My two cents (from per mile to per hour)

Now I'm really going to make you cry, as a new driver you'll be lucky to see 30 cents per mile! While you are out with your trainer it will be more like $400 to $450 per week GROSS! People always say to me you do pretty well as a truck driver, to which I respond my hours are like having two full time jobs during the week and a part time job on the weekend. If you look at driver pay over the past 20 years this industry is way behind on what a driver should be paid! Like oragonads posted DON'T DO THE MATH!!!!!! When you factor in your living costs associated will living on the road over three weeks along with taxes and deductions that $1000.00 per week nets out at about $600.00!

 

since I get paid a split of hourly and percentage, I look at these numbers all the time. My normal hourly rate is $19.50 my percentage rate is 30%. Anytime I do a percentage load, if I'm able to find out the rate ahead of time, I do a comparison to see which way pays better. The company isn't going to change, but it gives me a reference point. Probably 60% of my percentage loads pay better than hourly, and definetly better than mileage. But once again, there is everything everyone has brought up you have to figure in. I did a load recently that my pay, on percentage was $390 for 13.25 hr day, roughly $29.43 per hour. That was a .25 pre-trip, 5.5 hrs to the customer, just shy of 2 hrs loading, and 5.5 hrs back to the yard. I made good on that load. By comparison, the next day I did a bean load. Again, .25 hr pre-trip, 3.5 hrs up, 2 hrs to load, 3.5 hrs back, .5 hrs off-loading the container at the rail. This load paid me $155.00 for the day, avg. out to $15.89/hr. Some loads benefit me, some loads benefit the company.