Werner - Not What I'd Heard (Thank God.)

Tara, are we talking orlando fl? Best of luck on the school and I thank you for all informative posts you have made as I have learned a lot.

KH

 

As of yesterday, per diem is optional. They don't even push it hard. During orientation you see a video that explains it from both the companies point of view and the employees.

There was no BS fed to us during orientation. However, if I hear one more "what if" question for some remote scenario I believe I'll jump off this building. Anybody that expects a person providing orientation to have an answer to every question doesn't have a firm grasp on reality.

Werners orientation provided everything a reasonable person could expect and more. The training period is not gauranteed to take exactly 8 weeks. As far as getting into the road training portion, it takes no time at all. My trainer came to me and introduced himself at 9am on my second day of orientation.

 

I have concerns about how it may impact my taxes at the end of the year so at this point I would have to say that I am not too crazy about the per diem program. What are you thoughts about per diem pay? Do you think it is good or bad?

 

I make my decision based on earning potential. Will I earn enough to get me over the personal deduction allowed by the IRS?

At this point in the year I will not. Therefore I signed up for the per diem. You cannot know if it is good or bad for you without calculating your projected tax burden. I read a lot of posts from people going harumph harumph about per diem. Truth is if you cannot generate greater than the $11k (or whatever it is for you) personal deduction, you will not be able to deduct per diem at the end of the year.

If that is the case, the impact to your social security won't amount to a hill of beans. Your ss is based on your highest earning seven years.

I recommend that you take the time to project your earnings before you take anyones advice.

 

You still get less overall cpm with per diem though. Any company that offers per diem, that I have seen at least, keeps a few cents. So, say you were making 35cpm straight, they might give you 8 cpm as per diem non-taxable, but your taxable cpm would be like 24 or 25, for a total of 32-33. It varies from company to company. If you are investment savvy, getting the income up front could make up for that. But anything that uses taxable income as a basis for payouts will be affected.

 

Thank you all for the info here and thanks Tara for starting this and posting honest info!

I go to orientation on Monday after being off the road for some years, I am looking forward to getting back out there.

I requested a non smoking trainer... I also asked if all the trucks have bunks. Would rather not spoon with a big hairy guy. LOL!

I also have my own business, photography, I guess I should let them know that?

Take care and be safe, Larz

 

Larz, I may be back down there this week. It depends on how quick the doctor acts on my test report. As soon as he clears me I will be in training.

 

Are you going to GA??? My DH will start his training on Monday also... He's really stressing about it since the first co. he went to really put a bad taste in his mouth...I PRAYING this will be better!

 

I am in CA. I forgot there was more than one place.

 

Zelda,

I will be going to Phoenix, it is about 25 minutes from where I live. Good luck to him and to you LostSoulCA!