Go Melton? Or stay home??

Discussion in 'Melton' started by Dodgerfan82, May 26, 2014.

  1. jerseyguy71

    jerseyguy71 Light Load Member

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    Jun 16, 2013
    plainfield,nj
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    well wherever you land just make sure it isnt western express's flatbed division..they flood craigslist daily with all kinds of lies..go read all the negative posts about them:biggrin_25525:i just removed myself from their otr/ne reg van div & sorry to say anything negative you read about them is true
     
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  3. Dodgerfan82

    Dodgerfan82 Light Load Member

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    Apr 9, 2013
    Temecula, Ca.
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    So from a money making perspective as a newbie trucker would I be better off looking for a good dry van or refer company? From what I have seen they tend to average more miles but I always assumed the slightly more per mile and tarp pay covered the difference.. Again as a very minimum to support my family I need to be taking home 700 a week after taxes once I add in the cost of living on the road which I assume would cost me a little over 150 a week. That would cover the bills.... Wouldnt leave much beyond bills but that's the minimum as an average. From most of the numbers I have seen pretty much everyone is making atleast that. I'm just wondering if I would be better off getting my feet wet pulling something else at first then figuring out what I really want to do after that.
     
  4. Aireal

    Aireal Medium Load Member

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    Aug 20, 2012
    Garden City, TX
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    You didn't read all of what I posted...did you? Cause you just posted that you made more money on average, than what I posted further down... as average and an average sucky week. Sure my husband made more his first year OTR, he has had his CDL since the 80's, but I figured it up at .32cpm cause I know a newbie isn't going to make the same.

    I won't argue the point, if you think my second post was warm and fuzzy...that's your right. I took some of those run's strait from the spiral note book's I have kept through all his OTR companies...except the 1st flatbed one... and we both wish I had on that one...they rooked him bad. Crappy equipment, no work half the week...small company, should have stayed in the family....cause they were the only ones making money. ( I had a job, so didn't go along)

    I won't take the worst week, unless I can also take his best week... and neither would really be of help.
     
    Dodgerfan82 Thanks this.
  5. Aireal

    Aireal Medium Load Member

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    Aug 20, 2012
    Garden City, TX
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    Shop around with different companies, don't let one bull doze you into them. ( that includes us). Depending on the majority of the type of freight the company deal's with, how much is truely drop and hook, verses what they say... how much waiting you do at shipper's and receivers. Is the kind of miles you are going to get.

    With my husband's last OTR company, if we were pulling Air conditioner's, AC part's, Auto part's or other item's along that line, it was drop and hook all the way... 3k plus miles wasn't hard.... On the other hand!

    When we pulled glass ( bottles, window panes) house wares, paper dry goods... those had alot of waiting at the shipper/receiver. more like a 2k to 2.5k week....sometimes even less, lowest I remember ( with out looking it up) was a 1,200 mile week... and that rightly sucked.( Lot of detention pay)

    It's 1/2 of one 2 dozen of the other. Research the company, talk to the drivers... find out not just how many miles, but what their drop & hook % is. Are they sitting at Dollar General distribution for 4 hr's waiting to unload 3 or 4 days a week. Do they use OTR to "shuttle" on the weekends...J.B Hunt was good for that when my husband was with them. Beat sitting for the weekend I guess, but a nice trip that picked up friday and dropped monday would have been better.

    My husband left J.B. Hunt and Melton for reason's other than money/miles. J.B. was a good start point, but I don't know if you'd make the money you want. He was bringing in @ .32cpm between $600 and $900 a week, average... He had a....errrr personality issue with his dispatcher and for some reason they wouldn't change him. Melton... had nothing to do with miles, pay, how he was treated... simply a problem we had that Melton couldn't work around. ( Both companies still call and ask if he would like to come back.... J.B. Hunt with better offer's each time...)

    Their is a company out their that will be a good fit for you... maybe a perfect fit, you just have to keep looking til you find it... in the mean time... just find a company that will pay the bill's....plus some hopefully
     
    Dodgerfan82 and ramblingman Thank this.
  6. crzyjarmans

    crzyjarmans Road Train Member

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    Home
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    ramblingman, How long did you work for Melton, I have only been here at Melton for about 10 weeks and this doesn't match my average load for miles, My average pay after taxes is about $1100. now it's possible that maybe I've been lucky in the loads I've been receiving but? miles are there here at Melton
     
  7. ramblingman

    ramblingman Road Train Member

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    I don't work at Melton i work at Systems Transport though it's hard to tell the difference anymore with all the Melton trailers laying around our yard in Spokane.

    You don't actually know your average or any of your calculated #'s for that matter so this discussion can't go anywhere productive. I know this because you told me your average pay after taxes is "about" $1100.

    If your guesstimate of $1100 net per paycheck is accurate at all then we have more in common than you think. My actual net avg per paycheck for 2014 is [TABLE]
    [TR]
    [TD="class: xl63"][TABLE]
    [TR]
    [TD="class: xl65"]1183.012
    [/TD]
    [/TR]
    [/TABLE]
    [/TD]
    [/TR]
    [/TABLE]
     
  8. Dodgerfan82

    Dodgerfan82 Light Load Member

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    Temecula, Ca.
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    I would say if your net is anywhere in the 1000s per week that's not too bad in this economy. Don't get me wrong truckers should definitely make more for the sacrifices you make being on the road constantly. But none the less it's livable. I wouldn't personally make OTR trucking a career but I respect those of you that do. I think when I finally nut up and go get my otr experience it will just be stepping stone towards a local or regional job. Money is good but you can never get the time lost with your kids back so once I have the experience to land a decent local job that's what I will do.. I wish there was still money in towing.. I actually really enjoy what I do.
     
  9. ramblingman

    ramblingman Road Train Member

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    When we are talking paychecks we are talking every 2 weeks not per week.
     
  10. Dodgerfan82

    Dodgerfan82 Light Load Member

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    Temecula, Ca.
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    Oh.. Ouch... Well that's not so great then.... Especially if you are driving 7 days a week. That's what my paychecks look like driving a non CDL light duty tow truck 5 days a week 10 hrs a day... My net is about 11-1200 every two weeks. I was talking to a US Foods guy today saying he makes 22 an hr with plenty of OT... Wonder why the difference.
     
  11. ramblingman

    ramblingman Road Train Member

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    For my paycheck my net is relatively low against my gross because my health insurance comes out beforehand and my withholdings are set to "1" so i'm being significantly overtaxed. I will get several thousand dollars back at the end of this year. That's one of the primary reasons i never talk about net. One guy might have his withholdings set too high and another too low. One might be paying child support but no health insurance and the other the opposite.

    I only calculated my net avg to prove a point. Since he's not tracking his #'s we can't really get down and dirty like I'd like, but that's the status quo at this point in time I'm sad to say.
     
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