i am making over 2 times more than i have ever made in my life...

That's the equivalent of 34 cents per mile now.
But health care is about 400 percent higher and gasoline is about 220 percent higher now.
Edit: I'd bet housing is about 200 or 300 percent higher now, too.
So 50 cpm is a pretty fair wage for a truck driver nowadays, all things considered.

 

Incorrect.

There is no limit to how many hours for on duty not driving. However, if you did log 14 hours a day for six days the sixth day would have to entirely on line 4 in order to be legal as there are limits on drive time.

Nonetheless, the point was that you lost credibility when you started basing your expected wages on an 84 hour work week. Though some may put in that many hours none could legally log it that way unless much of it wasn't driving and therefore it makes no sense to expect a company to pay you for that many hours.

Anyway, I got into trucking knowing what to expect money wise and prefer to deal in what it as opposed to what should be.

 

I'm not, I've done a couple of years of research and it is hard to walk away from a 40 hour a week job with all the benefits for diddly squat to be jacked around like you truckers are. If I make the jump it is totally because I'm already set in retirement and want to see the country and move up but for those left with no options I really feel sorry for them. Considering trucking is one of the few jobs in demand but requires people to leave their family for weeks and hope to God that they are not screwed out of miles while they provide free warehousing services and can be let go by simply cutting their miles until they have to quit it is just a rather pathetic state of affairs. And to think how much government money goes into paying for the so called schooling, well wonder why 20/20 isn't covering that?

 

I like what your saying here and have to agree with it, trucking is a rough life and for little pay. Only a fool would drive OTR for the money some companies pay. But, I don't agree with what you say we "should" make, I agree it would be nice but don't want no regulation saying it is law. The only way company drivers are going to make what you say, as a whole now, is if drivers stop driving for the companies that pay these ridiculously low wages.. I started out over 6 years ago, with Schneider making 28cpm I talked to a driver just the other day and he said he was making 25cpm driving for Warner, a noobie with only 3 months exp. Joseph1135 said he started out 13 years ago making 25cpm I know pay in trucking has not gone up much in 30 plus years. Now, there are jobs out there that pay way more than that starting out so what we are talking about is the part of the Industry that pays crap, and the mega carriers. I don't understand this whole team pay concept myself but I did it anyway because 54 cpm was all the wife and I could find and get at that time but that is only 27cpm and there is a lot more to driving as a team than solo. The only way this is going to change is IF drivers stop taking those jobs but, with the economy the way it is, that isn't going to happen anytime soon.

 

I started in 2008 at .28cpm,,not much of a boost from your .25cpm and there are a lot of companies paying new drivers less than that...

 

When i started i made 11 bucks a hour local, i tell new guys dont take a dime under 17 for your first local job. I see plenty of people wanting drivers for 14 or 16 a hour, like hell! Nobody should be running around class A local for so little. To much stress and risk for so little go be a forklift driver for 15 before that, at least your not dealing with the public, back work your pay to a hourly price then tell me would you run local class A for that? Probably not. "Its a lifestlye" keep tellin yourself that. "Its not for everyone" no kidding. "Gotta earn it"? Who says they didnt? Tell a vetran who sacraficed everything for years sorry you cant make enough to feed your family becuse your new and you "need to earn it" and this is not just a response to you its to anyone with the your new im not so i deserve more than you mentalty. Sorry bit of a rant there.

 

I too do this for the love of what I do, not so much for the money. I do however think that there is a correlation between pay and quality of drivers but, again I don't want it mandated..

 

This has turned into a great thread and has stayed civil.... A great debate has emerged and is very productive....

 

Shhhhh it's a secret

 

I based them on a 70 hour driving week, not an 84 hour work week.
Still, the DOT daily limits are 11 driving, 14 on duty, and 70 hours driving per week.
If a driver drives for 11 a day for six days and works 14 hours a day for those six days, he's up to 84.
He'd have to stop driving on day seven once he hit 70 hours. So, you know, six days and 84 hours is a valid example of a legal work week for a driver. You can be on line for for 23 hours a day as long as you don't violate your driving hours.