Profile For Paul H.

That's always been a tough question. The "what is my worth". Personally I think a paid by the day might work here. Especially since you said you may be loading/ unloading in addition to driving. And have a "layover" factored in as well when you're just staying in hotels.

I'm definitely leaning towards daily or hourly.

Basically, you have to pay the portion of social security the employer pays. My best advice is get an accountant, not a tax preparer. He will save you enough to pay for his services at the very least.

I'm glad you told me that, because I was thinking about talking to my tax preparer cousin. Although as far as this truck driving gig, I don't know yet whether it'll be W2 or not. But for everything else I'm doing, I'm definitely self-employed.

Paul says:

The school has rented the truck and trailer (53 ft) for me to drive. So I have no financial responsibility.

As for the bus driving gig, first figure an hourly rate. Say $20/hour. If you drive and charge $0.40/mile, an average overall speed of 50mph will equal the twenty bucks an hour. Bid a combination of time and miles. This might be a place to start.

I've recently started doing truck driveway. Here's my "training" topic. For this I don't own any trucks and as an independent I can work when I want (which for me is all the time, but I can take off when I want to.)

Thanks Errol! I've got to look into the whole self-employment thing for taxes. I managed to narrowly avoid having to file that way last year for music gigs, but with everything I'm doing now it has to happen. The driveaway gig sounds awesome! I could never do triples, though. Gives me anxiety just thinking about it.

Paul, is this part time gig in addition to your regular driving job?

Are you still working at Prime?

No, I left Prime a couple of years ago and moved to Colorado for a sous chef position. But I just moved back home to Florida and am piecing together different income sources (music gigs, online transcription and writing work, and now this UCF gig) rather than going back into a kitchen or a truck full time. Trying to live outside the box for once. :-)

Driving around a bunch of college cheerleaders? And you want pay???

Ha! It's the equipment, not the cheerleaders. Although honestly, I'd probably want to be paid more to drive a bus full of college kids, cheerleaders or not. :-)

I didn't see u mention per diem or hotel stays, or the logistics of where u will park, all things u would take care of...

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention hotels are taken care of.

Hi everyone! I just scored a nice little part-time gig driving a truck for a college cheerleading team. My cousin is the coach, and he told me to let him know how much I need to be paid. I'm not really sure how to go about this. Some trips will be long (800+ miles), but others will probably not be long enough for per-mile pay to be worth my time, especially since all the events are at least two days long. Does anyone have any suggestions on a reasonable hourly rate to charge for shorter trips? And what would you charge per mile for the longer ones? And for the longer ones where there will be a couple of days between arrival and departure, how should I handle the days where I'm not driving or setting up, seeing as how I'm still away from home for the job? I'm not an O/O, the school has rented the truck and trailer (53 ft) for me to drive. So I have no financial responsibility. And I will be helping with loading/unloading and setting up of equipment. My experience is as a company driver with Prime, so I'm just used to doing what I'm told and taking what I get. Now that I get to set the terms, I'm at a loss. :-) I would appreciate any advice!

Salt Lake

Thanks Brett! I have a Facebook album going titled OTR. I try to take pictures every day, though it doesn't always happen.

When I get my own truck, I'll have plenty to do during downtime. I'll have my dog, so of course I'll be getting her out and about whenever I have the chance. If I feel like I can handle it once I've been solo for awhile, I may continue the business degree I started, one online class at a time (I worry about missing deadlines due to inconsistent internet access, though). And I'll have my guitar. I'm single with minimal bills, so I won't be stressing over money the way my trainer does. No matter what happens on any individual day with a customer or a crappy load, I'll be making more money this year than I ever have, and saving most of it. So I'm laid back about things.

Just to clarify, Prime does not teach you the information you need to pass the CDL permit exam. You have to study yourself. You are expected to be ready to take the exam when you get here. Prime teaches you how to drive, not how to pass the written exam.