Choosing A Carrier: More Than Just Pay Per Mile
This week Kaitlin Cathey at Team Run Smart presented an interesting take on how truck drivers calculate their overall pay, and how they might be short changing themselves. It’s a short but in-depth article that lists some companion factors to the all-important Pay Per Mile scale that most drivers look at to determine whether they’ll start taking loads with another carrier.
As she states, “Pay per mile must always be kept in balance with gross revenue. Gross revenue is the total revenue paid to you by a carrier. It includes mileage pay, percentage of revenue pay, loading/unloading pay, detention pay, stop in transit pay, fuel surcharge pay, toll or scale reimbursement, etc.”
She says an important thing to remember is that some carriers present less money per mile, but compensate in other areas such as:
- Federal Highway Use Tax (FHUT) or 2290? (This is $550/year)
- Tolls and Scales – Does the carrier reimburse for these as they can range from very little to thousands of dollars a year?
- Deadhead or Empty miles?
- Detention Pay? (What is their policy on this and will this work for you?)
- Fuel Surcharge? (Is their fuel surcharge comparable to other fleets?)
- Base plates? (These can range from $1,200 to $1,800/year.)
All of these expenses will have an effect on your gross revenue.
Read the rest of Kaitlin’s article at Team Run Smart.