Big vs. Small

If you're worth your salt as a truck driver, you're more likely to get recognized as such, rather than being a number in a large fleet.

 

There's a lot of variables to consider. As an O/O, I make more with the small carrier I am leased to than when I was leased onto CRST MALONE. A lot more...

 

Don't let the big company push you away from the business. Remember, not every carrier is bad. Not every driver is good either...

 

There you go. Be safe out there and learn everything you can.

 

I've been driving for 8 years commercially and all of that was with Mom and Pop companies. In my experience it's a little better for a lot of reasons. As Crude said earlier in this thread, you're more likely to be noticed as a good driver. Most mom and pops don't mess around with DAC so if you have an incident, like denting a piece of equipment, it won't be permanently recorded. Most of all, you're more likely to be able to negotiate a higher rate of pay if you prove your worth. You sacrifice the questionable "stability" of a big company, but in my opinion, there's more earning potential. In the last 6 years, I haven't made less than 65k a year and I've had the same or better benefits at small companies. That can also depend on what kind of companies you have in your area though. I hope this rambling answer helps...

 

A better question is how much do you fritter away or spend on yourself over unnecessary vices and bad things like Casinos each week?

If you are literally putting away something each week and not touching it, you are making good money that WILL come in handly one day. They can pay me one cent or one dollar, I'll find a way to make savings out of it. I would prefer to do it at the dollar.