I jumped off a tall building, the breeze is nice. Will it hurt when I land?

Discussion in 'Trucking Schools and CDL Training Forum' started by tscottme, May 24, 2022.

  1. 201

    201 Road Train Member

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    high plains colorado
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    I tend to disagree about wages. Most jobs that come up out here for semi drivers, is usually in the $30-$35/hr range. I certainly don't see any 6 figure jobs, not advertised, anyway. That's about $65 g's/year, and TWICE what I made as a truck driver in my best day and still better than most "regular" jobs paying in the low $20 range for unskilled workers. Your last sentence is misleading, a grad with 5 years experience. A new grad, I figure, should be happy with $50g's to start, and someone with 5 years, could easily expect maybe $75 g's/ year. Trouble is, we Americans today want instant gratification, and can't wait for the yearly increases we had to wait for. It's the main reason why, after the 1st year, many new drivers aren't making any more than they did at Walmart and quit, and why the industry has such a high turnover.
     
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  3. Turtlelegs

    Turtlelegs Light Load Member

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    I really don't know. There are a lot of factors to consider. Any job right out of school isn't going to pay well.

    If it is OTR employers, invest a lot into getting one trained knowing there is a good chance the person won't last long. However someone with 5 years experience is probably extremely skilled at dealing with the unknowns of the job and deserves a lot more money.

    If it is a driver stocking drinks on a route then they should get quite more than the OTR driver starting out due to the physical nature of the job but after 5 years I think the 5 year OTR driver should make more.

    But it really doesn't matter what I think drivers should get paid. And my question had nothing to do with pay in general.

    When I read your comment I thought the two statements were interesting. I'm not that knowledgeable about the industry but I would think a history of quiting jobs would lead to the possibility of getting bad job offers. It tends to work that way in other industries.
     
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  4. MrCompton734

    MrCompton734 Light Load Member

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    I would never have got into a truck for $50g's a year back in 2013, and I surely hope others looking at that wage understand how pathetically low it is for the work we do. My first year in a truck, hauling cars with a 4-car tow truck, I cleared $70k back in 2013 I think or so. I went onto a tanker for a year after that, made a little bit less. Went to actual car haul with a 9-car and cleared a $80k working 65 hours a week. That's just too much time for the money. If you do the math, it's like making $23/hr or if you calculated in overtime, you'd be really making like $19/hr compared to a traditional skilled labor job. I have literally no experience in many labor fields, but there's tons of $20/hr entry-level jobs out there waiting from what I've researched. I have 1 year experience as a maintenance tech and still get emails about $25/hr jobs to start with guaranteed yearly raises. I'm only in a truck because I love truck driving and grew up around the industry. It makes me happy to get in the truck and get the products delivered down the road.
     
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  5. MrCompton734

    MrCompton734 Light Load Member

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    A New Study Concludes That It Literally Pays To Switch Jobs Right Now

    Companies want you to think you need them, wrong. It has never worked that way. YOU are the company product, the driver is the only thing a transportation company is selling. And I have had the exact opposite happen. I also have history of being with the same company for 5 years as an engineering document librarian. Employees who stay in companies longer than 2 years, on average, earn 50% less income in their lifetime. I think this is exacerbated in the trucking industry, where companies can take advantage of people who grew up in poverty like myself.
     
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  6. tscottme

    tscottme Road Train Member

    Never ask the dispatcher a question about driving. Dispatchers are not drivers, know nothing about driving, will claim every other driver in this situation keeps driving.
     
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  7. surf_avenue

    surf_avenue Bobtail Member

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    The inflated cost of training is created by the government with instructions from the trucking
    cabal, its like get on this line to get slaughtered by paying out of pocket or come to our slave
    house for a year for non stop exploitation.
    Even if the cost of training someone is $1500 or $8000 the corporate crook, small time or mega
    can make it all back with a few good paying loads, at most in a month but no lets exploit the poor
    shlub for another 330 days just because we are Satan and write the laws. Land of the free [ to
    be in debt peonage] Home of the brave [unless your a cop aka revenue generating agent].
     
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  8. ayaytc

    ayaytc Bobtail Member

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    See, this is EXACTLY what I’m worried about with Swift. I want to become a trucker and I’ve all but signed the dotted line to join their academy, as I lack the funds to enroll at a school or wait out the months is will take for WOIA application to process.

    My driving record goes back over 20 years. Say I forgot about some ticket from 2002? Or some job I jumped when I was a teenager and forgot to put on the work history section of my application.

    Everybody tells me “they make money from truckers driving, not from finding an excuse to fire them”. And then I hear one story from a guy who’s experience was just that: they went over everything with a fine tooth comb sometime after the screening process, canned him, and left him with a multi-thousand-dollar bill.

    Can anybody tell me which it is? Are they gonna look for any honest mistake and excuse to fire driver, collect $8,000. Or are they not going to sweat the small stuff because because their financial incentives all align with having drivers moving freight?
     
  9. Turtlelegs

    Turtlelegs Light Load Member

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    Have you heard anyone from Swift that this has happened to?

    I'm not sure why you want to work for a company that you don't trust that much. What if this is all some elaborate ruse to harvest your organs or to sell you into slavery or to have you turn tricks? There are lots of things they could do but they are a trucking company and I would guess that they want you to drive a truck.

    If you are set on becoming a driver and you think Swift is out to get you find another way to get your training. There are companies that charge less than 8 grand. There are schools that would love to lend you the money. I can guarantee you that I wouldn't sign up for a program if I thought they might be trying to scam me for 8k.
     
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  10. God prefers Diesels

    God prefers Diesels Road Train Member

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    lmfao!
     
  11. Dave_in_AZ

    Dave_in_AZ Road Train Member

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    I thought maybe the title of this thread the OP had gone to California and been reclassified as a Condor since you can now legally switch species there.
     
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