How much is 24% of the load?

Easiest way to screw the driver is to pay the % on the freight and not include the fuel surcharge.

 

Different companies charge different rates so 24% at one company might be better than 26% at another. It might not be but it ain't clear cut thing that the higher percentage is better. And again most companies don't share what their rates are with drivers so there's no way to ever truly know if the pay is right or even how it compares to others paying percentage. It's a big grey area. A huge red flag imo.

 

The surcharge goes to the truck for fuel it doesn't belong to the driver. But again, this is one of the cloudy, murky reasons why percentage pay isn't such a great thing for employee drivers.

 

Percentage pay has so much room for dishonesty it's hard to compare % pay at one company versus another company. Even if everyone involved is 100% honest, % pay often but not always calculates % pay AFTER some expenses are deducted. Some dishonest companies show one rate to the customer to move a load of freight and a very different rate to the driver. It's much harder to compare % pay among companies than CPM, per load, or hourly pay. Percentage pay doesn't necessarily mean a company is shady or disrespecting drivers. Some great trucking companies pay drivers based on hub miles, and some companies pay drivers based on zipcode to zipcode or household mover's guide. Every way to pay a driver has a way to be super honest or cheat the driver. IMO, percentage pay has the most room for a dishonest company to cheat a driver, but I know drivers that make lots of money through % pay, and I know companies that are not dishonest that pay % pay. I'd rather have 0.001% of a billion dollars than 30% of a million dollars ($1,000,000 vs $300,000).

Companies paying percentage may deduct a flat fee, FSC, other fees and then pay the driver a percentage of that smaller amount. Or, companies may show the customer and the drivers the same cost per load and make a straight calculation. You need to know those types of details to decide if the % is good or bad.

I cannot recommend this too strongly. Give your contact info to the company and tell them you need a newer driver and a veteran driver at the company to contact you. Then ask both drivers questions like how much did you make last week, before any deductions? How many hours did you work last week? How many loads did you move last week. How much does insurance and benefits cost you per paycheck? Ask any other questions you think are necessary to make a decision. DO NOT ask questions like "is this a good place to work?" Should I work here, or will I be happy here? You want raw information, not opinions. What each driver thinks is "good" or "happy" or "acceptable" varies based on too many things unique to that one driver to have them decided by someone but you.

 

I agree 100 percent. You interpreted exactly what I was trying to convey. Hopefully these places haul nothing cheap. My buddy was working for P&S Transportation I think they pay their drivers on percentage too, 27 percent I believe. At the time, it wasn't forced dispatch. The problem was that the company struggled at times toget loads covered going to the Northeast or above the Ohio River. Then the drivers complained about checks being short because of wanting to run the south non stop, especially in the winter. I think they moved to forced dispatch right before he quit. I could be wrong there.

 

Some companies do give it to the driver if they are lease purchase, but yes, i'd rather have mileage pay any day.

 

Could very well be a game changer, could very well not be. 10k could just be taxes. 10k could also be left on the table if the company isn't all that transparent. I agree about the empty miles. That means that company is probably deadheading drivers huge miles too.

 

I’m paid on percentage at my job now. We don’t deadhead much because that costs the company money too. I have a lot of days where I unload and reload at the same places.

 

24 is on the lower side, but what do the rest of the benefits look like?

 

P&S pays better than that….