Any chance of starting out making $50,000?

I was retired Navy with a $1600.00 a month pension, and my wife was doing about $18.00 an hour as a foreman with a drywall company. We were OK financially for me to go trucking.

But...... If you have kids........I'm telling you straight up!!!! You will watch them grow up through pictures unless you drive local. That was my only regret from all my years with the Navy & trucking. I see the look in my kids eyes some times when I dote over my grand kids. ( would have been nice to pop if you were around for us too).

 

It's hard to crack $50k in your first year driving OTR. You should be considering food service, beverage delivery or LTL companies.

 

Absolutely not.

If you are accustomed to being paid for all (or at least, most) of your time while you are at work, then you will be in for a shock if you drive a truck.
You will be waiting (sometimes for many hours, if not days) to get loaded and unloaded; looking for an empty trailer; and when your truck breaks down (sometimes several times a month) you will not be getting any pay whatsoever.

Inevitably, someone's going to respond that you do get a few bucks compensation for any of the above situations;
Keep in mind two things then: First: You will have to really and constantly make an effort to 'remind' your dispatcher to make sure that you do get paid... if ever, and....
Second: if you do get paid, it's only going to be about anywhere from $15.00 to around $60.00.... that's not per hour, that's per day.

Trucking is the only industry in America that is not subject to any fair labor laws and practices (the result of much lobbying by the big trucking companies, BTW).
This pretty much means that they can pay you (or not pay you) whatever they wish.

Here is a monetary figure that you will be looking at: $500.00 to $700.00 (sometimes a lot less, seldom much more) per week for up to about 100 hours of your time per week.
Do the math; everything said and done, you are looking at below minimum wage.
And if you want any medical benefits, they will cost you about $400.00 per month (or nearly a weeks pay) for yourself and a spouse.

This is about a $32,000 to maybe a $40,000 a year job, if you are driving for any large trucking company as a solo driver.

You will find that my telling this truth will bring outrage from several 'drivers'.
Fair enough, so ask yourself why is it that over 98% of truck drivers quit, of their own volition, before a year's time?
The answer, of course, is because of the fact that all the above figures are true, and it doesn't take long for a new driver to find this out for himself.

Best advice that I (or anyone else) can give you is to physically go to any truck stop (Petro, TA, Loves, Pilot, etc.) and personally speak with as many drivers as possible.

 

As an OTR driver you get paid by the mile work some long hrs and it averages to be around $10.00 an hr you work well over 40 hrs a week and no OT pay.Only thing you really get paid for is driving.Companies do pay detention but you have to be at the dock for so many hrs for it to kick in and what they pay is an insult to the drivers intelligence.You may not like your current job but you do have a family and making good money so id stay where you're at.Only way you'll make the money you desire in general trucking is run run run and no hometime.Then you'll think is this really worth it working this hard for this pay.

 

Yes, this is so true Joe.

 

Actually if you're willing to work in NYC, Empire Merchants in Brooklyn, NY pays around $38.00/hour. If you can get in, you'll start as a casual driver on a straight truck, driving and lumping cases to liquor stores. When you clock in for the day, you're guaranteed 8 hours straight time, and 4 hours OT no matter how long it takes to get your route done.

I got that info from a driver that's been there for 15 years. He started out casual, worked up to a regular full time route after 2 years of working 1-3 days per week. Getting one of those jobs is more WHO you know than WHAT you know...

 

You guys are poor souls. Look in craigslist for a small company, which has words" paper log books" in their ad. You will be working 16 hours a day, leaving Monday morning and coming home Friday night or Saturday morning. You will be getting 1300-1500 gross per week on 1099, after taxes still should have over 1100. Get experience, get a truck, lease to Mercer or Landstar and make your own schedule and still make over 60k net.

 

Yeah you can, depending who you go with. If you take a local job doing LTL it is possible. After I graduated CDL school, I jumped into linehaul. I made $57K my first year, $65K second year, and I was on my way to making $69K when I switched to city P&D.

 

50k is easily doable if you go about things the right way. I think I fell a few bucks short my first year which was March 1- Feb 28th, but now entry level guys make the greater of $100/day or $13/hr during training and once on your own we make .07 more loaded and .06 more empty than when I started. Also about $3 more an hour. My first full calendar year I made $57k iirc.

First and foremost is to not go to work for a company that "pays" for your schooling. I put pays in quotes because you will end up paying for it in the form of lower wages.

Secondly, get all your endorsements, and passport and twic if you can afford them.

Lastly don't get taken in by a recruiter. Talk to drivers for any prospective companies and read reviews on here.