What are some realistic expectations for year one on the job?

Get use to not cuddling on that comfortable couch watching that favorite show that comes on every night that yall love together until he gets some experience and can find a way to come home every night for example. And pay is a nice living after time has been put in. Or he might get lucky off the bat. That's not a high percentage I don't think, correct me if I'm wrong. I hope really experience drivers can help you better.

 

most drivers are gonna end up going OTR from the start, you can find something local if you look really hard and dont just depend on the major sites, they are out there but a bit harder to get into right off the bat. that being said, OTR he is gonna be out at least 2 wks at a time, depending where you live, what company you're with, etc... lots of variables... as far as money, my first year I made about 30k... and I stayed out for weeks/months. most bigger companies will give you a higher number but it is what it is. so like the poster above said, if he's going out solo, be prepared to rarely see him, not much home time and paychecks that definitely dont compensate for the time he's gone... first years the worst (usually) ^.^

that last part of your question.... um... thats quite a list and unfortunately not very realistic for a newbie. lots dont mind about riders, they have their rules but spouses usually arent an issue, pets are hit or miss, lots of miles... eh... most drivers dont seem to get enough and those that do have been around a while, benefits... most suck, 401's seem to be the norm, see the country thats easy, large sleeper cab... I guess you can dream lol but most likely not gonna happen, decent pay... that first year is gonna suck, bonuses... some offer them but as far as for a newbie dont think thats common

 

yeah there's as many different answers to this one as there are companies out there.

i'm home every weekend (or just about every weekend anyway) and did 44k first year and way better second year and building on that going into my 3rd now....but my experience isn't typical. for every one like me there's about 100 or more that are gone for weeks and starving on a couple hundred or less a week. I did a year's research before I even went to school and didn't go with the usual suspects out of school.

think smaller and not larger. if you can find a smaller company rather than the mega carrier bottom feeders, your experience will be much better in most cases. they're out there, but they don't really advertise or recruit heavily. they don't have to. you have to look around and see what's in your area because these companies won't come looking for you like the bottom feeders.....you have to do the legwork and find them.

there's a huge difference working for a company with 1100 trucks like I do, than going with one that has 10-20,000 trucks.

 

Thank You..... For Shutting Up!!
Well, Not sure exactly what all you are looking for, I know you if you plan on riding with him or a pet or both? I would say if you are going to quit the job and go with hyim or exactly what, But if I was you I would certainly hang on to an income until he gets through his first year of OTR and then quit and go with him, his income is going yo be probably around .25 Cents a mile for the first year, I know that sounds low but it is what it is, I suggest that he go to a school and then get on with a company that would reimburse him for the training he received, many of them do that, I highly do not suggest the he go to a company that promises him that if he stays a year then they will relieve him of his schooling obligation. The money for me after my first year almost doubled and now I am doing very well, I took a year off because of a medical emergency and I am now back with one of the largest freight companies around. I like driving a truck, I miss things at home but that is OK, I will be fine, For the Rider policy issues, you will ave to just check with the given company, there are such a variable that he will have to deal with it, I can say the ones I have seen are saying that the driver has to get over the probationary period, My current does not charge anything nor that they require a driver to get the probationary period over, they told me to let them know when the person (spouse or child) is getting on the truck and when they get off, I assume this is to add a rider to the insurance policy, at no additional cost to me, I have head of the ones that charge a fee for a rider, I think this is a party fund or the office staff to have a party, but it is what it is, The real downer is going to be away from you for extended lengths of time, maybe not so much on him because he will e busy and not thinking about you and the family but you will only have him to be thinking about, He will be thinking about applying what he has learned to use, they run us through several scenarios and we are supposed to know what we will react with in a very short time, We are professionals and are trained how to deal with certain situations as if we have had all of them before. There is also a wealth of knowledge here on the forum to help him make a decison as to whee to go to work or school, If I can help in anyway shoot me a PM or flg me down in here! Good Luck And Welcome to an AWESOME Industry!

 

Which city do you live in? There are a lot of great companies out there but it is hard to get all of the things you want, may have to sacrifice one or two things. Just avoid the mega carriers. They make so much money that there are a million desperate people wanting to get hired by them so they pay very low due to the job demand. It is amazing to see how many people on this site drive for carriers that pay them so very little. My company pays me so much that I can hang out with doctors and lawyers at the country club.

 

What flying musician said, that's my plan, lol. There's worlds of difference between most people's first year. So many people are just complacent to go with Swift or Werner. They come here to ask for advice on Swift or Werner or (insert lousy company), and half the answers they receive are "neither, look for a good company". But they already graduated CDL school, they filled out 2 whole applications already, and they don't want to waste any more time because they have to call one of the companies back before the end of the week. Don't let your husband be that dummy.

You didn't ask for a list of companies, you can get that later from people that know more. Just wanted to reiterate that the quality of your first year is really going to depend on the company. The right kind of place with regional positions also has the possibility of letting him stop in some weeknights and home on weekends. There's generally no guarantee on weekends home in trucking though. Keep in mind, A weekend home could be home LATE friday night, or saturday, and gone sunday afternoon, sometimes just enough for a 34 hour reset (34 hour reset is a break you can take once a week to refresh your driving hours available). Being home every weekend generally effects income too. You have to wait for certain loads and pass up on better ones to make sure you're home at the end of the week. More time off is less money. Just mentioning so you understand that likely many of the people talking about making great money OTR their first year weren't home most weekends.

