Per diems

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Trey Kule
Posts: 250
Joined: Tue Aug 09, 2016 4:19 am

I always considered per diems to cover additional expenses I had when away from home base.
At home Base I ate most of my meals at home.  Bought toothpaste in a six pack from Costco, and my night cap of decent scotch cost about $6.00
Away from home, all  meals in restaurants, including those rather overpriced hotel restaurants.  Toothpaste, if need at a local store at about the same price for one as a costco Six pack.  And scotch...dont get me started at the cost of that in a hotel bar...besides having them accidently “substitute” it with a different one. (Some  funny stories about this practice, but I digress)

The company recognized these extra costs, and so paid a per diem...seemed fair to me.

But when I read pilots comparing pay, I find people consider per diems as salary.  Maybe its to impress others. Like those who always tell you the cold temperature including the wind chill.

So what is it?  Should per diems be considered as part of salary, or a reimbursement for extra work related costs incurred?  As far as the folks at CRA are concerned its the latter. 



John Swallow
Posts: 319
Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2016 1:58 pm

Reimbursement for work-related costs on the road...
Nark1

$2.25/hr away from base.  Usually adds up to $500/month.

Should NOT be counted as salary.
digits

[quote author=Trey Kule link=topic=9430.msg26211#msg26211 date=1546040216]

But when I read pilots comparing pay, I find people consider per diems as salary.  Maybe its to impress others. Like those who always tell you the cold temperature including the wind chill.

[/quote]

Would you take a job with a defined salary but an "undisclosed amount of per diems"? I doubt it. It's important to know what to expect salary and/or expense wise.

A job paying 6000/month salary without per diems is worse than one paying 5800 / month salary with 3 CAD/hour per diems. So it is important to know if the company you are interested in is paying any per diems and if so, how much they are. Otherwise you won't get a fair comparison between different companies. Furthermore, it would also be good to include the locations of the layovers where you are spending your per diems.30CAD/day in Winnipeg will pay for more food than 30 CAD/day in Toronto.

Whether you consider it salary or part of the salary package or something completely else is irrelevant and up to you.
Alcoholism
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Jun 27, 2017 6:39 pm

[quote author=Trey Kule link=topic=9430.msg26211#msg26211 date=1546040216]
I always considered per diems to cover additional expenses I had when away from home base.
At home Base I ate most of my meals at home.  Bought toothpaste in a six pack from Costco, and my night cap of decent scotch cost about $6.00
Away from home, all  meals in restaurants, including those rather overpriced hotel restaurants.  Toothpaste, if need at a local store at about the same price for one as a costco Six pack.  And scotch...dont get me started at the cost of that in a hotel bar...besides having them accidently “substitute” it with a different one. (Some  funny stories about this practice, but I digress)

The company recognized these extra costs, and so paid a per diem...seemed fair to me.

But when I read pilots comparing pay, I find people consider per diems as salary.  Maybe its to impress others. Like those who always tell you the cold temperature including the wind chill.

So what is it?  Should per diems be considered as part of salary, or a reimbursement for extra work related costs incurred?  As far as the folks at CRA are concerned its the latter.
[/quote]

Those people are retards, and you should ignore them and walk away.
Trey Kule
Posts: 250
Joined: Tue Aug 09, 2016 4:19 am

I guess I see a difference between someone saying the pay is 100k a year plus $60:perdiem,
And someone saying they make $106k a year including per diems.
The second does not provide any information about the per diem rate, but makes it seem the pay is better than it really is.

But to each to their own.

David MacRay
Posts: 1259
Joined: Wed Jun 03, 2015 3:00 pm

I used to use per diems (which I call LOA) to make my life away from home better than if I worked in town. I met lots of guys that would sleep in a station wagon and eat bulk Bologna to save theirs. Most of them were still in debt at the end of a project. After a few months in 1999 I had six thousand bucks to waste, even though I was renting a luxury condo on the shore of Sylvan Lake with another fellow, and also paying a mortgage in YYC...

The only thing I regret buying is this house.

I digress, those people should never say it is income. Even back in the 1990s CRA threatened to make it a taxable benefit, instead of a living out allowence.
ScudRunner-d95
Posts: 1349
Joined: Thu Feb 13, 2014 5:08 pm

My old Job the pay was not great so the per diems helped make ends meet for some. I would try and stretch the dollar as far as I could to pocket as much as possible. Don't get me wrong I ate well but if I could save an extra few bucks a day that added up to "cable bills and cases of beer" as I dubbed it.

its funny now I fly the corporate jets at a rather large company and they give me a company card to expense my meals like any manager would on the road. Some pilots react  to hearing this is usually "you must eat steak and lobster every night" nope I do have nice meals but subway and chipotle receipts are submitted and I tend to take advantage of free hotel breakfasts.

Amazing what happens when you entrust and empower your employees to make the right decisions.
Slick Goodlin
Posts: 721
Joined: Thu Jun 11, 2015 6:46 pm

[quote author=ScudRunner link=topic=9430.msg26237#msg26237 date=1546318171]
Amazing what happens when you entrust and empower your employees to make the right decisions.
[/quote]
Ain’t that amazing?  My company has two bases, at one the commissary supply is under lock and key while the other has it wide open.  Guess which one gets totally gutted by flight crews at every opportunity.
Eric Janson
Posts: 412
Joined: Tue Jul 14, 2015 10:31 am

At my previous job the Housing Allowance and per diems covered all my costs - I was able to bank my entire (tax free) salary.

Current employer pays a flat salary every month that includes everything. I did get 1/2 months salary as a bonus this year.
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