Practical Route Mileage Pay Explained

Are you getting paid for the miles you really drive?

Practical route mileage typically means 5-8% more paid miles, and Roehl’s gone even further by using the full pick-up and delivery address to calculate miles for our driving teammates. We use address-to-address practical route mileage because our CEO, Rick Roehl, is also a driver. We’re built on values, and Rick understands what our drivers do for our customers. That’s why Roehl has long been known as the Take Home More, Be Home More carrier. Here's what you need to know about how truck drivers are paid and how truck drivers’ miles are calculated.

How are miles calculated in trucking?

Trucking companies use different methods to calculate miles driven. Many, many carriers still use methods that leave drivers with fewer paid miles than more progressive companies. If you are a truck driver or want to be a truck driver, use this guide to understand how trucking companies calculate miles and how you can take home more with Roehl’s address-to-address practical miles. It’s as easy as asking a trucking company “How are my miles calculated?”

Household Goods Miles

HHG (also called "short route miles") is the shortest distance between two points traveling on authorized highways, and it is still what many shippers and carriers base their rates on. Per Rand McNally: HHG is the standard mileage guide that Shippers and Carriers use to negotiate rates for freight. It's the shortest legal highway mileage from two points.

Practical Route Mileage

Drivers know that the best and fastest routing is sometimes not the shortest. For example, bypassing a city is usually faster than driving through. This means taking the longer route around, resulting in more miles and less time.

This is the concept behind practical route mileage pay. Practical routes are longer, and more accurately represent the miles actually driven. Drivers paid for practical routes are paid for more miles.

Important to know: Almost twenty years ago, Roehl Transport became one of the first major trucking companies to pay truck drivers practical route mileage. Roehl drivers are paid for more of the miles they actually drive, and those miles add up to 5-8% more in their paychecks.

Once again, Roehl led the industry in how driver mileage is calculated.

Roehl Transport enhances Practical Route Mileage with Address-to-Address Mileage calculations. This means that Roehl drivers get paid the practical route miles from pick-up address to destination address rather than from city center to city center – so they are getting paid for more of the miles they actually drive.

Hub Miles

Years ago, the hubodometer was a measurement device installed on the axle of the truck to measure the miles driven. Today, the odometer is used to calculate the number of miles driven. To calculate hub miles, the number from the odometer is stored in the truck's computer, which is then transmitted back to the trucking company to calculate pay. Very, very few companies pay hub miles. Variations can exist between vehicles, and hubometers are not perfect.

What's the Difference Between HHG and Practical Route Mileage Pay?

Simply put, HHG calculates shorter routes and fewer miles per load. Practical miles follow routes that are longer but take less time because the practical route is usually the preferred route for the shipper, carrier and the truck driver.

What's the catch with Household Goods (HHG) Mileage?

Companies that use HHG may not have the sophistication to use practical route miles, or they may simply want to keep their driver pay lower because many drivers do not know how the miles are calculated.

How much do you get per mile for a truck?

Pay Per Mile, also called Cents Per Mile or CPM, is the rate that a driver is paid for each mile that they drive. The actual pay is calculated by multiplying the CPM by the number of miles driven. Truck drivers can earn anywhere from $0.39 CPM to $1.50 CPM, depending on the carrier, location and other factors.

Important to know: Roehl offers Dynamic Pay Plans that feature different CPMs based on the length of haul that better reward drivers for their time & performance.

How do trucking companies pay on mileage?

Every trucking company is different, but experienced truck drivers know that many carriers pay drivers quite a bit less than the number of miles actually driven. HHG, or household goods miles, is an antiquated way to pay. When comparing HHG and Practical route mileage carriers, you’ll want to consider all the elements that make up a great pay plan – from cents per mile to the number of miles per week, plus all the extras that the companies pay for.

How did we get here? Roehl's history of industry leadership and innovation.

Back in 2004, Roehl Transport became one of the first carriers to offer our drivers Practical Route Mileage pay. At the time, that represented an increase of nearly 10% from the short route miles which, believe it or not, many carriers still base their pay on.

Roehl's address-to-address practical route mileage is a forward-thinking, better way to calculate miles for drivers. It also supports Roehl’s values of Driver Driven and Delivering Success.

What are address-to-address practical route miles?

Address to address practical route miles have the advantages of using the practical route and the actual starting and ending address for a load. As a result, these mileage calculations more accurately reflect the miles Roehl drivers have driven on each load.

Let’s look at an example load to see the difference.

For the purpose of our example, our starting address is:
the 1700 block of 49^th Ave N
Minneapolis, MN  55430

And the destination address is:
the 600 block of East Marceau St.
St. Louis, MO 6311

Using the Short Route/HHG calculation, this load pays 542 miles.
Using Practical Route, this load pays 565 miles.
And using address-to-address mileage the load pays 571 miles.



As you can see, the short route miles can leave you feeling, well, a little short. In this case, 29 miles short.


So if you’re at a carrier that is still only paying you short route miles, give yourself a raise and get paid for more of the miles you actual drive by joining Roehl.

Video: Address-to-Address Practical Route Mileage Truck Driver Pay Explained