 

Key is minimizing expenses and working the tax code to your advantage.

Vesting years vary but 3-5 is standard in this industry for 401.

I chose my carrier on the base pay rate per mile and avoided incentive companies.

I'd advise you to do the same.

Only bonus acceptable in my book is a safety bonus and even that can be abused.

 

I will second that he pursue his cdl independently from any trucking company. I suppose the biggest advantage in the first year of pursuing a driving career is that you can actually get work in your relevant field to pay back the expense of getting your cdl. That is not the case for many educational investments today.

If you two are combining to bring in about 3k per month, then you can expect to increase your household income substantially your first year, but the sacrifices will be very steep. Don't be surprised if after him being gone 3 weeks he is finally coming home and you are super excited. After all it feels like you haven't seen him in forever and you're ready to jump up and go do something fun with all that new income, but the last thing he feels like doing is getting in a car and driving somewhere. You, as well, will find yourself doing more and more stuff around the house that you are accustom to him doing. If his honey-do list is quite long with the very little time at home he has then you might find him staying out even longer. That's for you brother.

There is a rule in trucking. The more money you have the less time you have to do anything with it. The more time you have the less money you have to do anything.

As far as job perks, they will vary from company to company. Health benefits that trucking companies offer are usually very expensive, due to the fact that truckers aren't the healthiest people around. If you keep your job and you two are legally married, then it might be better for you to obtain health insurance for the two of you. It is more than likely that you can find a better deal. So much so, that I would suggest that you seek employment with benefits as the main criteria for signing on. Whatever you choose just make sure that the policy is in network to where it is you would most likely be using it at for the most part, before you purchase it. If it isn't convenient to see health care providers and a long drive to find in network care, then the policy isn't really offering you much.

401k and trucking. Turnover is very high in the trucking industry, and while matching sounds nice, vesting is going to be rare. I am not a fan of 401k for any job, but trucking in particular I think that it should not play a part in making an employment decision at all. You guys sound very young. You have a wealth of knowledge in front of you in the form of the internet, and learning about investing would be a much better choice. 401k's deal almost exclusively with mutual funds, and more often than not managed mutual funds which charge you a fee to invest in stocks that you are not in control of. There are a few mutual funds that are not managed, many being index funds such as the Vanguard fund, but still your control of what your hard earned money is invested in is extremely limited.

401k's have a lot of restrictions, and what amounts to fines if you attempt to get your hands on that money outside of the restrictions that are placed on it. I personally don't jive with the idea of someone else managing my money, which amounts to nothing more than buying and selling a few stocks within a managed mutual fund. The reason I don't like it is because the fund makes it's money by charging the fees for making the trades. There is incentive here to make trades not based on what is best for the investor, but to charge fees for making trades. There is so much here at work that you are simply not aware of, and it's so much more than you think, yet it involves your hard earned money.

Why not take the time to become financial literate in the investing world seeing that you are young, and opening up a trading account yourself? I say this not in a crappy way either. Instead of having a percentage of your income deducted into a 401k account that in all actuality amounts to nothing more than a tax haven for the company offering it. Even a simple dividend reinvestment (drips) strategy can lead to some very nice returns over the long term, and you guys seem young. More importantly though, you are in control of what you invest in. You have the ability to be very nimble in the market. Something that no 401k can offer you. You decide what stocks to buy, at what price, and when to sell. You can take the profits any time you choose without having to deal with fines and restrictions. More importantly, 401k's seem to carry this idea that you get free money, and that it's a good investment always. Without vesting there is no free money, and even when vested there is no guarantee that the funds you invested are going to show a return. They could very well show a loss, and in such a case the only thing you can really do is change which funds you are bought into.

Buying low and selling high really isn't that complicated of an idea, and you are quite capable of doing that yourself without getting caught up with all the fancy numbers, symbols, and what not. The most important aspect of stocks is research, having an entrance strategy, and exit strategy. So, I would not make any 401k offer by any trucking company an incentive to sign the dotted line. Not by a long shot.

As far as bonus' and incentives: I would look for a company that offered a few of the more important things. These are detention pay, layover pay, and breakdown pay. Trucking companies are very competitive in what they offer in income, but how they go about paying it out will vary widely. Some will advertise a very high cpm rate, but then leave you detained in a dock door for 7 hours with no compensation. Some will offer a lower cpm rate, but they have good tariffs written in their contracts that make shippers and receivers MOVE when you show up, because they do not want to get charged detention. I would prefer a lower cpm and detention, layover, and breakdown pay over a high cpm rate. Well written contracts are beneficial to the driver, and you will get more miles if there is incentive to get your truck out of a dock door by shippers and receivers. Understand now, that if a carrier does not offer detention pay, or it is completely unrealistic to obtain it, then you will be sitting for long periods of time at shippers and receivers while they cover the trucks that do charge detention.

Accessory pay is also important. Payment for loading or unloading, stop pay in a multistop load is also important depending on what you are doing. In some situations, stop pay can be extremely important to the bottom line.

The best of luck to you guys! Stay close friends, never betray each other, communicate grievances to each other and don't let resentments build.

 

Melton Truck Lines has a rider policy, pet policy, average $50K per year, and the best healthcare plan for driver & family in the trucking business. They hire new CDL grads.