What is the fairest way to be paid?

I have the opportunity to get into the bulk cement business and am doing my research right now to see if this is a viable opportunity. One thing I want to get right is the best way to pay a driver. My experience has been with per mile and a flat rate for loading and unloading but I know most drivers don’t like that method as it risks their safety and everyone else on the road in order to make any money.

What would you guys consider to be a fair way to pay a driver for 150 to 300 mile hauls round trip?
By the mile
By the load
Hourly

Thanks for your input

 

Calspring,

It doesn't matter what type of truck you are driving, hourly is the only true way to be paid for all of your on duty time. And overtime after 8 hours is just icing on the cake.

All other forms of compensation will cheat the driver. And it will cheat them in many ways such as shorter paid miles compared to actual miles driven. All other on duty time such as pre/post trip, breakdowns, fueling, Traffic, scales, permits and the big one, waiting to load or unload. There are more, just pick one.

I don't work for free and neither should you or anyone else. Good luck on your search.

 

He hit the nail on the head!

 

That's a very narrow view of the world you have.

If I'm being paid by the hour I have nothing driving me to do a better job, or to figure out how to do the job more efficiently. I'm gonna go as slow as I possibly can. They call those union jobs, and they don't help the company succeed.

I would say the fairest way to be paid is whatever you agreed to in your contract when you signed on to that company. If you don't like it, or think it isn't fair. Move on...

 

I like being payed by the load so far.
I get payed for breakdown, excessive load/unload time.
I get payed extra if I have to pump product on or off.
If I have to dead head its figured into to rate. (Company owner don't like us driving around for free, so if the load requires running empty to or from its added to the rate)

EDIT
I did not notice the Bulk Cement Part
So IDK

 

What about a little "self pride" or a sense of accomplishment? Once a driver pulls out on the highway, do you think the only thing on his mind is money? I am all for a person getting the most money and benefits that he can possibly get, but when it comes to "driving" and doing "a better job", money should not enter into the equation.

 

I find it interesting the older hands look at the situation differently than the newer steering wheel holder wannabe.Pride, giving an honest days work for an honest days pay,and doing a good job are ideas that seem to be forgotten by the new generation. I find this quite often in the work force.

 

Ya well, since I'm the only one with "wannabe" selected I can only assume you are referring to my comment.

I have wannabe selected currently because my truck is sitting at the house while I take care of a couple of life issues. I wannabe driving my own truck and pulling my own trailer again real soon. But, until then I am very thankful for the opportunity to drive the truck I am running in right now. You'll never catch me fussing about the rate I have negotiated for myself to drive another mans truck.

Maybe you totally missed the point I was making in my earlier post?

 

I agree . I once work for a mover supply company that had a contract to supply U-Haul . We only worked 5 days a week so we fell under the 60 hour rule . They kept having a problem with a couple of drivers (they had 6 trucks ) always going over 60 hours so they decided to pay by mile plus stops . The drivers that had been exceeding 60 hours suddenly started accomplishing the same work an hour or two earlier each day .
The mileage pay was calculated by averaging all drivers' pay . The extra hours the slackers had worked increased pay for the other drivers but the average meant the slackers earned less when paid by the mile .
If I was paying per hour I would rotate trips and question longer times by individual drivers . Maybe give the better performing drivers the better paying runs .

 

I have worked for union and non-union companies, I have been paid by the hour, by the mile and by the load and none of these factors entered into how I approached the manner in which I did the job, my work ethics were not affected. I have several things in my life(77years) that I am ashamed of, but the manner in which I did the job after I pulled off the yard was not jeopardized. This is not to say that I did not "show my rear" before leaving or after getting back, but once I sit my "rear" down in the driver's seat, it was all business.