truck drivers must make some serious money

The only thing you get being O/O over company is ability to choose where you run. O/O has to provide his own health insurance, no 401k matching, no vacation pay, no holiday pay, pays S.S. taxes, etc.
Lease-purchase is a sucker's game.
5-year company drivers earning $50k....but they're working 80-100 hours per week and living on the road for weeks (and weekends) on end.
I made $50k in two years as an LTL driver and work 9 hours per day and home every night and every weekend.

Today I am spending the day at home relaxing. I can remember many weekends spent in a truckstop.

You might get lucky and hire-on to a private fleet like Wal-Mart or something but for the most part those road jobs stink.

 

Much, if not most of what you say is true, but you are overlooking a salient point.
There are some of us(perhaps a minority) to which being home everynight is not a priority.
I drive in the otr division of a large LTL company and have passed up opportunities to go local at a good hourly rate simply because I prefer the open road. I have the same good benefits and vacation etc as those guys.

Although they are becoming far less common, I have had some great private carrier jobs over the years that have since gone away.
A whole different world than common carrier work. I'm gone generally 5 days at a time now, run legal and don't kill myself.
I've been married 31 years and don't feel the need to see her every day and I think she trusts me as much as she ever will.

The idea of running around town, and climbing in and out of the cab all day seems like pure drudgery to me, but obviously not to you or you wouldn't be doing it.
Simply a matter of preference.
I'm not accusing you of this by no means, so don't be offended, but I get really bummed out at the day cab guys with a superiority attitude.
I say that because we have them at this company as well. But it takes all of us to get everything moved.

 

Frito Lay had a job the other day running to Texas from Pulaski TN. 60-70K I could live on that!

 

$0.32 per mile at 2000 miles a week is $640. Divide that by 40 hours a week and it comes to $16 an hour. BUT you have way more time invested in a day than a 40 hour a week person.

 

But money is money and there are those that may not have the job skills or the opportunity to make that amount at a 40 hour gig.
Somebody with an $8.00 ph job may feel blessed with that.
Sometimes you just do what you gotta do.

 

I have to admit, a fondness for trucking and the hours we put in. Although I raise hell about it like everyone else.

I've never made any serious money at a job that only required 40 hours a week. I've made a living at those jobs, I've just never made serious $$$$

 

I reckon I have a fondness for it too, as you put it, cause there sure ain't nobody holding a gun to my head.
It's kept a roof over my head, food on the table and a little money in the bank all these years.
And if I truly hated it as much as some of these fellas claim they do, I wouldn't have stuck around nearly this long.

 

How much money you make is relative to the amount you have to spend vs. the amount you want to spend. If you've maxed the credit cards and have a bank owned vehicle parked in your garage, you have no choice but to work your butt off. If you owe no one, you can take any paying job and live well. Most of the 40 hour a week stiffs I know have a 'job on the side' just to make ends meet.

 

Your all making my case very valid!!

I have 18yr experience in Aviation and the average pay for what I do is $21-23/hr on a 40hr week that's $840-920 gross. $40-45k/yr. Problem with aviation its Feast or Famine. 60+hr or barely cutting 40hrs. And we also have to follow a Days and Hours worked schedule when working on civilian aircraft. No more than 14hrs/day, No more than 14days continuous then you have to take 2 days off.

As someone said Personal Preferences does play a big part. Being in the Navy and a Field Contractor for Aviation and NOW been in Afghanistan and Iraq since Jan-2006. Not being at home is a Norm for me. Being at home 1 weekend a month would even be big bonus. Being home every weekend or everyday, I'd probably get a Boot In the Butt by the wife.

Like someone else said your not going to make anything past Survival at a 40hr job.