Pay: Contractors, by Load Attributes - Truck Owners, Drivers Paid Separately

The Trucking phase can be paid in two distinct parts:  (1) the trucking contractor can be paid for the use of his trucks, and (2) the driver (or his employer) can be paid for his services.  Often times, the contractor that owns the truck and the driver's employer are one and the same and can be paid a combined rate.  This 'combined rate' case is handled under Pay: Contractors, by Load Attributes -- Trucking.  In the event that the truck owner and the driver's employer are different, you must setup two trucking rates (one for truck ownership and one for driver services) and pay them separately.  This case is covered here.

Trucking contractors can be paid according to the weight or volume of the loads that your company delivers to a mill.  For example you might pay a trucking contractor $10.00/Tonne or $40.00/MBF on the loads that you handle.  You can also pay a trucking contractor a percentage of the revenue you receive from a mill.  For example, if you are paid by the mill $50 for trucking, you could set up a contract to pay a contractor 95 percent of that amount.  This type of contract may be useful when you have a large number of rate breaks on your revenue contract and merely want to pay your contractors a percentage of what you get paid.  If you had to set up contractor pay rates for each revenue rate break, there could be substantial time wasted in maintaining both a revenue rate and a pay rate schedule.  The alternative of setting up just one rate (say 95 percent) can be much easier to maintain as it automatically takes into account any revenue rate breaks or changes over time.

In your block setup (see below),  you can select either 'Do Not Track Activities, Employees, Equipment on Load Slips' or 'Track Activities, Employees, Equipment on Load Slips'. 

In either case you want to check the checkboxes:

1) In the column 'Pay Truck Owner' or 'Pay Contractor Equipment' in order to pay the truck owner;

2) In the column 'Pay Contractor Operator' in order to pay a contractor driver; and/or

3) In the column 'Pay Own Operator' in order to pay an employee driver.

OR

In this setup you can split the trucking payment between the contractor owner (for use of the truck) and the contract driver or employee driver (for driving services).  If the truck owner and driver are with the same contractor, you can use a combined rate and just specify that you want to pay the truck owner.

If you only have contract drivers, you do not need to check 'Pay Own Operator.'  Likewise if you only have employee drivers, you do not need to check Pay Contractor Operator.  You only need to check both boxes if you have a mix of employee drivers and contractor drivers who are paid separately from the truck itself.

Once you have setup your block, you need to setup your pay contract for each contractor, specifying their payment terms.  As noted above, there are two basic ways to pay contractors on a load-by-load basis: (1) pay by load attributes (weight, volume, etc), or (2) pay as a percentage of load revenue.

You will need to set up distinct payment contracts to cover the truck owners versus the contract drivers and employee drivers because the payment is issued to separate people under different terms.  For example, you could pay the truck owner on a volume basis (MBF, M3, Cord) and the driver on a weight (Ton, Tonne, etc) basis.  As another example, you could pay the truck owner on a 'Percent of Load Revenue' and pay the driver based on an attribute (weight or volume) basis.  You do not need to pay each party in the same way; you can use different methods for each.

Payment based on load attributes versus a percentage of load revenue are described below. 

Case I.  You pay based on load attributes (weight, volume).  

Steps:

  1. Set up the Contractor.  Select Setup | Vendors from the Main Menu.  You will need to make sure that both the owners of the trucks, as well as any contractor drivers (that are not employed by that truck owner), are set up in this window.
  2. Set up Activity to be Paid on the Block.  Select Setup | Blocks | Setup from the Main Menu.  On the block you must identify trucking as the activity for which a contractor will be paid.  See the discussion above.  This task must be performed for each block that has loads for which trucking contractors need to be paid.
  3. Set up the Truck.  Set up each Truck.  The Logger's Edge will use the owner you specify for the truck to determine who gets paid.
  4. Set up Pay Contract (Truck Owner).  Select Contracts | Payment Contracts | Contract Setup from the Main Menu.
  5. Set up Pay Contract (Contract Operator) (optional). Select Contracts | Payment Contracts | Contract Setup from the Main Menu.  You need to perform this step if you have contract operators.
  6. Set up Pay Contract (Employee Operator) (optional). Select Contracts | Payment Contracts | Contract Setup from the Main Menu.  You need to perform this step if you have employee operators.
  7. Enter Load Slips.  Select Data Entry | Load Slips | Load Data.  You do not need to enter the activities, workers or equipment on the load slip.  You must enter the truck number on the Load Slip.  The Logger's Edge will pay the owner of the truck.  You must also enter the truck driver on the Load Slip.  The Logger's Edge will pay the employer of the driver (if he is a contract driver) or will pay the driver directly if he is an employee.
  8. Run Vendor (Contractor) Calculator.  Select Calculators | Vendors - Full. 
  9. Review Vendor (Contractor) Statements. Select Reports Vendor Statements.
  10. Run Employee Calculator (optional). Select Calculators | Employees - Full.  You need to perform this step if you have employee truck drivers.  Contract drivers are handled under Vendors.
  11. Review Employee Statement (optional).  Select Reports Employee Statements.  You need to perform this step if you have employee truck drivers.  Contract drivers are handled under Vendors.

