My Millis Experience -

It is HIGHLY doubtful you will make $49-50k, especially your first couple of years in the industry. Is it impossible? Probably not, but not likely due to starting out at the bottom of the food chain for pay, and hometime, etc...

I'm not trying to be negative to you, just realistic. I'm slated to start school for Millis on Monday so I can't answer just exactly how much they make. But I have driven in the past and have some insight to what it's like.

One of the current drivers can probably answer better, but I foresee coming in around $38-40k my first year. I hope this helps and best of luck to you.

 

your weeks will not be stable. one week good one week not so good. i have only averaged about $3200 per month. this last week was pathetic. i had 260 miles on sunday , 380 on monday and 4.5 miles on tuesday. yes 4.5 and that was not for lack of hrs. they said only load available to go east loaded wed. morning at 0730. you definetly will not see much home time. i saw the house 10 hrs. since sept. first. if your kids are important to you don't go into trucking unless it is a local job.

 

Well I think I have been living in a bit of denial. I was thinking I could probably drive about 2500 miles per week at .38 cents a mile. That would gross me about $950 a week. Are you saying this is not a reality? If this is the case then there is something terribly wrong in the trucking industry.

If you divide out the number of hours put in to drive 2500 miles per week plus all the other stuff, pre-trips, etc...by the amount on your paycheck, you really are not making much money. For some reason trucking companies seem to think that $950 a week is big money. It is not squat because I can barely live off of that. If I went any lower there is no way I could survive.

Anyway, not sure how I got started on that rant. I guess I was hoping for some good news.

 

From how I read your post, I'm assuming you're starting out fresh with no experience. If that is the case you won't be making .38 cpm, with Millis and most other companies. Millis starts you out at .27 or .32 depending on which pay package you select. There is other pay you make that supplements the cpm though.

Also as Road Charger said, your weeks will probably not be consistent week after week. There will be good ones and not so good ones. I certainly could be wrong, but I think $49-50k/yr would be stretching it for your first year for sure.

 

your first year i would say around 34000 to 37000, next year around somewhere around the low to mid 40000 area then after that 50000 should be pretty easy. last year i ean just 121000 miles at a base pay of .39 cents and made right at a little over 54000. with all the bonuses my cent per mile average was around .45 cent per mile to get that. the pay package i am on is straight pay short route miles which is the highest mileage pay they offer. hope this helps you.

 

This is depressing. I REALLY want to drive a truck but I can't work for beans. I work part time for a large wrecker company in my area and they have tractor trailers and will let me use them to take my road test (I have my class A instructional permit) but it is kind of slow going with them getting drive time because I am only there on the weekends. So...I was looking around at all the large OTR companies and considering going to work for one to speed up the process. But it is looking like the pay is going to be a big factor in holding me back.

I have no doubt that trucking is what I want to do. It looks like it may be a few years before I can take a 10-15k a year pay cut. I would do it now if I did not have kids to put at risk. Bummer for me.

 

you just starting out will not be at .38 cpm. you will be at the bottom of the food chain. even if you sacrifice all home time you can figure your first year or two you will be a slave to that company, no matter who it is. be sure you and your FAMILY can handle the being out 2 to 3 weeks at a time. You could be sittting in a truck stop for the weekend out of time , can't go anywhere and spending money you don't have to eat while there. then the kids might have a game ,soccer ,baseball, football, whatever and you are stuck there and can't see them play. i missed out on all that when my kids were growing up. that is time you can't replace! also if you have good health insurance now, better take a good look at the millis plan! it is not good. i am looking for an outside plan to take instaed of theirs. the electronic logs are putting a strangle hold on how things are done. i was at the weedsport,ny terminal last week and a driver that has been their for eight years is thinking of leaving because of the health plan and the logs. he also said in the last month close to 90, yes 90 drivers have millis. i would really take another month and research this idea.

 

I think you were saying in the last month 90 drivers have left Millis. Is that correct? That is not a good sign.

I work for the government right now. The pay sucks but I have decent insurance. They keep raising the cost every year but that is everywhere. The insurance plays a huge factor because of the fact that I have children and also I am not getting any younger. I think over the past year I have been to the doctor more than ever for different things. I have no health issues but I am glad I have decent insurance because you just never know what is going to happen.

So what is the deal with electronic logs? What kind of problems are arising out of going to electronic logs?

This trucking thing is looking gloomier and gloomier by the moment

rd68

 

Actually, the model is $850 a week before taxes.

If you "need" $950 a week just to get by. Then you're looking in the wrong field...at the moment. Things may improve, but it's doubtful it will be anytime soon.

You could always move to an area where the cost of living is lower.

.38 a mile ??? How much experience do you have ??

The majority of companies have cut 5 year experience pay down to .35 a mile or less.

 

hey rubber ducky 68......

you ARE right now making about 940.00 PER WEEK if you divide your check into to...........you get paid every two weeks..........??

that's your problem, you THINK you are getting paid a whole lot, but you ain't dude............

you ARE making just about what a driver would make each week.........

my gosh, if you didn't see that, then please DO NOT become an o/o as you do NOT KNOW MATH..........