Indian River

That sucks! Sorry to hear that. Since you’re in Wells, I assume they were dead heading you to Washington like I figured. Hopefully they get you fixed up and rolling quick.

 

What is your monthly average on miles? At a job like this where the pay periods are weekly, it can be hard to view things on a daily or weekly basis. A driver might pick up a 2,000 mile load towards the end of the week that might not deliver until Tuesday morning - 12 hours after the paperwork cutoff for that week. When that happens, that particular week may seem like a small paycheck or short miles, but then the following week is twice as big where it ends up equaling out if you add the 2 weeks together and divide by 2.

I had over 4,000 paid miles this past week. If next week only has 2,000 miles, it will still average out to 3,000 miles for both weeks and so on.

I would take a monthly average and see where you’re at dividing it by 4 since most months have 4 weeks. If I’m averaging 12,000 miles per month, it doesn’t matter to me whether it’s evenly spread out at 3K per week. Doing long hauls in 7 day pay periods, it’s almost impossible to get it to work out perfect like that. As long as that monthly average is floating around 12,000 miles that’s all that matters to me.

 

Every week is not a 4,000 mile week for me. 3,000 has always been a good average for me. That’s not 3,000 every week though. That’s 2,500 one week, 3,500 the next, 2,000 one week, 4,000 the next, 2,800 one week, 3,200 the next, and so on.

When I average mine it’s always been around 12,000 miles per month.

 

The fluctuation with mine is usually due to delivery times, the length of loads I haul, and 7 day pay periods.

It’s not uncommon for me to run a 1,000 mile load, deliver it, then get dispatched on a 1,800 mile load going from let’s just say Memphis to Bakersfield. Sounds like a 2,800 mile week, right? The kicker is...paperwork cutoff is Monday at midnight. The bill of lading doesn’t get signed and scanned in until Tuesday morning at 9am. Even though I ran 2,800 miles that week, I’m only going to see 1,000 of it on my paycheck. The following week is when I will get paid for those other 1,800 miles. I may leave Bakersfield, load in Visalia to go to Florida and have 3,000 miles plus the 1,800 mile carry over from the previous week. So in a situation like that, I have a 1,000 mile check this week but a 4,800 mile check the next week.

That’s why I never look at things on a weekly basis. I look at the monthly average. I don’t have very much debt or any kids, and I’m pretty good about saving money, so the weeks where I have a small check due to a funky delivery time being after the cutoff doesn’t affect me. I end up getting it the following check.

 

I haven’t done a Memphis to Bakersfield in a long time. I was just using that as an example in the scenario because it was one that came to mind that I knew was around 1,800 miles.

I understand you not liking the short hops. I don’t either, but I take the bad with the good. There are times where I’m in Bensalem at the terminal and get asked to shuttle a trailer 52 miles away or run a short load from Indiana to New York or something like that. It happens, and I don’t care for loads like that, but I do it and I always know in my mind they’ll make up for it by sticking me on a long haul or giving me my pick at 2 or 3 choices within a day or 2.

If you call in to the terminal who’s dispatch umbrella you will be coming into and ask for what you’re wanting, they’re good about working with you. If you’re delivering somewhere in the California region, call them the day of your delivery and tell them who you are, your truck number, where it is you’re going to be delivering, and then say something like “Do you have any good outbound loads you can put me on?” The dispatcher who answers will usually rattle off a few things that are available and let you take your pick. Sometimes the type of trailer you’re pulling or the previous 3 loads that were in it will force them to do something else with you or limit their options. Not always, but sometimes that’s the case. If you call in ahead of time to the next region and bring them up to speed on who you are, where you’re going to be empty, and what you’re wanting next, they’ll usually hook you up.