Miles per day
 

I thought I had done sufficient research . . . but . . . then I got asked a question I can't answer (and it's a good one) so I want to get opinions on the following:


One TMC person says $4000 to truck is what a great driver gets per week. But what is a "week?" Does it mean Mon - Fri or does it refer to 7 days (like for the Long-Haul guy who's out 14 or more days)?


A JBH person says 2500 miles is the average for the fleet per week. But what's a week . . . Mon - Fri or does it refer to 7 days (like for the Long-Haul guy who's out 14 or more days)?


I read where an experienced driver said SRT was generally giving drivers 3300 miles per week. Again . . . Mon - Fri or 7 days, etc, etc.


Basically, every company discusses mileage per week or dollars to truck per week but I'm not sure there's any agreement on what constitutes a week.

Any comments welcome!

Re: Miles per day
 

It's usually 7 days a week.

And FYI, I never saw 2500 miles while working for JBH. My range was 1700-2000, with my last week 2300. But that was just me....you could be different. Good luck.

A week is 7 days unless you know you are on some kind of dedicated run that has you home/off more often.

If TMC was paying 4,000 a week to the driver everyone would be driving for them !! That might be what THEIR truck makes a (7 day) week but then they pay on what miles it actualy ran.

Walking Eagle, Quite a few TMC drivers are paid percentage, based on what they make "to the truck". 23-32% depending from what I know, this would be what he's refering to.

Re: Miles per day
 

So you guys out there driving are only going 350 miles a day? Divide that by say 65 miles an hour thats only 5 hours of driving..... Am I missing something?

$16,000 per week gross to the truck all us O/O's would lease to them ! I Heavy Haul so a loy of times make quite a bit more than that but it is offset by the sitting/deadhead. Very few trucks out there make close to 2500 per day.

700 miles per day for 7 days, every week (you can't log it) is 4900 mpw x .35 cpm avaerage = $ 1715 per 7 days
$4000 a week would be about .82 cents per mile and I don't know any company that pays that to a company driver.

The $4000 is what is "to the truck" meaning thats the worth of what they're hauling in that week. The driver gets the percentage of that depending on level up to 32%, NOT the $4000. So nobody is saying anybody is grossing $4000 a week.....

Drakmare
 

"So you guys out there driving are only going 350 miles a day? Divide that by say 65 miles an hour thats only 5 hours of driving..... Am I missing something?" Yup. BOL

Re: Miles per day
 

Your calculator is broken. :wink:

Re: Miles per day
 

Why would you only want to drive for 5 hours??
:shock:

7 days . . . so let's say you get 3000 miles/week.

3000/7 = 428

Say you average 55 mph. (Just guessing.)

428/55 = 8 (roughly)

So 7 days X 8 hours . . . that's 56 DRIVING hours per week . . . and the rest of the time is what, sitting and waiting?

The math sure looked a lot better when I thought you divided by 5! :D

Maybe I will learn to crochet . . . .

Re: Miles per day
 

How is my calculator broken?

Every company says average miles is 2500

2500miles divided by 7 days = 357 miles

357 miles divided by 65 miles per hour = 5.5 hours

Where is the math wrong :?

Re: Miles per day
 

Ok...I know why you are getting that number. A week is 7 days, but with Jb, you may only drive 4-5 days, with the rest waiting to be loaded/unloaded. The rest after that? Sitting, waiting for the next load.

if you can drive a constant 65 miles per hour in every state at every minute of your driving hours that would be great but it aint going to happen

Miles Per day
 

For OTR a week is eight days long with 70 hours to work with and stay legal without a 34 hour reset. A driver won't average 55 mph, it'll be lower. Many dispatch speeds are in the area of 40 to 45 mph. A driver may average 500 miles per day but the left door will be closed a lot with the driver's left shoulder very close to it. BOL

Re: Miles Per day
 

Is this an unreasonable request?

/Steve

My husband drives for TMC. He drives about 400-500 miles a day Sun afternoon-Fri night. I would say that a $4000 gross to the truck would be a good week. Sometimes a little more, sometimes less. It takes time to get unloaded, to strap the load, etc. He hardly ever sits down to eat at a restaurant. He runs hard then takes his 10 hr break.

The bottom line is easy---what do you have on your paycheck every week. If you worry about your miles every day you are going to turn into these guys that sit at the truck stop every day bitching that they are not making any miles. They might as well get a job at the truck stop because they are not going to make any money driving sitting there all day. Trucking is like life you get out of it what you put into it everyday.

Well, I agree with that, to some degree but you have to consider the "efficiency" of your effort, too.

2500 miles in 5 days is significantly more efficient than 2500 miles in 7 days. And naturally, the increased efficiency will result in increased income.

You may not notice it in one month or even two . . . but over the course of the year, the greater efficiency will begin to pay off. The 5-day driver is around 35% more efficient and that translates into real dollars over 12 months.

(At least that's what Excel tells me . . . understand the only thing I drive now is this keyboard . . . . :D )

Wish I could only drive 5 hours a day and make the same $$s I do now :)

Communication with your dispatcher is the key to greater miles. Deliver on time keep your logs legal and the miles will come.

this might be somewhat of an older topic, but when avereaging miles per week, i generally like to first determine how many miles per month i've run. Most companies generally allow 1 day off per week worked, and while Pride is more liberal in their hometime policy, i generally follow that rule. So, on weeks where hometime falls, my miles per week fall as well...so simply put, i decide how many miles i ran in the month and divide by four to get my averages....

That is $4,000 gross revenue to the truck each week at TMC. The driver's percentage pay rate can vary from 23% to 32% of that $4,000 figure.

You're talking apples and oranges. I'm responding to the gentleman who said the focus should be on the paycheck. My point is that while Gross Income is important, so are Time and Miles. Generally, the more efficient the job (or company) the better off you are. I think everyone would agree that if two truckers are receiving equal income, then the one who's driving fewer hours (or fewer miles) is "better off."

As to the "efficiency expert" . . . it sounds like what you're describing is a Critical Path or P.E.R.T. analysis where tasks are reviewed to see if different sequencing, priority and resources can reduce the total time involved.

These "clowns" as you call them . . . and by the way, good luck trying to find one who will touch an analysis for $50K . . . are the same guys who figured out how to build the Polaris missile sub in record time and later transfered the methodology to the US space program (NASA) and helped us put a man on the moon . . . also in record time.

If I said that I can teach you how to strap down and tarp a load in 40% less time . . . or how to perform a better truck inspection in 25% less time . . . why wouldn't you jump at the opportunity?

My whole thought regarding trucking and money is this:

Drive the fewest amount of miles, for the greatest amount of dollars. :wink:

I know that this is not always possible for a company driver, but I have done it. Call it being at the right place, at the right time.

What I always told my drivers, and I no longer have any, was to learn this racket and buy your own truck, and I will help you. No one ever took me up on the offer. :cry:

The last guy I had in my employ was looking at $60 grand for the year (about 8 mos work). He got disgusted, long story.

Learn the business end, it ain't rocket science. There is money to be made out here, you just need to do your time. If you have ever been in the military, you will know what I mean, and that ain't no lie.
:wink: