Real Salaries

I start company-sponsored CDL school in a few weeks. I wanted to know what a realistic salary for the first 3 months would be like. What about your first year?

I have a very good work ethic but I'm still expecting many difficulties the first year. What is a realistic figure for the first 3 months even in this economic climate?

Thank you for your very valuable time.

 

Depends who you run for usually around 35+ if your lucky just run what they give you and don't complain you should get decent miles I would expect much more than 35 as a new driver with no experience

 

Depends upon who you are going to be working for and how hard you run - it can vary by a LOT.

From what I'm reading here and elsewhere, though - a good ballpark for average newbie is about $30-35K/year. call it 2500 to 3000 per month.

 

JT,

I think that's decent to start with. I'm wirelessly connected and have my Garmin hoping to survive the first year.

I've heard of drivers going local after 1 year and making more. I'm in NYC and do not relish the thought of driving local except maybe at night. Does "seeing the country" really mean that or is there something these ads are not telling us?

Thanks JT, Lurchgs

 

LOL - there's a LOT the ads don't tell you about. Bad food, bad drivers, bad dispatchers, bad relationships, bad weather, bad trucks, bad trailers, bad pay...

If you do go OTR,yeah, you'll see the country. Mostly in passing, if you are like most drivers. If you gotta run and gun and make a zillion bux, all you are gonna see is an everchanging blur outside the windshield. Your 34s will be in the back of beyond, where the nearest building is a 90 year old outhouse.

If you relax a bit, and schedule right, you can pull down time in/near things you want to see. But it will likely cost you in the paycheck.

 

"I wanna see this great country tropical beaches with their wave-braking dunes, its lush meadows and sky-scraping peaks. The Golden Gate and Napa's bounty. The Northern gateway with its Northern Lights and the Louvre (in Paris?...Texas?). Ah, To Be In Fresno Now That Summer's Here.."

Yeah right!!

Thank you for that realistic assessment Lurchgs. My eyes are beginning to slowly open. No matter. I shall focus on the job at hand while being, both, efficient and thrifty. Then take real vacations. What's a 34?

 

Yep thats what my husband said about otr, saw it drove through it, but did not get to enjoy it, no sight seeing , he wished he could have

 

You CAN do sight seeing....just need to make time for it. Plan ahead so you know how much cushion time you have to play with and then go from there with that information. I think its very rare to get a load and its that time sensitive where you can't work in extra time in there.

 

Good luck wanna_be! You gonna change your screen name after you finish?

 

I laughed out loud as soon as I read your reply! You know, an automatic reaction. Just looking at your reply from across the room makes me want to laugh all over again because it's so true.

I don't know what made me believe that after driving for 5-10 hours at highway speeds you'll have time for anything else except paperwork and rest.