Knight Shake up

Knight did you a favor. Don't get discouraged about your termination. Many companies are terminating for any reason they can find just to keep from paying unemployment benefits and other employers know that. Try not to settle for these companies that fax you an application then start orientation on Monday.

 

I am not by any means discouraged, frustrated yes and so is my wife. It wasn't a blow from Knight. "Our policy is we can not be the first company to hire you after a termination". She (the recruiter) told me to call them back after I am reemployed for 3-6 months.

My time in (less then 2 yrs) is a major problem since a lot of company's have upped the anti from 1yr to 2yr and I seen as high as 3yrs experience required OTR. Wholly Molly Bat Man! That hurts. To get over the hump of a year I went lease owner operator and lost $18,000.00. NOW THAT BITES! Even with that in mind I am staying away from the mid barrel company's and lower.

 

Yea IDC tried that with me. Put terminated on my DAC and tried to deny benefits after I had it changed to quit. When I explained to the arbitrator for employment security that my quiting was only due to the necessity of not having a termination on my record for future employment in trucking. They agreed that IDC's intent was to terminate regardless of my quiting before they had the opportunity. I took full advantage of IDC's game playing which cost them.

Though rules are different in some states. A termination usually does not disqualify you for benefits unless the company can prove your actions where due to misconduct. In my case I had had no verbal or written admonishment,in the past, just a minor prevent accident without citation. Hence benefits approved.

 

per diem isnt for everyone. i am on discount tire dedicated out of bunkerhill indiana. i average about 2000 mi a week. with stop pay and unload pay, i take home after benes and tax, bout 960.00 a week. not to bad. i calculated not being on per diem, bout 800.00 a week. per diem works for me.

 

Ok, I am new to the trucking world as a truckers wife, he isn't been doing it for 10? years. Can someone tell me what the Knight Refridgerated perdiem thing is? He just started out of Phoenix, put an app in and they called 15 minutes later. I see some positve about Knight Ref and seems like more negative. I hope things go ok, but I guess you never know. Thanks for your time!

 

Every driver is allowed per diem. I forget the exact amount because I let my account do all that for me. I think it comes to an average of $48 a day. But most people dont know is that if you look in the book that a good tax account has you will find that per diem is more in some areas. example is in lubbock tx you are eligble for the min amount but if your in LA for the day then your amount is $71 a day. My tax account goes through every page of my log book for the yr to figure where I am and adjust according to where I was for that day. Last yr I stay out away from home 340 days. Thats a big deduction in my taxes. Now Knight will pay u your per diem instead of you having to file at the end of the yr. GREAT for some who is expecting money back from the goverment and dosnt need the deduction. Now lets look at it this way too. If knight does give you ur per diem now they get to keep I think its 2 cents on the dollar for them doing you this great service. And lets say u dont take the per diem option and claim the deduction on your taxes and take the flat rate across the board at $48 a day times 340 days...48 x 340 = 16320..Now go ahead and give knight back 2 cents on everyone of them $16320 dollar bills and they make money off the driver. It might only be 320 dollars or so but think of all the drivers that take this option and thats a little chunk of change going back to knight...but it all is up to the family if they want the money now or use it later in the tax season...Me personally I never did like giving back any part of my pay even if it was only 2 cents on the dollar

 

Thanks, I didn't know what it meant that he was getting the per diem from them. I did know that we get to claim it as a deduction at the end of the year, he was working for a company locally and was doing out of town runs, so I started tracking it. As far as I can tell its now $59 dollars a day, and you can only take 75% on the days you leave and the day you come home which still isn't bad. I'm sure he just took the per diem from them because it sounded like a good idea at the time

 

The biggest advantage to per diem for the trucker is you don't have to keep track of receipts and details. You make a higher net paycheck.
The advantage to the company is your taxable income is less so they pay less on Social Security and SDI (CA), thereby saving them money.
The disadvantage to the trucker is your gross taxable income is less so if you need to use this for credit worthiness, it hurts. Also, your paid Social Security tax is less and will mean less in benefits when you start drawing (not always, but mostly). Also it lowers the total amount you can put into your 401K or other retirement programs in most cases.

 

Also, Knight sets aside so many cents per mile (forget exactly how much now) as per diem thatis not taxed, the problem with that is drivers are entitled to per diem EVERY DAY SPENT ON AWAY FROM HOME, so if you are sitting a some crappyass truck stop because they allegedly can't get you a load, you are still writing off the $59 a day. But with Knight's scheme, no miles = no per diem deduction.
I worked for them for 11 months, per diem is OK if you have NO OTHER DEDUCTIONS.
BTW, Knight refrigerated really sucks!
Pm me if you want more info. Hope that helpd