Newbie actual first year pay

Most of these people are full of crap. I grossed about 22K my first year. That was with mostly staying out 6 or 7 weeks with 4 days home. I also ran teams. That was starting out with zero experience.

 

I agree on the fact that gross is a more accurate comparison. Still my breakdown on net was a direct response to post 9 that I quoted. It also gives new drivers an idea what to expect for costs. In addition it included the gross figures as well.

 

This is exactly why I invite anyone that says you will gross more than $30,000 as a new driver to post some company names for the new drivers to contact.

If you look at my math, you will see how unlikely it is that a new driver will gross even $30,000.

 

April 1st through last week (9/14) I grossed $17,386.62. Figuring by October 1st (my 6 month mark) I will be up near $18,800, that will put me on track to gross around $37k for my first year. And that's if I stay at 32cpm and keep getting the sub-par miles I've been getting for the past 4 weeks.

 

I don't wanna come off as condescending, or aristocratic, or ... well a douche, but 22k gross in a year is ... ouch. Now I may be projecting 6 months out, but the numbers I put up in my last post for my first six months are exactly as they appear on my latest pay stub. Quarter 2 (my first 3 months) was an average of 2,4500 paid miles a week at 30cpm. Quarter 3 (ending Oct.1) showed that average down about 300 miles a week, but at 32cpm.

I drive for a larger carrier which I believe is considered a "Starter Company" I won't say which, but if you look at where I post, it's not hard to figure out.

 

Started with Transport America in late 2007. Starting pay was .29 cents but if you had no service failures you got .01/mi bonus, had no accidents, .01/mi bonus, hit idle % target .01/mi bonus. I got all 3 bonuses every month I was there. After 3 months I was bumped up to a base of .33/mi and still got the other 3 cents in incentives so basically first 3months I was at 33 cents/mile and after that I was at 36 cents a mile. I had a 6 month average of 2900 miles per month ( I was a runner, a squeaky wheel and had a good dispatcher and she knew I was a git-r-done driver with a perfect safety record).

So.....

2900 x .32=928/week x 12 weeks = $ 11,136

2900 x .36 =10440/ week x 12 weeks = $ 12, 528

6 months = 26 weeks - 2 weeks hometime (I actually took 11 days off in 6 mos) =24 weeks

24 weeks wages 11,136 + 12, 528= $23,664

 

I wish I had a weekly average near 2900. Some guys with my company said they have, but they're out of another terminal where I guess better loads are...

Also, I guess my company isn't known for high miles.

 

Are you flatbed there?

Did you include your time as a trainee?

Actually, that 22K was more like 11 months instead of a year as I had started near the end of January. I started at .22cpm. It gradually went up to .34cpm by the end of the year.

It gets better after the first year.

 

I realize that with a down economy 2900 is an unusually high average today. So I wouldn't tell a new driver to expect $45-50k in his first year.

But I would think if a driver is safe, a good trip planner, has good work ethic and works well with his FM 2500 miles should be doable. A good newbie often will get more miles than a veteran driver does since it costs the carrier less if the load gets delivered at 32 cents versus 42 cents/mi.

So .32 x 2500= 800/week which is around 40k a year. Even if a driver takes a decent amount of home time or has bad month or two he should still be able to hit 35k. If he doesn't he either needs to step up his game , request a new FM or change carriers.

 

Are you going to have someone take your tests and do your driving for you?

Aside from the drug related questions, money and time out are the number one topics on the new driver board.

My congratulations to all the regulars that can keep answering these questions over and over.

Mikeeee