The settlement, explained
Learn to read the most important document in your business.
Your weekly settlement is where a lease-on deal becomes real money — or quietly stops being one. Here's the format we use, line by line, and how to verify every entry against paper you already hold.
The document
Why the blanks are blank.
This is the settlement format every driver in the fleet receives weekly. We publish it with the amounts blank on purpose: your numbers are set by the lease you sign, and any carrier showing you a filled-in “example week” is showing you marketing, not money.
What we can promise in public is the structure — every line named, every deduction traceable, the math checkable. The sections below teach you to check it.
Arrow Truckers · Driver Settlement
Issued weekly · Specimen
The format every driver gets. The numbers come from your lease — not from a website.
Your settlement basis from your lease, applied to each load. Check it against your rate confirmations.
Broker-paid surcharges appear as their own line — visible, never folded into the rate.
The amount or formula written in your lease (49 CFR §376.12(h)). Same basis every week — watch for drift.
Insurance, ELD, plates: every chargeback must trace to a lease line. No lease line, no deduction.
Fuel or cash advances, matched to the specific load they were drawn against.
This is the format, not an offer. Under federal Truth-in-Leasing rules (49 CFR Part 376), every number on your real settlement must trace to the lease you signed. We fill in the blanks with you — in writing — before you commit to anything.
Line by line
Six lines. Everything your money does.
01
Linehaul revenue, by load
Each load you hauled that week, listed with the revenue it produced under your lease's compensation terms.
Comes from: the rate confirmation for each load, run through the compensation formula in your lease (§376.12(d)).
Verify it: keep every rate con. Load by load, the settlement should reconcile against your own folder — and if pay is percentage-based, you're entitled to the rated freight bill (§376.12(g)).
02
Fuel surcharge
The fuel surcharge attached to a load, shown as its own line rather than folded into the linehaul rate.
Comes from: the broker or shipper, load by load. Where surcharge money goes is a lease term — make sure yours says.
Verify it: the surcharge on the settlement should match the surcharge on the rate con. If you can't see it as a line, you can't check it — that's the point of itemization.
03
Program fee
What the carrier charges for running under its authority — the core cost of leasing on.
Comes from: your lease, as a stated amount or formula. It cannot legally be improvised week to week (§376.12(h)).
Verify it: same basis every week. If the fee drifts without a lease amendment, that's not a rounding error — it's a conversation.
04
Chargebacks — each one named
Services you use through the carrier: insurance items, ELD, plates, whatever your lease lists. Each appears as its own named line.
Comes from: the chargeback schedule in your lease. No lease line, no deduction — that's federal law, not a courtesy.
Verify it: every deduction on the statement should map one-to-one to a lease section. Anything labeled 'miscellaneous' fails the test.
05
Advances
Fuel or cash advances you drew during the week, deducted from the settlement that pays the loads they were drawn against.
Comes from: your own draws — matched to specific loads, with any advance terms stated in the lease.
Verify it: your receipts. An advance should never appear that you don't remember taking.
06
Net deposit
Gross revenue minus the named deductions. The number that lands in your account — weekly, by direct deposit.
Comes from: arithmetic. Nothing else.
Verify it: add it up yourself the first month. A settlement that survives a driver with a calculator is the whole product.
Backed by federal rule
You don’t have to negotiate for any of this. It’s the law.
Truth-in-Leasing (49 CFR Part 376) applies to every carrier that leases on owner-operators — us included. These are the sections that guard your settlement.
§376.12(d)
Compensation stated in the lease — amount, percentage, or formula.
§376.12(g)
Percentage pay? You can demand the rated freight bill and check the split.
§376.12(h)
Every chargeback itemized in the lease, with how it's computed.
§376.12(i)
You can't be forced to buy services from the carrier as a condition of leasing.
§376.12(k)
Escrow accounted for and returned within 45 days of termination.
Full text: ecfr.gov — Title 49, Part 376 · more context under Safety & Compliance
On any carrier’s paper
Red flags that should end the conversation.
Take this list to every carrier you talk to. If we ever fail it, take it to us loudly.
- Deductions that don't appear anywhere in the lease
- A program fee that changes without a signed amendment
- Fuel surcharge invisible — folded into rates where it can't be checked
- “Ask your recruiter” as the answer to a written-terms question
- Escrow with no stated return schedule or accounting
- Settlements delivered late, verbally, or only on request
Now ask for your numbers.
Apply, and your compensation and every fee go in writing before you commit. Want more homework first? Read How to Read a Weekly Settlement in the Logbook.