Case II.  You pay based on percentage of load revenue.

Steps:

This type of contract is special in that its 'rate' is really expressed as a percent of the revenue you earn on a load-by-load basis.  Thus, in order to use this type of contract, you must perform the additional step of entering or calculating the revenue for each load (step 8 below).

  1. Set up the Contractor.**  Select Setup | Vendors from the Main Menu.  You will need to make sure that both the owners of the trucks, as well as any contractor drivers (that are not employed by that truck owner), are set up in this window.
  2. Set up Activity to be Paid on the Block.**  Select Setup | Blocks | Setup from the Main Menu.  On the block you must identify trucking as the activity for which a contractor will be paid.  See the discussion above.  This task must be performed for each block that has loads for which trucking contractors need to be paid.
  3. Set up the Truck.**  Set up each Truck.  The Logger's Edge will use the owner you specify for the truck to determine who gets paid.
  4. Set up Pay Contract (Truck Owner).  Select Contracts | Payment Contracts | Contract Setup from the Main Menu.
  5. Set up Pay Contract (Contract Truck Driver) (optional). Select Contracts | Payment Contracts | Contract Setup from the Main Menu.  You need to perform this step if you have contract truck drivers.
  6. Set up Pay Contract (Employee Truck Driver) (optional). Select Contracts | Payment Contracts | Contract Setup from the Main.  You need to perform this step if you have employee truck drivers. (If you have not already set up your employees,  you will need to do so under Setup | Workers | Worker Setup.)
  7. Enter Load Slips.  Select Data Entry | Load Slips | Load Data.  You do not need to enter the activities, workers or equipment on the load slip.  You must enter the Truck Number on the Load Slip.  The Logger's Edge will pay the owner of the truck.  You must also enter the Truck Driver on the Load Slip.  The Logger's Edge will pay the employer of the driver (if he is a contract driver) or will pay the driver directly if he is an employee.
  8. Enter Revenue on Load Slip or Use The Logger's Edge to Automatically Calculate Revenue.  In order for the 'percent of load revenue' pay contract to work, you must have revenue entered for each load.
  9. Run Vendor (Contractor) Calculator.**  Select Calculators | Contractors - Full. 
  10. Review Vendor (Contractor) Statement.  Select Reports Contractor Statements.
  11. Run Employee Calculator (optional).** Select Calculators | Employees - Full.  You need to perform this step if you have employee truck drivers.  Contract drivers are handled under Vendors.
  12. Review Employee Statement (optional).  Select Reports Employee Statements.  You need to perform this step if you have employee truck drivers.  Contract drivers are handled under Vendors.

** Step is the same as in Case I.

Trucking Pay Rules:

The key to pay Trucking is the 'Truck No' on the Load Slip and/or the 'Driver' on the Load Slip.  The 'Truck No' identifies the specific log truck that hauled the load.  In order to pay a contract truck owner for trucking, you must enter the truck number on the load slip -- an entry of 'NONE' will not work.  In order to pay a specific truck driver (either your own employee, or a contract driver), you must enter the driver on the load slip -- an entry of 'NONE' will not work. 

Pay Truck Owners

Truck owners are paid based on your entries for pay activities in the block setup wizard.  To pay a contract truck, you must check the box "Pay Truck Owner" in Step 11 of the setup wizard.  You must also enter the truck number on the load slip.

There are three basic cases that are handled by The Logger's Edge.

