Glad I moved over to Poly Trucking

I meant to ask the payroll person about the no pay thing
when I was at GP this morning ...but I got sidetracked
It was my understanding we get 100 a day break-down
...layover... etc

Since its doesn't seem that way , I will simply not do the Henderson
thing again ...

 

They didn't pay detention either back when I drove for them six years ago. I think Poly essentially decided to "average" various accessorial pay categories like these into its hub-based cpm pay, as a means of reducing administrative burden on both driver and company without reducing driver compensation. That drivers can easily make $80K/year at Poly is a testament to this theory.

 

I've always watched my pay settlements like a hawk ever since I started driving 18-wheeler in 1994, but with that said, all I ever really cared about was my annual income. If my annual income was working out fine, then layovers never bothered me (paid or unpaid).

 

That would be 160,000 miles per year
3076 miles per week
for 52 weeks straight
Am I misunderstanding your posting ?

PS: Im not sweating the small stuff .
What counts for me personally is how much
do I have to show for it in the bank at the end
of the year

 

let us not forget all the drop pay because of the way Poly does their trip numbers. Depending on how many shorter runs you chose, you could get a decent amount on drop pay alone, especially if the driver liked doing the M&P multistop loads.

 

Trip numbers ?????

Ive heard various stories from several drivers , and still don't see it.
Every trip I have ever undertaken no matter how few or many drops
begins when I leave the Poly plant and ends when I come through
the gate and and back onto a Poly plant .From there I don't leave out on
anything less than a completely new trip number after that and the
drop pay cycle starts fresh.

I've had several drivers claim to be doing something
to "squeeze" extra drop pay out of some of the trips as they
pass from plant to plant and holding their paperwork until they
get back to GP. ( as if not turning in the paperwork stacks up their
drops on already completed trips or something ...still not sure of
what they were trying to say )

So clear this up for me if you can

 

You are doing it the same as I did, trip numbers stay the same until you return to GP or pick up another outbound, but until you turn your paperwork in at GP(or if you choose to drop it at Poly West or UPN), your stop pay continues. So if you have 2 or 3 backhaul loads to get you to GP, then those stops add up since all the backhaul loads stay under the beginning outbound trip number.

 

From the first of last November 2016 to October 31, 2017 I turned 158,434 miles. Add that to the drop pay, 401K additions and the other smaller pays and I grossed right at 90K for that time period. We are making close to 0.60/mile with the additional pay if you take advantage of the matching 401K. Only had one breakdown that cost me time and that was only a couple of days when I was already low on hours so the breakdown pay and the reset actually probably brought me out ahead of where I would have been if I would have been running. Probably could knock out over 90K for the tax year but decided to take a few extra days break this time at home, still should be pretty close as I intend on staying out until around Christmas when I leave out on Tuesday. Makes me laugh when I read #### like "I dodged a bullet as I nearly went to work at Poly".
And yes you are losing money every time you turn in paperwork outside of your home terminal because you have to reset your drop/pickup start point but I see drivers do it all the time.

 

I started right after you in 2012 and we were tracking one of your trips during orientation.
They were talking of you in glowing terms back then, so you won them over early. It doesn't surprise me that you're doing good. Attitude does play a part, especially in a small company like this. You also have the ability and the willingness to go the extra mile. We both have been killing it this year, but have you been able to pull this off the whole 5 years?

The way the job was presented to me, I figured I could make 75k right off the bat. Here's my numbers for the last 5 years, just mileage and drops, not 401 K, vacation etc.

2013. 58,105/ 3120
2014. 57,638 / 3120

John and Carl left, my pay went up drastically overnight.

2015. 68,841 / 2550
2016. 62,049. / 2520
2017. I should make between 75-80.

I'm not doing anything different this year, there's just a couple new people in key positions that like me and it shows by the loads they are making available to me.

I'll take the blame for about 5-7k less a year for bad decisions. The rest depended on OB, BH, poorly maintaned equipment due to both the shop and drivers not reporting issues and just leaving defective equipment for the next driver to deal with. Part of it is personal, which is what I don't like about small companies. This is my first company with less than 1000 trucks. There is no profit motive here either, which hurts me since I want to be judged on what I can produce. I have always been in the top 5-10 % at each company for 15 years prior coming here.

I have cordial relations with the people here, but overall it has been a disappointment. I'm grateful to be alive, but I haven't been able to live up to my potential . I have left a lot of money on the table.

Also, I have probably slip seated 50 times. I met one driver who lived near DFW that had one loaner, then he got a new truck which he drove for 700,000 miles with only one road breakdown, and it was fixed in two hours. So some people luck out.