Why do OTR megas pay so little for 70 hrs worked?

This is remedied somewhat by how the truck driving trade (industry) has changed drastically over time. Many more local and regional options available today that never existed 25 years ago. But you may or may not have to "pay your dues" in an OTR position in the beginning.

But OTR is a great option for many, especially those that don't have significant family ties and don't care to maintain a home or apartment and their associated costs, and just want to see the nation before "settling down".

 

So what amount of money is worth giving up nearly all of your life.

 

What should they be paid?

 

To be fair, many training companies truly do pay ridiculously low pay after they deduct for this and that (training). Take home pay is sometimes less than if they worked 30-40 hours at Lowes or other local employer paying starter wages.

It's these handful of companies that give the entire "mega trainer" trucking segment a bad name.

But there is no "magic number" that is the median point between "good pay" and "bad pay" because there are too many variables. As long as no one commits to a truck driving job under duress, then whatever the pay is, it must be "good enough" for them [at the their stage in adulthood].

But often is the case, expectations were way off. They expected easy learning the trade and trainee period, easy advancement, home whenever they wanted, time off whenever they wanted, could deliver whenever they wanted, etc. If they were fully made aware of the realities of the first 6-12 months of trucking, the pay offered before they commited might not have been acceptable.

 

I guess you tired of working with people?

 

To blame mega companies isn't really fair.As per an article reported in overdrive magazine the average truck driver pay in the 80s was $38,000 and some change if pay had kept up with inflation the average pay now would be at $111,000.I personally know of no company drivers at any company making that let alone an average at any company.As far as learning what all is involved in a truck driver life I don't think there is any amount of training that a company can give that will prepare someone for what this job actually is. I personally would think it's the being out for long periods at a time that get to a lot of new drivers.

 

Yes, but all that isn't our life out here, is it.

Too many people gripe and moan and complain about what they are not getting out of this job/lifestyle.
I'm really sick of it.
If you are not happy, why not move on to something else?

I'm sure most of us are smart enough, and work hard enough, to do some limelight jobs and make insane amounts of money - which is what most people here want, right?
So why are you/they/I not doing it?

I don't do it because I like driving, and I like driving a truck, and I like the lifestyle.
The money is secondary, as it always has been throughout my life.
I have more options with what I am doing now than I have ever had before, because I control more things.

I don't care about a calculated hourly wage, as much as I care about a wage that pays my bills and gives me what I need.

Not to mention a job and people that I can get along with, pretty much on my own terms.
If i don't call my own shots here, it is because I chose not to for some reason.
I run my own schedule in my own time. If I don't like the times of a load I can change them, or be removed from it without penalty. If I want an extra day of home time I simply ask for it, and it is done.
If I shut down because I ( I ) think it is not safe to drive, there are no questions or repercussions. The load is simply rescheduled.

And this is with a 'bottom feeder' company, and what many consider the worst of the lot.

Sure, after nearly 7 years here I could go practically anywhere else and make more per mile.
But at what cost in those other little and unimportant areas?

 

6k per month x 12 months = 72,000 per year
72,000/ 52 weeks (number of weeks in a year) = 1384.62 per week

 

One GREAT thing about trucking is that it has allowed me to drop out of society and all the nastyness in the modern workplace.