Driver Settlements for Small Carriers: Hourly, Per-Mile and Flat Pay

What a driver settlement is

A settlement is the pay calculation for one driver for one pay period: what they earned, what is added, what is taken off, and the amount they are paid. For a company driver it feeds payroll. For an owner-operator or broker paid by the carrier, it is the statement they invoice against or are paid from directly.

The hard part is not the arithmetic. It is collecting the inputs: hours from runsheets, loads and kilometres from dispatch, and advances from whoever handed out the fuel card.

The common pay models

Hourly

Common for local and city work, where a driver does many short stops in a day. Pay comes from time on duty, usually taken from a daily runsheet (start time, end time, breaks). Decide how you round: many carriers pay in quarter hours.

Per mile or per kilometre

Common for highway and cross-border runs. In Canada, cross-border work is still often quoted per mile because the US side is. Agree which mileage counts: practical route, shortest route or hub miles.

Flat per move or per load

A set amount for a known run, such as an out-of-town delivery. Simple to check, but write down what happens when the run takes much longer than usual.

Percentage of revenue

Common for owner-operators: a share of the line haul, sometimes with fuel surcharge passed through. Spell out whether accessorials such as detention are included in the revenue that is shared.

What goes on a pay statement

• The driver, the pay period and the date issued.
• Each day or load with the hours, kilometres or miles, the rate and the amount.
• Additions: waiting-time pay, extra stops, bonuses, reimbursed expenses.
• Deductions: advances, fuel-card charges, damage or equipment charges agreed in writing.
• For an owner-operator or broker registered for GST/HST: their registration number and the tax on their earnings.
• The net amount to pay.

Where settlements go wrong

• Runsheets that do not match the day. A runsheet ending at 2 pm when the last delivery was logged at 4 pm needs a conversation before payday, not after.
• Loads paid to the wrong driver after a swap mid-trip. Pay the driver who did the delivery leg, by the delivery date.
• Advances forgotten. Record them when they are given, against the period they belong to.
• Pay periods changed after approval. Lock a period once it is approved, so last week’s pay cannot quietly change.

Employees, contractors and the rules around them

Whether a driver is an employee or an independent contractor changes what the carrier must withhold and remit (income tax, CPP and EI), and which employment standards apply. Federally and provincially regulated carriers fall under different rules. A settlement statement is not a substitute for payroll; have your accountant or payroll provider confirm how each driver should be treated. This guide is not legal or tax advice.

From runsheet photos to approved pay

Most small carriers rebuild pay every week from paper runsheets, a dispatch sheet and memory. Driver settlement software starts from what dispatch already recorded and leaves the decisions to a person.

In Zonox (Growth plan), drivers send a photo or PDF scan of their runsheet over WhatsApp and Zonox drafts the hours for the office to approve. Each driver has a pay profile: hourly, flat out-of-town moves for brokers, or per-mile cross-border runs. Days whose runsheet does not match the logged stops are flagged for a look; flags never change pay on their own. You add advances or deductions, approve the period, and download a pay statement for each driver, with HST added for brokers who charge it.

Waiting time is often part of pay. See detention pay vs layover vs TONU for how customer detention and driver waiting pay differ.