Who’s in and who’s out?

$115k seems good for a company hand no?

 

Never drove a truck in my life,
Authority active since Feb 2013..

Started with a hotshot on the spot.

Moved to a single screw & 48' step on the spot.

Then a twin screw & 48' step on spot.

October 2024 started drag'n a dry box with someone else's freight that pays round trip, & is way more consistent than spot. When that's slow a lil welfare wagon to fill in the gap..

Pride is hurt though, feel like a girl with that dam box in the mirror, & my nice Doonan has birds nest in the cross members, & weeds all around it..
Bank account been grow'n, so that's sumthin I reckon?

This is all fairly localized work in the midwest, only it ain't local to me so my home life sucks. Peaches ain't seen south of Paducah since last September. Hitch a ride on the Greyhound of the sky once a month to go home & mow the grass...

If Peaches just holds out another 29yrs, I might just make it?

 

But I heard from a reliable source that one truck owner ops can’t compete with company jobs that will make you a millionaire in 20 years.

 

Used to see you going the other way a lot. Now I barely leave the county. Lol.

 

Idk. Ain’t been a company driver in close to two decades. But from what I hear it’s good, but not uncommon. Plenty of guys making that driving someone else’s truck. I know one personally who’s on here that’s making another 20-30 grand on top of that.

 

Disclaimer: I've always been a company driver

What you're referring to is growing wealth disparity in the trucking industry.

All the LTL's are paying $0.73 CPM starting out for linehaul runs, that's bottom pay before you reach seniority at most at the 3 year mark. If you get on a 420 mile bid run or you just average 420 miles a night on extraboard, that puts you at $80,000 gross for the year without accessorial pay (fueling, building & breaking sets, etc etc). 80k to drive 7 hours a night, with 1 hour on duty time and sometimes waiting for your trailers to be finished loading.

So, 40-45 hours a week gets you 80k gross minimum at basically all LTL's now. Meaning you're right, 100k isn't a big deal at LTL linehaul nowadays.

MEANWHILE, OTR truckload pay is actually going down for new drivers hiring on to the companies compared to 3 years ago. So if a company was starting drivers out at $0.60 CPM in late 2021, they're starting drivers out at $0.53-$0.55 CPM in mid 2025. These OTR truckload companies are also slashing or reducing benefits (often the 401k match as with Werner or mid sized companies like FCC) and are freezing pay as well.

In short, OTR truckload dry van and reefer drivers are having to run like dogs and never see home for 80k gross per year, while LTL linehaul guys make it starting out with no sweat, home every night and off 8 days per month.

I think that disparity between the two sectors (LTL vs truckload) is only going to continue to grow. You can list all the reasons for it, but OTR truckload dry van and reefer as a company driver is for the dogs now. And if it's for the dogs as a company driver, I imagine it's probably the same for owner operators who are carrying a huge risk for not much reward.

The smart (and lucky) owner ops bought equipment in 2019, ran like hell through the Covid boom from 2020 - 2021, sold their equipment in 2022 at highly inflated prices during insane parts shortages after running it ragged for 3 years and then became company drivers, preferably for something not related to OTR truckload reefer and dry van, of which there's not much money in it anymore.

Hats off to you owner ops fighting the good fight. And if any of you decide to back down for good from the good fight, I recommend running as far away as possible from OTR truckload as a company driver and instead get into fuel, touch freight delivery or linehaul if you want to make more than 60k gross per year and have more than 4 days off per month.

 

depends on what you were doing, about what I did in 2018/2019, but those 3 West haven CT to Albany NYs a day got old rather quick…

I’ve never done true OTR though, out and back in 10 days is about the most time away from home I might do now

 

I’m still trucking, started in 2013 leased on, own authority in 2015, and thankful to direct customers when I lived on Long Island, I did well. Then decided to move to NC, which was a good move, when freight is busy. And now I regret walking away from things I used to do. I should have moved to PA or a few miles north of Long Island and kept doing the things I did. Lately been a complete Gypsy, and it will wear on you, still mostly fun for me though. Sometimes it isn’t all about the money. When they put me in a pine box I can’t take the money with me, as long as there’s a little land for the kids and my life insurance for them, i feel as if I succeed and I did what I wanted my way. And that is something I don’t know if punching a time clock for someone else can compete with. When you said you were going to have your own truck since you could talk, and you are actually doing it now, and having fun for the most part it really is a great feeling.

 

how have the x15s been holding up?