  1. The Pay Contract Specifies a Specific Contractor.  If the Truck on the Load Slip is owned by the same contractor as on the pay contract, the load will be paid by that contract.  Otherwise, if the Truck on the Load Slip is (1) owned by a different contractor, or (2) is owned by your company, or (3) entered as 'NONE', it will not be paid by that contract.
  2. The Pay Contract Specifies the 'OWNER' wild card.  If the Truck on the Load Slip is owned by a contractor, that contractor, whoever it is, will be paid.  For example, if you have 20 loads with six different truck owners, each of the six will be paid for their own loads under the same 'OWNER' contract.  If the Truck on the Load Slip is (1) owned by your company, or (2) entered as 'NONE', it will not be paid by this contract.
  3. There are two otherwise identical Trucking Pay Contracts: one Pay Contract with a Specific Contractor, and a second that Specifies the 'OWNER' wild card.  If the Truck on the Load Slip is owned by the same contractor as on the specific pay contract, the specific contractor will be paid.  If the Truck on the Load Slip is owned by a different contractor, that contractor, whoever it is, will be paid under the 'OWNER' contract. The specific contractor will not be paid under the 'OWNER' contract if he is paid under the Specific Contract.  If the Truck on the Load Slip is (1) owned by your company, or (2) entered as 'NONE', it will not be paid.

Pay Truck Drivers

Truck drivers are paid based on your entries for pay activities in the block setup wizard.  There are two checkboxes: 'Pay Contractor Operator' and 'Pay Own Operator'.  If you employee drivers, you need to check 'Pay Own Operator.'  Likewise if you have contract drivers, you do need to check Pay Contractor Operator.  You need to check both boxes if you have a mix of employee drivers and contractor drivers.  Each checkbox is handled separately by The Logger's Edge.

Pay Contract Truck Driver

The key entry in order to pay the Truck Driver is the 'Driver.'  The 'Driver' identifies the driver of the log truck that hauled the load.  In order to pay a truck driver you must enter the Driver -- an entry of 'NONE' will not work.  There are three basic cases that are handled by The Logger's Edge.

  1. The Pay Contract Specifies a Specific Driver.  If the Driver on the Load Slip is the same driver as on the pay contract, the load will be paid (technically, the employer of the driver will be paid, if the driver is a contract worker).  Otherwise, if the Driver on the Load Slip is (1) a different driver, or (2) is an employee of your company employee, or (3) entered as 'NONE', the load will not be paid.
  2. The Pay Contract Specifies the 'DRIVER' wild card.  If the Driver on the Load Slip is employed by a contractor, that contractor, whoever it is, will be paid under this pay contract.  For example, if you have 20 loads with six different contract truck drivers, each of the six will be paid for their own loads under the same 'DRIVER' contract.  If the Driver on the Load Slip is (1) an employee of your company, or (2) entered as 'NONE', the load will not be paid by this contract.
  3. There are two otherwise identical Trucking Pay Contracts: one that has a Specific Driver, and a second that Specifies the 'DRIVER' wild card.  If the Driver on the Load Slip is the same as on the specific pay contract, the specific driver's employer will be paid.  If the Driver on the Load Slip is different from the driver on the specific contract, that driver's employer, whoever it is, will be paid under the 'DRIVER' contract.  The specific driver will not be paid under the 'DRIVER' contract if he is paid under the Specific Contract.  If the Driver on the Load Slip is (1) employed by your company, or (2) entered as 'NONE', the load will not be paid.

Pay Employee Truck Driver

The key entry in order to pay the Truck Driver is the 'Driver.'  The 'Driver' identifies the driver of the log truck that hauled the load.  In order to pay a truck driver you must enter the Driver -- an entry of 'NONE' will not work.  Again, there are three basic cases that are handled by The Logger's Edge.

  1. The Pay Contract Specifies a Specific Driver.  If the Driver on the Load Slip is the same driver as on the pay contract, the load will be paid (the employee driver will be paid).  Otherwise, if the Driver on the Load Slip is (1) a different driver, or (2) is not an employee of your company, or (3) entered as 'NONE', the load will not be paid.
  2. The Pay Contract Specifies the 'DRIVER' wild card.  If the Driver on the Load Slip is one of your employees, that employee will be paid under this contract.  For example, if you have 20 loads with six different employee truck drivers, each of the six will be paid for their own loads under the same 'DRIVER' contract.  If the Driver on the Load Slip is (1) not an employee of your company, or (2) entered as 'NONE', the load will not be paid.
  3. There are two otherwise identical Trucking Pay Contracts: one that has a Specific Driver, and a second that Specifies the 'DRIVER' wild card.  If the Driver on the Load Slip is the same as on the specific pay contract, the employee driver will be paid.  If the Driver on the Load Slip is different from the driver on the specific contract, that driver, whoever it is, will be paid under the 'DRIVER' contract.  The specific driver will not be paid under the 'DRIVER' contract if he is paid under the Specific Contract.  If the Driver on the Load Slip is (1) not employed by your company, or (2) entered as 'NONE', the load will not be paid.

