is 29,000 a year job worth leaving to drive trucks?

CJackson,

I started with Swift in March 2008, was on trainers truck for the six week deal. During 2008 I was OTR lower 48 with them and made $21,000 that year. Freight was slow on most occasions and I was never one to turn down a load and only came home for three or four days a month.

In Jan 2009 I got blessed and got on the best dedicated they have in the metro Atlanta area. I get home nightly about 95% of the time and am home every weekend for at least a 34 hour restart, most times two days off (although it can be a Sunday and Monday off). In 2009 I grossed $45,000.

Any company you decide to go with will in my opinion be about the same. By that I mean it's about what YOU put into it. When I researched what company to start with the last company I wanted was Swift. I was DEAD set against the sorry company based on conventional wisdom the public has on them. However, after almost two years with the company I can say without doubt they have been decent to me and have lived up to their obligations on every occasion. You can't ask more than that out of a trucking company these days.

Good luck whatever you decide.

 

Get a part time job and stay near your family.

 

One thing to keep in mind about dedicated accounts is that they can be lost at anytime. I know a guy who had a good dedicated gig with Schneider and Werner came in and underbid them. 6 years on that dedicated account and he had to go back to OTR.
Not all local/dedicated jobs are what they're cracked up to be...usually 60-70 hours per week in a daycab.

I work for FedEx Freight and make about $72,000 and home everyday and off every weekend. They key here is that I only work about 8-9 hours per day and the weekend is a real weekend...not a 34-hour reset. I've got a friend who works for Wal-Mart's private fleet and he makes about what I do. But these are tough jobs to get and alot of applicants for these jobs. Plus not many hirings like there used to be.

Nobody is saying you can't make more money driving a truck.
It's just that for OTR you will put in double the hours to make that extra 15k or whatever.
The hourly rates in this profession are pathetic...these guys on the road are only making about 8 bucks an hour for their time...it's just that they're working so many hours that the gross looks good at the end of the year.

 

Let's see if I can make an analogy to help you understand about the so-called "good" truckdriving jobs.
Remember playing little league ball as a kid? They let everyone on the team and everyone got to play, right
That's is how trucking starts!
As time went by, you got older, some kids lost interest and quit, some just couldnt play well enough to make the team and got cut. (sound familier?)
By the time you got to High school, unless you were talented and praticed ALOT, you probably couldnt make the Varsity team.
But if you were really good, you got a college scholarship and another round of cuts, maybe you made it thru College ball to be scouted by a Professional team!
Well, another round of cuts, maybe you made the cut, maybe not.
If you did make it this far, you're really good. Except now, you have to keep improving your skills and stay healthy b/c at any time, you can be traded or sent back to the Minors or get injured and your career could be over in a heartbeat. (are we still talking about baseball, right?)
I dont know the exact stats, but I feel comfortable betting only 1 kid out of 10,000 that play little league ball are going to have a long term, rewarding, succesful career in Professional Baseball. Furthermore, I bet the odds for your everyday truck to have the same long term, rewarding, succesful career in trucking are just as bad, if not worse!
So, for the sake of your family, your physical and mental health, choose wisely!!!
Dont waste your life and your famlies chasing a dream that only exists in the back of trucking magazines.
Every year, over the last 5-7 years, I have made less and less. My response was to stay away from home longer and work harder, faster, or more illegal. I HAVE NOTHING BUT LINT IN MY POCKETS, AND LOST RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE PEOPLE I LOVED THE MOST TO SHOW FOR ALL MY HARD WORK!!!
You asked for an answer, this is as honest as I can be. Find a part-time job, deliver pizza, get a paper route, anything but trucking! It is a dead-end road!

 

Look if you have a job now is not the time for a change,stay where you are. When things turn around then maybe start looking into something different but I would not recommend trucking. 2010 does not look like it will be much if any better than 2009 so stay put for now.
chainslinger

 

Just because "friends" are making GROSS of $42,000 is not the NET! And you aren't certain you'll get those "dedicated" runs! In 2007 I filed on $72,000, BUT it was for a dedicated to NYC and it was about 90+HOURS a week! You're getting 29 for 40 hours and sleep in the bed every night?

Now take that 42,000 and subtract about 6,300 just for food for 42 weeks. (you do go home correct?) That's about $150 a week.Then subtract say $2,000 for things you bought that you thought you needed then your cell phone bill and maybe idle aire that the company didn't pay you for and that "nice" $42,000 gets cut down to size! That's a GROSS figure not a NET! You WILL get bent by companies over repayment of idems they "say" they pay and don't. The first and even second year aren't good pay years AND there are very few companies paying mileage rates equal to rates in the early 90's! Some even back to the eighties! Heck in the 90's trainee pay was 21 and over and where is it today? Yeah get bent drivers! They are screwing new hires by paying them "driver" wages that I wouldn't turn the freaking key for as it's a disgrace to me and to YOU! But you newbies will jump all over those lame wages but I bet your house, car or rent payments didn't go down.

Go ahead and jump into this cesspool called trucking but do NOT listen to drivers that are only 2 or 3 year veterans and think they are making "big" money until you see the pay stubs and W-2's. Truckers are like fishermen! The fish that got a way always gets bigger! Just listen to L/P drivers BS those of us who know! WE know they are getting .89, .90 or even .98CPM plus a FSC of 21 and they will swear on their mothers graves that they netted $1200 after a 2500 mile week!

But it's your decision. I'd rather bet on winning the lottery or getting struck by lighting than getting big money in trucking!

 

Dedicated accounts have a habit of disappearing at the most inopportune times. They are the minority of "loads" that are hauled every day.

While YOU may like to be home nightly...so would 75% of the employees you work with. And 95% of the new drivers entering trucking.

What are your thoughts regarding seniority? It's okay, as long as I get my dedicated account first ???

How about this for some advise? Join the military.

I mean Jesus H Christ. Folks are telling you the economy is down, and will most likely be down for some time. It doesn't mean they don't want you to drive a truck. It means they are giving you sound financial advise...for the most part.

Regardless of what company they drive for....freight has been slow for the majority of companies. And most people have taken a hard hit in their wallet.

if you take the time to read through some of the threads more closely. You note many of these "so-called" whiners, are getting 30-60% fewer miles now, than they were 2 years ago.

I know your friend from JB Hunt.... or at least 5 people like him.

A. He either has no debt or responsibilities.

B. Or he's a worthless piece of #### that likes to sit on his ###, more than he likes working.

or C. he's working for a company (JB) the allows him to hide almost 30% of his income....to evade child support. Which brings us back to B.

 

Go drive a truck, if you lose your butt, try something else !!