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'm just going to put this philosophy I have out here for consideration. Do with it what you will.

In my world, unless it's a life or death situation, I consider a backup plan to be more of a failure plan. In other words, you're setting yourself up to fail, or at least underperform.

When you get it in your mind that it's ok to sit around and be less productive, it's human nature to end up doing that. Somewhere in the back of your mind is that big, fat, lazy slob that's in all of us going, "The heck with it. Let's just get a cheeseburger and take a nap. We'll get paid something at least. It may not be much, but let's just settle for that and enjoy being lazy and underperforming our potential. What's the harm?"

Now you have to keep in mind that I'm highly ambitious. I work harder at my hobbies than most people ever will at their real jobs. I just love to go hard in life. That's how I'm built. So to make sure I perform at or near my potential at anything I do I try to make sure there is no backup plan or safety net. If I want to accomplish something I get the idea out of my mind completely that it's ok to settle for less. Because even I have that fat, lazy, cheeseburger-eating slob somewhere inside me that turns down the intensity every chance he gets.

Even our physical bodies by nature are super lazy. It takes almost 6 months of work to build up the same amount of muscle you'll lose in one week of bed rest. Think about that. You have to relentlessly force your body to lift weights beyond what it's capable of doing for 6 straight months to build muscle, but if you lie in bed for one week your body will eliminate all of that muscle it took 6 months to build.

Our minds and bodies strive first and foremost for survival, and that means being as conservative with our energy as possible. The more we eat and the more we sleep the less fuel our bodies need to survive, and the less likely we are to get eaten by a Saber Tooth Tiger. So our body and mind naturally wants to eat cheeseburgers, store fat, eliminate muscle, and sit in front of the TV.

So if you give yourself the option of doing less or underperforming you're assisting a very powerful force inside you that strives to do exactly that.

However, we all have that fight or flight instinct also. When you take away that safety net and eliminate any option for coming up short you will tap into an equally powerful and deep-seated force inside you that will put out maximum effort and do whatever it takes to make sure you don't get eaten by that Saber Tooth Tiger.

So the question becomes, which of those two opposing forces inside of you are you going to tap into? Which of those two are you going to put behind the wheel to steer you toward your fate?

Isn't life far more more exciting, adventurous, and intense when you don't have a safety net? It sure is! You'll definitely perform at a much higher level.

So that's just my approach. I like to go hard and see how much I can accomplish. I don't want safety nets. I don't want the option of settling for less. I want to perform at a high level. Pay guarantees for 1/2 of what a decent driver should make seem like failure plans to me. There's no way you're going to do whatever it takes to turn as many safe miles as possible and find solutions to the challenges you face if you give yourself the option of settling for less and eating cheeseburgers and napping instead.

Just my approach to life.

Thanks everyone. This is really helpful and informative. I searched every MTC thread on this forum, and thus far this topic has not been covered. I think your input here will be helpful for others who are researching them in the future.

Susan and Big T - 500 miles per day is not hard, even out of the gate?! That is rather encouraging. With E-Logs strictly tracking the 11 hour daily limit that seemed totally far afield. I was expecting that once I get my feet wet that I wouldn't be able to do more than 350. Doing 500 on most of my days would be pretty awesome.

Alex I started yesterday at our terminal in Jurupa Valley CA. Picked up a load in Colton CA that delayed me so I ended up getting on the highway at the same time everyone heading to Vegas got on the road. I only ended up driving 8h and 8m and did 437 miles.

All you have to do is 300 miles to earn that $105 they are gauranteeing. If you are avg 50 mph that's only six hours of drive time.

Thanks everyone. This is really helpful and informative. I searched every MTC thread on this forum, and thus far this topic has not been covered. I think your input here will be helpful for others who are researching them in the future.

Susan and Big T - 500 miles per day is not hard, even out of the gate?! That is rather encouraging. With E-Logs strictly tracking the 11 hour daily limit that seemed totally far afield. I was expecting that once I get my feet wet that I wouldn't be able to do more than 350. Doing 500 on most of my days would be pretty awesome.

Something else to consider. Bonuses are taxed at a higher rate than regular income. So you would actually take home less compared to getting paid for the miles as you turn them.

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

Hi

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). Hi can you please tell me your secret how to do 670-700 in one day Are you OTR ?

Something else to consider. Bonuses are taxed at a higher rate than regular income. So you would actually take home less compared to getting paid for the miles as you turn them.

I know I am new to the forums and I am not even a driver yet (I am hoping to start the process in March) however I do have a degree in accounting and work in a big box tax office during tax season. With that said, bonuses are taxed the same as any other pay. It just feels like they are taxed more since that 20% or whatever is taken out is a much bigger number since it's a much bigger check. Heck your payroll department might even hold back more since it is such a large increase to your annual pay to make up for a possible higher tax bracket do to the extra money. However, at year end its taxe at the same rate as any other pay (there is some exceptions but they don't apply here).

Are bonuses taxed differently.

Something else to consider. Bonuses are taxed at a higher rate than regular income. So you would actually take home less compared to getting paid for the miles as you turn them.

I know I am new to the forums and I am not even a driver yet (I am hoping to start the process in March) however I do have a degree in accounting and work in a big box tax office during tax season. With that said, bonuses are taxed the same as any other pay. It just feels like they are taxed more since that 20% or whatever is taken out is a much bigger number since it's a much bigger check. Heck your payroll department might even hold back more since it is such a large increase to your annual pay to make up for a possible higher tax bracket do to the extra money. However, at year end its taxe at the same rate as any other pay (there is some exceptions but they don't apply here).

Will is right. In the end bonuses are taxed the same as regular income.

The company can choose to tax the bonus initially using either the percentage method, or the aggregate method, but when you file your taxes at the end of the year there is no difference between bonus income and regular income. The amount you owe will be based on your net income, which is all of the money you've made after deductions. Here's the important quote from that article, near the bottom where most people never get to:

No matter what method is used to withhold taxes from your bonus at payout, don’t panic. Remember, taxes may be withheld from your bonus at a higher tax rate at payout, but when you file your taxes at tax time your actual tax rate is based on your total taxable income and overall actual tax rate, which may be lower. Depending on your taxable income, actual tax rate, and eligible tax deductions and credits you may get some of the money withheld back in the form of a tax refund.

Well don't let the truth get in my way lol.

Well don't let the truth get in my way lol.