California Pay For Swift (might Switch Companies)

I have been with Swift for about 10 months now, coming into 1 year of driving (had my license longer, but COVID caused me to get off the truck to take care of family). I was being told that I got paid between .45 and .47 (and obviously more like .52 for miles fewer than 150 miles and things alike). I was fine with it, but when I looked at my check I noticed I was getting .42 or .43. So I called payroll and after a very lengthy discussion I found out that because I live in California they are required to show an hourly pay. So, what they end up doing is taking off 2 cents of my miles to make up for the rest pay that we get, which is minimum wage for 2 hours per pay period. They also informed me that there is PRODUCTION pay (miles) and HOURLY pay (uh.. hourly..). Whichever is higher, I get that pay. So, say I work 65 hours one week, that would be roughly $910 a week. That's good, no complaints. However, if I drove 2.1k miles at an average of .46, that would be $966 ($50 more a week, which is $200 more a month, $2,400 a year, so it adds up). But since I am in California, I don't average .46, I average about .44. So why would I want to run hard, use the same amount of hours, if I can just take low miles, work up my clock, and get the higher pay? I feel like I'm running hard for free if the hourly will just end up being more BECAUSE they are taking out more for production.

We also just recently got a 2 cent raise, but I won't be seeing that 2 cent raise since they take it out to cover rest pay. I have no complaints about Swift other than that, I want to stay with them longer but unless I am missing something or just being dumb and not understanding the pay, I feel like I am being used for miles. Am I overthinking this? Am I possibly not understanding something important? Is this a silly reason to leave a company?

You are worrying about the wrong things Sparky. So the state says workers need to be paid minimum wage, but they can make more. You are looking at the "bottom" instead of trying to go to the top.

Long ago I drove for a company called SuperShuttle, hauling travelers to and from airports in Los Angeles. (Waaaay before Uber came along.) When I hired on, the company promised I was guaranteed minimum wage. Well, I never had to worry about minimum wage while I worked there (two years). We were even paid a flat rate per destination (heard of that before?). Including waiting (not paid) for hours for our next dispatch.

Now you've already performed a magic trick to make your own CPM raise disappear. First you say they pull two cents from your miles rate then pay you an hourly filler. Then you say the two cents raise will go to pay that hourly piece. No, when you get a two cent raise you'll get a two cent raise. Maybe payroll had to make that play with the hourly rates, but you will get more in a paycheck.

Rather than assume stuff on your own, how about a call to Swift Payroll or HR to clear things up. I drove for Swift for three years and put in my time on hold calling various Swift offices. But every person in Phoenix I spoke with had the patience to answer my questions.

That's not a Swift issue, it's a California issue and you're likely to run into it with anybody that hires you. I know FedEx pays the linehaul drivers in California about 37 an hour at top rate, but they get no overtime. Every where else in the country, it's CPM.

If you want a change move out of California. Like was said above it's a California law. All companies with drivers living in California have to pay those drivers an hourly rate.

Classic example of California socialism penalizing productive people and rewarding lazy people. Just wondering if you had mail sent to Phoenix, even at the terminal , could you qualify for AZ residency and thus avoid it, would lower your taxes as well.