Trucking salaries confuse me

Pay has got to be the most misrepresented fact, aside from "home regularly", in the biz. Always has been. When I hear "you too can make $90gs/yr", the company MAY have had someone that made that after 25 years on the job, but it seems, about $35/hr or $50-$60/yr. is about it. Still, TWICE my best rate of pay. 1st couple years, usually much less, but they aren't going to say that. And O/T was never included in any trucking job, even my union job. Reason there is, it's the truck that does all the work, the driver just sits there,,,,

 

There’s people driving for 50k a year? In 2023? That’s crazy.

 

In your example, if you are paid 58 hours per week, work 52 weeks per year then a payrate of $30/hour produces $90,000 per year. Overtime is NOT required for truck driving. There is a specific exemption from overtime pay for trucking. Even though overtime pay is not required by law, SOME companies pay SOME drivers overtime pay.

The employers are not trying to post ads that you approve of, they are trying to get enough applicants for the job they want to fill that some of those applicants will have the qualifications and be approved by the insurance company. Trucking is NOT just any job, but with trucks. It has it's own rules and practices. If anything trucking is closer to 2 simultaneous full-time jobs in one week.

 

Is this the first job in trucking you are considering? The Federal law that guarantees minimum-wage and overtime pay for most employees in the USA, Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) has an exemption for trucking. You may not be aware of that, but every trucking company is. Overtime MAY be paid, but it is not required by Federal law. Union contracts can require overtime pay. Sate law may require overtime pay. Federal law does NOT require overtime pay. This is not disputed by anyone that reads the FLSA. Most people are covered by the FLSA, truck drivers are not.

 

Washington State may have a law that requires truck drivers to be paid overtime. There is no Federal law and most people work outside of Washington State.

 

There are people paying trucking companies to let them work for much less in 2023. All you have to do is tell them "no money down, no credit check" and they would eat broken glass daily.

 

Many companies do not pay overtime. It was an issue in the 80's and in NJ as long as you paid more than 1.5 times minimum wage as a base rate you were still exempt.

Some union contracts were OT after 8 but that was going away for a lot of guys.

My last employer was paying OT after 50 with a 50hr guarantee.

The drivers [non union] wanted OT after 45 and gave up 5 hours guarantee to get it.

They didn't realize that the weeks where they work 44 hours occured far more than weeks with OT and those OT weeks went far beyond 50 so they were still cutting their potential income.

 

Here's an important lesson:
Q:How do you know when a trucking company recruiter is lying?
A: His lips are moving!

 

Which literally is the biggest crock of ####ing ######## ever established in this industry.

 

If you find an hourly job, makes sure they pay overtime and give a good enough weekly guarantee. Otherwise go somewhere else.

The hours are always gonna be a mystery somewhere new. you have to talk to someone working there already or take a chance and find out yourself .

If someone’s gonna pay hourly and overtime, I’d say 50 hours a week is a good starting point for calculations

Id rather be hourly than by the mile or percentage.
Salary is best in my opinion but good luck finding that anywhere