I Don't Understand SWIFT's Sliding Pay Scale!?

‘Little help here? Somebody please explain to me how a person can make any money based on Swift’s sliding pay scale (accessible via pg. 3 of ‘Swift's CDL Training Program Evaluation’). At year one (East); driving 149 miles, at .50cpm, you would make $74.50. But, if you keep driving another TEN MILES into the next sliding scale ($0.44 cpm), you would only make $69.96. I’ve done this a few times with different rates and get the same basic results. Am I missing something here? Three 99 mile jaunts at .50cpm takes essentially the same time as a 300 mile trip at .34cpm; the former pays $148.50, while the latter pays only $102.00! I don’t understand! Why take the long hauls?

‘Little help here? Somebody please explain to me how a person can make any money based on Swift’s sliding pay scale (accessible via pg. 3 of ‘Swift's CDL Training Program Evaluation’). At year one (East); driving 149 miles, at .50cpm, you would make $74.50. But, if you keep driving another TEN MILES into the next sliding scale ($0.44 cpm), you would only make $69.96. I’ve done this a few times with different rates and get the same basic results. Am I missing something here? Three 99 mile jaunts at .50cpm takes essentially the same time as a 300 mile trip at .34cpm; the former pays $148.50, while the latter pays only $102.00! I don’t understand! Why take the long hauls?

your looking at it wrong. the reason for the larger pay for a short run is because of milage. not much shipping frieght is going to happen in under 100 miles but it does happen. if u get stuck with a 50 mile run ur screwed if there is no extra pay for a short run. most runs are 350 miles and up. ntm at most companies u cannot just say no i want this load or that load based on what it will pay u as a company driver. only lease or owner operator can do that at most companies. now im not a driver yet and i may be wrong on some of this but if i understand your question correctly this should help.

I am curious to understand this as well.

The longer hauls at a lower rate will actually make you more money. Once you are at a shipper or receiver, things happens that eat tons of time. Getting loaded or unloaded. Inspecting trailers. Finding empties. Moving other companies empties out of the way of your empty. Weighing and balancing load. Those 3 99 mile runs you mentioned would probably take you more than a whole day in the end. You can easily do 7 runs of 450 miles a week and just drive. They pay more cpm for short runs to kind of offset the crappiness of the load. 99 mile run at 45 cpm is most likely a very crappy load.

So, are you saying I am looking at it 'backwards'? Now that I think about it that way, .50cpm does sound TOO SWEET for any long haul!! Thanx for the insight, no chin! My first post on this site; I've learned a lot in just the past few days as I'm just preparing to decide on a CDL school. Thanx again!

Your welcome and welcome to trucking truth. ive been on here for about a month and have already decided when i get out of the navy in the coming weeks to go to prime inc. in my opinion and from what i have heard about them although solo ing in a lightweight kinda sucks with what else is on the road these days their training and pay is like no other for rookie drivers. do as much research on a company as you can and if ur able talk to company drivers at your local truckstop. and get started on the high road training program. teaches you all you would need to know for the permit tests and then some.

Dan, I can't answer you specifically to Swift's pay scale, but where I work we also have a sliding pay scale so I understand your confusion. Part of what's baffling you is that you aren't familiar with the ups and downs of the truck driving life. Let me explain. Let's say you got four different loads that were in the range of 125 miles each this week. Now let's say the first one you went to pick up the trailer and discovered it wasn't finished being loaded yet. (this will happen) Now you have to wait two and a half hours before you can hook up and go - oops! now you just discovered that one of the wheel hubs is leaking oil really bad, and you've got to go to the shop and get it repaired - three hours later you are ready to roll. You've got just enough time left to get it to the receiver, but discover that they stopped receiving ten minutes ago, so you have to find a truck stop (closest one is thirty five miles away) and go spend the night and come back first thing in the morning to drop your trailer. Well, you wake up have a nice breakfast then drive the thirty five miles back to the receiver only to realize that all the experienced drivers who are well aware of how this receiver operates had started lining up two hours ago knowin it was going to be a long wait just to get in the gate. Okay this is only your first short load of the week and it has taken you a day and a half before you could get it loose from your truck, plus you drove seventy miles out of route because you had to park it overnight. Congratulations you just got paid .50 cpm (62.50 for two days worth of work) and the company is wanting to charge you back for your out of route miles! Are you getting the picture? Multiply that by four loads and hopefully you understand. This is not an exaggeration - This is why truck drivers are such accomplished complainers.

Now had you taken a 1700 mile run @ .31 cpm you will have less exposure to the shippers and receivers which will eliminate so many of the potential problems, and even if you have to wait a little on each end you should be able to get that done in three days - netting you 527 dollars. I realize this is all speculation, but it serves to make a point. Anything can happen, but you are more likely to get hung up at receivers and shippers than you are to have issues out on the road. My loads usually average around twelve hundred plus miles, but recently I had a week with some short loads, 300 - 500 mile runs - I worked myself to death that week. Of course I'm a flat-bedder and that meant I had to secure those loads and tarp some of them, so I had a lot of additional labor that week. My paycheck was pathetic compared to when I can point that truck in the wind and "let er run". That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!

I probably should have said three and a half days for that run, but hopefully you get the idea.

Maybe construction isn't quite so bad after all!

Don't let me scare you, I was just trying to illustrate the point with some real world experience.

I love this job! I do very well at it, but there are days that it will make yo pull your hair out. Of course there are days in construction that will do that for you also.