Pay Rates

thats what i like to hear

 

Starting out more then likely your going to bring home around $600-700 a week (after taxes, on average).. You will spend around $100-200 on food ext a week on the road.. (and that's not doing very much other then eating) You will work around 70-90 hours a week to make this amount...

Basically it comes down to working a job that pays $8 an hour with 40 hours of overtime a week... So, is it worth it??????

Pay is very low for the hours you actually put in as a truck driver... Dispatchers seem to think we make the big bucks but they have no ideal the hours put in to bring that amount home...

I sat down one day and showed a dispatcher my actual hours I put in to bring home what she said was "big bucks".. I was making less money then her, I just was working a crap load more hours then she was.....

 

A lot depends on your dispatcher, and the ethics of the company you work for. You live and die by your dispatcher in this business. Make sure you can change dispatchers without consequence before you hire on.

Check the forum for bad comments by other drivers... a lot of negative comments is probably an indicator. Like all industries, there are good and bad companies, and a lot of what you get out of a job depends on what *you* put into it. Become a whining pain to your dispatcher, and watch your miles fall. Work for a schlock company, and... well you get the picture. I hear a lot of crap about my company, but there are a lot of folks making good money and a lot of folks with high tenure too. I have a good relationship with my dispatcher, and I'm getting good miles. My company assigns reasonable appointment times, and if there's a good reason I can't get there the appointment is changed to something reasonable. I can shut down in unsafe conditions, without consequences... my company allows the driver to determine what's unsafe. Turn-over has to do with being able to keep a CDL (tickets, accidents), it's not a job for everybody, people going local after a few years experience, job hopping, etc.

On expenses... keep your money in your pocket at truck stops. The prices are generally outrageous.

On eating on the road... go to Wal Mart, and stock up on food. What you can take with you depends on whether your rig has an APU and an inverter for a fridge. You can use an ice chest if you have to. Driver reward cards add points that equate to free stuff as you buy fuel. Generally $1 spent on fuel yields a penny... adds up after awhile at 100 gallons/day - get yourself a Subway or what have you as a reward for being on the road. Do go to the truck stop restaurant occasionally as a reward... just don't make it a habit. And *watch* what you eat. This isn't a highly physical job so you can put on weight in a flash, and too much sugar will get you into type II diabetes.

On the local job... depends on your skill as a driver, and the insurance requirements. You can bet your ##* you're not getting a local job if you drive like a newbie. That takes time and practice. Also, it's been my experience that the locals have insurance requirements that specify a minimum amount of safe driving experience before a company can hire you. 2-to-3 years is the number. And it does depend on your luck. Plan on 2-to-3 years as OTR before you land that local job.

As far as being legal, I do what's necessary within reason to get the job done... isn't that the way it is in any job? I'm logbook legal going across the scales - you have to be careful in CA, OR and WA. Whether you shave your hours or not is up to you. There are only eight things you have to log outside of duty status changes, and as long as you are within an hour it's legal. I'm pretty sure if it looks *reasonable* you'll pass a DOT inspection - don't log 200 miles in an hour and a half... it's not *reasonable*. Any big company is going to have a log book department that checks on you... the frequency of log violations is one of the things that determines how frequently DOT pulls your company in at the scales. It pays your company to keep you legal. The rest of the comments about "being legal," especially by know-it-all non-drivers is a load of crap. You don't drive, stick it where the sun doesn't shine.

So in 2 or 3 years (after the current economic downfall, thanks Shrub, you draft-dodging hoser!), I'll be looking for a local job. Until then, I'm on the road, counting my pennies, and (hopefully) looking to bring in $800 - $900 (before taxes and deductions) a week. Also thinking about a lease deal with my company (it's a true walkaway), but you really have to know how to run a business for that. It's not just money dropping from the sky.

 

First off I'm going to point out I DO NOT DRIVE OTR. But I have 2 years of local exp that I was lucky enough to land. Im sure most of the people who read this would love to work 4 10's in a day cab pulling beer around town. 40k a year to me isnt worth lifting up to 100,000 lbs of product a week , dealing with 50 costumners who never care to learn your name, and an office staff that doesnt care (although that seems to be the case from a lot of these otr posts.) I plain on going otr soon so i can get a job doing regional hauling in a year or two. a 10 hour day where you only drive 6 miles IS NOT a driving job. Though getting a driving job is why I originally got my CDL. I have all my endorsements and I'm fully willing to go work for schneider or any other company that will send me out and see some places as long as I can make 33 cpm or more. WHICH IS TOTALLY REALISTIC. so as for anyone here complaining about low pay or long hours, go back to office work. I realize my tune might change in a few months, but hey , bring on the road.

 

Calitrucker712,

I have felt your pain. I worked for Pepsi for four months. The union pay was good but after working 14 hours, driving 19 miles and unloading a side loader, that was enough. You are right in that the customers don't really care about you. Isn't it fun when they decide to cut the order or have you rotate their stock.

