Driver pay: Survey shows truck operators prefer percentage pay over mileage, hourly packages

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Survey responses to the prompt: “Pay is fair compared to the amount of work.”Survey responses to the prompt: “Pay is fair compared to the amount of work.”

Truck drivers who receive pay based on a percentage split — a fixed percent of the invoice charged to customers — are generally more satisfied with their jobs than those who are paid based on hourly or mileage pay, according to survey results released by Stay Metrics this week.

Stay Metrics surveyed more than 4,000 drivers from 31 different carriers.

Drivers receive pay on a percentage split indicated they were 31 percent more satisfied with their jobs than those who receive hourly pay and 29 percent more satisfied than those who receive per-mile pay.

On the whole, drivers who receive hourly and per-mile pay said in the survey they felt they are underpaid, compared to responses of drivers who are paid on a percentage split:

Survey responses to the prompt: “I feel I am being underpaid compared to peers in the same profession”Survey responses to the prompt: “I feel I am being underpaid compared to peers in the same profession”

But drivers who are paid by percentage also indicated they switch carriers more often, according to the survey:

Survey responses to the question: “How many carriers have you driven for?”Survey responses to the question: “How many carriers have you driven for?”

Twenty-two of the 31 carriers that participated in the survey payed drivers in two ways or more. Of the 4,000 drivers surveyed, 360 were paid hourly, 1,795 were paid by the mile and 2,364 were paid on percentage split.