Practical miles, air miles, hub miles, book miles, WTF? Someone please explain!!

I graduate a ten week program in 5 days, we get recruiters coming to school a couple of days a week pitching their company. Most of what they say is comprehendable but I get the feeling when they explain the pay per mile that they are being purposely vague. The per mile pay ranges from .28 to .35 per mile, some include bonuses, some don't, some are unattainable, some aren't. All that I understand. Where I get lost is when I ask them how they calculate the mileage. Could someone please truthfully explain the difference between practical miles, book miles, air miles, short route miles, and hub miles. I think I know what some of these mean, but I can ask 10 different recruiters what they mean by "practical" miles and get 10 different answers. Most of these guys/gals seem a little shady. Thanks alot for any help.

 

None of the recruiters themselves understand the various pay methods you mentioned above. In a nutshell, my experience has been to take the miles calculated on my gps (using the company prescribed route) and deduct 3% to 5% from it.

If you want a more in-depth look at this, here's a link where drivers have submitted a lot of usual info on the subject http://www.classadrivers.com/forum/new-truck-drivers-get-help-here/39909-mileage-pay.html

 

1st: consider all of them shady.

Practical miles: Miles from zip code of pickup to zip code of delivery based upon approved trucking routes. Nearest point of these zip codes.

HHG miles: Miles from nearest zip code of the pickup city to nearest zip code of delivering city. Most cities have multiple zip codes. These are not based on trucking routes. They will calculate a goat path into it if it's to their advantage. A real rip off.

HUB or actual miles: Whatever the truck rolls minus personal driving (grabbing a burger etc).

I'm paid on practical miles and most trips come out to with 10-15 miles of the odometer. The exception is when I choose another path that is more conveinent to me (better truck stop, less hills/city, etc).

Bonuses can be very hard to achieve in some cases, especially as a new driver. One popped tire on a curb or bad log page can kill a safety bonus. Be very careful when planning them for pay.

Hope that helps.

 

Remember that a lot of companies include their own routing directions. Get caught going out of route for convenience or because you found a "short-cut", and you can get fired.

Like Palazon, I work for a company now that does not have a mandatory routing included in the dispatch. Thus, I have a lot more flexibility as to where I want to stop, what route I want to take, etc. It's a lot better this way.

As to bonuses, the first company I worked for paid an extra 2 cents on every mile over 10,000 in a month. Now I get an extra 2 cents per mile on every mile (including the whole 10,000) each month. I average over $200 a month in bonus pay. Doesn't seem like a lot at first glance, however, multiply that over 12 mos and it turns into a nice bit of cash

 

If you have a load from the east side of Houston going to the west side of San Antonio, you'll get screwed bad especially if on HHG miles. If you have a load going from the west side of Houston to the east side of San Antonio, you may get paid a little more money than you rightfully earned. Practical is becoming the norm and is about the best you can hope for outside of hub miles, but you will invariably drive more miles than you'll get paid for by from 2% to 5% on average, depending on a lot of factors but it's part of the business that you have to accept as the way it is.

Computer systems used to rate out loads do not factor in "google routing" because the shippers won't accept this. So the drivers are going to be paid the same miles used to determine the rate the shipper will pay the carrier (typically)

 

Yeah, GTI (Gordon) doesn't complain if I take a short out of route, as long as there is a reasonable cause (safe easy parking for rest, avoiding traffic issues, etc). They wont pay those extra miles, but if it works to my advantage, I'll do so. The best example I have is in Wyoming/Denver. The compnay wanted to route me down a two lane road that runs in to a tight city with traffic, all to save 10 miles on the drive. Instead I went into Cheyenne and dropped to Denver on the freeway. 10 extra miles, lot less hassle and accident potential. Another might be taking I205 around Portland instead of I5 through it. ​

 

You will almost certainly get paid 10-15% less miles then you actually drive. This based on 18 months with PAM Transport.

 

my last company paid by mapquest. car shortest miles.

for instance, lovell wyoming to san francisco cali. going through yellowstone natl park. to where trucks aren't allowed. through the mountain passes of wyoming, idaho, and nevada before you hit the 80. so your robbed 100 miles of truck actual routing. plus that extra 10 hours of driving.

albuquerque new mexico to phoenix arizona. i drive the faster route on the freeway. they pay for the shortcut. save 50 miles but drive 5 hours longer.

drivers should get paid what the company gets paid. after all. that's how the loads are billed.

 

Loops are also a #####. Any trip involving Atlanta will almost invariably result in 20+ unpaid miles. However some carriers with hazmat loads will calculate actual miles that will be required to follow legal routes, including loops and bypassing tunnels and charge these to the customer and pay them to the driver. If not, the driver needs to request these miles be added to his pay

 

I despise Atlanta. I've always run into heavy traffic thru there ...