With a tight labor market for truck drivers, dry van truckload carrier Cargo Transporters announced its third and largest pay increase this year.
The company’s “all-in” pay option will increase from 58 cents per mile to 60 cents per mile for new and existing single drivers.
Cargo Transporters’ all-in pay structure option was announced in January. The all-in pay structure is aimed at giving drivers a choice in how they are paid.
The all-in pay option converts productivity pay, seven paid holidays and two weeks of paid vacation into a base rate per mile of 60 cents.
The all-in option gives drivers a higher pay-per-mile without having to account for fluctuations in productivity or time-off, versus the standard solo pay option, which includes productivity bonuses, along with the seven paid holidays and two weeks of paid vacation
Cargo Transporters will also increase standard solo driver pay an additional 2 cents per Rand McNally practical mile on all dispatched miles, which will increase starting base pay to 54 cents per mile.
Team driver pay will also increase 1 cent per mile on all dispatched miles.
The pay raises will be effective Nov. 7 and cover local, short-haul and over-the-road drivers at the company. Cargo Transporters also announced pay hikes in January and July. The company also offers 401(k) and insurance benefits.
John Pope, chairman of Cargo Transporters, said the company’s drivers are the reason customers received their products uninterrupted over the last 18 months.
“Whether it was medical supplies, groceries, raw materials or other retail goods, our drivers were first to place themselves at risk with COVID-19 to make sure all these items got to their destinations,” Pope said.
The asset-based carrier runs a fleet of around 500 trucks and 1,700 trailers. Cargo Transporters uses only company drivers, employing over 600 people. It operates terminals in Claremont, Charlotte and Rocky Mount, North Carolina.
Cargo Transporters also is increasing pay for wait time, layover and breakdown pay, but did not specify the amounts.
Beginning Jan. 1, 2022, Cargo Transporters employees will also gain another week of paid time off (PTO). New employees starting with the company will accrue three weeks of PTO, gaining an additional week at 10-, 20- and 30-year work anniversaries.
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