Concerned I’m being massively screwed over

Afriendlynoob

New Recruit
Driver
My boss accidentally sent me a carrier load tender sheet instead of a BOL like he meant to and I ended up seeing a number that made me very worried. He owns the cargo van pays for maintenance and fuel. I’ve been getting paid $.38 cpm and I drive everywhere and am always on time. How badly am I getting screwed over? I’ve been doing this for a few months but still consider myself a noob. If I am getting screwed over, any advice on how to confront him about it?
 
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Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
If you agreed to 38 cents a mile, and that's what he's paying you, then you're not getting screwed. Between 28 and 32 cents a mile is not that unusual for a big truck driver, like somebody driving a tractor for Werner, so 38 cents for a van isn't bad.

If the amount that went to the truck, after the carrier's 30-40 percent cut, was a dollar a mile, and you got 38 cents of it, that's in the 60/40 split range, if you were getting paid a percentage instead of a flat rate
 
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Afriendlynoob

New Recruit
Driver
.38 cents in 2018. What the what?
What do you mean by this? Like that’s bad for 2018?
If you agreed to 38 cents a mile, and that's what he's paying you, then you're not getting screwed. Between 28 and 32 cents a mile is not that unusual for a big truck driver, like somebody driving a tractor for Werner, so 38 cents for a van isn't bad.

If the amount that went to the yruck, after the carrier's 30-40 percent cut, was a dollar a mile, and you got 38 cents of it, that's in the 60/40 split range, if you were getting paid a percentage instead of a flat rate
Ok that makes sense. I didn’t think about the broker taking 30-40% but I didn’t see anything about a percentage on the sheet.
 

Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
I agree with Turtle, but I think there are better opportunities out there....
There are better opportunities out there, for sure. But as a noob, getting a flat 38 cents per mile softens the learning curve a bit. Getting paid a percentage of the load, generally speaking, will pay you more in the long run. But at 38 cents a mile, if the load pays $1.20 to the truck, you're getting screwed on that load. If the load pays 80 cents to the truck, you come out way ahead. It evens out in the long run.

For Cost Per Mile purposes, I figure my own pay at 32 cents a mile. It's a little different because I own the truck, but in the end the Rule of Thirds still applies. But using 32 cents and including that in my overall CPM, I can quickly get a minimum rate per mile that I can run without losing money, For example, if my CPM is 45 cents and my pay is 32 cents, that's 77 cents per mile minimum. Anything less than 77 and it comes right out of my 32 cents. Anything more than 77 cents and it adds directly to my 32 cents. A dollar a mile is $1.00 - 45 = 65 cents per mile directly to me.

If you're on a 60/40 split, getting the 40, the same kind of thing still works. 38 cents, at 40 percent, means a minimum load pay of 95 cents to the truck. If the load pays 90 cents, you'll get 36 cents, and if the load pays $1.00 you'll get 40 cents. If you run for a carrier (or a bunch of brokers :rolleyes:) that routinely book loads of 95 cents or less, stick with the flat rate of 38 cents and you'll come out ahead. If it's a $1 or more, getting a percentage is better.

It's also not hard to see that owning your own van is vastly superior to splitting revenue with the fleet owner.
 
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Afriendlynoob

New Recruit
Driver
Wow, Turtle! Thank you that is a lot of good information! Unfortunately I am in no position to own my own van and only plan on doing this for about a year. I’ve ran into life issues which required more cash than I was making at my previous job and so far it’s been working out to pay the bills that have piled up due to said life issues and I’ve actually been able to save some money. The one aspect I feel lucky about is that I’ve only gotten stuck one time for 5 days but other than that I’ve been able to be moving literally every single day I go out. I’m scared to move onto a different company for fear of being stuck for decent chunks of time as I’ve read horror stories of people being basically stranded with bigger companies for days and days multiple times in a month. The three months I’ve been doing this like I said stuck only once for 5 days with I guess weekends as well which I don’t really count because that’s a tougher time to get loads.
 
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TFTN-one3B

Not a Member
Owner/Operator
US Marines
Being a newer guy, you are not getting screwed. I started out at .30 a mile with owner paying for everything. You pay your dues.....learn the business.....and work your way into your own van .

The owner is taking a huge risk by putting a stranger in his vehicle...as well as having that van on the road as far as maintenance and repairs .

I also will say this isn't the business to become a millionaire by any means .
 
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