Need some old school drivers advice.

They are both screwed deals. 22% is way to low for todays market.

40% of net profit is a guarantee you will be taken to the cleaners. If it is my truck I can make "net profit" look what I want it to look.

You make the common mistake drivers make when evaluating percentage pay; you fail to consider or tell us what you are doing, for who, and whose loads you running for that percentage. Percentage means nothing unless you can connect the dots.

For example you running spot van at those percentage: DAT puts the van market around $1.65 this week. @ 22% that is $.36CPM at 40% net, with the guy saying his costs are $1.30 a mile, your at .4(1.65-1.30) = $.14cpm. Either way that is way below market a 2 year driver should bring. Their is way more to the percentage pay game then you are led to believe.

 

50/50 of the net would seem absurd to me if I owned the truck. I say that not to start an argument, but if I'm a truck owner, and I assume the risk of running a business and hiring people to run my trucks, why would I only do it for 50% of the net? I mean, the owner of the company has all the risk. And pay a driver the same as I get? Doesn't seem like a good deal from the owners standpoint.

 

Dude, I offer my drivers 40% of the gross, not 40% of the net. I am still low compared to other owners I know.

If I would put a cpm on my 40% of my net I think it would be about 21 cents.

 

What it should be.....what it WILL be for me to work anywhere on percentage, is percentage of the gross.... and I want to see it in black and white.... what it costs to operate to run that load is not my problem. Tolls,scale tickets,fuel,etc.

I don't own the truck so therefore I shouldn't have to share the cost of operating it. The agreed percentage of the gross is what you pay me or no deal. And I want a confirmation sheet of the rate faxed to me before I move the truck to go pick up the load..

Guess that's why I have never worked for these percentage scrum bags. They are all crooked IMO and I don't trust no-one anyway. That's my story and I'm sticking to it

 

I wouldn't do the 40% of profits.to many variables in that.22% would depend on freight there doing.My experience company drivers all ways do better at a good mileage rate with benefits.

 

Show me the keys let go. No chicken here.

I think the fuel burn is minor when shifting is incorrect for short periods of time. The truck will generally show behavior it's time to shift up or down. It will either fall down on it's face or buck.

 

Ive run 25% of gross to the truck before and they take care of that fuel and stuff. I get to buy tires if I hurt them but that's about it. It's potentially a thousand or somewhere beyond per week to the driver depending on how well the multiple stops play out. Loaded one time for 30 stops across the North east with a reefer is alot of fun, a whole weeks worth of unloading. LTL style.

Next time I'll just run coast to coast and rake in the mileage. The tightfisted cheap yankees up there in the NE can find someone else to pickup half a pallet.

 

Actually when I shot the 50 50 number on the net, it should be closer to 75 25 with the owner getting 25. Net after all expenses means the owner isn't really taking a risk. All the payments are coming out of the drivers side. The owner only has to put the deal together. I promise investors 12% on their money and they are happy with that.

If you think that taking a risk is something that deserves a reward you are doing it wrong. As an owner you do everything you can by getting rid of risk. Jerome Hunt was famous for saying he only needed to make 1 dollar per truck per day. With 10,000 trucks that is a nice little income.

The truth of the matter is that an over the road trucker should be making $75.000 plus a year. Figure out any formula that gives you that number and go with it.

 

Yeah, I'll agree with most of that Woolly. I guess I think a bit differently. I personally would never risk having a few trucks with drivers in them, and not be rewarded for the risk and other BS involved. I mean if one driver wrecks a truck and kills the wrong person, I could lose everything. And for that reason, I'll never own a fleet on anything but my terms.

 

W

While an owner does have more risk, it isn't true he has all of it. If o work for you, and you are an egghead, I'm risking unemployment or financial ruin right along with you, depending on how long you talk me into staying aboard your sinking ship. (And I said this demonstrationally. I do not know, nor was I implying, you are, indeed an egghead). An owner should make more. That's the entire point of being an owner. But no owner should think his drivers have no risk in working there. Our entire livelihood depends on you, as an owner, making smart decisions. Unemployment isn't fun. Especially when it catches you by surprise. I'd say more drivers are screwed over by their company, that vice versa.