Arrow; How Can You Not Make Money There?

What about weeks of 1000 miles. or less?

 

There are many new and some experienced drivers running less than 2000 miles a week.I dont know anything about Arrow,but believe me crap happens when you are out there on the road. Just starting out,chances are that a 2000 mile week will be a good week for you.You will soon find out that the miles dont pile up as easily as you might expect. As far as running 2000 per week and having all kinds of time to see the sights,why dont you post a few months from now and let us know how your tourism is going. I am not trying to discourage you, but just like any other job or way of life,it takes time to catch on and learn the ropes.Good luck

 

OK, easy enough. Back here in the real world. And this is not aimed at Arrow in particular, just the OTR life in general.

$.34 a mile on paper sounds good, but your really gonna miss that extra 10 cents a mile very shortly.

$275 a quarter is better than a swift kick[sic], but figure it out by month. Not much to get excited about. Then again, anybody that cant claim a safe miles bonus 100% of the time does not belong on the road anyways.

$30 tarp pay sounds great until the first time you actually do it. Forget a windy day, forget sitting in your truck driving down the road for 10 hours and then having to drag those big buggers around. Forget about when its rainy, or the 102F outside. You'll begin to wonder if $130 would be enough money. Oh, now your all nasty grime hot and sweaty. Go take yourself a baby wipe bath in the truck. Cause most customers don't want you in their bathroom cause your a nasty truck driver (ponder that one next time some fat ### stinking trucker walks by you). And you don't get a shower for 3 more days. Showers take time you don't have, and money you aint making. Bring lots and lots of baby wipes...

Detention pay. HA!!! Get real. Your dispatcher is out to make the company money, and not piss off the customer. You come in dead last. Forget it, it doesn't exist in the real world.

Layover Pay DOUBLE HA!!! See above. Go to war with your dispatcher, otherwise you'll make more money flipping burger at McDonalds. It is simple math.

Having no family ties is a definite step in the right direction, but consider this. You have a mortgage, why? You will be home for "maybe" 3 days in a months time (if you are lucky), remember Arrow says 30 - 40 days out. The first day home you SLEEP that's all you will want to do sleep sleep sleep. The next day is yours, hopefully. Last day you need to do laundry, get the house put back together, and fix all those little things that broke in your home while nobody was there to maintain it. Your dispatcher is already hollering and wants you back in the truck. BTW, who is watching your house when you are away? Why would you own a home and only be there at the very most 3 days a month? Its just not worth owning anymore. Oh yeah, your car has been parked for a month too, be prepared to have somebody come jump start it for you the moment you get back to the terminal. Next stop is a car wash. It will have about an inch or more of dust on it. You sure don't need a nice new car, and car payment to drive it 3 days a month. Buy a raggedy old $300 beater and leave it at the terminal.

Next thing is probably the most saddest statement of all, but in my thinking one of the main draws to becoming an OTR driver.

"Seeing the Sites" Think this over real careful. You are in San Diego less than a mile from the ocean, you can smell the ocean breeze, you can hear the sea gulls and other ocean going wildlife critters. Guess what? You aint never gonna see that ocean. Know why? Because you have a 48 or 53' trailer and big truck. You cant just drive down to the beach and throw out a blanket for a picnic. Why? Because its a 53' trailer, you dont know if you can turn around, you dont know what bridge clearances are ahead, and you dont belong there in a semi truck trailer. They'll haul your butt to jail. You dont have time because you are glued to the CB listened for your truck to be called to load/unload. You need sleep (not log book sleep) but real sleep (which you aren't getting because you are listening to the CB for your truck number to be called) you aren't in a good neighborhood, so you listen all night to the padlocks on your trailer being tested by the local rats.

Of course you can schedule your "off time" near the ocean or near a mountain. Find a truck stop that will let you park your rig for your time off (if that's possible) and get a rental car. But then again, you own a home and haven't checked on it for over a month now, so maybe you should be home checking on the status of your house?

Please don't take this as a discouraging post against becoming an OTR truck driver. Lots of great reasons to give this job a shot. But! ! ! Go into it with both eyes wide open.

 

Hate to say it, but that was the life I had and I ran a skateboard. Alot of times I would give up sleeping and rest time to wait in line for a shower. I carried baby wipes too. They don't clean very well and leave your skin sticky feeling. Mostly used the wipes when I was layed over or parked somewhere other than a truck stop. Tarps are dirty, heavy, and unforgiving. I've never taken the magic carpet ride during a windy day on one, but one of my friends did. Banged him up pretty bad, broke a few bones. In the dead of summer, get a load of steel coils. After you bind them down and tarp them, all you want is a shower and to lay down. As for the miles. The freight is there, you may not get it though. There will be times you will sit. When I was a company driver, they told me all about their layover and detention pay. But there was more red tape with it than a buying a million dollar home. I got it once, but that was because the reciever refused to unload us. They said we were too early, but the shipper said that they had ordered the product and for it to arrive on that date. It just happens.

 

Dcedlr, The fact that your current line of work is paying you well enough for you to have a house and a car payment says that your doing ok. Driving a truck OTR is not going to improve your standard of living at all in the near future. You will go from living in a house to living in a box about the size of your closet. Home cooked meals, forget about it. You will enjoy greasy fast food and all you can eat buffets. This will probally lead to weight gain, high blood pressure or diabetes. You are single and that is good. But don't expect to meet "Mrs. Right" at a truck stop because you won't. But, if you park on the back row at the truck stops you will probally get some offers from the lot lizzards wanting "dates". And for a mere $20 you can get herpes, crabs or worse.

If you were working at a dead end job paying 8 bucks an hour, I would say go give trucking a shot. But in your case, I think that it is not worth it. Trucking is a very tough way to make a living, especially during your first year or so.

Best of luck to you Sir in whatever you decide.

 

Good luck buddy. I hope its everything you want it to be and you enjoy it!

 

I have driven Flat bed all my life, no no otr but it's still flat bed, as far as tarps go, I have dealt with them for 16 years and if You have at least some smarts You will figure out ways to deal with the different types there are. We only had cement tarps and we used them for everything, coils from ferletto, to shingles out of the norwood mill, it was always a one piece cement tarp,Yes! at first it was a real hard time getting it right but at this point I can have it folded and put away in a typhoon, without breaking a sweat, fi You are getting dirty from tarps then You are doing something wrong. Also You will learn to ask the customer if they want it tarped, if it is someone You will be visiting frequently and they dont care, then I would just top tarp whatever you are pulling, so if a company insider sees You and calls in no tarp You can say You were having problems with it and were going to fix it at Your next stop, even so after a bit of experience with them You should have a system to get them out and up or down and away real quick and real clean, remember all I dealt with was cement tarps they are the heavyist and biggist, and I use to cover coils and reels with them, shead no tears, and I never had to wipe my body with poop cleaners. Use Your head and good luck, By the way most van companys with no touch freight are paying the same as flat outfits, thats why I pull a reefer around, "it's pretty dry in there" and I have not seen a tarp in a long time LOL.
Good Luck
SAFETY FIRST!!!!!!