Okay, so I bought a used truck from Crete Carrier.

So...I assume you work 5 days a week or something? You're pulling down $1500/week net? I assume the Taxable Income listed on your 1040 is at least $75,000 (assuming 2 weeks off around the holidays)?

If so, I'll have to call an electrical engineer I know and tell him he's in the wrong line of work, and that the 5 years he spent at the University of Tennessee getting his degree, plus the years he worked as an EIT, plus the test to become a PE were all wasted effort, that all he needed to do was buy a 1-ton dually and go to work

$200/day while on the road is $62,400 a year (assuming 1 day at home for every 6 on the road). Granted, most days I make more than that (EDIT: actually, looking at the days on the road, I averaged $158 and change per day net profit), but then most days I'm putting a lot more miles on my truck. $200 for 4 hours of driving and 2 hours total of sitting in the dock (6 hours total) is $33.33/hour. I'm trying to see how that's bad, for "unskilled labor"...

You know how much I made as a network administrator in Atlanta? About $42,000/year. My costs where I live now are much lower, and I make about 50% more. Now, I'm no genius(*) but it sounds like a very good deal.



[size=-2](*) - Actually, my IQ as measured by the WISC-III test is 139, or higher than 99.534% of humans, but who's counting?[/size]

 

Take a look at evertruckerr's thread. He made $68k and change last year. He's in the top few percent miles-wise company-wide, and he's also way more motivated than I am to make the big money. I make enough for my needs, and have quite a bit more freedom.

Quite frankly, my numbers would be much better if I weren't so lazy, but they're good enough to be where I want to be financially. As a matter of fact, the wife and I are planning a vacation trip to St. Croix for our 10th wedding anniversary

 

I don't mind making "only" what company drivers make, though I actually make a few pennies per mile more than I did as a company driver near the bottom of Crete's pay scale. I enjoy the intangible benefits of owning the truck. The extra freedom, the ownership of the asset, and the pride of ownership have value to me, in addition to the dollars I bring home. Granted, if I was making substantially less than I did as a company driver, I'd sell the truck in a heartbeat and go back to driving their truck.

Taking my gross for 5 months, dividing by 5 and multiplying by 12, gives me an annual gross of $131,515. Given that I had over 2 weeks of unplanned downtime in those 5 months, plus the lower productivity over the holidays, I would imagine my gross for 2011 should be in the $150,000 to $175,000 range. Stay tuned to find out