Actual Miles

[JCK]

Usualy when I accept a load the miles arent correct, its normaly off by 20 - 50 miles according to my gps software ( then odometer ) when I reach consignee.
I realize companies use pcmiller and other software to figure mileage

But how many miles should you allow to go over actual mileage before you complain ( or ask company to add mileage to load, or refuse load?)
If its under 50 I never say anything.

JCK

 

[Turtle]

If they use PCMiler it's generally going to be pretty accurate. If they use Rand McNally or something else, like the customer's word for how far it's gonna be, then it's a crapshoot.

Some companies use Household Good Miles, which is the shortest, worst way to go, and some use Practical Miles, which is, well the most practical way to go. Sometimes the difference between the two are huge. I have found, at least with Panther, that the loaded miles are usually within about 15 miles, over or under, the actual mileage. If it's more than 15 miles short, I might make a one-line comment on the QC, just to let them know I'm aware of it.

I use the 50 miles thing (40-50) for a complaint. If it's 50 or so short, I'll take a close look at the Garmin and calculate the route using all of the different vehicle types, and then I'll do the shortest possible route with MS Streets and Trips. If I can't find one at all that's that short, meaning the trip cannot physically be made in that amount of miles, I'll complain, because all they've done is take a customer's word as to how far the trip is, or it's been figured for routing from billing address and not shipping addresses.

Once with Con-Way, I once had a run from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville and the mileage on the load offer was immediately noticeably low for a 530 mile trip. I ran it several times before responding to the offer. Turns out, it was calculated using the Natchez Trace (450 miles), which is 50 MPH the whole way, which is bad enough, but it's totally restricted to commercial vehicles.

Called them up and said I'd do it, for the 530 loaded miles, but not for 450. They said it paid 450. I said pay someone else.

They paid the 530. If there was another truck somewhere near Natchez, they'd have paid the other truck, I'm sure. But 80 miles is too much to eat on a loaded run, even in a cargo van.

If I had made the run and then realized that I was shorted on miles, I wouldn't have gotten any money for the extra miles, but they'd have gotten an ear full.

 

[romoore245]

We face this a lot as well, we try to map every run before we accept it. Fifty miles sounds about norm unless its a three hundred mile run. We had this happen a while ago we called to complain it was bad enough we were doing such a crappy run they were going to short us on it as well. We then learned Panther has mileage contracts some customers only have to pay for household miles no matter the difference. We had already accepted that load on the phone so we run it. Not next time. From then we don't accept phone loads, gotta see the info to map it.

 

[PantherPower]

How many miles I allow over before complaining or even refusing the load will depend on a few factors for me. One thing I consider is the FSC. If it is good, I don't worry about something less than 50 miles too much. But that brings me to factor two; where is it going to leave me when I deliver? If I am on a good board once I get there where my deadhead to my next pick-up MAY not be very much, that counts for me as well.

I say MAY not be as much because we have all had runs where we are on a board and they still need us to D/H 100 miles to a different board for the next shipper.

However, don't forget the law of averages. While I may be getting shorted a few miles on this run, the next one might pay me more miles than I actually run.

Whatever you do, keep an eye on them though. I had a run that picked up on Hickory Hills Road outside of Memphis. The routing was from Hickory Hills, Tennessee and made a difference of 190 miles! I caught it after I accepted it but one phone call resolved the issue and I got paid for the difference.

 

[TeamCaffee]

How do you figure your ppm and your cpm if you do not get accurate miles at time of dispatch?

 

[PantherPower]

Panther pays $1.20 per loaded mile for a D-Unit like the one I drive. I believe FedEx pay varies by customer, correct? Basically whatever the mileage is for the run is what the pay is, i.e. 500 miles = $500.00 ($600, actually but I'm just illustrating a point). You can tell at a glance how much you're making and FSC is kinda like icing on the cake. Panther pays 100% of the surcharge which varies by customer from $0.05 on up to the most I've seen of $0.87 per mile.

It makes it easy to see if a run is any good. Assume they send an offer for say 400 miles with a FSC of $0.24 and I'm 25 miles from shipper. As long as I'm not getting left out to dry at the end, it's a good run. My mind says, "ok, $400 bucks and I'll get most of my fuel paid for (as I burn about 30 cpm}. When we P.O.D., we get 45% of that $1.20. That equals $0.54 and my mind says "mileage divided by two is what I got coming when I deliver".

Being that all our loads pay the same, I'm more concerned with how many miles I'm getting for the day. Before someone gets bent out of shape, I know that there are some exceptions and the pay will be different (i.e. flat rate or reduced rate). But the vast majority (like 95%??) are the standard $1.20 per mile.

