Why would an owner charge a driver for tolls?

[routejumper]

Owner Operators,
If you charge your drivers for tolls, please justify this with an intelligent and responsible answer, which proves beyond all ethical doubt, why this should be your employee's expense.
Just curious.

 

[x06col]

Simple. If the driver chooses to run toll roads, steada other routes then....... why not??
Exception would be, if you can't avoid a toll road. Do some routing for yoursef an save some money.

 

[CharlesD]

Do you mean a fleet owner who charges a driver for tolls, or a fleet owner who simply doesn't pay for tolls? Seems there would be a difference. I'm not entirely sure how a fleet owner could charge for tolls anyway, since those are regularly collected at the toll booth.

It seems to me that something like who pays for tolls would be something that would be in the contract. The owner could pay a higher percentage and leave it up to the driver to handle the tolls, reimburse for tolls, or any other agreement that is in the contract signed by both parties.

 

[DougTravels]

Im a little confused, in your other thread "need advice", I read it to mean you are an OO. Now you talk about an "owner" charging you for tolls. Do you mean carrier? please clarify, My carrier does not pay for tolls, I would love them to, but they don't. I take that into consideration when taking loads, especially Detroit to Baltimore (expensive tolls on that one).

 

[DougTravels]

I'll bet OVM

 

[wellarmed]

Some carriers pay tolls some do not,tolls are deductable and so are additional miles so keep track of your miles on every load,if you go over your paid miles turn them in to Uncle Sam as a loss.

 

[Turtle]

Owner Operators,
If you charge your drivers for tolls, please justify this with an intelligent and responsible answer, which proves beyond all ethical doubt, why this should be your employee's expense.
Just curious.

What's an employee?

 

[DougTravels]

Does he mean an owner that hires an operator? In his other post he implied he had truck payments.

 

[Tempest]

Perhaps he is trying to justify having his drivers pay their tolls? Mine do, and while I drive my brothers truck I am paying tolls in it too. On a 60/40 split driver is buying the fuel and has the option to take or bypass toll roads. The only place I have found this hard to do is on 90 in NY and going into NYC (carrier pays $100 for NYC tolls and it costs me about $40 ) I would not pay tolls on a 40/60 though.

 

[moose]

Perhaps he is trying to justify having his drivers pay their tolls? Mine do, and while I drive my brothers truck I am paying tolls in it too. On a 60/40 split driver is buying the fuel and has the option to take or bypass toll roads. The only place I have found this hard to do is on 90 in NY and going into NYC (carrier pays $100 for NYC tolls and it costs me about $40 ) I would not pay tolls on a 40/60 though.

In truck load trucking , it is widely excepted to charge a 250$ NYC surcharge , to cover the extra hassle and risk of Delivering a load into the city ,
many TL carriers are drooping in NJ for a local trucking co. to Del. the final leg of the trip.
I used to get as high as 400$ to Del. a long island load.
I think you are getting short changes here ...
wonder if they tell you how mach they charge the shipper ...



Moose.

 

[Wingnut]

My contract states that the drivers pay for all fuel and tolls. It also states that the drivers get 100% of the fuel surchg, dh, and any toll $$ that the company gives. One of the companies that my trucks are on with pays a % of tolls, which my drivers get 100% of. The other company that my trucks are on with pays no % of toll.
BY the way...I have NO employees, just drivers that are contracted on with me who get a 1099. There's a big difference between EMPLOYEES and CONTRACTORS. Every owner sets their contracts up different. Drivers should CAREFULLY read the contract BEFORE signing it. I look at it like this: if a driver signs a cntract with an owner, they (drivers) are liking and agreeing to all the terms & conditions laid out in the contract...therefore, the driver really shouldn't complain about things like having to pay for tolls (if it's in the contract) because they (driver) chose to sign and obey the terms of the contract. If you DON'T like the terms of a contract, then DON'T sign it.

 

[aileron]

.....
I look at it like this: if a driver signs a cntract with an owner, they (drivers) are liking and agreeing to all the terms & conditions laid out in the contract
...
If you DON'T like the terms of a contract, then DON'T sign it.

