BBSAM So with some money in the bank can someone actually expect to turn a profit in owning a ground route. What is the pay per piece, stop, or mileage? How do you get payed? It seems to me that there is no creditable information on the issue. From what i gather Bbsam is a contractor so can he give me some real information on the issue.
Sure. $1.54/stop $0.24/package delivered $0.18/package picked up.
$45/day "van availability" (truck payment)
core zone pay
fuel supplement based upon $1.25/gallon.
monthly bonuses based upon quantifiable customer satisfaction goals.
annual bonuses from $500 to $2000 depending upon number of years with contract.
added service bonus (surpassing threshold levels on a given route)
matching money to service account (keep $1000 in company account and company adds $200 every quarter. yes that is an %80 return per contract)
multiple route bonus ($1500 to $6500 per quarter depending upon the number of contracts held)
Core Zone pay is a method of prorating for high and low density stop and package areas. High density areas are usually $0 and routes run 130 to 200 stops per day, 300-400 packages per day. High density with long stems (60-80 miles to the first stop) have a core zone of around $70 per day. Low density areas have Core Zone pay of $100-$120 per day. The prorating occurs when a route moves from high to low density areas.
40 stops in a $100 core zone
60 stops in a $50 core zone
40% of $100 = $40
60% of $50 = $30
thererore the core zone pay for this route on this day would be $40+$30=$70
Fuel supplement calculations were designed back before anyone really believed that fuel would top $1.25/gallon. I don't have a table with me, but the math is fairly straight forward. The company bases it's number on a truck getting 9 miles per gallon. If a route drives 180 miles in a day the company would figure on 20 gallons of fuel. There is a table available that gives lowest fuel prices within six miles of each terminal on any given day. If fuel is $2.50/gallon, the chart would accurately reimburse the contractor $1.25/gallon or $25. This is one of the gray areas I like to exploit. I use a minivan that gets almost twice the mileage and I usually fill up across the river where fuel often runs $0.10 to $0.15 cheaper. Add to that fact when gasoline prices run quite a bit cheaper than diesel, I save even more.
There is probably alot more that I am leaving out, but this is a rough idea. Hope I didn't bore you.