mercer transportation

Thats why I pay our drivers percentage of the gross. I know I wouldn't accept a job on percentage after fuel so I wouldn't expect my drivers to either.

 

How do you figure your drivers pay? I'm not expecting anything from the fsc, but I think 50% would be a bit better.
There is another local Mercer contractor that pays a straight 50%, but the driver is expected to pay half the fuel. I guess that would keep the idle time down . My idle is probably less then .5%, but Summer heat is on the way.

 

The problem is that some customers have high line haul but low fsc rates and others have low line haul and high fsc. On the latter you get screwed in the way that he was paying you but in the Mercer system you don't find out the break down until you're already dispatched.

 

I pay straight 25% to the driver on the gross of the truck. Running a business it is not the employees responsibility to pay overhead costs. What the truck makes the driver gets 25%. No ifs ands or buts about it. That includes FSC.

 

Wow. Things sure got rolling after I quit. Now I'm preplanned all the way to Thursday.

 

Although I find it very friendly of you...if you pay a driver % why would you include the FSC? It is not the linehaul rate and is intended to help the owner offset the steady flux/rising cost of fuel

 

I drove for a guy years ago. Paid me 25% gross and $100 cash advance per week. One day he says he's taking off the fsc and the advance. Three weeks later I had my own.

 

I agree blind go get your own u already know mercers system. Where there's a will there's a way.

 

There should be a fuel surcharge deducted from the gross to the truck. It is very simple, even for small operations. Just look at average MPG over the last year if possible. Let's pretend it is 6 MPG and DOE Nat'l average is $3.5 per gallon, and base price is 1.20/gallon. 3.5-1.2 = 2.3/6 = .38/mi. So the first .38/mi goes to pay for the higher cost of fuel. That should be taken off for all miles loaded and empty. Fuel Surcharges are much higher than this because they are only paid on loaded miles. If you want to factor in empty miles, divide your MPG by 1+DH%. If your DH% is .2 you would divide 2.3/5 = .46/mi. Even if you are only hauling broker freight this is still just. Rates tend to move with with cost of fuel. It may lag quite a bit, but they do tend to move together. Whoever is booking the freight should be looking at the rate net of fuel surcharge. For example, I may tell my ops staff that the rate for a given lane is 2.00/mi + FSC. Our FSC is updated every Monday. I would highly recommend you figure your lane rates the same way. Obviously, you have to look at each load on an individual basis including lots of other factors.

All of that being said, I don't believe in paying company drivers percentage. They are paid to drive the truck, secure cargo, tarp, etc. They have nothing to do with what the load on the truck pays. There may be a very difficult load to tarp. The driver should get extra pay for this, regardless of what the pay is. Again, he has nothing to do with this. He is an employee following orders. This is very overly simplified. I have a much higher regard of my drivers and their professional skills and opinions. That doesn't change HOW they should be compensated. It changes the rate they should be paid.

 

Also, anyone making $500/wk as an open deck company driver should be looking for another job or is very lazy. You also mentioned making twice as much with your own truck. I would strongly advise buying your own truck if $1000/wk is what you are shooting for. That is not even a good week for a company driver on open deck. There are good jobs out there, you just have to look.

Also, I did not intend to call Blind lazy. I have never met him.