Pay advice

Correct. I don't like to guarantee a minimum. It has caused me nothing but headaches in the past. But I do so now just have one but its way lower than what your suggesting. I want guys to hustle. Why push it if you're gonna make 1200 a week regardless? Make that minimum much lower and you'll figure out who wants to work real quick

 

Walmart is paying .38 cpm mile now.
And I know you don't have 600 trillion dollars in
The bank like they do.
.45cpm is fine.
If you want to give them a few more pennies,
Let them put a couple months in to see if their
worth it.
They might not be worth .35cpm
Saves you from paying a slug more than he's worth.

 

As a Walmart company driver for 27 years and an O-O for 17 before that I can fully appreciate what you're trying to accomplish. If the freight rates were where they should be, you could pay more than .45, but unfortunately they are not. Walmart 10 hour layover pays $42 for sleeper time and very, very few companies offer anything like that.

As long as you can offer decent insurance, a good retirement plan and a paid vacation/holiday plan you should not have any trouble finding qualified drivers @ .45 per mile.

Keep checking it out, only you will know what eventually works.

 

I think a lot of companies pay their drivers by experience and expectation.
For example, a starting driver should make, say $800 a week. We'll, if the freight and miles support it, you can pay between. 30 and .40 a mile. Whereas, a 5 year guy might be looking for $1200 a week.
My point is this....think about what kind of driver you want, think about what his expectations are, think about the freight / miles and back one number into another and you'll get your answer.

For example, driver needs to make $1000 a week. You can easily expect that he'll run 2500 miles....so, it's .40 per mile. On the other hand, if he's only going to run 2000 miles, the correct answer would be .50. See?

 

I'm fortunate to work for a company that did just that, reviewed my years of experience and gave me a raise after the evaluation period (after I proved myself). Made my years of experience feel valued finally, not just in dollars per hour or mileage pay, they valued my dependability, capabilities ,etc.

Hats off to you sir, you sound like an honest, reasonable owner. No doubt you'll find two good drivers with your mentality.

 

I think paying $40 for tarping is low if you're getting over $100 from the customers. I can understand replacement costs for tarps and bungees, but it's not like detention where the pay is split because the truck and business are also being tied up alongside the driver.

 

What if he's not getting any additional money specified for tarping?
What if he's getting $35 for tarping and still paying $40?

What he's paying is based on what it's worth as drivers labor, not vs what he gets paid.