How to Pay Truck Drivers: Per Mile vs Percentage
When you hire your first driver, you have to decide how to pay them. Most small carriers pick per mile or a percentage of the load, and both work. The trouble comes from what nobody wrote down: which miles count, a percentage of what, and what comes off before pay day. This guide covers the choice, gives you a calculator to compare the two on a real load, and ends with a settlement routine your drivers can check.
The three ways small carriers pay drivers
| Method | How it's worked out | Usually used for |
|---|---|---|
| Per mile | Miles × a rate per mile | Company drivers on regional and long-haul runs |
| Percentage | A share of what the load paid | Leased owner-operators, and some company drivers |
| Flat per load | One agreed amount per load | Short local runs, where per mile would be pennies |
Some local work is paid by the hour or by the day. This guide is about over-the-road pay.
Per mile: simple, until you ask which miles
Per mile is the most common way to pay a company driver. The driver knows what a mile is worth, and their pay doesn't swing with the market. The catch for you: a cheap load costs the same in driver pay as a good one.
The rate is the easy part. Most pay arguments are about which miles get counted:
- All miles or loaded only. Are the empty miles out to the pickup (deadhead) paid? Paying loaded miles only makes the rate look higher than what the driver really earns per mile driven. Either can be fair. Say which before the first load.
- Where the miles come from. A routing tool, the rate con, or what was actually driven? Some carriers pay on "short" (household goods) miles, which come out lower than the road really driven, and drivers notice within a week.
- Detours. If you pay planned miles, decide up front who carries a closed road or a reroute the broker asked for.
Paying on the miles the truck actually drove settles most of these arguments, as long as you have a record you both trust. GPS from the driver's phone gives you one. See how to track your truck drivers without calling them.
Percentage: fair in a good market, harder in a bad one
With percentage pay the driver earns a share of what the load paid. A good load is good for both of you and a cheap load is cheap for both of you. It's how most leased owner-operators are paid, and some carriers pay company drivers this way too.
- A percentage of what? Linehaul only, or the whole rate including fuel surcharge? Are detention and layover inside the percentage or paid on top? A lumper fee the driver paid out of pocket is a reimbursement, not revenue, and doesn't belong in the percentage at all.
- Company driver or owner-operator? An owner-operator's share is much bigger than a company driver's, because they pay for the truck, fuel and repairs out of it. The two percentages can't be compared directly.
- The driver will want to see the rate. A percentage is only as trustworthy as the number it's taken from. If you lease owner-operators on a percentage, federal leasing rules (49 CFR Part 376) require the pay to be written in the lease, and the lease must say you'll give them the rated freight bill, or a document with the same information, at or before settlement.
Whether a driver is your employee or an independent owner-operator is a legal and tax question, not just a pay choice. Check it with your accountant before you set up pay.
Flat per load
A flat amount works for short runs that repeat, where a per-mile figure would be tiny and everyone already knows what the run is worth. It gets unfair quickly on anything that varies, because a bad day in traffic pays the same as a good one.
Compare per mile and percentage on a real load
Put in a load you ran recently and the two rates you're considering. The calculator shows what the driver earns each way, and the percentage that would pay the same as your per-mile rate.
The numbers in the calculator are only an example, not a recommended rate. Replace them with your own. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
Now try a cheap load and a good one. Per-mile pay stays the same, percentage pay moves with the rate. That's the real choice: who carries the market, you or the driver. Before you set either number, know your own cost per mile, because driver pay is one of the biggest parts of it. Our rate per mile calculator shows how to compare a load against it.
Which one should you pick?
- Per mile if you hire company drivers, haul freight at mixed rates, and want pay that's easy to explain.
- Percentage if you lease owner-operators, or your drivers help choose loads and you want them to care about the rate.
- Flat per load for short runs that repeat, where everyone knows what the run is worth.
Whatever you pick, keep one method per driver. Switching back and forth load by load is how pay disputes start.
Run settlements every week, the same way
A settlement is the driver's pay statement for a period: what they earned, minus what comes off, equals what you pay. Small carriers usually settle weekly. It goes wrong when somebody rebuilds it from texts and rate cons every Friday.
A clean settlement shows, for each load:
- The load and the day it delivered
- The pay basis: miles paid and the rate, or the percentage and the amount it was taken from
- Whether the miles are planned or actually driven
- Gross pay
- Each deduction on its own line: fuel bought on your card (for owner-operators who pay their own fuel), cash advances, anything else agreed in writing
- Net pay, and the date it was paid
Settle on the same day every week. A driver who gets the same clear statement every Friday stops calling to ask what they'll be paid.
Put the pay agreement in writing
One page, signed before the first load. It should answer:
- Per mile, percentage or flat, and the rate.
- Which miles count (loaded only or all miles), and where the miles come from.
- For percentage: a percentage of what, and how the driver sees the rate.
- Detention, layover, extra stops, breakdowns and a cancelled load: paid or not, and how much.
- What can be deducted from pay.
- The pay period and the pay day.
Where HitchLink fits
In HitchLink you set each driver's pay once: per mile (with deadhead paid or not), a percentage of the load, or a flat amount per load. When a load is delivered, a settlement for it is created automatically. Per-mile pay uses the miles the driver's phone actually recorded on that load, falls back to the planned miles when the app wasn't running, and the settlement says which it used. The office adds fuel and other deductions, approves it and marks it paid, and the driver sees their pay for each load in the app.
If you're still comparing tools, our checklist on how to choose dispatch software for a small trucking company covers what else to look for.
Set up pay for your first driver
Free for one truck. Invite your driver by link, set their pay, and the first delivered load turns into a settlement you can check.
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