Flat rate???

Daffyduck528

Expert Expediter
I just received a call back and WG will continue as is....

Do not forget that we have all signed a contract saying we will run for a % of what a customer pays at a certain rate. We have different rates depending on division and if we own the trailer or not.

Surface went to flat rate and I have to think that if we continue to negotiate when will we go flat rate and no negotiating?

So from what I understand the only time w/g rate of $1.30 + fsc will be used is if a surface truck hauls a w/g load which some of us do. Like a radmat load for example. Does this seem correct?
 

Daffyduck528

Expert Expediter
And if that's correct bummer for w/g. Surface trucks that can haul w/g loads, iac, dod, rad, exp, etc... Will suppress the rates to $1.30 + fsc which is about $1.61/mile as of this post. And there's nothing we can do about it, FDCC is setting the rate. So if a w/g truck bids against a surface truck they'll almost always loose it unless they are in better location and get by because of excessive dh.
 

jimby82

Veteran Expediter
(We drive a TVAL truck for a fleet owner. We are on a 40/60 pay plan where we get 40% of the run pay, owner gets 60% of run and 100% of the FSC and tolls.
This is a fairly common compensation plan in the expedite industry.)

Looking at the flat rate from a drivers point of view -

If for a moment we look at the flat rate plan from a drivers point of view using the same 40/60 plan we are under:

Unloaded miles pay the truck $.75 / mile. The diver would get $.30 / mile (.75 * .40)
Loaded miles pay the truck $1.25 / mile. The driver would get $.50 / mile (1.25 * .40)

FSC and Tolls do not matter, as the owner receives 100%

Last year we drove a total of 137376 "authorized" miles.
Approx 13% of those miles (17710) were unloaded (deadhead) miles. (Probably a low % industry wide)

On the flat rate plan, we would have made:
$5313 for unloaded miles (17,710 * $.30)
$59833 for loaded miles (119,666 * $.50)

For a total of $65,146 @ $.4742 / mile
This is to a husband/wife team

at 15% deadhead, we would have made: $64,841 @ $.47 / mile
at 20% deadhead, we would have made: $63,193 @ $.46 / mile
at 25% deadhead, we would have made: $61,819 @ $.45 / mile

Just some food for thought
 

Daffyduck528

Expert Expediter
So from what I understand the only time w/g rate of $1.30 + fsc will be used is if a surface truck hauls a w/g load which some of us do. Like a radmat load for example. Does this seem correct?

Hmmm. Well here's to April and May. I wish all a very profitable 2 months. And may the odds be ever in your favor...
 

Daffyduck528

Expert Expediter
(We drive a TVAL truck for a fleet owner. We are on a 40/60 pay plan where we get 40% of the run pay, owner gets 60% of run and 100% of the FSC and tolls.
This is a fairly common compensation plan in the expedite industry.)

Looking at the flat rate from a drivers point of view -

If for a moment we look at the flat rate plan from a drivers point of view using the same 40/60 plan we are under:

Unloaded miles pay the truck $.75 / mile. The diver would get $.30 / mile (.75 * .40)
Loaded miles pay the truck $1.25 / mile. The driver would get $.50 / mile (1.25 * .40)

FSC and Tolls do not matter, as the owner receives 100%

Last year we drove a total of 137376 "authorized" miles.
Approx 13% of those miles (17710) were unloaded (deadhead) miles. (Probably a low % industry wide)

On the flat rate plan, we would have made:
$5313 for unloaded miles (17,710 * $.30)
$59833 for loaded miles (119,666 * $.50)

For a total of $65,146 @ $.4742 / mile
This is to a husband/wife team

at 15% deadhead, we would have made: $64,841 @ $.47 / mile
at 20% deadhead, we would have made: $63,193 @ $.46 / mile
at 25% deadhead, we would have made: $61,819 @ $.45 / mile

Just some food for thought

Just curious, how did that compare to your actual income?
 

jimby82

Veteran Expediter
Let's just say if we only made $66,000, we would be doing something else now. We were extremely fortunate last year. We have a great fleet owner, and drive a very dependable, very well maintained truck. We drive it and treat it like it was our own. We choose which loads to accept and turn down. We are not micromanaged.

We came very close (<$2000) to hitting 6 figures.

And thank you Zorry for the compliment :)
 

Daffyduck528

Expert Expediter
Let's just say if we only made $66,000, we would be doing something else now. We were extremely fortunate last year. We have a great fleet owner, and drive a very dependable, very well maintained truck. We drive it and treat it like it was our own. We choose which loads to accept and turn down. We are not micromanaged.

We came very close (<$2000) to hitting 6 figures.

And thank you Zorry for the compliment :)

Wow. I didn't realize a w/g team could bring that kind of money in. I haven't driven w/g so if my ignorance on the subject shows that is why.

I do hope in some time though someone will say the same about me as I try to advance into fleet ownership and I'm blessed to have couples such as yourself to work with.
 

jjoerger

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
US Army
Let's just say if we only made $66,000, we would be doing something else now. We were extremely fortunate last year. We have a great fleet owner, and drive a very dependable, very well maintained truck. We drive it and treat it like it was our own. We choose which loads to accept and turn down. We are not micromanaged.

