Fastest way to higher income in trucking?

Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by Timinator351P, Jan 30, 2015.

  1. Timinator351P

    Timinator351P Bobtail Member

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    I've seen many threads on other sites where people have said they have gone up more then 10k in income every year in their first few years getting to about mid 60k to mid 70k. How viable is this? What are the fastest ways to earn more money in trucking? Specializing; getting the right company; getting lucky with dispatchers; experience; and other things have been listed. What about here? Any experiences, stories, or advice is welcome.
     
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  3. Stormdriven

    Stormdriven Medium Load Member

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    That is fairly accurate.

    Life and work is not easy in the irregular OTR segment.
     
  4. double yellow

    double yellow Road Train Member

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    If you want to work for a living, LTL guys can do 80-110k. Fed Ex, UPS, Estes, Saia, Oak Harbor, ABF, Old Dominion, Con-Way Freight

    Before the bust, you could do $100k+ in the oil fields. MBI, Halliburton, Schlumberger, etc

    But if you want the typical "no touch" dry van gig, you'll probably top out around $80k. Walmart or owner ooperator
     
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  5. tommymonza

    tommymonza Road Train Member

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    Double Yellow what would you like to realistically net in a year ?
     
    Last edited: Jan 30, 2015
  6. Midwesttrucker

    Midwesttrucker Light Load Member

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    I'll throw something out here. First off get all of your endorsements passed like HAZMAT, Tanker, Doubles/Triples before you start trucking school. When you in trucking school really strive for a good attendance record. Believe it or not those recruiters that come from your future employer do look at that as a gauge of reliability.

    After you finish school take a long hard look at the LTL sector of trucking. Many of the better companies have their own finishing schools where you come straight out of school and then you will go to their school. You will make a decent buck just starting out but its going to be just like any job "You have to put in your time". All LTL's have a wage progression of three years. Figure on starting at around $19.50 and up at most of the good carriers for city P&D. Around .45-.55 cpm for linehual in the beginning.

    Here is a list of good LTL carriers with driver finishing schools.

    Old Dominion
    ABF
    Conway
    Saia
    YRC
    Holland
    Fedex Freight

    If you decide after a couple of years to go the owner operator route thats fine but work for a company first and DONT LEASE on with some bottom feeder carrier. Thats a recipe for financial suicide. As far as hitting the 60-70k mark its very realistic after your second or third year. In most cases you should be able to exceed those numbers. Its all up to you and how hard you want to legally run. Ultimately keep that license clean; it pays excellent dividends down the road. Good luck
     
  7. double yellow

    double yellow Road Train Member

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    No touch otr dry van? If you are willing to team, you could easily do $50k your first year & 60k+ year 2. Solo is probably more like $35k first year, 45-50k year 2.

    If you kept your record clean, after 2 years you can probably qualify for hazmat tanker jobs that pay well and aren't too physically demanding $60-100k



    That's all gross. Net varies way too much from person to person.
     
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  8. tommymonza

    tommymonza Road Train Member

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    im sorry Double Yellow my bad typing skills did me in .

    What i meant is what would you personally like to net your 1st year in your new venture you are in?
     
  9. DrtyDiesel

    DrtyDiesel Road Train Member

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    It's all in what you want to do. Double yellow has good info, ltl and oilfields will be up there.


    I haul fuel, made $57k my 1st year doing that. If all goes as planned I should be looking to make around $65k this year. Maybe more
     
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  10. Chinatown

    Chinatown Road Train Member

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    Get all the endorsements plus a TWIC card. All this is money in the bank.
     
  11. double yellow

    double yellow Road Train Member

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    The plan was to have the business pay off my initial start-up capital after 1 year -- which I still think is an ambitious goal for any new business. With a lot of help from this forum, I reached breakeven after 6 months and by 12 months ought to have pretax income of ~50k (on top of completely paying for tractor, trailer, & misc start-up costs totaling about $35,000).


    Year 2 ought to have pretax income of ~$100k as long as the market holds and I don't slack off too much. In subsequent years, I suspect I'll eventually plateau around $120k unless I take on employees.


    I suspect most independents earn closer to $80k though, with my two main advantages being:

    1) my willingness to go anywhere, anytime, for as long as necessary (as opposed to needing to get home every few days/week)
    2) My analytic skills combined with adopting the Toyota philosophy of "kaizen" -- continual improvement
     
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