Mileage Pay?

On the flip side, I'm instructed to take whichever route I deem to be safe, and I get paid for all hub miles.

To get from my DC to interstate 88, the Navigo routing brings us over the mountain pass on route 30A, a windy, sometimes steep rural two-lane road. I opt instead to go around via interstate 90, a toll road and an additional 20+ miles. The time it takes to go around is equal to going over the mountain, and it is far safer.

Another example is when I'm traveling East towards Long Island, and instead of going the straight path across the Cross Bronx and GWB, i instead wrap around 287 and over the Tappan Zee bridge. I believe this is an additional 40+ miles. This usually takes roughly the same time or a little longer, but is far safer than going through that hornet's nest of NYC.

If I make a mistake or miss an exit and have to go out of route, there are no worries about not getting paid. They pay for all additional miles, tolls, etc. without a complaint. Obviously they would say something if it got out of hand, but I don't let it go that far.

On one hand, I think it's wise to let drivers make their own safe decisions. Cearly there are those drivers who would take advantage of such a policy, and abuse that advantage. But if the net result is a safer fleet...

let me tell you about my company's Portland terminal. Portland is on the WA/OR border so drivers from both sides work there. Oregon drivers are still paid by the mile. Washington drivers are paid by the hour. There are teams that drive out of that terminal where one driver is an OR driver and the other is a WA driver - same truck, same route. The WA drivers consistently make more money. Are the OR drivers all just lazier?

It comes down to what is the hourly pay VS mileage pay. I'm actually earning more for my time being paid mile/stop. I haven't seen what our cost of living increase, as well as my performance raise is but this past year I was earning $28.50 an hour. I switched over to 57.3CPM for all miles driven and $31.97 per stop in October and on average am making more for my time if you break it down to hourly. Last week I took it easier due to bad weather in Minnesota and earned more money working 53 hours than my buddy at the same pay rate (that's hourly) did working 61 hours. It's not a clear cut answer in my opinion. Overall I disagree with being paid by the mile but with my job, based on seniority, many guys are coming out ahead being paid mile/stop due to extra pay we receive for certain duties. Heck, there's a guy running a load today roughly 550 miles with 13 stops. He'll make over $700 for a 14 hour day. Today I did 2 trailers for a total of 5 stops with roughly 420 miles. 10 hour day earned just over $400. I'd have needed to work a little over 14 hours to earn that same amount at my hourly rate.

CRST gets plenty of "free miles" using zip-to-zip mileages. My mentor has a dedicated route pulling R&L freight, from Cali-to-Dallas. Same exact miles everytime, yet they keep getting shorted more and more over time. As much as 80 miles less, when he asked his longtime DM , who's been there 20+ years, he gets the same BS lame excuse, "Oh they changed their mileage(R&L) or whatever he blows up their skirts as a reason. They are constantly having to fight for some pay. Both are HM etc, sometimes, they don't get the 5 cpm HM add on, and have to fight to get it back.

Even though they are still making bank every week, my mentor don't worry bout money, he's loaded hahaha

I suspect the zip to zip milage stems from a time when we didn't have reliable GPS and navigation systems. It's an industry standard today still. Personally to combat it, I take it on a case by case basis if I'm shorted and ask for it in writing. I also am very polite about it, My DM is doing everything she can for me and she doesn't set the policy. As it is, I will follow up with payroll or my terminal manager from time to time if needed.

I think that a lot of people who are not used to being paid piecework meaning by the unit (in our case the mile). Don't understand that their performance dictates their pay, also that it's very similar to being a business. The extras are vitally important to making money. Base rates for any piecework are low, the money is made off volume and ancillary items.

The key to getting them is have justification, documentation and ask politely and professionally. Also pick your battles. Sometimes it's not worth harming the overall relationship for a few extra miles or hours.

