Millis Training Diary - August 24th Class - Trenton, OH

The upside is the vacation and child support but you do not, by any means, take home the same pay. That's the company line BS line right there.

Per Diem rips you off at tax time. The company uses your tax break for themselves...you lose the per diem daily rate for expenses on the road. You make MORE per mile going straight paythan per diem. If you are Per Diem and you get hurt, your taxable income is quite a bit lower and your short and long term disability reflect that drop in pay and it also effects your retirement income because your income is lower. There is a buttload of reasons to NOT go per diem...ask your accountant, he'll set you straight.

And for the record, this trucking per diem is a scam anyway. Per Diem was designed to be additional pay above your regular salary to offset food, lodging, and travel expenses for people out on the road. The Trucking Industry corrupted this extra pay by reducing your income and telling you they did you a favor.

But, he is right about the fact that they do give you a week more vacation because they use that as bait to make you go per diem. And vacation pay doesn't make up for a $50 a week difference in pay based on 2500 miles a week. Multiply that by 52 and your losing $2600 a year for an extra week of vacation.

And don't forget the tax write off you get for every dollar you spend on the road when you are non per diem. That's a bunch of extra money right there too.

 

Getting a paid vacation after 6 months is no where near worth what you will loose by going Per Diem. Again, it does help people wanting to make it look like your making less for child support cases or alimony but that's about the only reason it would make sense. Mostly for the reasons Solo_Seat stated above.
I'm not sure, but isn't that extra week vacation only for the one time use after the first 6 months?

 

This quote is false. While there is a benefit for the company to have you on perdiem pay it does not take away your ability to claim perdiem at the end of the year. Like you said, talk to your accountant. The only difference at the end of the year is you will take the amount of perdiem pay you received and subtract it from the amount you are allowed by the government. I average around $17,000 of perdiem allowance when I do my taxes. I doubt you are getting that in perdiem pay from Millis. (on regional anyway)

All of your other arguments I have gone over before and I'm not going to rehash them yet again. You seem pretty emotional about the pay thing anyway which means you don't want a discussion you just want to assert your opinion, so have at it.

If you go back and see my old discussions on perdiem I recommend it to new guys for their first year just for the bonuses and vacation. After the first year make your own assessment and switch over if you want.

 

yes, but you get two weeks on your second year anyway.

 

Wow, apparently the "per diem" question has a number of very strong responses.

It was just one of many questions I was looking for opinions on.

I am not even in the industry yet (scheduled to begin class on Jan 11)...
Thanks!

 

pay can get emotional anywhere

 

My best advice is for 2 of the trainees to get together, one go per diem the other go non per diem. Compare your checks after you get your own truck. You'll see for yourself, the non per diem guy is making quite a bit more money every week. And I did have a CPA that did my taxes every year. His words were per diem is ########.

 

I guess your saying Old School was wrong too? Whose opinion are you pushing, yours or the company's?

 

Dude, calm down. There is no right/wrong answer on this. Everybody situation is different and like you said best thing to do is consult a appropriate tax professional.

 

Dude, I am calm. And there sure is a right and wrong answer on this. I've been here a bit longer than you have and this was a long discussion a few years back. So, if you don't have the history, you don't understand the discussion LB is referring to.