiem we claimed at a standard rate of 45.00 a day for a total of 13700 against our taxes. Never mind that we specifically deduct 100 for Federal and 75 per state withholding every week paycheck for each of us. To ensure a 5 digit foundation refund so that we will roll on with savings in to 2002 for the new trucking year. I think it stood at about 12000 dollars back. I don't remember.

Trucking is not a money maker paid by mile. Nor it is at percentage of revenue because you are never told exactly what the 100% revenue for the workweek your truck did.

And any other way of paying drivers is really abusive. In a large company like FFE running 1200 tractors and twice that in trailers and part of a family of 6 sister and brother companies in different kinds of trucking such as swinging beef and so on. You have hundred or more of people drawing a nice salary in the offices. They do not worry about their income. They are making a nice living and do not have to scratch, hiss and struggle to get a dollar in pay.

So I advocate a salary system. If your boss refuses to pay you a gross of 2200 flat with a net to you of about 1600 more or less each week without gotchas, minimums, fails or fail safes or gaurantees BS. Just straight punched salary check 1600 net for 52 weeks. Without fail. God gets up on the 8th day and there is a 1600 dollar deposit in the trucking he did for us all.

Anything else is BS. And I do support a form of rewards to drivers. Not necessarily more money, but rather a choice in dispatch freight. Here are 5 loads, which one will you like to take today Driver?

And your continued ability to choose one of those 5 loads will motivate you to not worry about miles but focus like a laser on perfect customer service.

Isnt that nice? No more losses in HR because everyone is stamped one number across the whole fleet and everyone is quietly focused on the true on time and precision service to the Customer wherever it be. 200 miles or 2000 miles or more. Who cares about the miles. Just be on time.

Get going yer late.

 

In the last 2 years, freight rates have been very strong so many trucking companies are hoping it will continue.

I think $.50/mile all miles can be sustainable for regular dryvan and flatbed W2 jobs. LTL and auto haulers can get much more. Be very weary of new small carriers promising $0.60+ per mile because it is not sustainable unless they have dedicated direct freight. Even this direct freight will eventually change carriers do to under bidding.

If you pay attention to the average rates shippers are paying by DAT, these rates will not support more than $0.50+ per mile W2 employee. After adding health, 401k, vacation and paid holidays, worker's comps and many other employee expense, it may cost more than .75/mile to hire a driver with base pay of .50. When the average direct van freight is paying only $2.25/mile, it will be very hard to pay a W2 driver .50 a mile.

 

I suppose companies do have to make money in order to pay their drivers.