In regards to the old hours vs mileage debate, it just simple math that unless you're getting upwards of 30 an hour or more, you'll make more off cpm. It also forces you think less like an employee and more like a business owner. For me personally, I can get substantial bonuses and higher pay by piecework than I can by hourly or flat rate. I was offered a local position at my company and turned it down, one of the reasons is that it would have been a flat daily pay.

Something to consider about how drivers are paid: the trucking company budget. Every trucking company, just like every company, operates with a budget and driver payroll will be part of that budget. No matter what driver pay system a company uses, they can’t blow the budget for driver payroll. But the company gets paid based on the number of loads they haul. Thus, driver payroll must relate in some way to the number of loads hauled or else the company won’t be able to manage the driver payroll part of their budget.

Let’s say the company pays on an hourly basis and the driver payroll budget is based on each driver delivering 4 load per week. Driver A may log 60 hours per week but only delivers 3 loads in a week. Driver B logs the same 60 hours per week, but delivers 4 loads per week. Now the company has a personnel management problem. They have to try to motivate Driver A to deliver at least 4 loads per week in order to stay within budget for driver payroll. And if Driver A doesn’t meet his “quota” do they let him go? Or does the company cancel the planned raise for hourly pay because the actual driver performance, company-wide, doesn’t cover the budget.

Let’s say company pays on a per mile basis. As I understand it, one of the factors trucking company salesmen consider in choosing each load involves the mileage, as posted on the load board, in relation to the load line haul revenue. When the trucking company salesman accepts the load, he expects to pay the driver based on the miles posted on the load board. In addition, he estimates the fuel cost based on the mileage from the load board. Thus, if these loads are longer or the driver goes out of route, if costs more in fuel. And if the company pays “hub miles” the company also has to pay the driver more. Plus, you may have drivers “milk” the system in order to get paid more for each load. So, the company pays the driver more and the fuel cost is more, but the line haul fee doesn’t increase (fuel surcharge may affect this though).

If you pay the driver CPM based on the mileage from the load board, you can manage driver pay a lot better. Thus, a driver who wants to earn more money, works to become efficient and haul more loads. Therefore, you have a system where driver pay is directly related to the line haul revenue from the load board. And if you offer fuel bonus pay, like Prime does, you incentive the driver to trip plan better, which reduces the fuel cost from what was originally projected the loads.

My company has a policy to avoid I-90 through New York and PENNA Turnpike, unless necessary.

What's the reasoning behind that?

Those two toll roads are quite costly. The company is willing to pay for the tolls when getting a load delivered on time requires it. Otherwise, the company will cut into performance bonuses for drivers who habitually use those tolls without satisfactory justification.

I suspect the zip to zip milage stems from a time when we didn't have reliable GPS and navigation systems. It's an industry standard today still. Personally to combat it, I take it on a case by case basis if I'm shorted and ask for it in writing. I also am very polite about it, My DM is doing everything she can for me and she doesn't set the policy. As it is, I will follow up with payroll or my terminal manager from time to time if needed.

I think that a lot of people who are not used to being paid piecework meaning by the unit (in our case the mile). Don't understand that their performance dictates their pay, also that it's very similar to being a business. The extras are vitally important to making money. Base rates for any piecework are low, the money is made off volume and ancillary items.

The key to getting them is have justification, documentation and ask politely and professionally. Also pick your battles. Sometimes it's not worth harming the overall relationship for a few extra miles or hours.

In regards to the old hours vs mileage debate, it just simple math that unless you're getting upwards of 30 an hour or more, you'll make more off cpm. It also forces you think less like an employee and more like a business owner. For me personally, I can get substantial bonuses and higher pay by piecework than I can by hourly or flat rate. I was offered a local position at my company and turned it down, one of the reasons is that it would have been a flat daily pay.

