What was your pay your first year? (Bonus: robots)

34 CPM for inexperienced drivers, which - counting raises - with a reasonable effort works out to be around $42,000 a year. With experience pay tops out at 45 CPM, yearly income easily in the mid 60s. IMO this is reasonable for the work we do. Spectacular? No, but it works for me.

Compared to what you were making doing Dollar General 34 CPM, no touch freight, is a much better deal. Depending on several factors your previous driving experience and military experience you may start higher. However if you find better options, then you should take them. Everyone finds what works for them.

 

I've heard that Unicorns are good eating and I could definitely go for Swedish girls with baby blue eyes falling gently from the sky. I'd start thinking maybe there really is a paradise...

 

Even if they do figure out how to get trucks to drive themselves, you will still need a driver on board, comercial jets can fly themselves but they still need pilits on board.

 

The money is out there. I made between 50k and 60k last year which was my first year. I started driving in March. I won't tell you exact figure but I will tell you this, I transferred divisions in my company in August and made 33k from August 12 to December 31and was home every night so find a good company talk your way in and go from there. When I started this journey I thought you had to go over the road but that isn't true. Good luck!!

 

12½¢ a mile and that was because I did not take any benefits. The regular pay was 10½ a mile.

 

Ten months in 2005. Watkins Shepard started at .27 ended at .32 on flatbed. $36,000.

 

My last job OTR paid 27½ cents a mile and that was pulling triples. You got lucky if you could pull the loop twice a week. Leave L.V. NV, Stayed overnight in Reno, next night at 10pm on to Salt Lake City UT. Stay over night then back to Vegas. You had to work your butt off to make the rent the job was so bad. Then I struck riches and stated hauling gasoline for ARCO.

 

27½ cents per mile was top pay. While this cheap LTL company was getting away with robbing us companies that were union were paying up past 50 cents per mile, so I heard. I do know that I didn't get that great of pay until I went to ARCO. By that time I had retired from the military and was setting my second goal in live to find a driving job that I could make a killing at and live on the best side of the river. Of course I found out that the more you make the more you spend. But I had a respectable job where pay was not the only benefit we had. You know the story.