Percentage or Milage Pay...Whats better?

Percentage. You make more money.

 

Do they run the mileage on a sliding scale or is it straight mileage? Also, how does the fuel surcharge work? Is it 100% ot the truck plus the %of the line haul?

 

I agree with Terry. Percentage is the better choice. With mileage you have to run the miles to make the money, but on percentage you can have short runs that will pay well. Living in the northeast I could get runs of 200 to 300 miles that paid me the same as someone on mileage would earn on 500 miles or more.

One day I was in eastern PA and had a choice of two loads. There was a three stop load going to Ohio that would pay me $290 on percentage and take 2 days, or there was a one stop load going 90 miles to Newburgh NY that would pay me $175. There was even a chance of delivering that load the same day i picked it up. That 90 mile load would have paid a mileage guy about $30 but I enjoyed it.

 

Mileage pay for company drivers is a straight scale depending on experience. You can alse earn several cents of bonus pay for keeping your fuel economy high, out of route miles low, and a few other things.

I am not entirely sure about the fuel surcharge as I am not an owner operator. For us company drivers the fuel surcharge is seperated from the rate and we only get a percentage of the load rate we have no claim on the fuel surcharge.

Owner operators do not have a mileage pay choice it is strictly percentage. If I remember correctly (could be wrong here) Owner operators with your own trailer get 78% of the rate plus the entire fuel surcharge, Owner ops using a TMC trailer get 73% of the rate plus the entire fuel surcharge.

 

Is the glass half empty or is it half full? Remember, "fluctuations," can go up as well as down. If you are having a stellar month, your pay can increase. Admitedly, there are certain circumstances that you, the driver, cannot control such as slow freight, accidents, injuries there are many more that you can.

TMC's performance based pay system is geared towards the driver on top of his game. The driver who constantly strives to improve himself and his driving abilities.

The middle of the road driver is going to make a decent living. He will make at least $40K for the year. This driver may not be moviated to do better or he has made a choice of comfort over pay, such as idle time, or he may take the easy route instead of the shorter, harder one.

There is nothing wrong with this. If he is happy with what he is making, who am I to say differently.

After so many years in the Military and working for myself for the last 11 or 12 I have a different mindset about comfort and getting ahead.

Most importantly, some drivers just don't understand TMC's pay system. It has been explained to them but they haven't internalized it. They don't make it work for them.

As a Brand New Inexperienced Driver with TMC, percentage is better. You start out at a lower mileage than experienced drivers. There is ,absolutly, no question that percentage pay is better than mileage pay. On Percentage Pay a new driver CAN (not will) make $60K.

Once you get your first year in then you can reevaluate which plan works best for you. Some things which factor in are Line Haul or Long Haul, what season are we in, slow freight or great freight, what is the freight paying, what part of the country are you running, do you bounce a lot? I've just touched on a few. The best way to figure this out, other than expeirence, is to figure every load on both systems. See for yourself which pays better for you. Don't listen to other opinions, get it in cold hard facts.

 

The other aspect to the choice is that you do not choose until after your training. So for the weeks that you are out with a trainer you are required to keep track of the loads and figure which would pay you more percentage or mileage. You don't have to take our word for it. I also advise you to keep track week by week and see if the pattern changes. You are allowed to change your pay system twice per year.


You are correct Mack that mileage pay can be better for the long-haul guys. It does depend on a lot of factors.

 

So if you have a choice between load A and load B (assuming you are on percentage pay), will it display the value of each load?

 

Maetl, looks like we're both in Lawrence, KS. I see you are thinking about TMC? They look good from where I sit (at home on the computer LOL).