What was your pay your first year? (Bonus: robots)

We made over $53k our first full year with Covenant excluding the training phase. I made a little less then my partner because I'm a veteran but I did get BAH for about 6 months so add another ~ $6500 for that

 

In 1994 I started out at $0.19/mile. My last company position I was at $0.42 until the new management team decided that going from $.42 to $.38 and a forced per diem wasn't a pay cut. Funny but every time I added up mileages from week to week at those two rates $.38 came out less every single time. And I didn't have to have a bachelor's degree to figure that one out--though management guys there insisted I was benefiting to a greater degree. I took it as proof positive that spending thousands of dollars on a college education in this case only proved to confirm that some people are educated idiots with lots of student loan debt and an inability to add.

I went from around $50k on paper to around $20k on paper working for them. Yes, they "pre-imbursed" the same daily per diem I could claim on my taxes. The company, worth a billion or two dollars, grabbed thousands out of my pocket in the inability to show earning that $50k to Social Insecurity (yes, your benefits are calculated on the final amount shown on your W-2), the inability to approach a lender and show a reasonable, bankable income in the event of a home mortgage (that was already in place), the lowered dollar figure also affected any long-or-short-term disability insurance (keep in mind that 60% of 50k is 30,000 and 60% of 20k is 12,000 if you're injured).

Oh, and one other point about making a living driving... When you make $40,000 a year driving, even assuming you play the tax game spot on and pay little to no effective tax rate, by the time you spend let's say $10 twice a day to eat out here (and that's eating mostly fast food take away on the run) 300 days a year then you're spending $6,000 to make the $40k and that doesn't include any additional purchases like work gear, etc.

22 years makes for a very interesting education.

 

First full year refrigerated at J&R Schugel 40,000 10,00 being per-deim.

Moved to tanks, joined Union. 42,000 in 7 months.

3rd year on track for 82,000 right now. #### happens tho.

 

Out of school and after training/orientation/regional experience, I was averaging about $1350 CAD bi-weekly after taxes, but I wasn't running enough miles (should have been clearing closer to 1800-1900). After four months of OTR I couldn't take being away from home and a regional position opened up... my latest pay cheque clocked in at roughly $1300 CAD after taxes (hourly pay).

I haven't missed the highway and am due for a $150 bi-weekly raise in a month. For people who can run the miles, OTR pays a helluva lot more, but I can't imagine not being home every night, having weekends and holidays off (paid) and actually get paid to sit for hours (highway drivers get flat rate for unload/load and tarp/untarp; so you can get paid $25/hour or $2.5/hour depending on how long it takes).

 

I agree with everything you said, except for needing to pay $10 for a meal at least twice a day. That was my modus operandi when I first started driving, more like $30 a day habit, including coffee and snacks. I got serious about eating right after I quickly gained 40 lbs. I got a 12v cooler and started stocking up at Walmart a couple of times a week. My food bill dropped to about $100 a week. My 40 lb weight gain disappeared within six months. You don't have to bust your gut or your budget to live well on the road.

 

I'm probably going to net a hair above 45k this year. This being my first year OTR. I've had 4 raised since I started and put about 110 on my hub. This includes a $200 Christmas bonus. I have managed to save 20k which is shameful considering my overhead.

 

As soon as I got my cdl I went straight to the oilfield I started April of 2014 at the end of 2014 my w2 said I had made a little under 70,000 it was when things were booming I had to work my ### off and my life became nothing but work but I made that in 8 months.I worked a full year in 2015 I made around 58,000 that took me 12 months who knows how much I'll make this year with the oilfield the way it is today I'll be lucky to pull 45,000 to 50

 

Even with a cooler there isn't much healthy stuff you can eat. You will save money for sure but you won't eat much healthier. Different ways to cook on the truck are what will make you eat healthier. Most people with coolers usually buy deli meats and that is full of sodium.

 

I don't buy deli meats. I transformed my diet to eat mostly raw fruits and vegetables. Added probiotics like plain yogurt and sauerkraut. Recently I gave up on bread altogether, and eat whole grain cereal maybe once a week. I eat a big steak a couple times a month, and about 3 cans of mackerel a week.

One bonus is I haven't been sick in three years. That's saying something, as I used to get lingering chest colds every winter, and I work flatbed now in some pretty extreme weather.

 

16 cents a mile. That was back in the '80s.