General Pay Structures for Lease Operators

I'll classify a few ways lease operators are paid some of these methods of extra pay also reach back to the company drivers and forward to the operator running his own authority. The best way to see how these categories are usually bundled together is to get over to the Trucking Calculator where you can experience working the numbers on various ways all truckers are paid especially the Lease Operators

Lease Operators are Paid by several different methods or any combination of the following.

Cents Per Mile (cpm) on loaded and dead head miles

Cpm on loaded miles, but less cpm on dead head mile

Empty miles pay "Company approved

Percentage of the Load (usually no pay on dead head)

 

Fuel Surcharge, Company Scale

Fuel Surcharge based on the National Average Fuel Price also known as "Full fuel surcharge

If they run their own trailer they are paid more

If they run the companies trailer they are paid less but they can drop and hook and swap loads

Companies Pay a set cpm for running refer units

Companies also pay fuel surcharge for running refer units

Most companies will also pay based on other load requirements such as

Number of Drops

Number of Hours To Onload and Offload

Detention Time

Layover Pay

Typically the lease operator is paid cpm on loaded and dead head and receive a fuel surcharge on his fuel.

the other primary way they lease operators are paid is by a percentage of what the load pays none on the dead head, if the company can get a fuel surcharge from the shipper the trucker is generally paid full fuel surcharge.

In some cases the lease operator is paid a flat rate of what the load is paid fuel surcharge included

The next most important thing to a lease operator to how much he is paid is how much he has to pay the company.

Lease operators that purchase or lease their truck through the company are usually compelled to settle for the companies maintenance program. Sometimes even if the truckers credit is shaky the company will make it easy for them to lease through the company. These maintenance programs, so called, are cleverly devised schemes to bleed the trucker for ridiculous sums of money. If the operator wants to lease a truck through them they make him pay a flat cpm rate on all of his loaded miles to cover the full and complete maintenance of the truck, it all sounds good when there selling it to you.

With the same money the operator loses on the maintenance program he could buy a brand new truck every year, and have the most expensive warranty program money can buy and still have money left over to have time for his family and a reward for the earnest effort and contribution he makes to society. Instead he becomes a slave, yes, he's given the choice to turn down a load if he wants to, but he's become so desperately to make some good on his investment he runs everything every where and all the time sometimes without seeing his family for months on end, if he's managed to keep them together. Running constantly is the only way he can catch up.

Oh yes, one more little thing, if the truck is not run as a team truck there usually is no way the trucker can make good on the deal, none.  This one's for free, it's a taste of what you'll find out if you buy the book, and if you do you'll find a lot more.