Questions about new driver pay

Because too many new drivers will commit themselves to the first huge name carrier they see. Bigger is better right? Their add in the trucking magazine told me they were friendly with great pay, must be true.

Your pay is going to depend on your attitude, and the company you sign on with. Want to only drive regional and be home on weekends? Not gonna make as much as the OTR guys. Refusing loads, you're gonna get on your dispatcher's #### list after not too long. Had dozens of people online tell you not to drive for Swift or Werner, then you do anyway? Your pay is gonna suck. Do your research, ask questions, just do things right instead of blindly jumping onto whatever carrier drives your favorite color tractors.

Also, as for the whining about low pay. You stating 700 as high end for good pay, is what many people on this site whine about (that's gross income). You can, with relative ease and good choices, maybe a little luck, gross considerably higher than that as a new driver.

 

Starter companies have ALOT of newbies to choose from..they don't care if your sitting, if you look around in the truck stop there is probably many trailers with the same name on your trailer waiting for a load.

I started with SRT out of Ashdowne AR.. 29 cents a mile, (yeah right) it was 26 cents with a 3 cent bonus for each mile run in the quarter IF you qualified..

I ran over hours, arrived early, would stay out 8-10 wks at a time, then request 2 days off....only to get called at home being asked to come out early.

I was on track/had many more miles to hit that 3 cent bonus per mile for the quarter..and end up sitting extended amounts of time in truck stops the last couple weeks of quarter.

Companies will run the hell out of you then prevent you from making that extra money to get you at the "bonus" which is part of that advertised $30-$35k pay scale.

Unfortunately, newbies are used and abused.. They are convinced that this is the "norm" in the trucking industry..and they leave, frustrated and disgruntled.

Youre going to suffer, you're going to be lonely, mad, broke and in tears when you talk to your family. I promise you, it gets better.

Put in enough time to get away from the starter company..don't worry about your tuition/training expense..it's a threat to keep you humble..

Find a better job, there are "stepping stone" companies..

You will make it, and YOU and YOUR family will be better for it.

good luck

 

To make the good money starting year one, go to a private or community college CDL school. Get the tanker/hazmat, TWIC, passport.

The drivers only making $30K or around that area are starting their career with the mega-refrigerated carriers. They spend too much time with a trainer & too much time waiting for loading or unloading. For example, if you drive 300 miles to make a delivery on Monday and it takes 3 or 4 hours to unload, then your next load may be 200 miles on Tuesday and it takes a few hours to load a frozen or meat load. That Tuesday pickup may deliver 700 miles away on Thursday. You pick up your next load Friday for Monday or Tuesday delivery. So you've spent a week and only driven 1300 to 1600 miles. This won't happen every week, but it happens often enough to keep your annual pay down.

Look at assessorial pays, because the add up to some good money over a period of a year; stop pay, detention pay, tarp pay, layover pay, etc.

To avoid this, look at companies many students don't know about and the schools may not tell you about. The schools usually have a standard list of companies that recruit from the school & most of those are the mega-refrigerated/dryvan carriers. Sometimes a good tanker or flatbed company may send a recruiter to the school. I personally know drivers that made $60K their first year solo, after orientation/training. They applied to companies most never heard of, tanker/hazmat.

For example, System Transport(trans-system website) or Melton Truck Lines, a hard worker can make $50K + annually. Might even hit close to $60K with a company like Holland Enterprises. If your in the right hiring area there are tanker/hazmat companies that hire new CDL grads.

If trucking is in your future plan, start now doing research where you want to work. Look at Careerbuilder and Indeed websites and study the "CDL Practice Tests" at top of this page.

 

Pretty much what I said above. The large companies advertise and spend lots of money on recruiting new drivers. They have schools that allow you to get your CDL "for free", and or tuition reimbursement, made up bonuses, sign on bonuses paid over a year or more. In other industries, working for a big company usually seems like a good thing. In trucking, it's generally the opposite. People don't know or don't believe when they are told about this though. Every day someone comes onto this site and say's "Swift or Werner", and most people will tell them, "Neither, try A,B or C trucking co". You'd pretty surprised how many people will stick to the one or two companies they already filled an app out for.

There's more to it than that obviously, but that's all I can say for sure. Small companies just don't have enough trucks for everyone, some people just get stuck with the crap big guys, many more just go with them for what I stated above.

 

Some people have problems with their background or something that makes the mega's their best option, or at least reduces their choices so much that they can't find that other place that would actually take them.

If you have a clean record, and a brain, there's no reason you can't sign on with a good company. Go to a good private CDL school, apply to smaller places that pay well (not all mom and pops are better options, some pay crap and hire just about anyone too), apply to people that say they require experience and make a good impression, and at the very least, try to get in with one of the better starter companies. Some are obviously much better than others, even if they are still looked down at. Use your head, make good decisions, and 35K can be a low number for your first year.