Hello all,
I am a 21 year old native Texan that was recently contacted by a recruiter for Central Refrigerated Services, I am currently doing research on the industry and trying to gather information on this job opportunity to make sure I make an informed decision about traveling to Utah for training. I have done some searching around on the forum and have come up with some general questions that I haven't yet located on the forums (I may have overlooked them). The recruiter I spoke with today was a little confusing about the cost of training. He said that it was $3000 and that CRS payed half of it and then he mentioned a deduction from weekly pay for training. I am assuming that he was referring to some type of 12 month loan for the other $1,500?
I am a little concerned with the prospect only because it seemed like acceptance to the program was basically in the bag, and I am a little suspicious that it may be too good to be true. For example have any of you heard of high failure rates that end in interest intensive repayment debts? Also, I have 0% experience in this field and I don't want to get myself in a bad situation where I over estimate my potential earnings and end up trapped for 12 months bleeding cash.
I have run a few extremely conservative estimates based on the pay rates for 0-5 month company drivers and I wanted to get your opinion if this is a reasonable estimate:
$117 for the first 300 miles + .28 * additional mileage (Not 100% that is how I should calculate but going off of http://www.centraltruckdrivingjobs.com/company_driver_pay.html)
assuming average rate of travel is 50mph & 8hrs of driving: (I would expect this to be more like 65mph & 11hr-ish but I want to underestimate potential earnings)
400 Miles per 8 hrs @ 50mph (In the real world I would imagine this is higher but I have 0 experience here)
280 Miles per 8 hrs @ 35mph
avg of 35 & 50 would be 340 Miles per 8hr shift (I would imagine this is a really low number but I have no clue)
== $117 + ((40 * .28 ) = $11.2) = $128 / Day on conservative estimations
Assuming a 40hr work week, 5 * 8 = 40, we can say weekly pay would conservatively fall within $640.00 gross pay per week (After doing some research I would imagine I would be driving/working a lot more than 40hrs a week)
which would generate a net of $522.39 after weekly tax & withholding
== 12 month net profit $27,144 - $5,400 (bad luck, down time, training, unforeseeable event, life)
== $21,744 in the first 12 month period not considering any pay increase.
Are my calculations totally naive? I can't help but think they are. Do you think I would see enough weekly / monthly work to get me to at least $21,744? (kind of an arbitrary number)
I have read that some people get 2,500+ miles a week but I have also read that new drivers don't get that. Anyways, as you may be able to see, I am interested about the prospects and it honestly wouldn't take much to make it worth my while but I really don't want to get myself into bad position and because I don't know a lot about the industry I can see that happening very easily.
I am also doing a lot of researching / thinking about the sacrifices that a job like this will take. Any and all feedback would be valued!
Anyways, thanks for your patience. I am sure that was an excruciating read!
Hello, potential trucker here!
Discussion in 'The Welcome Wagon' started by b719, Oct 29, 2012.
-
Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds
Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.
-
-
Drivers average about 2500 miles a week. You are allowed to drive 11 hours in a 14 hour period and then you have to take a 10 hour break. Many drivers work 70 hours a week. Some might do other non-driving things which is not recorded like paperwork, trip reports or standing on a dock or in a shop getting repairs... Some days can be rather long.
Freight varies at times and some weeks might be better than others. It takes about a year to get past the training level pay and about 3 years to make $45-50K.
A lot has to do with attitude and how well you can deal with the industry. A good relationship with your dispatcher makes a difference. Hot heads and complainers don't do well. Deliver on time, take the bad loads with the good and you see things get better. Not everyone can get all the good loads, but when a dispatcher asks, do it with no resistance and then they take care of you.
We have a lot of threads on on CRS. I would read them all. You can use the search feature above. I don't know about committing 12 months? What if you don't like the company and don't get miles? Then you quit and owe the balance.
There are other companies out there with 6 month commitments and better yet you can get your CDL at a community college with a no qualifying Stafford loan and then you aren't committed to anyone but Uncle Sam with easy payments.
The first year is tough financially. Living out of truck stops is expensive. You have to manage money well.
If you like driving, get your training behind you, then you have to find your niche in the industry. Van, flatbed, tanker, reefer, long haul, short haul, LTL, linehaul, dedicated... There's a lot to consider. Today LTL and package delivery like UPS and others pays more than most OTR drivers and you're home most days.
Good luck and get to reading and asking questions.
Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds
Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.
