What the heck is a Fuel surcharge, and why am I paying for it?

gravelhauler · Nov 7, 2011

Some of these owners make things way more complicated than they need to be.

Okieron · Nov 7, 2011

I think this is one of those! I bet the owner was gonna give 2 percent of the fsc instead of take as the fsc is a variable not a constant. jmo

bender · Nov 7, 2011

I worked for a company that payed similar to this except fuel surcharge went straight to the truck and was excluded from driver pay. We were paid 23% of revenue to the truck. Pretty simple.

RickG · Nov 7, 2011

danc694u said: ↑

I'm going to call bull #### on this one.

No offense meant to you guys who tried to break it down and explain it, in a reasonable way. But it doesn't pass a smell test at all.

Here's why.

Why bother with all the numbers play. When the "owner" could have simply offered him 21% from jump street.

I realize, there will be a significant variance when fuel surcharges fluctuate. But the bottom line is, the driver should have a set paremeter to base his pay on.

And 21% just plain sux....period.

The 2% ??? Does it come out of the actual FSC, or does it come out of the GROSS paid to the truck, including the FSC???? Big difference.
Click to expand...

Yeah , the settlement probably shows the gross before the surcharge is added then the total . Why not pay a percentage of what the rate is before the surcharge is added ? That's how we are paid
The owner has a right to all the FSC . He pays for the fuel .

Jfaulk99 · Nov 8, 2011

I pay 25% of the total. That's total with the fuel surcharge added in.

Wargames · Nov 8, 2011

Emulsified said: ↑

They are considering the FSC as part of the revenue to the truck. They are witholding 2% of that from your pay.
Here is an example:
You get a load of 1,000 miles that pays $1,400 gross plus FSC. The current charge is 0.45cpm. So your FSC is $450.
Total gross to the truck is $1,850. You are paid 23% of that, or $425.50.
However, they are withholding 2% of the FSC, or in this case $8.50 from the gross revenue. So your 23% is figured on $1,841.50.
Now I suspect what you're meaning to say (and they are trying to tell you) is they are withholding 2% of your pay as a FSC deduction.
In that case, they are simply paying you 21% of the $1,850 or $388.50.
The difference in this case is 0.426 per mile vs 0.3885 per mile.
Either case, your earnings are substantially higher than your first year, I'll bet.
The biggest variable as to your earnings will be the gross to the truck for the load.
If they are taking that 1,000 mile load at $1,000, then your gross to the truck is $1,450. At 21%, you earn $304.50, or roughly 0.305 per mile.
Same load, different rates.
Click to expand...

KD8FQB ,Your driving for less than minimum wage, they seen you coming.

Wargames · Nov 8, 2011

danc694u said: ↑

I'm going to call bull #### on this one.

No offense meant to you guys who tried to break it down and explain it, in a reasonable way. But it doesn't pass a smell test at all.

Here's why.

Why bother with all the numbers play. When the "owner" could have simply offered him 21% from jump street.

I realize, there will be a significant variance when fuel surcharges fluctuate. But the bottom line is, the driver should have a set paremeter to base his pay on.

And 21% just plain sux....period.

The 2% ??? Does it come out of the actual FSC, or does it come out of the GROSS paid to the truck, including the FSC???? Big difference.
Click to expand...

But the owner wasn`t done, he would have to cut his grass when he gets back home.

KD8FQB · Nov 9, 2011

First off, thanks to Emulsified for breaking it down for me. I was really confused so I called a friend who has been in the industry longer than I have. I now have a general idea about it and we will see what the first month or so brings. What intrigued me was that the owner and her husband are extremely new to the industry. They just received their authority this past January and didnt really seem to have a grip on certain aspects of the job. Questions like, did you have a dispatcher at SNI? Or, did you ever use Comdata cards? And other noobish questions kinda left me wondering. Granted, I really don't have alot of faith in some of the pumpkin drivers I met either, but the way they operate just seems odd. As well as I can figure, I'm either going to have a high pay rate or an extremely low one, based on how much the company is running these brokered loads for and where that 2% deduction is taken out from. One thing is for sure, this aint mega carrier trucking no more...

lonewolf4ad · Nov 9, 2011

I can tell you if they're running brokered loads for CH Robinson they're far from rolling in the money.

Emulsified · Nov 9, 2011

Good luck and let us know how it works out.

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What the heck is a Fuel surcharge, and why am I paying for it?

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Okieron Crusty Okie

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