I think we have a similar mindset that we will do whatever is asked of us, things like taking loads a lot of other drivers won't, and get taken care of because we do the extra little things. Just as you are describing, if I feel like I should be getting paid for my time in some capacity, but it's not already part of the load profile, I simply ask. If my request is not honored, there is always a valid reason for it. I would prefer to be at a company where I am getting longer run loads, but my paychecks are such that I don't dare test the waters only to find that I was better off staying put. I would have even better paychecks getting paid hub miles, but I would also likely have lost out on bonuses or something from all the rookie mistakes that I have had in missing exits and missing entrances. So long as I can maintain current paycheck averages, I am good with the pay structure my company offers. Once I hit that 2 or 3 year mark, I think at that point I will really take a hard look at other opportunities that are more of an assured increase in pay.

I don't really pay too much attention to it because I really don't want to be wasting brain power on "what ifs." Knowing myself as I do, if I were to pay close attention to the differences between the actual miles that I drive and the miles paid, I would end up running month-to-month totals. I would rather worry about things that are actually controllable in my life.

It stands to reason that sometimes you will get paid more miles than you actually travel between 2 points. I figure it evens itself out. Besides, I imagine the difference is negligible either way.

What's the reasoning behind that?

Probably has to do with the cost of tolls on those roads. Toll prices can really add up if you're taking toll roads often. I'm allowed to take any roads I want, but I always avoid the NJ turnpike from Exit 1 to Exit 7. I don't know if my company realizes I do this or if they even care. I save them over $20 every time I do it though.

I also avoid the PA turnpike as well when I can. At leasts as long as I don't have to go too far out of my way or take roads that go through a bunch of little towns.

Something to consider about how drivers are paid: the trucking company budget. Every trucking company, just like every company, operates with a budget and driver payroll will be part of that budget. No matter what driver pay system a company uses, they can’t blow the budget for driver payroll. But the company gets paid based on the number of loads they haul. Thus, driver payroll must relate in some way to the number of loads hauled or else the company won’t be able to manage the driver payroll part of their budget.

Let’s say the company pays on an hourly basis and the driver payroll budget is based on each driver delivering 4 load per week. Driver A may log 60 hours per week but only delivers 3 loads in a week. Driver B logs the same 60 hours per week, but delivers 4 loads per week. Now the company has a personnel management problem. They have to try to motivate Driver A to deliver at least 4 loads per week in order to stay within budget for driver payroll. And if Driver A doesn’t meet his “quota” do they let him go? Or does the company cancel the planned raise for hourly pay because the actual driver performance, company-wide, doesn’t cover the budget.

Let’s say company pays on a per mile basis. As I understand it, one of the factors trucking company salesmen consider in choosing each load involves the mileage, as posted on the load board, in relation to the load line haul revenue. When the trucking company salesman accepts the load, he expects to pay the driver based on the miles posted on the load board. In addition, he estimates the fuel cost based on the mileage from the load board. Thus, if these loads are longer or the driver goes out of route, if costs more in fuel. And if the company pays “hub miles” the company also has to pay the driver more. Plus, you may have drivers “milk” the system in order to get paid more for each load. So, the company pays the driver more and the fuel cost is more, but the line haul fee doesn’t increase (fuel surcharge may affect this though).

If you pay the driver CPM based on the mileage from the load board, you can manage driver pay a lot better. Thus, a driver who wants to earn more money, works to become efficient and haul more loads. Therefore, you have a system where driver pay is directly related to the line haul revenue from the load board. And if you offer fuel bonus pay, like Prime does, you incentive the driver to trip plan better, which reduces the fuel cost from what was originally projected the loads.

And this is likely why basically all the OTR companies that hire drivers without experience have a preset allotment of miles for each assigned load. With the mistakes new drivers make, paying hub miles would skyrocket payroll for medium and large companies.

It comes down to what is the hourly pay VS mileage pay.

More accurately it comes down to knowing what you're worth and making sure the pay matches the work. Obviously, ppm works better for you. My situation has two key differences:

1) I get overtime after 40 hours.

2) I drive on I-5. To cross Portland (mm 288 to WA state line - about 20 miles) it can take 20 minutes or more than 4 hours! Even at $.60/mile that 4 hour drive across Portland works out to $12 - or $3/hr. Seattle, Sacramento and LA are all worse.