$$$Your Thoughts about Trucking PAY$$$

My friend's MOM makes 4k a paycheck. paid by the hour. I met a trucker who makes about $2500 a paycheck, not bad either. Neither jobs are OTR.

ps. i think this guy looks more like a mechanic than a trucker

 

I'm tired of the "we're getting screwed" mentality by so many of these guys out here. I work 14-16 hours per day, plus Saturday mornings, I'm home at night and I gross between 750-900 weekly. I've been with my company nearly 3 years now, others will say it sucks, I've seen a ton of guys quit this job due to the hours, very early hours and the miles, like I said I'm local but I average 2400-2900 miles weekly, my turn consists of 523 miles and at the end of the day that's a lot of miles in a daycab. What I'm getting at is that I'm happy as can be to be working, my terminal knows me by name, we employ 300 plus drivers, we have weekly and quarterly bonuses that amount to $4,400 per year and go up with seniority, my yearly earnings are around $44,000 but I bust my butt for it. New guys first and foremost need to take these opinions with a grain of salt, you're going to get from trucking what you put in to it, if you go in with a negative attitude you're never going to be happy, if you stay positive and keep moving ahead you're most likely going to be happy with what you're doing and satisfied with the money you're making. So drivers make your opinions and stop letting these you tube negative truckers shape the kind of driver you're going to be, there's a lot better videos out there like "bigcattrucker", he's informative, positive and works for Swift none the less, "journey95" has good videos as well. Stear clear of the negativity and you'll go a long way.

 

No need to say anymore! ATS is just one notch above Arrow... Wait a minute. Arrow is no more! So I guess that ATS is at the bottom of the trucking food chain.

 

He needs to drink less and work for companies that aren't "In a hole". lol

 

X2 this come's close to describing my job and I'm not going any where!

 

Look at starting pay in the biz = around $30k
Some drivers will make more, others less...but that's about the average.

Let's say instead of OTR trucking, McDonalds or Burger King or any other fast food joint agreed to work you 70 hours per week at the minimum wage of $7.25/hr.
That's $617.00/week gross or over $32,000/year just for flipping burgers, sacking the trash, manning the deep fryer, etc.
No CDL, no DOT, no HAZMAT, no trucking school, no grocery whorehouses, no busting your ### throwing straps/tarps, etc...plus you sleep in your own bed everynight.

Of course, that comparison is based on 70 hours...but everyone knows OTR drivers fudge the book and hide their delays/waiting time on lines 1 and 2.
So 80-100 hours is a better comparison....let's use 85 for simplicity.
That's less than $6.00/hr folks!!!!!!
Less than six bucks an hour to be away from family/friends for weeks at a time.
Haul + be responsible for hundreds of thousands of dollars or even millions worth of cargo.
Driving through all kinds of weather and traffic conditions around the clock.
Sleeping in truckstops, rest areas, off-ramps, etc.
Subject to fines from DOT and other LEO's.
7th most dangerous US occupation.

And it doesn't really get much better.
Top rate at most OTR outfits is maybe $.40 cpm
Assuming 2500 mpw X $.40 cpm at 46 weeks out per year = $46,000.
Which works out to about $11.00/hr.
You can make $50k (Nirvana to so many) if you want to live out of the truck for 50 weeks per year.
But who wants to do that?

 

Yet you have had the time to make over 2000 posts on here? Okay?

Drive safe

 

You can't compare trucking hours to other jobs because nobody is going to let you work 70 hours a week every week if they are paying you hourly and time and a half of overtime.