Hourly or mileage

Mileage will never be better than hourly if the hourly wage is truely an hourly job. I got paid every minute I was working at higher than union scale. Anything over 10 hours a day was overtime and I could work a full day of overtime if I wanted to. That was the gasoline business and it's a little different than OTR.

You'll never see many companies pay by the hour for OTR jobs. The last one I know of was UPS on their line haul and they got good money. Over $20 an hour in 1990. Freight companies would go broke if they had to pay the drivers for waiting to load or unload a good hourly wage.

 

Well, where Mike works, the hourly paid drivers work 10 hour shifts and the mileage drivers work 12 hour shifts. Mike is paid to sit as well as to wait. He earns quite a bit more than the hourly paid drivers just because he works two more hours daily than they do. When it's bad weather, he definitely earns less.

For the most part, hourly is the way to go to get the most consistently high pay cheque.

 

I think by far that it is better to be paid by the hour. After reading so many posts on here, it only makes sence. I am sure that there are OTR drivers that make as much but how often are they home? It also appears that most of the companies pay for waiting time after 2 hours. I guess that is better than nothing but to give up your time is not right.

I know that there are probably a handlful of Regional companies that pay by the hour. I don't know of any OTR drivers that are paid that way. I know that the vast majority are paid by the mile. Fine but pay them for their on duty time as well.

Unless there is a mileage driver that wants to disagree and can show their weekly earnings, hourly will get my vote.

Drive safe

 

I get paid by the hour. Problem is that I am a mechanic first and a driver second. When a trip comes up and the company needs someone to drive the truck they come to 14 of us in my department. By the way I am union with the OCU (office commitee union) don't ask because I don't know how they got that name. I get paid to sit there, I get paid when I am driving. I get paid from the time I leave the hotel to the time I check in another at the end of a day. Yes we spend or nights in hotels. I get paid when I am at my 34 hour reset if I am still away from home. They pay for fuel and meals. For working a full 70 hours plus time off duty that I am away from home I will clear $1,200 and I just started last june. So I don't think that I am doing to bad.

 

A properly run company can offer the driver a choice of the 2. And it will be within a few dollars either way. Provided, they understand logistics and are not afraid of heavy loads and LTL.

However, many companies see paying mileage as a way to save themselves money. While they have the driver sit for hours, if not days waiting on a better paying load.

I get paid by the mile. It works great...to a point. That point is being asked to pull a long load and remaining OTR for a week or more. However, I have a fair business sense also. I understand there are times that we/I am asked to do things out of the norm, to insure that the freight gets where it needs to be, when it needs to be.

I'll take a small hit, to protect my company and my job. I always see a return on the back end. So it's win-win for both of us.

And truthfully, I never use my 70 when I am regional. But I always use it when I am OTR making the same (sometimes less) money...sad but true.

As a former small business owner, I understand there are weeks that you eat beans to insure you eat steak for the remaining weeks.

 

I agree that hourly would probably be better BUT....your hourly rate has to be high enough to qualify that. There are many jobs out there that pay hourly plus overtime after 8 or 40 but if its a low rate then mileage or by the job might be better. It just depends on the particular job

 

paid by the mile i made more money then i do now... however i am just starting out at this local gig. i make $10 an hour - 10 hours a day - 5 days a week. off weekends. i get my first check on friday. i am told that anything over 40 hours is overtime... im curious to see what my check looks like. i worked 46 hours last week and 56 this week. (traffic and weather sometimes force me to work an extra hour or so)

99.998% drop n hook. i go thru 8-10 trailers a day, come home dirty every day, drive equipment almost as old as i am haha... but hell i sleep in my own bed every night. i have my weekends off. and i have a life now. so i cant complain.

 

I would look for percentage pay. No less than 25% if local / regional and no less than 28% for OTR, always seemed to work out better for me than by the mile BS. Just to give an example, back in 1991, right before I got my own gig, I would run from Linwood,NC to Charlotte,nc, 2 times per day for $82.50 per trip, with about 15 minutes at each end delay, in 6.5 hours. $165.00 for 6.5 hrs = $25.38 and that was in 1991.(by the way that was at 25% of haul rate) for 83 miles round trip (= .993 cpm round trip)
But then, I progressed, I got my own #'s,and the rst is history.
Good luck ,, and please for the sake of industry think ithw your head first, then your wallet. i.e. 3000 mi at .33 cpm is the same as 2415 at .41cpm, if you can get it. If you do percentage, make sure , during interview, you ask what rates they haul for.....Don't be scared,....... They need you more than you need them.....Ask about different lanes and the such. this always!!!! affects rates. Basically learn all you can about the industry, and you will not be in a position of disadvantage, as most company drivers, let alone those "conditioned" O/O's. Knowledge is power. ALL truckers are worth something, somewhere, at the right time.P.S. YOU NEVER!!!!!!!! Wanna get paid by the hour in the transportation industry!!!!!!!!!! It's to easy for them to (dump on) you on OT unless it's a government contract. and that includes mechanics as well.