There is a lot of noise and confusion about what salary means in the world of Professional Truck Drivers. Plenty of other transportation companies like to sell their version of a salary with a world of sign on bonuses, all of that comes with a big fat “BUT”.
Since 2015, we have paid a true salary to every single Professional OTR Truck Driver that works for ShipEX. Since then, our success and methodology has been imitated often, but never replicated.
Many companies like to say they offer a salary, but they will change how much you earn with that salary from month to month or in some cases week to week (much like the Cents per Mile model). That is unstable and is closer to being paid per hour or mile.
Companies like these use the word “Salary” as an interchangeable term for CMP, pay, or compensation; the word has lost all meaning. But at ShipEX we believe in paying an honest salary, meaning a consistent paycheck every week as if you were sitting in the office next to us side by side. A true team member.
Other companies will offer you a decent compensation package, but only after you have gone through their probation period or once you have “proven yourself.”
We used to offer a salary after a 30-day probation period. That felt unfair, so we offer a salary on day one. Our true salary means that you will make $62,500 in a year, no ifs, ands, or buts.
Let’s play with some examples.
Say you are working for ABC Trucking Company and they pay you a good looking ¢45 a mile. More often than not, that company is willing to pay you ¢45 a mile because they will not give you the miles to make it worthwhile. But for a moment, let us pretend they give you the ¢45 a mile and the miles.
On Monday you manage to run 650 miles, not bad, you have made $292.50 just that day. But because of traffic, weather, and detention delays, you manage to only another 1,500 miles before your reset, making $675. For that week you have managed to make $967.50 after driving 2,150 miles.
When you are driving through Polar Vortexes, heavy rain, and government shut downs, you might have an entire month of paydays like that. Meaning you have only earned $3870 for that month. Not bad, but also not including detention, layover or if you had to take a day off.
But when you earn a salary at ShipEX, you will make $1154 every week, no matter how delayed you are with traffic, detention, and weather. Which means through a terrible winter month, you would be almost guaranteed to earn $4616 in that same month.
We are not sure about you, but $4616 looks like a bigger number than $3870, and we would always rather make the bigger number. The difference between Salary and Cents Per Mile, in this example, is $746. That is a huge amount of money that can make the difference between paying rent or not.
*Based on rough estimates and not including taxes, withholdings etc.
You can learn what 15,000 safe miles in a month and 8 years spent at ShipEX will look like on our Salary Calculator.
Now that we have broken down the ShipEX salary pay, you may want to think about major industry issues with pay that are typically overlooked when it comes to Detention, layover and home time. The salary tackles these issues head on.
According to the TCA Vice President of Government Affairs, Drivers lose, on average, 20,000 miles every year because of detention. That is $9,000 just thrown away. (not including hours lost) But with salary pay you are being compensated for every second of that detention.
At ShipEX, you are still earning your salary when you take your approved home time. Home time is vital, and we want to make sure you know while you are off the road you are paid. You can take it and not worry about making ends meet.
We have learned that with salary pay many of our Drivers have become first time home owners due to the consistent pay. This set up has allowed ShipEX to make a difference in so many Professional Truck Drivers’ lives.