Hey,Newbie here . I have enjoyed reading this forum for the past few days, lots of good info here. I will be starting CDL class tomorrow in Madisonville Ky at the community collage. I have seen the term practical miles several times and wondered what that ment? On a nother note , I have been selfemployeed for a few years . I have built a couple of spec houses and did a couple of flips to make a living . I made enough money to live off of up until now and wondered is this something that will be scrutinized? Sorry for the rambling qusetions . Darin

Practical miles is the mileage you can practically run in a truck where as household good miles is the shortest mileage from point to point without considering routes. a lot of times its just zip code to zip code. so practical miles is usually a lot closer to what you actually run, you will have to account for your last 10 years of employment. if you werent employed, you usually have to sign an affadavit as to the time you were off. some companies may want witness signatures also.. what yuo did during your time off dosent matter as long as you can account for your time.

Practical miles vs HHG miles:
Household Good miles was the old way of calculating miles between destinations. It dates back to a gov't project that was used to move servicemen around, uses all available roads - which truckers can't use - and usually shows the distance between point A and point B as being about 10% shorter than the routes we can actually use.

You may want to find an employer who will pay "hub" miles or odometer miles. They're the same thing. I work for an employer who pays odometer miles, so they are not impossible to find.

I was self employed before finding nirvana and becoming a trucker. A letter from my accountant solved the problem. If I had not used an accountant, I would have hired one just for the purpose of reviewing my records and providing documentation for a prospective employer.

Practical Miles are the shortest route between post offices that a truck can legally take.

HHG Miles: The shortest miles period.

Hub Miles: Actual miles driven.

Hope this helps in your understanding.

Thanks all ,got plenty more questions but for now I will read some more of the forum being that tomorrow I will probably be busy studying .