Arnold Drivers <recent & current>?

Whats is the average miles a week do you drive for regional?

 

People are always lookin for more. If you average 400 miles a day for 6 days a week thats still 2400 miles, if youre getting noobie pay after 3 months its .33cpm 2400x.33= $792 gross. thats not a horrible week and you didnt have to kill yourself to get it.

I never had a problem making money with Arnold, my problem with them is that they NEVER could get me home on time. If they could have gotten me home on time Id still be working for them, insted I took a marginal pay cut and am working for USX now insted. But im getting home when I want to.

Oh and bite me Gene if youre reading this.

 

I left out for Jax orientation Sunday 13 May and finally have access to the internet. I got hired on and sat for 3 days after orientation to get a trainer. He picked me up at midnight and had me drive from Jax to Miami. He slept for about half of the drive. Then drove to Tampa later in the day and arrived around 2130. I was dropped off at a hotel because he was due for home time. Come Monday morning I called and checked in with my dispatcher and, well, I forget the official name, but I'll call him my student driver manager. I told them about it and they pulled me off the truck. I sat for a couple days in Tampa, then they bused me back to Jax where I sat a couple more days. I just got a phone call saying that my stuff that was on my trainers truck arrived in Jax and where I need to go to claim it. They also said they are sending me home today because my new trainer is due for home time and there's just no sense in me sitting in a hotel. I don't have enough experience with them to really call it either way, but so far they have done what they said they would do and moved quickly to make things right. Time will tell if they are worth staying with. The only negative check mark on them from me so far is the $0.005 cpm raise after one year. Most of the other companies I looked at before choosing Arnold wait until your 4th or 5th year to whip out the half penny raise. I'm planning on giving them the full year unless they suddenly do something completely stupid. Just my two cents. (I'll try to explain their per diem when I get home.)

 

Why didn't t you just stay at the hotel until your trainer finished his hometime? They still pay you. Anyway, be patient. I will be upgrading next week and so far they have been ontime with the money and keep you moving. Good luck!

 

I go where they tell me to go and I wasn't going to pass up home time to wait on my trainer. Also, my new trainer lives 90 miles from me, so it makes more sense to send me home than to have me in Jax and him in Alabama.

 

Per diem as explained by Arnold.

The government allows up to $58/day while OTR. The following example is based on a 2500 mile week at $0.33cpm.

Without per diem

Mileage pay - $825
Fica/SSN - -$63.11
Fed Tax - -$206.25
State Tax - -$49.50
Per diem - N/A
Weekly take home - $506.14

With Per diem

Mileage pay ($0.128 cpm) $320
Fica/SSN - -$24.48
Fed tax - -$80
State tax - -$19.20
Per diem ($0.162) - $405
Weekly take home - $601.32

with per diem +$95.18

So yes, with per diem, your cpm is reduced by 4cpm, but you're only taxed on $0.128 cpm. $0.162cpm is tax free. There are reasons to take it and reasons not to. I'm not a tax professional (thank god), so it's a decision that you have to make for yourself. Now that I'm home I can finally run the numbers on a spreadsheet. If I figure something out and have time before I hit the road, I'll post my findings.

 

Per diem summarized- paying a company to pay you less. Every professional driver should itemize their taxes(with a trucking accountant unless you know all the deductions and writeoffs you can claim) It's what an accountant does and it's the
best way to get your money back from the IRS. With few exceptions, per diem is another trucking industry scam (keeps the company from paying full unemloyment and reduces your benefit and income you can claim when applying for loans)for people who are bad with money.

 

Wow, my experience with Arnold was not a good one. I was based out of Jax. Apparently, they were good before acquisition by USXpress, but in my 3 months there I struggled to get detention and layover time and dispatch made so many mistakes (wrong pu's, trailers, mixed up loads). All this for a whopping .32cpm. IMO it makes more sense to go with a smaller family run carrier with a good safety record. Unfortunately for many drivers they will also need a good record with a few years wheel time.