HHG veteran, Class A rookie

Hello all,

I'm glad to say that I recently earned my Class A CDL. I got the permit on my own in April then received on-the-job training through an Atlas Van Lines agent before taking my road skills test at the DMV, a route which I hear is soon coming to an end for new drivers.

I have an incurable manual labor addiction an working for a van line is the ideal job for me. As of now I have over 5 years moving experience and the only other jobs I could see myself doing would be in-home delivery or LTL.

So I'm in a pretty good place right now, just waiting to get Atlas certified so I can do interstate moves. Until then I will still be an hourly employee making pennies on the clock, but for paid CDL training I think it's been worth it.

They've told me that home time is flexible, and this has been confirmed by other drivers who have been here longer than me. Some go out 2-3 days at a time, others 3-4 weeks. I told them I'd do up to 5 days out (I have a wife, baby, and one on the way), and they said that would have me doing work mostly between here, border states, and borders of those states.

While the flexibility sounds great, it also comes with some ambiguity about the pay that I can realistically expect. When I've asked about pay for interstate drivers, here are some examples of answers that bosses and coworkers have given me:

"It depends on how far you want to go."

"An owner-operator can gross 300-400k."

"Owner operators can net 100-120k, company drivers 60-80k"

"It depends on how you manage your business."

"Driver X's pay check could cover everything I owe!"

In other words, nothing relevant to my personal situation and requests. While I'm sure that there is truth to what all of them are saying, giving me gross figures, telling me what someone could possibly make, or what another driver who spends two months on the road at a time could pay off for you doesn't really give me any meaningful insight. Since each job is individually priced, and expenses like fuel vary by time and location, I understand why giving exact numbers is difficult, but I'd still like to have a clearer ballpark idea.

Does anyone else have experience running household goods on a regional, home weekly basis as a company driver?

 

Would love to hear from @Sharky88 or anyone else who has insight, thanks!

 

Company driver, commission is 43% before expenses. Only working hourly if local (intrastate and destination <35 miles from origin).

I don't know if my agent/dispatcher is atypical, but being OTR continuously April-November is not how most do things where I work.

The owner-ops I've talked to have given me the following (rough and variable) schedules:

-4 weeks out, 2 back
-3-4 weeks out, 1 back
-2-3 days out, sometimes as much as 1.5 weeks out

The guy who just retired and did the type of routes I'm hoping to do exclusively drove a company straight truck. He was never gone more than a week.

One o/o told me that until I'm either willing to go out for a week or more at a time, or have my own tractor, I'll mostly be limited to the straight trucks. As I've mentioned though, they have me do locals with tractor-trailers already, so I am building experience there.

 

And yes, winters are typically slower, although that's been less the case since covid.

So, I guess my question would have to be narrowed to:

-What is a an average interstate moving bill, crossing 1-2 state lines?
-How much do expenses typically add up to for a company driver working for 43% commission?
-How frequent will jobs be throughout the year?

Current inflation and other factora throw a lot of things out of whack, so I understand hard numbers are impossible here. Just hoping to hear a ballpark, but I may just need to live it and learn.

 

The answers I know at the moment:

Yes, all my jobs are pack and load. I'm paid for the pack jobs but not sure of the commission.

Responsible for labor, claims, and fuel. Vehicle insurance, maintenance, and repairs are of course on the company, but that's about it.

At Two Men, the driver percentage was a pitiful 12-15% with only one helper, but we were responsible for nothing. So the 12-15% was pure profit, hotels and per diem all paid for. It worked out to about $150-200/day. I just say this to give you a reference point of where I'm coming from, if I can net better than that out of 43% gross or basically, if I can out-earn my help, I'd consider myself doing fine.

$200/day is the going rate for labor per helper around here, I've been paid this myself by one o/o who does stay steadily OTR (plus he bought breakfast and lunch for the crew). That's easily the steepest expense.

 

Got some more clarity today...

So both o/o and company drivers get their fuel expenses fully reimbursed.

Not sure if these numbers look good or typical, but having fuel covered definitely takes a good bit of the bite out.