Does trucking pay anymore??

I heard that bud! I'd dress in a freaking clown suit replete with the big red nose and yellow hair....

 

Sure it does...for the company owners.

Ask the Schneider family, or JB Hunt family, CR England, etc.

They all got filthy rich off of trucking.

 

That's about the experience I had, except that I did work for them over the holidays last year.

Made $16.10 as a yard jockey and did as well, if not better, than most of the full time guys doing it. Kept telling me how lucky I was to get this job, and made a huge deal about it. Guess getting a job for a month is really hard to do?

At the end of my seasonal thing they told me I did such a good job that they wanted to keep me working there.

The job they offered was making $8.25 loading trucks, which I turned down. They seemed really confused that I had no interest in doing that. Guess there really are a lot of people who are willing to start that low, just to get in with the company, and feel thankful to get that.

Union wouldn't let me start at any position higher than that, and my seasonal position as a jockey was actually written in as part of the union contract. I wasn't union and UPS wasn't allowed to hire non-union workers, but there was an exception allowed for seasonal employees.

 

There's certainly pros and cons in the trucking industry today. Things are what they are. Still think you can start at .34-.35 and be at .38 in a few years. Would reccomend beating the bushes of the smaller carriers. Usually it comes down to the individual. People bash big carriers all the time, guess you get what you put into it. Get into a gig that allows an inverter to run a frig and micro. Quit spending $30.00 a day eating in truck stops, and buying sundry items. I mean if you need more than $1,000 week gross pay your prob in the wrong industry. 3,000 mi.x.34 FWIW. Good luck to ya.......I run out 28-30 days, then go home for 5. May not work for others. So basically 10 months # $4,000 per. In this day and age with the country the way it is and unemployment the way it is, I'm dam happy to make it..........YMMV

 

Thats the thing with LTL.

For a young guy fresh out of high school, living with mom and dad, good way to go.

For older guys, with families to support, tough way to go.

The guy on here working for Con-way started at age 20? Been there 7 years. Making good money at age 27, with seniority.

That would be the way to go.

 

i was in maumee ohio on thursday at the ups freight terninal and saw some kids behind the wheel pulling doubles..they looked no older than 23 yrs old.

 

If you have 10yrs to blow on the bottom making ok money, working few hours, sitting by the phone every night on the extra board, waiting for the day you get a bid run that doesn't have dock work attached to it. You'll like LTL. Why do you think they pay in the 50's? cause it sucks for a long time!! Also, you can make .57cpm and still make under 40k a year, ask me how I know...lol

 

This is one point that bothers me is the wide array of wages for pretty much doing the same job. If one company can afford to pay it's drivers $85K, they all can. Paying someone that risks their life everyday, following all regulations and meeting all the demands of appts and being away from their family deserves more than $32K a year. You spend double surviving and you have chump change left. I made in the low 50's for years and the past four it's been in the low 40's. Inflation isn't reversing.They keep pushing and one day drivers will crack.