Truckers Pay, By The DAY!!!

If you're an OTR driver with your rig away from home. Why don't they pay per day, instead of per miles? That would solve any issues: e.i. detention pay, maintenance pay, breakdowns, and bad weather. Once you're home or on reset, or you asked for a day off, than you're off. And anything less than 12 hours, would be at half days pay: e.i. afternoon pick up, or early drop off.

Because most people need an incentive to work. I was raised an honest days work for an honest days pay and I could do that but a lot of the drivers on the road now whine about doing a pretrip or some other minor thing and would end up sitting in a truckstop when they should be turning wheels.

Paying by the day, would drop the amount of work that gets done. The only measureable thing is mileage with a truck. Everything else is on someone's word.

Because most people need an incentive to work. I was raised an honest days work for an honest days pay and I could do that but a lot of the drivers on the road now whine about doing a pretrip or some other minor thing and would end up sitting in a truckstop when they should be turning wheels.

Paying by the day, would drop the amount of work that gets done. The only measureable thing is mileage with a truck. Everything else is on someone's word.

I'm not so sure about that. There are companies that pay by the day but are less common. I saw a company called Stage Call Specialized Transportation that pays by the day rather than the mile. There is also an OTR tanker outfit not too far from me that pays by the day with fuel bonus.

We have an excellent article on the subject called Why Drivers Are Paid By The Mile.

It's done as an incentive for drivers to run hard and to make sure that the driver and company are on the same page when it comes to earnings. If the wheels are turning, everyone is making money. If they're not, nobody is making money. So the nice thing about mileage pay is that you and your company are in it together. You need each other to make money and you make money the same way - turning those wheels.

Not only that, but we all want to be rewarded for our hard work. If you're the type that likes to outwork everyone then you love mileage pay. I was always that guy. I work hard and I want to get paid for what I do. On top of that, I don't expect to get paid if I'm not doing anything.

Paying by the day or by the hour is a disincentive to the driver - no question about it. Why bust your *ss when you can be lazy and make the same amount? I don't look at things that way and some others won't see it that way either. But most people would - especially in our society today. As a society we don't have nearly the work ethic we did 50 years ago.

Interestingly enough, one of the things people tend to worry about is, "How do I know I can trust a company? How do I know they won't screw me somehow?" Well the nice thing is that your interests are aligned. If they make you sit then you're not making any money but the company is losing money because they have a lot of fixed costs like truck payments and insurance. So with mileage pay the company and its drivers succeed or fail together. That's exactly how you want it to be.