Stay out for months or stick to minimum required?

Judge your OTR like we judge hours when I work local, For instance Alan Richie had me take a load to Ehrenberg AZ, From then USPS LANDC distribution center, I went to the comfort inn next to the Flying J like instructed, they told me the west bound load had been delayed by 6 hours in Tucson, and got me a room, I was in the Comfort Inn about 8 hours, the load showed up we switched trucks and I drive back to Los Angeles to the Bandini USPS. I charged them for the entire trip, 4 hours each way, plus the 8 hour delay in the Comfort Inn.

If I were a OTR drive on that run I would have sat for free waiting for the other truck to show, sitting in 104 degree heat at the J, instead of sitting in a AC cooled room, watching TV, and being paid for the down time. One of the guys that live in Havasu City had to drive me and the truck back because I was out of hours.

They should pay you for your time, they dont normally do that. I like to quote them "If Duty Reg's" when they till you to go off duty while your waiting. Off duty means you can go do what ever you want they can't say squat, or your not off duty.

 

Yeah, it's not really that important when you realize you are babysitting a reefer load 24 hours a day and that while you're "offduty/sleeper" dispatch can and will call you, while you're sound asleep in the middle of the night, and require you to check on the reefer alarm

When I first started driving 10 years ago, I ran the numbers on what I was grossing vs the amount of hours I wasn't getting paid for, because of the pay by mile sytem, it was like $5.00 an hour LOL

 

If I’m
at the office, that’s work. Whether I’m driving, eating, sleeping, or spanking off in the sleeper berth, those are hours I’m at work and not home doing what I please.

 

I do a lot less unpaid work when I'm off duty in the truck than when I'm at home, so I wouldn't consider any off-duty time when calculating how much money I'm making.

The Hours of Service and FMCSR's tell me that's "my time" to do with what I want, so I doubt there's a single company in the world that would pay drivers to sit there for a mandated break (and be glad they've provided you with a place to take it). It's why we have the HOS and elogs in the first place, companies would rather the drivers be moving than sleeping.

Detention and off-duty time are entirely different. While detained in the truck while it is being "worked on", whether loading/unloading or repairs, yes, absolutely drivers deserve to be paid for that time (I would know, I went from a company that didn't to one that does), but a break is a break, and there are few employers, let alone trucking companies, that pay their people to take a break.

 

[long post warning]

Well, your instructor is partially right. Don't start out by working out the average hourly income, or you'll probably be really upset with it and quit trucking (like most do because a lot of the time, they're making below minimum wage).

That first couple years is the hardest, but once you have experience, and experience that is in-demand by carriers, you *should* start looking at hourly pay (or day pay).

Your time is worthwhile as a truck driver, and you shouldn't waste it working for peanuts. You need to find a company that recognizes you as an essential part of their business and pays accordingly.

My company for instance pays hourly for delays, which include weather, breakdowns, lineups and road closures. So they pay up to 8 hours the first day, and 14 hours every subsequent day that I sit (every potential working hour, and by the minute when calculating). They realize that when suffering from something out of my control, I shouldn't be penalized for it. They are one of the few Canadian carriers that I know of that does such a thing.

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What you (and other newbies) will want to look for is a company that pays the most for the most amount of your time. What I'm saying is, don't look for the company with the highest mileage rate, chances are they either won't keep you working (low miles), or are stingy in other areas (work outside the truck).

For instance, things I've noticed is companies with high rates tend to have slow trucks, low miles and long, unpaid waits (at a dock). My old company for instance, paid about average for flat deck by the mile (so when they truck is moving, you are making good money), but governed the trucks at 64-65 mph (for Ontario), and paid about $10-15/hour for work outside the truck.

So, if I was driving in the US or prairies in Canada, my truck would always be pinned at 64 mph, averaging about 61 mph (with stops throughout the day). So, per day, I could drive maximum about 670 miles in the US, or 793 in Canada (closest I ever got was about 655 I think). At my rate of 48 cpm, I could have made $321.60 to $380.64 in just miles. Which is really good money for the time.

But when the truck stops moving, I was paid $15 for a load or unload (flat deck), $30 for a load+tarp/untarp+unload and other premiums for oversize and multiple drops and picks. On the surface, that seems "fair" (words of the owner no less), but when you break down just how much work you are actually doing, on average with most flat deck loads, you'd be making somewhere around $12.50 an hour for work outside the truck.

Edit: Forgot to add here that while the hourly rate while driving is near $30/hr, the work rate outside the truck drags that down significantly. In 2018 I did 111,000 miles, and worked on average 60 hours a week. Based on my income total for the year, I made about $21/hr overall, which is lower than the regional/city driver rate at that company. So I could have been home every night, making more money (12-14 hour shifts were the norm, 5 days a week) than working on the highway and being out a week at a time.

Another good example is the oversize premium for 60 foot loads moving through Michigan into Ontario. Due to permit restrictions, you can only drive 55 mph in the right lane in the state of Michigan, so the extra 5 cpm you got for taking the load looks good on paper, but actually meant you got paid less per hour (48 at 61 mph = $29.28, 53 at 52 mph = $27.56).

So doing the extra work of tarping (at about $7.50 to $10 an hour based on the premium) for a load that "pays more" on paper, actually meant you got paid less with significantly more hassle.

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It's tricks like these that people need to watch out for and why knowing your by-the-hour pay is relatively important. You have to be making an amount you are comfortable with given your level of experience.

 

And to think I nearly started with Melton. I interviewed over the phone with a recruiter the day after I got my CDL. She offered me a job and was trying to make travel arrangements for me to get to their orientation over the weekend. Then in the name of full disclosure I mentioned a medical condition I have which doesn’t amount to anything and a few hours later the offer was retracted via e-mail. WTF ???

I ended up going with a small local company that runs all 48 (Senn Freight Lines out of Newberry, SC). I’m a primary west coast driver. In fact every outbound haul I’ve had since Thanksgiving, save for one Key West run has been to the left coast. I pulled up in Barstow just a little while ago. I almost always stay out 3 weeks at a time, take a few days off and hit it again. But they always ask when I’d like to re-start.

My advice would be to ditch the mega and find yourself a small company where they know your name and communicate with you on a more personal level.


As for dealing with long spans of family separation, it can be handled without detrimental impact. I was a sailor for 20 years. I was a fire control radar tech, ala : an electronics technician with a hunting license on a guided missile frigate for 4.5 years. Yeah, the one in the avatar. We averaged about 9 and a half months every year out on the waves and obviously gone on cruise for 6-9 months at a time. But my wife was pretty skilled at managing a household in my absence and both my girls developed quite well.

This isn’t a substitute for a real dad, but here’s an idea that will help little kids cope. When our girls were small I’d get “dad dolls” made for them before I went on cruise. We’re talking stuffed dolls about 2’ tall with my face on them. My girls played with them and slept with them in their beds. My youngest, Jackie was 2 when I returned home from a cruise. Oh she was good with me holding her when they came aboard the ship. But then when this guy that looked like her doll followed her home to her house........

It took her a few days before she would come in the same room with me. I’d be on one end of the sofa and she would slip in on the other side, making sure she had mom in between me and her. Then she’d slowly lean her head down and peek at me from a safe distance. LOL

 

Have you talked to TMC? They'll get you home, may depend on where you live, every weekend and they pay percentage. Their training is pretty good from what I've heard. Melton still has the old hometime policy that CFI started. They were sister companies back in the day.