I focus more on how far I have to go to p/u vs. how many loaded miles vs. where I end up. I don't bust out a calculator for each run because as long as the paid mileage isn't too far off, what I see is what I get. I use GPS and see the mileage fluctuate in either direction compared to paid miles. I have only had one time where it was more than a couple dozen miles and it was because of an error, not the difference between HHG miles and practical miles.

Again, I believe the law of averages evens out most of it anyway. In fact, I set my GPS to calculate my route by the shortest distance as long as it won't take excessively long. I get paid for more miles than I run quite often and that makes up for the ones that are off.

I know some of you scrutinize each individual run but I go by the week or month to get a better picture of whether or not I'm being profitable.

 

[nightcreacher]

all companies have different ways of calculating mileages,its a rare case when i drive farther than im getting paid,but i dont always take the routing
at fed ex cc if the mileage were to be 20 miles off,that could cause you to be late

 

[silverdollar]

Why did Panther lower their mileage pay? when I was there mileage pay was $1.35 a loaded mile and they were making more money then they knew what to do with then. BTW for you old timers that was when Cal of C&M was a dispatcher for Panther.

 

[terryandrene]

During the past couple of years I have observed my Garmin miles, Odometer miles (less fuelin n eatin stop miles) and Qualcomm run offer miles to be inceredibly close, so close, plus or minus, that it's a non-issue with us.

As mentioned above, the law of averages usually settles things, particularly if a carrier uses the same mileage computations for all its customers. How about those cases where a completed run was considerably fewer miles that the run paid. Does anyone complain in that situation?

 

[bigjoep89]

Concrete truck driver 15 years
Concrete sales mgr, 13 years.
Expediter 2 years.
FECC

We have found our actual miles and dispatched miles are very close. Every now and then for whatever reason the miles may be a little further off than usual. However when they are off usually it is from our house to pick up. We are not sure why this is but in rare instances our truck will be listed as being in a town several miles away from our home. Sometimes this works for us and sometimes not. All other dispatched miles are within 2%. We also find this not to be a concern as dispatched miles have been so constant with true miles.

 

[slfisher45]

You have to decide what you can live with. How many miles are fair to you? It is easier to eat miles if you are running constantly. If it's slow, a different story.
At Panther I've seen a discrepancy from paid miles on the offer and total miles on suggested routing. The suggested routing was close to my gps miles. The difference was 99 miles in favor of Panther. One phone call settled the issue.
Up to 20 miles I don't consider it a problem. Over 20 I research it. Minimal time lost. One issue in the two years of driving.
My concern is runs to the shipper between 50 and 100 miles.

 

[ATeam]

As reported by the other FedEx contractors who spoke in this thread, Diane and I also find the miles listed on the offer to be virtually the same as miles actually driven. Exceptions occur when we deviate from the suggested routing, usually to avoid a rush hour mess, sometimes to avoid a rotten road. Where the benefits of deviation outweigh the costs, we deviate and take the financial hit, which is usually minor.

The other exception is on HAZMAT loads. Sometimes we are legally required to take the long way around a city instead of the short way through it. The offered miles will usually take the short way. In those cases, we take the longer route and report the difference to dispatch. In every case, the pay has been adjusted on the spot.

 

[themagicoen]

Even with being off sometimes - even with CAT loads (Panther drivers know what I'm talking bout) I was at 97% of paid to actual miles - about 700 off, around 3k unpaid for around 23,500 total miles. That 3k included dh home, dh to pu loads, driving to layover spots, etc. My best FSC EVER was $14.00/mile. 4 mile dh, 4 mile run, paid $130 or so.

 

[nobb4u]

When I started in the Commercial Transport division of NAVL you could count on what ever the dispatched miles were you could bet money it was 10% short. Good old household movers guide mileage.

I have been running for FDCC for 7 years and I have to say when I bought my last new truck, as with all my others I have bought, I keep very accurate records and when the year ended and I calculated my loaded and empty miles as recorded by FDCC against my odometer and I actually had 3243 miles less on my odometer than was recorded by FDCC. My odometer included all my personal deadhead which was not recorded by FDCC.

I run my own routing I use Rand McNally’s Road Tools, I love using it as it has an option for fastest route which is what I prefer. I find sometimes going even 100 miles different than what the load offer is can make a 2 hour difference which is 2 hours of sleep time for me. As an example of how this saves times I had routing out of CT to NJ on a load only going 74 miles and by routing it myself I had to travel 8 miles further but I avoided the GWB which everyone will know saved me at least 2 hours right there. It only makes sense to check the suggested routing, but also use your own common sense and see if there is an easier route even if it is further, because sitting 2 hours in traffic burns more fuel than traveling 50-75 miles.

And as always these are just based on my experience and my opinions.