Percentage pay v.s cpm

Is it percentage of gross or percentage of net?

 

I've been with Tidewater for over six years. They switched to percentage pay around the end of November 2011 (if I remember correctly). Had been cpm mostly, with some hourly runs, some flat rate runs. The percentage pay worked out much better for me.
At the terminal I run out of (Decatur, AL) we still have some hourly stuff along with the percentage. Percentage paid to the driver is based upon the cost TWT charges for the load. So if TWT charges a company $1000.00 for a load, at 25% the driver makes $250.00.

 

Thanks for the response! So how does this work w/ the inevitable empty back-haul or dead-head between sites to pick up a trailer? I hope you just don't get paid for that work?

Also how does their detention and accesorial pay work?

 

A few of the drivers were sort of in a tizzy over supposedly "not getting paid for empty miles". They asked me what I thought. Told them it's not what I think, but what I know --- it's all factored in. The company has factored in the cost if the load getting the rig and driver back to the terminal, tank wash, next pickup, whatever.
To prove it to them I showed them what we were getting paid by the mile vs percentage on three different loads, all going to the same place, but each having differences. On each load the pay was better percentage-wise than cpm.
Another nice thing about percentage is that any time the company raises the rate to a customer for a load, the drivers get a raise!