Sometimes (read: most of the time) it is not that simple. When I signed my contract, I didn't necesarily like it, but I agreed with what it said. Some parts of my contract I din't like at all, but what would the alternative be?

 

[layoutshooter]

When I drove for an owner we paid all tolls up front, submitted the receipts and then were reimbursed. It worked for us. We would have paid the tolls ourselves as long as we got all the surcharges. It made no difference, we did what worked. Layoutshooter

 

[Wingnut]

AILERON: the alternative would be to find a different owner IF you don't like the terms in the contract. Drivers who sign a contract with an owner then go around complaining about it always cracks me up. If you didn't like some of the terms or felt that the terms were unfair, then you shouldn't have singed it which puts you (the driver) in an agreement in which you (driver) are happy with the terms and agree to abide by them. It makes no sense whatsoever to sign any agreement then go around complaining about what you signed and contracted to abide by.
Bottom line is this: If you don't like what's in a contract, then DON'T sign it!!! Look around for an owner that has a contract that you'll feel comfortable with. Signing then complaining is counterproductive.

 

[inkasnana]

When I drove for an owner we paid all tolls up front, submitted the receipts and then were reimbursed. It worked for us. We would have paid the tolls ourselves as long as we got all the surcharges. It made no difference, we did what worked. Layoutshooter

That's how it works with the owner we drive for. We pay the tolls initially, then send him the receipts and he reimburses us. Our carrier only pays for Ford and Visteon tolls. In the case of a load for one of those two companies, we would send toll receipts in with the trip pack and a copy of the receipts to the owner.

 

[aileron]

AILERON: the alternative would be to find a different owner IF you don't like the terms in the contract. Drivers who sign a contract with an owner then go around complaining about it always cracks me up. If you didn't like some of the terms or felt that the terms were unfair, then you shouldn't have singed it which puts you (the driver) in an agreement in which you (driver) are happy with the terms and agree to abide by them. It makes no sense whatsoever to sign any agreement then go around complaining about what you signed and contracted to abide by.
Bottom line is this: If you don't like what's in a contract, then DON'T sign it!!! Look around for an owner that has a contract that you'll feel comfortable with. Signing then complaining is counterproductive.

I agree with you, no point in signing a contract and then complain. My point was that the alternative would be to keep looking for other owner, and probably that one still has something that you don't like, and after looking at a few, sign one that you are most comfortable with, and don't complain about it. I would be curious if there is someone out there that can say that they like 100% of their contracts

 

[inkasnana]

I agree with you, no point in signing a contract and then complain. My point was that the alternative would be to keep looking for other owner, and probably that one still has something that you don't like, and after looking at a few, sign one that you are most comfortable with, and don't complain about it. I would be curious if there is someone out there that can say that they like 100% of their contracts

We do. We have no problems with our contract at all.

 

[nightcreacher]

If my driver were getting 60/40,he would also be getting 100% of fsc and toll assist.therefore, he would pay for the fuel and the tolls.
If 40/60,then all expenses would be mine.
About the tolls,even though the company may pay the tolls,this doesnt mean you have to take the toll roads.
In any case,we would have a contract in which we both agreed on how he owuld get paid

 

[ATeam]

My point was that the alternative would be to keep looking for other owner, and probably that one still has something that you don't like, and after looking at a few, sign one that you are most comfortable with, and don't complain about it. I would be curious if there is someone out there that can say that they like 100% of their contracts

Having seen a few, we have yet to see a fleet-owner contract we like. Click here to see why we signed them anyway.

 

[MentalGiant]

We usually take two things in consideration when deciding to take or not to take a toll road

Figuring a route without taking toll roads and see what the mileage is and how much fuel would take and considering most roads you might have to go thru alot of small towns and see if it would be more time consuming or/and use more fuel. Some of that you would have to use your experience knowing which is best. In some situations, its best to take the toll roads, especially if your on a critical time delivery schedule, which we usually are in this business, but not always.