tell me if my expectations are way outta line.

don't go O/O right out of school tear up someone elses junk first and learn the bussiness!! as a newbie you'll be making .25- 39 cents a mile. and don't belive everything recruiters tell you as they will tell you as they are used car sales people they sell the company!! no sale and they get fired. and they will tell you how wonderfull trucking is. best advice is hang out at truck stops and aske the drivers there how many miles there running and if there happy there

 

It won't be .39/mi. I think he must have meant .25 to .29 as a rookie capping out around .33 or .34 at the end of the first year. 2500 miles a week is a safe estimate to use for an average

 

I re-read your original post. As bad as you might hate your boss now, it IS worse out here for a LOT of Drivers. Go read the bull that Red Hot Mess is dealing with this week. My advise, since you already have a pretty good paying job, is stop dreaming, thinking Driving is 'better' in some way. It's NOT. It can be okay, but it's a LOT of hard work too. If you had really read much of the info on here, you wouldn't have even asked the question in the first place. Your already knocking down 40g's. You think that delivering brand new Porsches, Mercedes, BMW's ( and some new Honda's, Toyota's, Jeep's, and Lexus cars ) MAKING SURE THAT YOU DON'T PUT A SCRATCH ON ONE or get charged for a scratch that was already on it before you got it pays more than that ???? Maybe it should but it doesn't. Dispatch can KILL you and your $$$. Did I work hard ?? ALL carhaulers do. Go take a look at one sometime, but don't make the Driver suspicious, he's responsible for those high $$ cars til the Dealer signs for them. By the way, you will need a very clean CDL and at least a year Driving first. Who do you think loads that trailer ?? The Driver. In the rain, heat and snow AND at night. It's hard to see scratches at night. Try driving a right hand steering, manual transmission, big SUV backwards on ice slick metal 18 inch wide ramps up on to the trailer at night while not getting crooked and watching the roof of the SUV too ( low clearance ). You are probably better off than you realize, right where you are at. I'm not trying to give you a hard time. Just letting you know that the devil is in the details. In any line of work. Think about it. Hard.

 

White Shadow, what is your current job and why do you hate it?

Do you have any experience driving a truck (such as a dump truck, farm truck, etc)?

I can tell you from my personal experience, I got my CDL 18 months ago fully intending to drive OTR. I grew up driving trucks in the family lumberyard business, I thought I knew what I was getting into, and I was mentally prepared to accept the long hours . . . until it came to my first job. I was out with a trainer, 8 hours into the first 14 hour day, and realized I would be doing this every single day, 14 hours a day minimum, for the next 3 weeks. Even when I was not driving, I would still be in the truck, or tied to it. I bailed out, had a friend pick me up, and now I drive a bus for the city.

I would have been paid .33 cents per mile which would be $990 per week for 3,000 miles - about the most I could expect to drive in 70 hours per week. I now make the same money working 45 hours per week driving the bus. I can work up to 60 hours a week if I choose (paid overtime).

I am home every night, and if I break down they just bring me a new bus. If I am sick, I stay home and get paid sick time. I get 2 weeks paid vacation, paid holidays, medical, dental, uniforms, shoe reimbursement, vision, 401K. I never get lost, and love driving the same route every day.

If I was driving a truck, I would be sleeping at a truck stop, using public restrooms, eating truck stop food, yearning for a grocery store, and trying not to get lost getting to the next destination. I would worry about traffic, weather, showing up on time, damaged freight, truck breakdowns, dispatchers, and getting home.

Don't kid yourself - the grass ain't greener. If you really want to know what it's like, see if you can find someone to ride with for a couple days, then maybe you'll have a better idea.

 

or almost double that salary and be home everynight, think about working the oilfields..

 

What people don't take into account is that you aren't doubling the salary so much as you are practically doubling the amount of hours you are working. Providing that the OP currently work an eight hour day of course.

 

i agree - but what better thing is there to do with your time other than provide ?