Is there no money in company driving?

There are plenty of things to get into with a CDL that pay $100k+ for W2 company drivers. Many people just float from mega to mega instead of trying to advance their career because it’s easy.

If you want to haul fuel and don’t have strict hometime requirements Loves/Gemini and Tartan/Pilot both have sleeper trucks that are paid hourly. They go all over the country where needed to help out during product shortages. I think Solar/Maverik also has some sleeper trucks. Best part of those is no slip seating.

 

I think there’s still money in company driving, but from what I’ve seen, it really depends on the company, the freight, and the lane. Most of the drivers making $1,800+ a week seem to be in specialized work or running harder jobs that not everybody wants. For regular company OTR, that kind of money every week feels a lot harder to come by right now.

 

You still at Schuster?

 

Yessir. Still running steady 13,000 or so mile months. Sometimes 14-15,000. I don’t think that qualifies it as a dream job by Walmart or UPS standards lol, but it is a pretty easy way for relatively new drivers to make a decent income OTR if they want to stick to bumping docks.

 

Have you considered LTL? While these are usually company driver jobs, they pay in the 70 - 95 cpm range. If you can stand team driving, you can make 6 figures your first year. I drove for R&L Carriers out of Nashville, TN. The team job was the best paying and easiest. I drove daytime, had someone to help me get sets hooked and preset routes. It was all terminal to terminal. All driving jobs start out on the extra board, but in Nashville it didn't take long for a dedicated route to open up both in Linehaul and Team Driving. Fuel at terminals. I had good luck with maintenance and few issues with trucks. Linehaul works at night; trucks set at 68 MPH. Team trucks set at 72 MPH. All weekends I was back home; most holidays I had off automatically. I wish I could have stayed, but I was needed at home for hospice care.

XPO has recently started team driving department. New equipment.

I hear Old Dominion is decent. Again. all of these companies run terminal-to-terminal. Quite often loads are ready when you arrive but not unusual to wait up to 2 hours. Still, if running teams, truck never runs out of hours, so no pressure. If running linehaul, you will get priority if you're running short on hours. Just a thought for you....

 

Linehaul/LTL is where the money's at.
6 Days a week $3000 Gross
5 Days a week $2500 Gross

 

Mid thirties , 4 years driving. My head hurts now. im taking a Tylenol 3 after that. ha ha ha

 

I was doing 1800 a week consistently pulling a flatbed out west for .56 a mile..u cant be afraid of work tho

 

The first thing you need to understand is nothing is ever consistent in the world of truck driving except looking through the windshield. I was out here for 39 years and I have definitely seen the decline and many changes. I did some oversize, piggyback transport and primarily Auto Transport. Used to make serious money with any of those three but like everything else the pay has gone downhill. Having said that, I still think auto transport and oversize still pays the best. Although some divisions are slowly catching up. Even with pay going downhill in recent years I still had no trouble taking home 1800 to 2,100 per week.

Cassens Transport drivers often earn between $1.18 and $1.20+ per loaded mile, although some reports indicate lower base rates with additional pay for stops and loading. Total pay is heavily influenced by seniority, with annual earnings for many drivers ranging between $80,000 and over $100,000. The problem with car hauling is the manufacturers are awarding the contracts to the lowest bidders making it more challenging for companies to survive.

There are several auto trans companies and oversize companies that will train you but it's not like pulling a dry box. It takes a special breed of driver to get out there and do some work. And you don't just simply start raking in the dough. You have to learn how things are done and with car hauling it's just a matter of taking the time to get your routine down. the speed of loading will come in time. Things will more than likely be slow for you while you are learning during the first year.

I know there's going to be some drivers out there that are going to argue with me on this but if you're going to consider doing a lease purchase, you should ask yourself one importatnt question. If there is so much money to be made by doing a lease purchase, why aren't the companies just holding on to the trucks and sucking up the profits themselves? The hard truth is they're simply transferring the responsibility of maintaining that truck from them to you the driver. If your life is not in order financially, owning a truck will do nothing more than compound your problems.

I highly recommend that you talk to a dozen owner operators out there that actually own their truck and see what they have to tell you. Operating under a lease purchase contract is not the same as being a full-fledged owner operator. The more drivers that you ask the easier it will be for you to make your own determination because let's face it, there's a lot of lying going on out there. Every driver in the world wants you to think that he has the perfect deal.

Make sure you do your due diligence. Don't just believe the first thing you read or watch on YouTube.