Reality (pay)

Do the math...

43-cpm base, 5-cpm lightweight bonus, 3-cpm fuel bonus which is half of the maximum. $1100 net after taxes, not including other deductions means you need around $1400 gross... call it $1500. At 51-cpm that's about 2900 miles per week. Easily achieved as an average with some experience, and an aggressive FM.

$800+ net out the gate as a new driver at Prime is quite possible.

 

Also depends on your FM/DM in general, how good they are at their job & how much seniority they can use to pull loads out of dry regions.
My FM is nothing short of stellar & I could not ask for a better boss - the more I showed I knew what to do without asking, the less micromanaging/hand holding occured & productivity went up up up.

Also not factored in to that equation is the .08cpm solo/.05 cpm team per diem (non taxed), PU/SO pay @ $20 a stop solo OTR ($15 on Walmart runs & $10 each on team) after first PU & SO, team bonus @ .10cpm split (.05 cpm each) for all miles above 3500 for the week, detention (yes they do pay & it is vary variable depending on customers), layover pay (rare), breakdown pay (not a ton but not bad neither), & varible bonuses @ FM's discretion (usually on high value or NYC runs with low mile & high BS ratio.

Should clarify that I run team now but same principle & average applies, I just don't have to put up with as much of the trucking BS the average solo driver does...(ie. Waking up multiple times to check in, then dock, then paperwork, then find place to park & get a couple hrs hopefully hahaha).

Then again, I have not been near as acquainted with NYC, Baltimore, Newark, los Angeles region since going team either....

 

Hey just wondering since u mentioned n your team. What's the pay like cpm? Not many prime teams on here tons of info about the solo rates on here.

 

I average around 27cpm for all miles most weeks.

 

Watch those company(prime) tapes on youtube.

The company states that 44K gross per year is average for all drivers.

Must be the rumors on here,

are more accurate than the company info ???

 

My gross earnings on the company side five years ago before two across the board rate increases was 47k and 49k for the two complete years I ran solo reefer. That was five years ago. Maybe you ought to get your facts straight numbers. With the pay changes since then, the claims made in this thread are quite reasonable.

 

Untaxed per diem @ about $250/week or close to $12k/year isn't figured into the youtube numbers.

 

It doesn't work that way. Using round numbers if you're being paid 50-cpm and 8-cpm in untaxed per diem, you're still bring paid 50-cpm. You're only taxed on 42-cpm of it. You don't make an extra $12,000 per year.

 

I thought the .43 cpm was including the .05 cpm lightweight bonus?

 

It is... used round numbers for an example. Less thinking is involved. LOL!

Let's say you're paid 38 base, 5 LW bonus and no fuel bonus, but 8-cpm is paid as per diem. That's a total of 43-cpm... 35-cpm taxed, 8-cpm untaxed. Its still a total of 43-cpm. You're not getting an extra $12,000 per year, but your taxes will go down a couple hundred.