starting roehl on Feb 25th

I wasn't saying anything about your decision, either. I am simply saying that I feel the promise of a steady check is more important to me right now than depending on getting decent miles.

I also keep hearing the argument, "They are going to run me to death." Well, how could they? We are governed at 65, plus we aren't asked to run illegal; so how can we be run to death? Are you going to go without a load for long? No. Yes, you are still running miles that mileage drivers would kill for, but they are not going to run the s*** out of you. The past two weeks I never left Florida and Georgia, but I still averaged close to 600 miles a day.

When freight "slows down" like we keep hearing, you are going to start making less money on mileage. In this industry, I think learning how to run and what works while not being dependent on miles is a better choice for me. Again, if you want to run mileage pay, go for it and best of luck at it.

 

The thing I've learned on this forum board is that no matter what two things are always true...the hard worker's, and the one's that complain the least get all the miles. I am gung ho because I don't feel like I'm either. I'm all about going in and trying to "run like evertrucker" by running and running and....well you get the point. While I'm not used to driving like crazy I've had two jobs from 18-30 yrs old almost the whole time. I stopped 4 yrs ago to run my own lawncare and landscaping business,so the work doesn't bother me...as long as the money is there!

1 other question for some of you guys: What% of your time is spent running to Canada? I ask because when I told Carrie I wanted National Van fleet, she specifically asked if I had passport etc. All good because I love Canada!

 

Right on, I understand what you are thinking.

So are you running 4200/wk for the pay I was describing?

I agree that learning how to run and learning what works are key. For what it's worth...my business(that was taking off) took a turn for the worse about a year ago and so I haven't ever made more than 40k so I'm far from being dependent on the miles. Good thing is that my wife has a decent enough job to make up what I don't get. Thanks for all of your input, hope I didn't offend you...I appreciate your help.

 

Dont forget to factor in what it is going to cost you to live on the road per day, per week. and so forth. Not all trucks have a refrigerator, or micro wave. So you might want to invest in a nice plug in cooler with a warmer on the top that plugs into the lighter. I would say from experience that even with a refrigerator and microwave you could or should figure on costing close to $10.00 per day to eat and drink.

So now you have to finance 2 life styles. Your home and your life on the road. Do the math. Remember you cant go over 70 hours per week of driving and on duty time. If you do, you will be sitting 34 hours for a reset. So that means you can only actually be on duty and driving 10 hours per day total, which leaves you 14 hours off duty and or in the sleeper berth. So the key here is time management.

Make sure you spend the money to have pre-pass installed in your truck !!!!! Thats a must have, no matter what it will cost you.. Saves you time and money, you will be able to usually by pass the weight stations. I believe it only cost a few dollars a month and is worth every penny spent.

Its not all Roses out there, of the 11 days I was OTR. I know I spent a total of 3 days waiting for a load, (day and half- 2 times )and another 10 hours in the shop having truck and or trailers repaired. That equals no miles.

As there is a lesson here: Make sure you do a pre trip and post trip on every trailer you drop off and or pick up.!!!!!!! It could save you and or the next guy from having an accident. i.e. Picked up a load in Gary Ind. yard, after pre trip inspection the trailer needed 3 new tires, and some other work to make it legal.. If the guy who dropped it off would have done a post trip inspection, it would have save me 5 hours. The very next day, picked up another load and done the pre trip.. found one of the inner tires on trailer was flat and about to lose the tread. had to drive 45 miles out of route to have tire repaired which was another 5 hour wait plus 90 miles extra. So as you can see its not always pick up a load and go. Way to many variables out there to actually figure ones pay ahead of time.

 

I forgot one very important thing. Your not driving 65mph for 11 hours per day everyday. You can scratch that off your list first thing in your pay day figures. That would only be in a perfect world.
Here is another reason why Im not a truck driver anymore.
11 days I made $600.00 -taxes 15%= -$90.00 for taxes
So thats $490.00 take home pay.. now minus $100 or more for road expenses. So thats $390.00 divided by my time which was 24hours X 11 = 264hours. So $390 divided by 264hrs = $1.47per hour

Or we can go by time on duty or driving.
So $390 divided by lets say 110hrs.= $3.54 per hour.
Your call. Me, Im think I could work a min wage job and sleep in my own bed, and I think I could make more money. if I want to travel I will get in my car every weekend and drive my butt off in any direction I want. I know now why they are always looking for truck drivers. Now if you could start out at $.42 per mile it would be a different story, and thats not going to happen.

