What is per diem pay ? When is it paid ? Is it paid in addition to mileage pay ? Also, as a solo driver, is there a lot of night driving involved, or can it be avoided completely ?

 

[quote="Graymist"]What is per diem pay ? When is it paid ? Is it paid in addition to mileage pay ? Also, as a solo driver, is there a lot of night driving involved, or can it be avoided completely ?[/quote]

Actually, you may find it preferable to run at night; I know that I did!!!

There are a number of reasons for this:

Driving at night, I found that I was not delayed by rush hour traffic, fewer wrecks, and the back-up through the construction shoots was not nearly as bad. Driving around Atlanta, or through Chicago during the day was an exercise in stress; at night, it was much easier.

Unencumbered by unnecessary delays had a significant impact on my "Miles per Hour" average.

While I had the "Pre-Pass" to help me, I did note that there were fewer chicken houses open at night; of those that were open, they seemed more likely to just roll you across the scale, as opposed to bringing you inside.

Time to shut down??? Plenty of space to park!! No having to back a van into a tight spot after you've been driving 11 hours, and been up for about 15 or 16 hours. No clamoring for non-existent parking space either!!

Now, I drove an older Freight Shaker Classic XL which was more prone to overheating; rolling the desert, or climbing the mountains at night was far less of a problem.

It took my body a while to adjust, (I'm no longer the "night owl" that I once was!!") but in the end, it was worth it!!

Overall, I encountered a much higher quality professional driver at night than I did during the day. During the day, the "trash talk" on the CB would have made Gen. George Patton blush; at night, I had some very enjoyable conversations.

 

There are a few different variations to the per diem pay bit. One is a flat amount and the other is a per mile amount.

The most common is the per mile amount in which a portion of your CPM rate is not taxed. For example if you were making 30 cpm with a 6 cpm per diem, 24 cpm would be taxed and 6 cpm would not be taxed. You see this with each paycheck.

Now keep in mind that this lowers your taxable income for the year which potentially can hurt you in things like unemployment, workers comp, vacation pay, etc. In short anything that is based on your taxable income.

There are a few companies that pay a per diem rate above the base pay rate, but those seem to be few and far between.

 

I like driving at night. Less traffic tieups usually, except in summer if you're in an area where construction is going on and they have lanes reduced. Which is almost everywhere. LOL Wintertime at night can be trickier too. Your vision is reduced at night. I do know of drivers though that stop every day by 4-6 p.m. They plan their schedules in such a way so that they can do this.

 

When I first started out, I did a lot of night driving and it really was helpful for the reasons stated above.

I really hated it, though. It was lonely. Couldn't really keep in touch with the folks back home and I seemed to always have a low grade cold. Didn't eat right - stomach was a mess.

But I got a lot of good experience doing it, because I could take my time in the tough spots. I'd even spend time in the wide open truck stops practicing backing.

I really hate getting forced into it, though. I remember being in Dover, DE having just dropped off a load mid-morning. I couldn't find any ts on the maps nearby, the guard pointed me to a grocery store nearby. The parking lot started filling up and I started to feel very cramped - so I decided to head north on I-10 waiting for a Qualcomm message with a new load figuring that I'd get close to big population centers because chances were that's where my next pickup would be.

I didn't have much experience at the time, and all the Wally Worlds, Home Depots and Lowe's I passed all seemed to be beyond my capability to safely get in and out of.

I decided to get on an on-ramp right before the Interstate split towards NY. I got a load with a pickup appointment of 2 AM the next morning and a pretty tight delivery afterwards. My 14 hour clock expired at 11pm that night.

I called my dispatcher to work it out, and his solution was to immediately go down, take my 10 hour break and head to the pickup point. This started the worst 2 weeks of my life. Even though I had taken some Melatonin (which generally works for me), I wasn't able to get to sleep.

It was the first time I had been out East and I spent the next few weeks as a sleep deprived vampire covering what I consider to be the worst driving conditions in the country.

If it happens again, I don't know what I'll do. I really hate the idea of turning down freight - but the vampire shift is just something I shouldn't be doing. I'll drive TILL 3 no problem. I've always been a night owl, but I can't be nocturnal.

 

Where in the world will you find a safe place to shut down at 3:00 in the morning!!

 

Useless wrote:

That would be (mostly) us TEAM drivers! :wink: :lol:

We are all business. We don't get to "shut down" at night and drink, play "lot lizard" roulette, trash talk in the parking lots, or PEE on them!

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Just KIDDING, Y'all!!! Just a little "friendly" rivalry between TEAMERS and SOLOS! :wink:

 

I've tried the night driving route... never did get my sleep schedule changed over. Right about 11pm, it doesn't matter if I just got up, I start to fall asleep, and if the sun is up, no matter how little sleep I've had, I'm good to run. Damn good circadian rhythm I guess. I can and will drive at night once in a while to make a pick up or a delivery and on the rare occasion I've run all night, but I'm definitely a "Solar Powered Driver"

I was very straight up with my dispatchers about this fact, and generally after a few reminders, we'd have everything worked out as we got to know each other. Yes, there were some times I missed out on some decent loads, but I know with my body, it was safer for me to take the pay hit and let them roll on another truck than to attempt the overnight shift, or even worse, yo-yoing between the two.

I was also not a big fan of driving at night due to reduced visability... wearing my glasses at night, and the way the mirrors are on a big truck really played with my light sensitivity. Just not worth it to me.

 

Per diem is not pay. 'per diem' means 'per day' and refers to the tax deduction you can claim for being away from home. Some carriers let you withhold some taxes, therefore making your net and gross pay a little closer.
Basically, you are paying less taxes now and getting less refunded later.

If you drive at night, then your day is someone elses night. Out 5 nights a week? claim 5 days per diem. makes sense?


A New Trucking Forum

 

The pros and cons of night driving,

first I like to say I love driving nights..

Pros,

Less traffic, less trucks and 98% less cars....
Most scales are CLOSED....
Never wait in fuel island to get fuel, ALWAY 8 or 10 islands opened....
No Hot sun beating through driver side window and no glare or need for sunglasses....
Mornin best time to pull into truckstop and find hundreds of empty spaces next to building to park....
No RUSH hours

Cons,

Nothin to look at but road in front of you,
Headlights in your mirrors
Animals crossing roads
Bad weather makes it harder to see at night... (lower visabilty)
If you wreck theirs no one around to help you...
Drunks at the witching hour, most go slow, just pass them all...

anyway this is just a short view of what I think, I prefer driving at night , it does take more skill I think, need to be more alert because of the less visabilty and roads sometimes have no lines and the ditch, well its black too so you really got to be alert of the road in front of you..