Is "Per Hour" Compensation Safer, and is $24 / hr Good for an Experienced Driver with a Safe Record?

Your username is funny

 

Here is a good place to start:
http://www.dli.mn.gov/LaborLaw.asp

My question: Is this going to be a intrastate or interstate position?

Answer 1:
In general, as long as you are requiring the employee to perform duties related to the job, you would be required to pay that employee. So, if you pay an employee hourly and that employee follows the HOS regulations, you could be paying him for up to 14 hours per day. Transportation employees are usually exempt from things like minimum wage and overtime, but that would be something to ask your state DOL Wage & Hour bureau about directly. You wouldn't be required to pay for commute time or anything like that, but if you require the employee to be on the clock for 10 hours per day then you would pay for 9.5 hours (30 minute lunch) no matter what the employee is doing. Obviously, commute time to and from their home isn't going to be something you pay for, but anything else related to driving, loading or unloading the truck, fueling, scaling the rig, waiting to be loaded for a backhaul, etc. should all be paid.

Answer 2:
The hourly wage depends on the average for your area. Minnesota is a decent sized state, so what is average pay in Minneapolis might be astronomical in Thief River Falls. A good way to get a ballpark figure would be to ask yourself "Could I live comfortably on X amount per hour?" Basically, would you personally take that job for that rate of pay? $24 out here in New Mexico is awesome money and you would be doing very, very well with that. The same might not be true in whatever city you are looking to hire. I'm not saying that you have to pay someone an absurd amount of money, but you need to make the pay commensurate with the experience and requirements of the position.

 

How many days home out of otr, 24 will get you a good mn driver, but how long will they be out, how much manual labor, excc.. Alot goes into it.

 

Most drivers who are paid by the mile are not compensated for anything other than driving. They are expected to do things like fueling, pre-trip inspections, weigh stations, loading and unloading, etc. for free. That is a major gripe amoung OTR drivers. They are never paid for 10 hr breaks taken in the truck, away from home. Most drivers are willing to do this stuff for free if the cpm rate is high enough.

Local drivers are usually paid by the hour. They clock in and are compensated for all labor, driving and otherwise, until they clock out and go home at the end of the day. Trucking companies, for the most part, are exempt from paying overtime for hours over 40. Some of the better companies, however, choose to pay their drivers an overtime rate. This is so that they can attract and retain quality drivers.

I work a local job and I get paid a salary. I have a total of 7 customers that I service, and I run 5 nights per week and off weekends. Each individual night's route depends on what the customers order. Some nights I may only have 3 stops, other nights I may have all 7. It just depends, but I get paid the same each week no matter how many stops I do in a week. If I have to do 7 stops in a night, I will run 472 miles round-trip and work about 9.5 hours. Other nights may be much less in mileage and time.

I really like getting paid salary because my check is always the same. That makes planning for household expenses much easier than when I ran OTR and got mileage pay. The difference from week to week could sometimes be significant. I feel that I am very adequately compensated for the work that I do and I don't think that I would be happy to go back to getting paid by the mile again.

As far as the legal technicalities of paying a driver, I would advise contacting your state's dept of labor. They could direct you to the proper resources that are specific to your situation. Hope this helps and if you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

 

Btw 130,000 is 2,500 a week, dont think 35 to 40 hours a week is gonna cut it ..

 

I hope it doesn't take 70 hours to run 2500 miles, street beeter. More like 50. Also, I've only worked for one outfit ever that paid to sleep in the truck. $25 a night or she would buy a room, my choice. I took the money and slept in the truck, duh.

 

Just use owner operators then all your worrys are over

 

My last job was with an international chemical distributor/mfgr. (Private fleet as is your situation), was pd (hourly) by logbook on-duty and driving time, time-and-a-half after 8 hrs and 40 hrs. So, any time at shipper/consignee I logged on duty, as well as pre-trip/post-trip, fueling, DOT insp, etc.

My rate was $24.50 and I guess my average week was between 45-50 hours. (Sometimes less, sometimes more) Also, as mentioned prev, OT after 8 hrs/40 hrs. Home most weekends/holidays pd/off. Basically, all time was pd except 10hr breaks. Great gig, but I left for a local job.

So, no. I wouldn't run 130k miles/year for $24hr/40hrs (50k) unless the boss was going to send his hot daughter on the road with me to um , help and I only have 3 years exp and clean MVR ,, you want 5 yrs exp

 

call swift.
they have some new immigrants from syria willing to drive for .10 cpm at their helm