Troubleshooting Common Errors:

The following errors all occur when a valid pay rate is not found for the a load slip for a contractor or contract driver on a load.

1.    Error: PAY_CONTRACT_RATE not Set up For...

When running the vendor calculator, one of the most common errors is when a contract rate is not found for a certain activity for a given load.  There are two examples show below.  Example 1 shows a pay error that occurs when The Logger's Edge is trying to pay the truck owner.  The activity is indicated as TRUCKING.  The third line 'Equipment: HL6005; Contract Employee: No'.is what distinguishes the error message  --  it tells you that the equipment (Truck) is truck number HL6005 and that the Contract Employee is 'No.'  The truck number tells you the truck that The Logger's Edge is trying to pay; the 'Contract Employee: No' part of the message tells you that The Logger's Edge is not trying to pay a contract driver.  This type of message occurs when you have told that you want to pay 'Contractor Equipment' in the block setup.

Example 1.   

"Error: PAY_CONTRACT_RATE not Set up For: TICKET_NO = WF-10001 DATE_OUT = [12/13/2004 7:33:00 AM] and Activity = TRUCKING
Equipment: HL6005; Contract Employee: No
Ticket: WF-10001 Detail:
Block: 02-CLEAR-8001
Destination: IP-AUGUSTA
Species: PINE
Grade: #2 Saw
Truck No: HL6005
Truck Type: 7A
Route: ON"
 

The message in Example 2 differs primarily from the message in Example 1 the third line (in red).  This line 'Employee: GS; Contract Employee: Yes'  tells you that The Logger's Edge is trying to pay the driver 'GS' for Trucking.  The 'Contract Employee: Yes' part of the message tells you that The Logger's Edge is indeed trying to pay a contract driver (either as opposed to, or in addition to, the truck owner).  In this case, the driver is "GS." This type of message occurs when you have told the system that you want to pay a 'Contractor Operator' in the block setup.  (Don't be confused by the 'Employee' label in front of GS.  It simply means the 'Driver' is GS.  In this case, GS is a contractor driver.)

Example 2.   

"Error: PAY_CONTRACT_RATE not Set up For: TICKET_NO = WF-10001 DATE_OUT = [12/13/2004 7:33:00 AM] and Activity = TRUCKING
Employee: GS; Contract Employee: Yes
Ticket: WF-10001 Detail:
Block: 02-CLEAR-8001
Destination: IP-AUGUSTA
Species: PINE
Grade: #2 Saw
Truck No: HL6005
Truck Type: 7A
Route: ON"

The message in Example 3 is quite similar to the message in Example 2., but it occurs when you run the employee (as opposed to vendor) calculator.  This line 'Employee: JL; Contract Employee: No'  tells you that The Logger's Edge is trying to pay the employee driver 'JL' for Trucking.  The 'Contract Employee: No' part of the message tells you that The Logger's Edge is not trying to pay a contract driver. (Rather, it is trying to pay to an employee driver).  This type of message occurs when you have told that you want to pay your 'Own Operator' in the block setup.  In this example, the system cannot find a pay contract to pay the employee driver JL.

Example 3.   

"Error:  PAY_CONTRACT_RATE not Set up For: TICKET_NO = WF-10001 DATE_OUT = [12/16/2004 7:33:00 AM] and Activity = TRUCKING
Employee: JL; Contract Employee: No
Ticket: WF-10001 Detail:
Block: 02-CLEAR-8001
Destination: IP-AUGUSTA
Species: PINE
Grade: #2 Saw
Truck No: HL6005
Truck Type: 7A
Route: ON"

Again, these errors all occur when a valid pay rate is not found for the a load slip for a contractor or contract driver on a load.

