May Trucking Company Pay Options: CPM (0.35 For Me As A Rookie) Vs. $105 Daily Minimum With 90 Day Extra Pay Based On Miles.

I can't believe this is happening. Long story short, I may be at orientation at May by August 14 (this is a delay at my request), and will hopefully have my CDL within a 2-3 weeks of today. It's exciting, but that's for another topic.

Anyway, this is what the recruiter told me (and these terms are accurate based on my clarifying questions, and on what others at my CDL school say and what I've read elsewhere online).

They offer the following compensation options:

1. 0.35 CPM to start, paid weekly, (the starting rookie rate, and obviously with raises after 6 and 12 months, etc.).

OR

2. $105 flat daily rate for each day I am on-duty (also paid weekly), PLUS if I haul more than $105/day worth of miles in a 90 day period, then after each 90 days I will be paid the EXACT difference based the miles I hauled, so my total pay will be equal to what it would be at the regular CPM rate.

At first blush, this seems strange. Why would anyone chose option 1, since option 2 has a guaranteed floor rate? I guess delay is one factor -- under option 2, you have to wait 90 days to be fully compensated for your work. (This factor is not a concern for me.) But the delay seems like a minimum concern, considering that under option 2 you have essentially a free insurance policy guaranteeing a minimum wage regardless of miles.

I am scratching my head about what's May's motive for devising such a plan,

So, $105 flat would mean an average of 285 miles driven on each day on duty (at the 0.35 rookie rate). How does this compare to a "typical" miles per day of a rookie? I've seen numbers all over the place, from 300 to 500. Is it reasonable to infer from this kind of pay scheme that May will have a lot of wait time? I don't know how to make heads or tails of this. I am hoping there's an innocuous (or fair) motivation for May to offer this scheme, and that it's not a "catch" so to say. If any of you have any thoughts on this (or any direct knowledge about this practice at May) can you let me know?

One theory that comes to my mind--and it's pure speculation--is that this will let them reduce the money they have to pay to drivers who was out really, really fast. So, for example, the driver's that inevitably will not last more than a couple of months, will never make long enough to get their full pay (which comes only every 90 days), so they only cost the company $105 flat, which is essentially only a little bit higher than a typical company training rate. I would imagine that drivers who are prone to wash out so fast would also be the ones that are prone to select the more insured-seeming pay scheme, so if they end up hauling a lot more than 285 daily, they will never see the full value of their hauls because they quit before 90 days. (Conversely, this would also be a strong incentive to keep drivers from quitting in the first 90 days, because it motivates them to stick it out to get the bonus pay.)

But are there other explanations than my theories? Should this be a "red flag" about the company in general? Thanks!!

I won't speak on the pay right now except 500 miles a day is easily done on a daily basis.

As far as the company goes though, I have yet to meet an unhappy May driver.

More companies seem to be offering some sort of pay guarantee but it's simply a marketing gimmick for people who feel better about such things I guess. The pay guarantees are never anywhere close to what a solid driver would make, so to me they're pointless. I would take the standard mileage pay and forget about the guarantee option altogether. It has no value.

I agree with Brett and Big T. $105 a day? I'd laugh in their faces. As a brand new rookie fresh out of CDL school, where the ink on my license wasn't even dry I could turn 500 miles a day. These days I can turn 690-700ish a dayy consistently (as long as I'm not stuck playing in Chicago traffic half a day lol).

I'm on the flip side of the coin. When I started at May, I needed a safety net. As a rookie, it seemed to take me longer to figure things out. No matter what happened, I was getting $735.00 a week. As I learned to manage my clock, knowledge of shippers and receivers, and trip planning, I could have switched to cpm to get paid sooner. I didn't. I liked getting a bonus every 90 days for the extra miles. I was happy to have that guarantee when I80 was shut down in Wyoming during winter. When I left May, my weekly pay was $910.00. They even paid me the miles for that quarter I didn't complete. I was considered a top driver for May. They were very fair with me. If I wanted to go back otr , they would be my first call. There are no gimmicks except 1. They want you to accept and run every load assigned legally and safely. In other words, you can't sit on your a** collecting pay and refusing loads. Let me know if there are any more questions.