Plus you have to figure in what it going to cost for training, eats and gas to get to and from.

Hey thats just my opinion and mine only.. You will have to make your own decision.

 

While with a trainer it is VERY difficult to minimize expenses. I had one trainer that like to eat out everyday, and another that didn't. The later detoured to a Wal-Mart and let me pick some food up and I saved tons of money. Once you are on your own, it isn't hard to do. It isn't luxurious by any means either. Plenty of Ramen Noodles, Tuna, and PB&J. But it makes going out to eat that much nicer when I get home. Keep in mind too, you will need to set aside money for tolls and scales. You'll get it back, but its up to you to front the cost.

 

Also, I have been running between 3000 - 3500 a week. I say we run like mileage drivers want to because we run consistently.

 

Yeah I'm not convinced that I'm going to spend that much on the road. For one I have a stockpile of MRE's that I just got for cheap. I can live off of MRE's otr for a year.
The MRE's plus we are going from a 1150/month house pmt to 750. Plus since last summer I've been making only about 400/week, so anything over that is banked. My food bill here will go down, as will alot of the utilities, because my wife is getting rid of the computer and tv's. My down time will be spent reading ALOT, and exercising. Where we are going to be living will allow my wife the opportunity to commute, which will free up another 100/month. My daughter starts preschool and therefore no more daycare starting in August...frees up another 440.

A cooler with a warmer, great idea for my cheapo plan.

I won't mind the resets, I can entertain myself pretty easily.

I'll definitely do this, thanks for the advice!

Its not all Roses out there, of the 11 days I was OTR. I know I spent a total of 3 days waiting for a load, (day and half- 2 times )and another 10 hours in the shop having truck and or trailers repaired. That equals no miles.
No miles definitely, and not to take any shots at you but I'll hang around more than 11 days to decide. The way I see it, I have a few life issues about myself that I really need to figure out and change. So, if I am fortunate to get a little isolation time to help me, so be it. I can see how it can frustrate some people and may me too, never know. Then again you will never know if it would have gotten better for you had you had more patience and stuck it out for longer than 11 days. You've never had 2 SOLID WEEKS where anything and everything just completely sucked??? Boy, I sure have (once or twice MONTHS!)

More great advice, THANKS!!!!

 

My figures were based off of 2500miles/week. Everyone with the exception of like 2 people on here that I've seen post(when complaining of lack of miles) says they only got 2500 so I used that as the low mileage ceiling for this discussion. Obviously it can go lower as in your case, I was going by what I saw as the low mileage majority on here. So if I had "only" 2500 I would have to avg. 32mph every driveable hour to achieve this. Now if I COULD avg. 65mphx11hrsx7wk=I'd be rich ######!!

You are one step ahead of me if you can get someone to pay you while you sleep, please share your secret. To me it is nothing close to an hourly job, so I can't compare what I make hourly, and won't. He11 I made 400/wk (roughly) for the last year and couldn't find anything better that is why I'm here. If I have anywhere close to as bad a week as you had and I have it for the entire year I will be $11000 more than I was this past year. Trust me when I say the wifey will be alot happier (in spite of me being gone). I live near Atlanta and if I spend one year working OTR I look alot more attractive to almost all the trucking companies in Atlanta. So why not?

I'm good as I already have figured this. We figure that I'm on minimum wage until at least mid July.

 

Right there with you...MRE's baby! Up front packed, and ready to go when I am.

How much are tolls typically and how many times a week do you pass them...I.E. 100/wk? More/Less?? Thanks for that info.

Are you regional or 7/3? 600/day but only 3000-3500/wk? Do you have weekends off?