For new drivers this is my best advice.Make some cash,save it,and get out quickly.And,by no means,do the math.
It breaks down to you working 100 hrs a week to make 800,no matter who you drive for.At first glance that would seem like $8.00 an hr,but it's less.If it were $8 an hr then you would get overtime after 40 which would be $12 an hr for 60 hrs which would make the gross pay $1040,and you might make that on the weeks that you do 4000 + miles but those weeks are far and few in between and a gross of even $800 is being hopeful.
Basically,you give up your whole life for less than 30k a yr and if you are thrifty and dont pay rent or bills then you can save a little.But,as far as making it a lifestyle,you don't want to do that.Get in and out quick as possible.You will notice that when you start driving that there are a lot of drivers that have done this for yrs arguing on the CB.They threaten each others life,cuss out 4 wheelers,whine about shippers,and are very unhappy people.That's the life,nobody likes it and those that do have cheesy little dedicated runs that pay unbelievable amounts of money,or so I assume.Because,I can't imagine any other way they could like it,unless they were insane...My hope is to start a BBQ restaurant and call it quits ASAP,and you should too if you value your sanity or hope to have a life one day....TY

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Claude

So go ahead and get out if the numbers are so bad. I dopn't know what "Trucking Lifestyle" you are referring to, but I have a job that I like, work that I enjoy doing, and a pay rate much better than your supposed average. I can make 800 per week, but I have to take at least Friday off to do it. There are parts of trucking that pay very well, and don't require you to spend 3 weeks out on the road. I am making about 63,000 this year, and I am home in my own bed at least 2-3 nights a week. That works out to an average of well over 1200 a week, so your numbers are kind of low. But, no, that doesn't happen your first year. You still have to pay your dues and get some experience, and that's what much of the advice on this board has been about.

All over the country there are trucking jobs like mine, paying well, with good home time and decent equipment. Right now, if I could find 5-6 qualified drivers at my terminal, we would hire them tomorrow, and the situation is the same throughout the company and among our competittors. But we don't hire brand new drivers, because we require a certain experience level and new drivers just don't have that. Our customers don't want rookie driver mistakes made with their product, and our insurance carrier doesn't want beginners in our trucks because of the specific demands of our freight.

I think you need to rethink your advice, or at least establish some credentials to be giving it before you try to chase people away from trucking as a career. Your advice on here is only going to be worth something if people can go back through your prior posts and read them and determine the truth of what you are saying. As for your other post where you claim that smoking marajuana while driving made you a better driver because you were more paranoid, I think that undercuts your credibility giving any form of advice......

I see people like you all the time that claim to make 65k a year.I have been driving for 12 yrs and have never made 65k a year and I doubt that you do too.I'm not gonna sit here and argue with you. [deleted]

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Claude

What area is that? Were do you work at?

[quote="downtownzallaround"]That's good advice to give anyone in any business, not just trucking.

When you're first starting out, $800 a week isn't even doable. With a year's experience under your belt, if you still want to drive OTR, $800 a week can be made without the 100 hr 4000+ miles you state. When I was driving I was making 32c a mile. 32x3000=96000. That's a gross of $960. I use the 3000 because that's a realistic amount of miles you could legally drive OTR 2 years ago. The 100 hrs a week, I did experience during my first year of driving. After a year's of experience though, I worked maybe, 80 hrs a week. But that's over a seven day period.That's an average of almost 11 and a half hr days. The majority of blue and white collar workers who bring home over $800 a week work the same amount of hrs. I was taking home a little over $800 a week, I was also through my home terminal at least twice a week. I would take time off at home every other week. At the time I had only 2 years of experience under my belt.

52*800= 41600. Though realistically, there is a slow season, when you're not going to get as many miles a week, but you still easily make well over 30k. When did 30k become barely getting by?

If you're thrifty enough, you can save enough money to stop working completely in November, and begin working again in February. Which is what I used to do.

I agree with this statement 100% if everything in life you did exclusivelly because you WANTED to. Work you do because you HAVE to.

Maybe you talked to drivers who told you they've been doing something they hate for years. The only drivers I ever talked to at truck stops, shipping and delivery docks, and waiting rooms, who had more than ten years driving experience, LOVED driving. Drivers with less experience than that didn't love it, but wouldn't say they HATED it either. To most of them it was a job. The people I talked to who said they HATED the trucking lifestyle, were people with less than a years experience, who had no realistic views of what they were getting into, and were on their way out the door anyway.

,Granted, Drivers with the least Gripes WERE dedicated OTR drivers. Those jobs didn't fall into their laps straight out of trucking school though. Companies that ship for customers with dedicated runs usually give them to experienced drivers. Even Swift drivers with dedicated runs had little to gripe about. These guys admittedly, didn't HATE their jobs. From what I got from dedicated run drivers though, was that it wasn't the money, but the routine they can establish when they know where they're going to be almost week in and week out, that keeps them satisfied with their jobs.

Good luck with that. Hope you have trucker discounts.

Thanks for the advice, but I hope we can agree to disagree.

Well guys short of posting my actual stub for you to believe i guess i cant prove any further. I make 800 a week and am a rookie driver. I handle 100% of my freight though.

You wouldn't have to prove it to me. I KNOW that there are good jobs out there, even for newbies. All it takes is for someone to take the time to seek them out.

Well, at least you get a workout.

As for Mr Downtownwhatever, some of us just happen to like driving. We'd have to or we wouldn't be doing it for a living.

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Z-Lady's devoted hubby.

my hubby made 700.00-900.00 a week his first time otr, he had done all local stuff prior to last year so I guess he wasnt a true newbie but yet he was to the otr situation. There are good companies out there, ya just have to look for them.

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LuvMyHubby

I've tied a knot in my rope and I am hangin on!

Part of the "problem" with big company advertisements is they "set the numbers" in people's heads about pay. If you see Swift is paying 32 a mile, you accept that as a "good" rate, especially if the ad is slick. Such is propaganda. Watch out for it, and don't just "accept" that you will be making chicken-feed your first year OTR because everybody "says it's so". Maybe you will make chicken-feed, but if you look around hard enough, you probably won't.

I bet anyone who makes the effort will be rewarded with a good job that pays well. No one has to "settle" for a company like Swift when he's just starting out....well, unless he's Mr. Bungle, that is.

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--Paved Dudley--

Yeah I drive a Swift truck
And that means one thing
It means she's slow
It's a typical company truck
It's just all show and no go

I'm gettin' passed by Yella
And even Overnite
I'm gettin' passed by ever' body in sight
46 days on the road
And I'm not gettin' home tonight

No, my hometown's nowhere in sight
And if you think I'm pissed off
You're right
46 days on the road
And I'm not gettin' home tonight


Love pissing off those trucking company insiders.