Things to check when this occurs:

2.    "Error: No Conversion Set Up For LBS to CORD For Block 01-GREEN-1001
Ticket: 6948 Detail:
Block: 01-GREEN-1001
Destination: IP-AUGUSTA
Species: PINE
Grade: NONE
Truck No: T'10001
Truck Type: 7A
Route: ON"

The fragment 'Ticket: 6948' refers to the ticket number.  In this example, the error occurs because a conversion factor is not found to convert 'LBS' into 'CORD' and the matching pay contract rate for this load has a pay basis of cords.  Anytime, The Logger's Edge cannot convert the weight measure on the block to the pay basis on the matching pay contract, you will receive this message.  For example, if you have set kilograms up on the block as your weight measure and want to pay a contractor in cubic meters (M3) and you fail to set up a conversion factor, you will receive a message such as 'No Conversion Set Up For KGS to M3'.

The fragment 'For Block 01-GREEN-1001'  tells you the block that has the problem.  There are 2 conditions that give rise to this error.

1.    There is no conversion set up on the  block to convert the weight on the tickets to your pay basis on your matching pay contract.  (For example, your loads may be entered in kilograms, but you want to pay in cubic meters 'M3'.) 

2.    There is no 'Generic Conversion' available.  Generic conversions are those that never change under any circumstance, such as KGs to Tonnes and Lbs to Tons.  (If you think that the system is missing a generic conversion, contact a support representative to assist you.)

If there is no conversion set up, as indicated in (1.) above, you must select option 'C' in the conversion setup window in the block setup wizard (see below) and then manually enter your conversion factors.        

Things to check when you get a conversion error are:

3.    "Error: Missing Load Revenue for Load= 7531 and Activity= TRUCKING"

 The fragment 'Load= 7531' refers to the ticket number.  Things to check when this occurs:

4.    "Warning: Truck COST_PER_UNIT not found for Truck Code: T10011,8/7/2004 2:06:00 PM"

When The Logger's Edge  calculates load pay, it also calculates the internal cost of your own log trucks (where truck costing is based on load units rather than hours).  This message informs you that there is no valid rate for the truck hauling the indicated load.  Things to check when this error occurs:

Note:  If you don't care about truck costing, you can always set the Std Cost/Unit rate to $0.00, and thereby eliminate the warning message.  This message will not prevent The Logger's Edge  from otherwise calculating payment for the load.

5.    "Warning: Truck FULL_FOUNDED_RATE_PROD not found for Truck Code: T10011,8/7/2004 2:06:00 PM"

When The Logger's Edge  calculates load pay, it also calculates the internal cost of your own log trucks (where truck costing is based on load units rather than hours).  This message informs you that there is no valid rate for the truck hauling the indicated load.  Things to check when this error occurs:

Note:  If you don't care about truck costing, you can always set the Full Cost/Unit rate to $0.00, and thereby eliminate the warning message.    This message will not prevent The Logger's Edge  from otherwise calculating payment for the load.

6.    The wrong rate is applied.

Things to check when this problem occurs:

7.    Multi-Pay Errors.  The Logger's Edge allows you to split the payment for the same activity between two different vendors.  As a consequence, there are occasions where the same activity (for a given ticket) will be paid twice (or more) correctly.  For most users, however, such multiple payments for the same activity on the same load will be in error.  When The Logger's Edge finishes a pay calculator it checks to see if there are any multiple payments for an activity.  If there are, The Logger's Edge reports a 'Multi-Pay Error'.

Example:

--------------------------MULTI PAY ERROR ---------------------------------------------
ERROR: MULTIPLE PAY FOR TICKET:7019, ACTIVITY: TRUCKING
Pay Date: 8/9/2004; Tract: 02-CLEAR-2102, DESTINATION IP-AUGUSTA
1) Pay Contract: 2BR - TRUCKING Paid to: 2BR; Amount: $165.78; Pay Period: [Aug 1 04 V]
2) Pay Contract: ARROW - TRUCKING Paid to: ARROW; Amount: $182.36; Pay Period: [Aug 1 04 V]

The above error message says that the ticket '7019' has been paid twice for the activity 'TRUCKING'.  The two lines -- numbered 1) and 2) -- show each pay contract that has been applied and the corresponding pay period with which the payment is associated ('Aug 1 04 V' in this case).  Presumably, one is the correct contract and the other is incorrect.  If both payments are correct, you don't need to do anything.  In this case, the error message serves as a harmless warning.

If you don't want to pay both contracts, you should check:

 


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