May has been offering innovative pay options for years. They used to have three pay options. As an experienced driver I have no problem covering 650 miles a day while driving. There are plenty of days I make nothing though. Make a delivery and find your customer doesn't have an empty trailer available for you to take to your next pickup? You can spend ALL DAY driving across multiple states looking for an empty trailer for zero pay. Pull into the receiver and have the guard tell you, "It's going to be a while. We had 7 dockworkers call in sick today. Give me your cell number and I'll call you when I have a gate." Get a, "camper load" - a load where the delivery date is several days after the drive time needed to get the load from the shipper to the receiver - ie you pick up a load in Rialto, CA on on Wednesday morning to be delivered in Clackamas, OR on the following Monday. Yes, I call and no, they won't accept early delivery. Two days of paid driving and three days parked at a truck stop under load. For these reasons and others you are going to lose whole days of driving time.

It looks like they're trying to use a half-off pay option (600 miles a day @ $105 works out to $.175 cpm) to limit their driver turnover. Who is going to quit in a huff over something minor knowing they've leaving half their pay behind? Most drivers will plan their departures around the 90 day pay cycle and since every driver will have a different hire date that should smooth May's driver turnover. The drivers who stay will make a little more overall since they have a guaranteed minimum. Drivers who quit unexpectedly end up working for $.175 cpm - perfectly legal because the drivers agreed to it.

To Cold War Surplus:. That really sounds awful. My company has no intention of allowing us to sit or have "camper loads". I really can't imagine that, but this company is all I know. I came here straight out of CDL school, went through our company training program and have been here ever since. We're expected to run our trucks and manage our clock reasonably efficient from day one AND run our clocks out. That's part of my job as a trainer, to make sure new drivers can run that truck when I bring them in to test for upgrade to solo.

It was common (and expected) to burn through your 70 hour clock in 5 or maybe 6 days. As an inexperienced rookie let me tell you it was hard. I'd be so exhausted at the end of my shift I'd be too tired to eat or shower. I'd crash, wake up about 2 hours before my 10 was up, get something to eat and a shower, and do it again. I'd often get home can at the end of the week with less than 10 minutes on my 70 hour clock.

Eventually I got used to it and had more time for fun and relaxation.

I think Calkansan offers good insight, based on experience at May. While I know I can easily turn in excess of 600 miles a day, I’m not driving refer (and sitting at grocery warehouses), which is what May does.

One thing I think you should find out is; when can you choose to change your pay structure if you choose the guaranteed option? That way, if you think that’s better to start out, you’ll know your options.

I’ve also never met an unhappy May driver. They never stop long enough to ask. 😆

They are going to run your ass off. It's in their best interest to run your ass off because they want that truck to make money.

Take the CPM and run your ass off. ;)

Steve L , thanks. I pulled reefer. I dreaded spring because of the nursery loads. We would pu legal plants (lol) in OR with 3 drops in NJ. Usually you pu loaded trailer but hand unload at the drops. Each drop would take 6+ hours to unload over 2 or 3 days. Milage between was less than 100. Can't move times around because nursery had extra workers hired for that delivery time. And when finished with load, needed to get reefer washed out for next load. Great miles to get there, but then 2-3 days with less than 100 miles total. Don't get me started on grocery warehouses. 2 words, King Soopers. You could do a 34 in their dock. Lol. They all need to go to Costco DC for lessons. Anyway, I had no stress to get unloaded faster because I was getting paid weather I drove or sat. Also, you can switch to cpm anytime. If you don't like it, they will allow you to switch back to guarantee pay. You are allowed to switch back once. No back and forth all the time. The people in payroll get upset with the extra work. And why would you anger the people who process your paycheck? Lol