I want to be far away from home....

It doesn't surprise me. A friend of mine worked for them a few years ago and he had nothing but bad things to say about them. I guess the owner of the company made the mistake of putting his hands on him once and almost got decked.

 

is it possible for me to make 1200 to 1500 takehomepay a week over the road? im from boston mass trying to have wife stay home with daughter for a couple years also obviously i need benefits, i m willing to basically live in the truck no problem. am i nuts or is it possible?????????

 

not gonna happen as a rookie driver otr. Most you'll make starting out is maybe 4-7 hundred a week depending on the miles. Only way you might see the 1200 to 1500 is maybe owner operator or 10 years experience at a company.

 

No kidding. Actually the pay has gone down. Back in the "day" a driver could make pretty decent around $800-1,100 a week bring home depending how the driver wanted to run but that was in the post 05' HOS and regulations weren't near as tight as they are today.

 

You might be better off joining the Navy and getting for free training and/or tuition reimbursement for when you have served your time.

You can always be a truck driver later, maybe the industry will be more favorable in 4-6 years anyway.

 

This driver (me) can still make 800-1100 take home a week... recently enjoyed a paid vacation too. I will bet there are other drivers out there doing just as well, and driving for other companies too.

I would think that after 2 years of job hopping a driver could wind up being worse off than if he just stayed put. Maybe currently un-employed, and/or entertaining offers of .05 to .06/mile less then his wages would have been if he had just stayed put... heck, its even .03/mile less than what that company he started out with gives its drivers fresh out of training.

That sounds like a step backward.

(I'll nip the hometime arguement right here that drivers familar with my company/situation like throw at me. I typically choose to stay out 6-8 weeks and they argue that my company lies. I have never tested the 3 week hometime parameters my Fleet Manager promised me when I started, until now. Well, hometime tested and passed. I have taken two 4-day hometimes now with 3 weeks on the road in between, no flak, no complaints, no resistance from my FM... Ive already requested another hometime 3 weeks from now and told "no problem, remind me as we get closer so we can get you pointed in the right direction.")

 

Yup. Do the math. Remember that you are a rookie. You are not going to be able to come out here and bang out the miles the same as a vet can.

 

Spend more than you make -- that's true in any job. But especially true in trucking.

Since you are on the road you will sometimes get into the mind set of I need that or I have to have that or you get into the thought of eating out every single meal.

My first year was an eye opener, I almost spent more money than I brought in. Taking advances is one very good way of doing that.

Your first year is going to be spent just learning how to do things in this business. Your second year is going to be spent learning the lessons that you didn't learn the first year, some lessons will have to be retaught because you really didn't learn them to begin with. Then somebody is going to change the rules on you and then you will have to restart all over again.

Whatever you think life is going to like on the road it will be different. No matter how many people you ask, their answers will never fully prepare you for what life is like.

Good luck and may the force be with you.

 

How far from Chicago are you? because I know I guy who would love to have you drive for him. He basically wanted him to never step out of the truck but I told him otherwise. This was my first driving job 4 years ago.