That being said, I would really take a careful and in depth look at OTR. In my opinion, it doesn't look real good. When I read that drivers are giving up any amount of time to the company, something is wrong. I have seen ads where companies pay detention after 2 hours? Are you kidding me? You are in the service of the company and should be paid for all of your time. That goes for pre trip, post trip, fueling, breakdown, loading, unloading etc. Don't even get me started on these so called bonuses. The companies think they have to dangle a carrot in front of you to do your job! How about the drivers that are sitting at a truckstop or at their yard for days waiting for a load for free? What about the non compensated ded head miles to get a load? Are you reimbursed for scales, tolls, hand load/unload and cell phone calls? How much do they spend on the road for food and toiletries? What do the benefits cost you including a family if you have one? Do they have a retirement plan? Do you have to contribute to it? How long are you going to be away from home/family?

Lets not forget that you have work well with your dispatcher. We all do. The difference between you and I is, if you complain too much, he can cut your miles down to very little.

Good luck in whatever you decide. I think you will "change your tune" in less than a few months.

Drive safe

 

i started out at schnieder doing team my 1st year. i did about 46k. an 36cpm. not to shabby.i was rearly home. mostly 3wks out i then switched to jb hunt on a home daily acount but unloading trucks. 6 day work week makin 67k a year. not to shabby.

i have worked very hard and bought my own home living by myself at age 23. i am now a new owneroperator! i will say trucking has been good to me. at first i had to bust my ###, but when i proved i wasnt weckless and dependable, better oppertunities opened up, now i am living the life and set my own hometime, and am well paid.

the moral of the story is- u get what u give, sometimes u gotta sacrifice to get yourself in a good position in life

 

unless u work for mcelroy!!!!!

 

then you starve

 

074344 wrote:
"That being said, I would really take a careful and in depth look at OTR. In my opinion, it doesn't look real good. When I read that drivers are giving up any amount of time to the company, something is wrong. I have seen ads where companies pay detention after 2 hours? Are you kidding me? ..."

The job is what the job is. If you don't like it, you can always southern
fry yourself pulling chicken out of a deep frier at KFC. Try making $50 - $100k a year at that! As far as all the things you're expected to do, most of the jobs I've worked at in my life expect many things from you, besides what your very narrowly defined primary job function is. Seriously, most of the stuff you wrote is just whining. In my opinion, I think you're really not cut out to be a driver of any sort.

074344 wrote:
"...Lets not forget that you have work well with your dispatcher. We all do. The difference between you and I is, if you complain too much, he can cut your miles down to very little. "

Pulllease!!! Isn't that the same with any job? You work with your supervisor at any job, and if you don't work well with him you end up doing the #### that he doesn't want to do or on the street.

Ironpony

 

I have driven a semi before and want to again, but I don't have recent experience driving so I am having to start out as a "newbie" again. Now, I know this and want to, I know this and am willing to. Nobody is making me choose to do this, it is my decision. What I don't understand is all of this bickering chatter on here. Tell us whatever, your likes or dislikes. To each their own and rightfully so. If this is the job you want to do, it is worth whatever it takes to do it. If this is not what you want to do, then nothing will justify it. To me it is that simple! Would you be a pro ballplayer? Look at all their travel and not at home time. Just one example my friends. And as far as money that it cost to eat and such? Think of this, if you want to be positive about it. I like you get up at home from sleeping in my bed, take a shower and get ready to drive my vehicle to work on work days. I get to work, load my truck and go make deliveries until I get through for the day. Now let me point out cost factors. I paid for heating or cooling of my home last night, I paid for the food I ate for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Home food or fast food, either place, we all pay. I paid for gas to go to work and to come home from work and sometimes to go to work and find out I have no work! It takes time to travel to work, I sit in traffic to and from work and don't get paid for it! I got to stop here cause I can go on and on but here is my point. I want to drive again because that is what I enjoy and it cost me expenses for living daily at any job. They are just different. If you don't want to drive trucks, you don't need to be here at this website at all. Go somewhere else that has something to do with whatever it is that you enjoy. But for the rest of us, let us try and help one another with ideas and suggestions. Let us all be friends and learn from one another. Hey, if you know how I can get one of those brown truck driving jobs with no experience tell me how, don't tell me I am stupid for not having it. If I knew how and that is what I wanted to do, would you not think that I already would have done it? Is a coke worth $4 to you at a Nascar race or a football game? Not to me. Is it worth $50-$65 to you to play 18 holes of golf? Not to me. Is a 1 ounce of chips in a vending machine worth $1 to you? Not to me. <> Moral of the story, things have different values to all of us and sometimes our age, thoughts, desires and circumstances play a very large part of justifying our reasons for our choices.
Nuf said, Peace to all.