At a major crossroads!!!!!!!

I don't see why you keep remarking only on the rates the mega carriers pay. Everyone knows they're not that great. Thats why you use them for experience, then get to better pay. Everything I've learned has led me to believe that the mega carriers should just be considered "Trucker College", and at least you're making some decent money while getting through it and getting experienced.

In my area, 600 hundred a week isn't anything to cry about. If you want to live well, maybe your spouse has to get a job. It's not 1950's America anymore. If you want a house, kids and a wife that stays at home all day, you better go to 4 years of college. You want that same money trucking, put up with mediocre pay until you can get a job that pays better than the mega carriers. There's just so much entitlement in these forums...

 

my hubby started out OTR with a smaller flatbed co, didn't get the miles, so went to JB Hunt. If you average out his checks they come to around $750 per week takehome. Except his first check none were below $550. Starter company, he might have never left them IF their attitude towards him had been better.

Thing is even starting you can make decent money. Now if his check isn't 4 didget a week he's gripeing. ( the decimals would make it 6)

 

I hate being so negative in my posts but I've seen too many people get into this profession with the idea they would make decent money right from the start then just give up. I heard a lot of horror stories at the truck stops about guys being mistreated by their company and because they have no or little money to spend before the first couple check arrive, they sometime are begging from others for even food - I am not making that up.

This isn't a business where you make instant $500 a week for being a steering wheel holder out of school but have to start at the bottom. I know this is not what others say but it seems to be reality. You need to acquire a skill, the better you apply yourself, the more your willing to learn without the attitude that the company is always trying to cheat you, the more you do not think of this as just a job, the better you do in the long run and the more money you will end up making.

Just like a new Owner Operator, a driver should have his financial house in order, if he/she is living day by day, this may not work for them. It isn't an instant "just add water" type of profession, there is more to it than just driving and getting a pay check. People tend to think very short term while ignoring the career part and the skills needed to do the job. While many think that this is a 'mega-company' driven industry, it isn't - it is an insurance driven industry and has been for a long time. The company has to mitigate their risk by doing things that they may not like to do to please the insurance companies who all talk together about risks, like having a strict physical or no drivers who even has DUIs all in their hiring policies. It is their company so they can do it, if you don't fit into it, then move on to another because there are thousands.

It is good that we have some programs that will weed out bad drivers but then a lot of old timers think it is unfair to have these programs without thinking about how that revolving door really works against our profession. A lot of CDL training falls short of producing good drivers, I have met a few who can't even figure out how to check the oil or drain water out of the fuel filter - these are skills they need to have. A lot of company training is crap, I can understand putting in a freshly minted pilot with some hours under his/her belt to do basic flight training but I can't see putting a driver who has less than 4 years driving as a trainer - the results are like what I had to tolerate waiting for my assigned dock one day where both the trainer and the student could not back the trailer up into the dock with 300 feet of a straight shot in front of them, someone else from the company had to come by and do it after two hours.

 

Let's see, union dues of 28 bucks a month for a great job with paid medical insurance, paid pension, and a paid annuity. Oh, and all that in addition to a much higher wage.
You betcha! I cut that check every month with a smile.
And, just for some great fun, cruise by any unionized LTL freight dock sometime; you might then get an idea what hard work actually is.
Might even scare you back into your sleeper cab.
And that pizza boy gets to take his 600 bucks cash, literally home, every week. Lol
In the future, don't say anything at all until you pay closer attention to what you read.

 

Union? Not me, not ever again. Been there, done that, lost two cars and a home because of one. I'm glad you like your union, but they aren't for everyone.

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You're the smartest troll, or the biggest idiot on this board... If pizza boys brought home over 500 dollars a week, every one would do it. I worked a pizza shop. You know how often they make money? Friday and Saturday nights between 5 and 8. The rest of the week is minimum wage with a handful of tips.

28 dollars a month in union dues? I don't believe that. That's less than what I paid when I worked for a grocery store as a teenager.

Also, hard workers at a union dock? Yeah, there's a couple, but they're suckers. Union shops are like socialism. You don't get good labor, because you're stupid to work hard when you don't have to. The same guy that sits on his ### all day makes the same amount or more than the guy breakin his back on the dock. That's what unions do.

 

If this were true mileage, then it is most likely for a team to drive, or you would have to be driving 700 mi per day over an 8 day period. I don't believe this is possible even if you are using recap hours (rollover hours), you would not be able to drive that many miles a day either, esp if the truck is governed. You should get paid the .12 for the 5600 miles, as a team. But if you are a solo driver later on making whatever 1st seat pays, you will not be able to get all those miles in like that, your mileage will drop down, but at a higher pay rate you may still clear over $500.00. During training is not the most worrisome as to what you will be clearing as afterward.

 

when I first got out of the Navy one of the iobs that I applied to was at a shipyard ( Tampa, Fl) to get the job you had to be union, $149.00 union fee every month up front before they would look at your app, but being in the union didn't garentee the job. Guy offered me a job as a secretary, I said for $15 per hr I'll take it. Firefighters union was different in FL, you could get a job and join or don't.

The way promotions were explained, not something I want to be part of. The way pay is I won't be part of it.

 

Have you ever stopped and wondered way it's so easy to talk with a recruiter and find a company so fast? Do you ever think that these companies are the only companies that hire new drivers and it's the only way to go? I know if I'm making career choice I want to know what's available in all kinds of trucking. Are you aware that there are a lot of companies that are good and hire new drivers that do not advertised on the net? So talking to a recruiter and going with a company that has a high turnover rate is very restrictive. You've already limited yourself to the part of the industry that takes advantage of new graduates.

It's fine that you've chosen a company like this IF you've done your homework and the company fits your needs. But I bet you haven't. There's so many different types of trucking out there that need drivers all the time but get over-looked because people tell these new drivers that the mega carriers are the only place that will hire you. Those companies have made it very easy to apply on-line so now they have you believing it's true. But then again you have to ask yourself why is the turn-over rate so high? I suggest you make a list of what you want and goals setup to see where you want to be in a year,5,10,then on to retirement. Get out and go to trucking companies. It's one way to look for a job. You have to use all the ways you can and do not limit yourself to one because it's easy. There's a few drivers on here that have done that and they say they got great jobs where they make good money along with good benefits.

 

I believe gearjammer1978 was trying to say how many miles a week the truck would be doing during his training with 4 drivers on the truck.

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