Trouble making money with drivers

[atlas]

They make barely any money. I invested into a small garage, bought two trucks (both very cheap) and got two suitable drivers. They've been working for a while now, I've leveled them up correctly, and yet still they make barely any money. One makes 2 eur per km and 600 a day, and my other driver makes 70 cents per km and 400 eur a day (and HE'S the more experienced one by far).

Am I doing something wrong? Sure, I gave them cheap trucks, but that shouldn't make a diference. I'm leveling them up first with long distance, and then ADR and the fragile and high worth trailers. They quite often return home with no cargo, so maybe that's worth mentioning.

The amount of money they make is laughable (I alone make about 94% of the money). They just feel like a waste of money and time as they are. Am I doing something wrong?

PS. My garage is in Berlin so it has good access to everything

[Madkine]

From memory this is reasonably normal, hired drivers take quite some time to level up enough to earn decent money and they never earn anywhere near what you do (thet get paid, which you don't).

Once you have enough drivers, combined they'll earn far more than you.

[JDaremo Fireheart]

Originally posted by axuirs:

bought two trucks (both very cheap)

just like you, if they have crappy trucks they make crappy money

[atlas]

Originally posted by JDaremo Fireheart:

Originally posted by axuirs:

bought two trucks (both very cheap)

just like you, if they have crappy trucks they make crappy money

That doesn't make any sense though. Regardless of truck, they'll be hauling the same cargo at the same speeds.

[JDaremo Fireheart]

Originally posted by axuirs:

Originally posted by JDaremo Fireheart:

just like you, if they have crappy trucks they make crappy money

That doesn't make any sense though. Regardless of truck, they'll be hauling the same cargo at the same speeds.

but if the engine in the truck can't handle the more valuable cargo, the driver isn't going to take the load. They'll take cheaper loads that the truck can haul.

[Wille Wilse]

About upgrading a hired drivers truck: There is stated from the devs that there is a small advantage to do so, but it is barely noticed (my remark).

[atlas]

Originally posted by JDaremo Fireheart:

Originally posted by axuirs:

That doesn't make any sense though. Regardless of truck, they'll be hauling the same cargo at the same speeds.

but if the engine in the truck can't handle the more valuable cargo, the driver isn't going to take the load. They'll take cheaper loads that the truck can haul.

What? All cargo in the base game can be hauled by any truck. It doesn't matter how valuable it is.

The only problem there would ever be is that the acceleration would suck with heavier loads

[margalus]

They start out unexperienced. They will start earning more money over time until they are making so much money it doesn't matter.

And you don't need to spend a lot on trucks, the cheapest trucks will do just fine.

[BigT57]

Are you using an economy mod?

[atlas]

Originally posted by BigT57:

Are you using an economy mod?

Nope, vanilla game with a few DLC

[Vivisector]

You will always make alot more money than your drivers, since all your money goes to you (And you live in your truck, and put it all back into your company LOL). The drivers wages need to be paid ect. Which is taken out from the money earned on their loads.

The money/business building aspect of this game is not in lines of a tycoon game. You don't need to try to budget, or find more money making things for your drivers. They are just there for background. Fairly soon, you will own a few garages, and all the drivers money earned combined will grow to where you can't spend it all, as the money earned from yourself and the drivers just keeps multiplying.

For instance, you haul a few more loads. You earn another $100,000. What are you going to spend it on? You can't buy yourself a big house, or go on a trip. So you buy another garage, level it up and soon have 6 drivers. Then 20, then 50. Ect. You will be pulling in $50,000+ per load after you are leveled up, your 50 drivers might pull in another $100,000 that day, and soon you have so much extra money you can change paint jobs or whatever you want after each trip.

[The Pitts]

The only thing that really improves a hired hand's profit is experience. Their XP follows a similar system to the player driver so to maximise their development you need to put a point into each of the skills other than Eco, and two into JiT, before starting to concentrate on any other approach. All drivers are at the mercy of the random number generator (especially when it comes to returning empty) and my experience is that there is no advantage whatsoever to micro-managing their development over and above leaving them on Balanced.

The one exception to the above is that drivers in garages close to ports, especially those with long sea trips (eg. Rotterdam, Gdansk), will always develop more slowly, and make less money, than those in landlocked cities.