Automating truck driver pay

In this post, we’ll revisit the year 2000. At the time, I started working for a trucking company I had used as one of the carriers of choice in my previous employment. The trucking company in question was looking to temporarily replace their office manager / payroll person, as she was going on extended maternity leave.

Back in the day, she was still running the weekly truck driver payroll using a calculator, pen and notebook. Then manually calculating payroll tables from a chart book. Needless to say, when it comes to paying long haul drivers by the mile, drops, pickups, working time and waiting time, the work was slow and tedious, being that each of the truck drivers had their own rates for each category. She was extremely nervous that I wouldn’t have time to catch on properly, before the imminent birth.

Enter the magic of spreadsheets. Within a couple hours on my first day at the job, I had the entire system automated and customized, doing so as she was showing me her manual calculations. She was literally floored at the results, and as a result, I secured the position of payroll manager for the rest of my time at the trucking company, as she was happy to let me deal with the truck drivers even after she resumed her position as office manager.

During my time as the trucking company’s office manager, I did get involved in some other aspects of the business, but I eventually stayed on solely as payroll manager, as I found it enjoyable. Of course, there were often issues with the trucker’s pay, mainly due to misunderstandings or omissions in paperwork, but none that couldn’t be easily resolved. When all was said and done, the truck drivers were happy to see me on payday.