We came very close (<$2000) to hitting 6 figures.

And thank you Zorry for the compliment :)

How do you split accessorials? Liftgate, labor, HAZMAT, etc. All those will add up too.
 

jimby82

Veteran Expediter
Thank you Daffy :) Good luck to you!

We are very fortunate to be in the truck we are in, and drive for the owner we have.

We have always looked at it this way: I we are going to drive, why not earn as much as possible for each mile we drive?

I know we could probably make more per mile driving a TT, but choose to balance our need for money with our desire to be comfortable. Neither of us have a desire to drive big trucks, so we drive a DR truck. It's a good fit for us. We put up with the hassles (logging, DOT, CDLs) that go along with life on the road, in exchange for a pretty good living :)

It's not for everyone, but we are still having fun, while earning a decent income. If the income were to drastically shrink, we would simply find something else to do.

I still think a WG/TVAL truck offers the highest potential income for a husband / wife team of drivers. We have no plans to ever own a truck. If we did, a surface truck might offer a better return than a TVAL truck. Have never really looked at the numbers.
 

nobb4u

Expert Expediter
(We drive a TVAL truck for a fleet owner. We are on a 40/60 pay plan where we get 40% of the run pay, owner gets 60% of run and 100% of the FSC and tolls.
This is a fairly common compensation plan in the expedite industry.)

Looking at the flat rate from a drivers point of view -

If for a moment we look at the flat rate plan from a drivers point of view using the same 40/60 plan we are under:

Unloaded miles pay the truck $.75 / mile. The diver would get $.30 / mile (.75 * .40)
Loaded miles pay the truck $1.25 / mile. The driver would get $.50 / mile (1.25 * .40)

FSC and Tolls do not matter, as the owner receives 100%

Last year we drove a total of 137376 "authorized" miles.
Approx 13% of those miles (17710) were unloaded (deadhead) miles. (Probably a low % industry wide)

On the flat rate plan, we would have made:
$5313 for unloaded miles (17,710 * $.30)
$59833 for loaded miles (119,666 * $.50)

For a total of $65,146 @ $.4742 / mile
This is to a husband/wife team

at 15% deadhead, we would have made: $64,841 @ $.47 / mile
at 20% deadhead, we would have made: $63,193 @ $.46 / mile
at 25% deadhead, we would have made: $61,819 @ $.45 / mile

Just some food for thought
Here's the thing as a flat rate truck you could make as much money but you would have to work more, making up the difference in volume of miles.
 

jimby82

Veteran Expediter
Here's the thing as a flat rate truck you could make as much money but you would have to work more, making up the difference in volume of miles.

We were away from home 308 days last year. I don't think we could make up that much :)

We ran a total of 127 runs last year (including 4 dry runs.) We actually ran 123 runs.
Of those:
19 required a liftgate
8 were hazmat loads
4 required inside P/U and Labor

Since we are a WG truck, from my understanding, we would not receive additional compensation for liftgate, as that is built into being a WG truck. (I don't know the answer to this, have been told several different things over the years, but this seems to be the predominate opinion.)

Out of the 123 loads,
7 were true "Surface" loads
18 were non-reefer WG loads.

The rest were Reefer / TVAL / TA / ART loads
 

zorry

Veteran Expediter
Jimby, a little off topic, but are you running one of those less than desirable Carrier units ?

If so, how'd you stay so productive ?
 

jimby82

Veteran Expediter
Why yes, Zorry, we do have one of the "Undesirable" Carriers, lol

Looking a little deeper at last year,
We ran a total of 7 true Surface Expedite runs.
Those runs accounted for 9503 total miles (8462 loaded, 1041 unloaded) They paid the truck $17,453.77 @ $1.84 all miles (There was $58.91 in tolls) Paid us $5668.84

Under the flat rate plan, would have only paid us $4543.30 - That's $1125.54 less.
Yeah, it's going to effect us TVAL trucks also.
 

Daffyduck528

Expert Expediter
Jimby, a little off topic, but are you running one of those less than desirable Carrier units ?

If so, how'd you stay so productive ?

Actually, from what I hear, TK is developing a special refer for w/g exclusive to FDCC. This is so you can buy one at any dealership, no fine tuning needed, no parking in green for t-val testing, hopefully to make life easier and yada yada yada.

I just hope the tk refers hold up better than my tk APU. The engine is like gold, everything else is like pewter. It's constantly needing something done to it.
 

nobb4u

Expert Expediter
First let me say I'm not in favor of the flat rate program nor am I promoting its existence.

What I'm saying is you're not going to be sitting as much you'll be running all the time. Working harder not smarter.
 

jamom123

Expert Expediter
First let me say I'm not in favor of the flat rate program nor am I promoting its existence.

What I'm saying is you're not going to be sitting as much you'll be running all the time. Working harder not smarter.

Doesn't quite work that way for the solos out here though.

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