What Miles Should I Use to Pay my Truck Drivers?
When computing miles for truck driver payroll, there are many ways to determine them. There are odometer miles on the truck, loaded miles, PC Miler practical miles, PC Miler short miles, google, air and others. So, with that many methods, which is the best way of determining miles for truck driver payroll?
Disclaimer: This article is meant to be a general overview of the different ways to figure out miles. Consult your attorney before you make any decisions to ensure that you follow local laws.
First, let’s go into detail on what each of these is:
Odometer Miles
Odometer miles, also called hub miles, are the odometer reading on the truck when they return, minus the odometer reading on the truck when they left. It is easy to compute and pays the driver for each mile they ran. The problem is it also pays them to go out of route or take the truck home.
Loaded Miles
Loaded miles pay the truck driver for all miles while the truck is loaded. When the truck is empty, the drivers either won’t get paid or will get paid at a lower rate. Some trucking companies prefer this method of payment because they feel like the driver gets paid when the truck gets paid.
One issue with this is the truck driver has no say in the deadhead or empty miles driven. If the trucking company does not pay anything for empty miles, you could run into minimum wage issues if the truck runs too long without freight.
PC Miler Practical Miles & Short Miles
PC Miler Practical Miles uses PC Miler’s software to determine the route’s mileage. Practical Miles uses the reasonable route as determined by PC Miler.
PC Miler Short Miles is the shortest legal route the truck can run. It’s usually 4-8% less than practical miles but that number can vary dramatically.
A trucking company can use this routing software to calculate mileage with multiple stops, so it is easy to determine the miles for a round trip. Issues arise when the driver has to reroute for construction or accidents, or when the driver gets turned around and has to go back to a shipper or consignee. The latter case requires a new stop added where the driver turned around.
Google
Google means google maps. While Google maps help tons of people daily get from point A to point B, they are not great with truck routes.
Air Miles
Air miles are ‘as the crow flies’ or a straight line on a map from shipper to consignee. Please don’t use this method.
So Which Method of Payment is the Best?
Paying your drivers via odometer miles is the easiest to understand, and usually the fairest method. We would suggest that your drivers are monitored so that they don’t get paid for taking the truck to their house without permission. It’s also a good idea to track the miles paid vs the PC Miler routes.
No matter which way you choose to pay your drivers, it needs to be explicitly disclosed in the employee handbook. Make sure that your drivers know exactly how they will be getting paid, and have them sign documentation that they understand the payment process.
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