Courier and last-mile fleets quote routes per stop and per package, then owe overtime and minimum wage on every hour, because a light-vehicle fleet was never exempt. WageTime is payroll that turns piece counts into lawful hourly pay.
Payroll software counts hours. A courier operation counts stops, packages, and routes, and then owes overtime on top of the count because the vans are too light to be exempt. Turning piece counts into lawful hourly pay is the whole job, and generic payroll does not do it, so the regular-rate math, the between-stop hours, and the weekly overtime land in a spreadsheet, and a shorted driver turns the spreadsheet into a wage claim.
The motor-carrier overtime exemption reaches drivers on vehicles over 10,000 pounds. Cargo vans, sprinters, and most Class 2 box trucks sit under that line, so a fleet built on them never held the exemption to begin with. Overtime over 40 hours is owed every week, for essentially every driver. A payroll that assumes drivers are exempt, the way it would for an over-the-road tractor, is wrong on the first Friday, not the unlucky one.
Routes get quoted per stop, per package, and per route, and drivers audit those counts closely. But piece earnings still have to clear minimum wage for every hour actually worked, sort and wait time included. A slow weather day or a light route can drop a piece-paid driver under the floor, and when it does, the difference is owed. Pay only the piece count and the shortfall becomes a back-wage claim.
Piece-rate overtime is not 1.5 times a base wage, because there is no base wage. Federal rules build a regular rate from the week itself: total piece earnings divided by hours worked, then an extra half of that rate for every hour past 40. The rate moves with how many packages went out and how long they took. Do that math by hand across a yard of drivers every week and it is either wrong or it is your entire Friday.
A piece rate pays for the delivered stop, not the hour spent loading the van at 6 a.m., waiting for a dock, or checking in returns at night. That nonproductive time, and rest breaks, is separately owed in several states, at no less than minimum wage, and it has to show on the stub as its own line. California spells it out by statute. Fold it into the piece rate and the wage statement is short a number a regulator will ask about.
Few payroll questions in last-mile reach a courtroom as often as contractor status. Misclassification suits and sizable settlements recur across the industry, usually over unpaid minimum wage and overtime after drivers were paid as 1099s. Whether a driver is a contractor is your decision with your attorney. What payroll should never do is push that call by making it expensive to run W-2 drivers and 1099 couriers in the same place.
WageTime runs per-stop, per-package, and per-route pay as per-unit pay codes, beside hourly for depot and helper work and day rates for dedicated routes. Each code multiplies quantity by rate on its own line, so the stub reconciles instead of lumping.
Replaces the routing-app export that got retyped into a payroll system that only understands hours, and the light-route shortfall nobody noticed.
WageTime computes piece-rate overtime the way the law does: the week's piece earnings and other pay, divided by hours actually worked, set that driver's regular rate, and every hour past 40 earns an extra half of it, inside the run.
Replaces the hand-built half-time formula in column K, and the guess that piece-paid drivers do not get overtime at all.
WageTime keeps piece pay and the hours between stops on separate lines, because that is how the wage statement has to read: sort, wait, returns, and rest time run as their own hourly pay codes beside piece earnings.
Replaces the flat piece rate that swallowed the loading dock, and the wage statement missing the line a regulator asks for first.
WageTime runs the whole delivery roster on one Friday: employee route drivers, part-time helpers, the dispatch desk, and the 1099 couriers a surge day pulls in, with W-2s and 1099s produced together at year-end. Classification stays the operator's decision with counsel.
Replaces the contractor payments tracked in a spreadsheet beside the payroll login, and the January scramble to reconcile W-2s against 1099s.
Full-service payroll is $10 a month per person paid that month, plus $50 a month per company, with unlimited runs. No long-term contracts, no per-run charges.
Off-cycle runs and bonuses cost nothing extra. No long-term contracts; cancel anytime.
Example: 50 people paid × $10 + $50 company = $550 for the month
HR & hiring, onboarding, PTO, time tracking, benefits, and workers’ comp are optional add-ons, priced separately when you’re ready.
See a demoMost do. The motor-carrier overtime exemption only reaches work on vehicles over 10,000 pounds, and courier fleets run cargo vans, sprinters, and light box trucks that sit under that line, which leaves those drivers non-exempt and owed overtime past 40 hours (DOL Fact Sheet #19). WageTime does not apply the exemption to a light-vehicle fleet, so overtime over 40 is computed every week, automatically.
Set up per-stop, per-package, and per-route pay codes as per-unit earnings, and enter the counts your routing app already produces. Each code multiplies quantity by rate on its own line, and minimum-wage processing checks every hour worked so a light route is topped up when piece pay falls short. Tell us the app you count scans in on the demo and we will confirm the import.
On a regular rate built from the week. WageTime adds the week's piece earnings, divides by the hours worked to get that driver's regular rate, and pays an extra half of that rate for every hour past 40. The rate is recomputed each week because piece earnings change, and if piece pay falls below the minimum-wage guarantee, that guarantee becomes the rate.
In several states, yes, and California requires it by statute for piece-rate workers. Sort and load time, dock waiting, returns, and rest breaks are nonproductive or rest hours paid at no less than minimum wage and stated separately from piece earnings. WageTime runs them as their own hourly pay codes so the stub shows the split the wage statement expects.
Yes. Employee drivers run with full withholding, contract couriers run with W-9 collection and contractor setup, and both close in the same weekly run with W-2s and 1099s filed at year-end. Classification itself is yours to decide with counsel; what the one-run setup takes off the table is the second system, so choosing how to classify a driver is not also a choice between two payrolls.
Pricing is $50 per company each month plus $10 for every person actually paid that month, and runs are unlimited. A courier operation paying 20 people lands at $250 for the month regardless of how many Fridays it holds, so a weekly delivery payroll costs the same as a biweekly one, and a peak-season bonus run adds nothing.
Last week's route sheets with stop and package counts, your vehicle list with weight ratings, and your driver roster. Twenty minutes with a payroll specialist on a live demo company: you will see per-stop and per-package pay codes, piece-rate overtime on the weekly regular rate, separately-paid sort and wait time, and your W-2 drivers and 1099 couriers in one run.
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