Posted: 5 years ago
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Examples of Appropriate Uses of a CMV While Off-duty for Personal Conveyance per FMCSA
Time spent traveling to a nearby, reasonable, safe location to obtain required rest after loading or unloading. The time driving under personal conveyance must allow the driver adequate time to obtain the required rest in accordance with minimum off-duty periods under 49 CFR 395.3(a)(1) (property-carrying vehicles) before returning to on-duty driving, and the resting location must be the first such location reasonably available.
Posted: 5 years ago
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When I drove in the 90's I carried a handgun for a couple of years as an O/O. I quit carrying after getting loaded to visit our neighbor to the north. Going from WI to Nova Scotia did not afford me the opportunity to secure my weapon before leaving the country. I made the trip and had to get creative. After that experience I decided to leave the gun at home. I've been in some sketchy areas at night picking up loads and swapping trailers in unsecured lots ( S. Chicago and South Central LA) but never had any issues. Situational awareness and getting in/out fast is how I handled it.
Posted: 5 years ago
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Federal taxes and Per Diem 2019
I'm going to need to do some calculating but as mentioned earlier each company driver has their own unique financial circumstances. For me I don't have to worry about state income taxes. With the standard deduction doubling to $12K for me, single, I will probably do what I did the last 6-7 years and increase up my 401K contribution substantially to reduce my gross income since this won't impact FICA, Medicare and other benefits in the long run. When companies came up with this per diem scheme I'm sure they consulted with the best tax attorneys and actuaries they could find. Call me cynical but those consultants were working in the companies' best interest, not the drivers.
Posted: 5 years ago
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Federal taxes and Per Diem 2019
Ok, I thought the company per diem was a pre-tax deduction when in fact it is a company reimbursement.
Per Diem Pay For Truck Drivers
Schneider National Per Diem Pay Explanation
Additional per diem considerations:
Small impact to personal time off pay (usually less than $50 annually per personal time off week) Reduced social security, unemployment and workers’ compensation benefits (estimated $10/month social security impact for every year of per diem participation) Per diem portion is not eligible for 401(k) matches, but you can fund a higher savings percentage with the extra take-home pay provided through the per diem pay plan
A lot of variables to consider when deciding to take or not take the per diem.
Posted: 5 years ago
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Federal taxes and Per Diem 2019
Social Security (FICA) and Medicare are calculated from your gross pay and are taken off the top before 401K or any other pre-tax considerations are made. https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/retirement-plan-faqs-regarding-contributions-are-retirement-plan-contributions-subject-to-withholding-for-fica-medicare-or-federal-income-tax
My last job was a salary position and my pay only changed in April when we received a small raise. I looked at FICA and Medicare deductions on pay stubs after I made a large change in my 401K contribution (pre tax) during the middle of the year and the amount taken out of my check for FICA/Medicare did not change despite the fact my 401K contribution changed by 10%.
I don't think the per diem pre tax treatment has an impact on FICA/Medicare benefits, it only impacts taxable income.
Posted: 5 years ago
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Federal taxes and Per Diem 2019
What Is Per Diem Pay For Truck Drivers
I was looking through the per diem threads and most are a year or more old. Now that drivers have been through a tax season with the changes made to the Federal tax code in 2017, I was wondering what trends, takeaways, lessons learned etc. drivers have. Because the changes had drastically different ramifications for O/Os vs. company drivers. Please start replies with O/O or Company Driver. As a future company driver I want to start planning now. Is the pre-tax per diem pay/reimbursement scheme mandatory at companies? Can you opt out? Is the standard $12K Federal tax deduction for singles and $24K for married covering personal road expenses? Any other tax planning advice welcome.
Posted: 5 years ago
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I was looking at the US flag in the background when the trailer started lifting. Trailer had to be empty or had minimal weight in it. Hope the driver is OK as well as the co-driver if they were a team operation.
Posted: 5 years ago
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What trucker gps is better? My qualcomm keeps getting me into trouble...
I was looking for info on the truck specific GPS units with traffic, weather and logging capabilities. RM, Garmin and TomTom. Thanks for the idea about manual waypoints and the HD planner.
Harley Davidson has an online ride planner that you can use plan a ride and download it as a GPX file to a card. If you add waypoints along the route, you can force the GPS to follow your designated route. I used it riding Route 66 to stay on the "old alignment" as much as possible.
Posted: 5 years ago
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What trucker gps is better? My qualcomm keeps getting me into trouble...
Hope it's OK to revive this thread but I was wondering if those using GPS units have any updates on the units they are using, problems they are having, etc. From reading through all the posts I agree getting lured in by a GPS unit is tempting but can get you into a bad situation quickly. Before there was mapping GPS units (20+ years ago) I kept my wire-bound laminated Rand McNally atlas close by and used the QC text directions for the last few miles to the shipper/consignee. I had a file folder with city specific maps and my favorite was the Chicago map with the red, yellow and green dots on intersections indicating which bridges were below 13'-6", at 13'-6" and over 13'-6" respectively. However, I am interested in the GPS units primarily to get real-time traffic information, weather and logging capabilities. I have a standard auto Garmin unit that I use for long car trips but it is no substitute for trip planning. I recently used Google Maps' off-line feature on my iPhone that lets you download a geographical area for 30 days. It worked really well for the rural part of West Texas (Big Bend) I was in without cell coverage or data access. I used CoPilot on a laptop 10 years ago driving with family in a 43" motorhome. With the USB antenna cable, and the power cable and trying to keep in propped on the console it was more trouble than it was worth. Might be better now if it was on a tablet with built in GPS capabilities. Even with directions via QC and dispatch, the information doesn't apply to all rigs. I followed directions from dispatch once that sent me to a customer and the directions were good EXCEPT, I was pulling a double-drop flat and there was a raised railroad crossing! The company usually sent flats and step decks there, not double drops. Luckily a driver spotted me and warned me via CB before I got to the tracks. There is no way the trailer would have made it over the tracks with 6-8" of ground clearance and I would have stopped traffic for miles on that 2 lane road. Thanks in advance for any equipment updates and suggestions!
Posted: 4 years, 10 months ago
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Annoyance at truck stops
As far as parking goes, I have been reading a lot about cities passing ordinances regarding trucks parking in Wal-Mart parking lots overnight. Just got my CDL back after 20 years and heading out soon. Drivers here had any experiences with these ordinances? What cities? When I drove 20+ years ago Wal-Marts were trucker friendly and I parked and did a lot of shopping there. Occasionally slept in their parking lots. A recruiter came by the school pitching his company recently and made an interesting comment. HIs company does a lot of business delivering to Lowes/Home Depot and said drivers could park there overnight. Since most of these large hardware stores have large parking lots in front and paved or concrete driveways around the sides and back this might be a good option in a pinch, especially if you are pulling flatbeds.