financial question for a wannabe

You will lose out on a lot becoming a truck driver. You can't be home everynight. Some of the time you can't even be home every weekend. Sadly a lot of the training companies out there will take advantage of you and make you stay out several weeks at a time.When I was in trucking school a guy quit and got a job at his home town driving a concrete truck because of this reason.

A lot of local jobs don't pay a lot though. The exception is UPS, Yellow, Roadway, AAA Cooper and FedEX...ect. Even with these jobs theres no guarantee that you will be home everynight and/or every weekend.

I know of a guy that drove for UPS for over 25 years. He was gone 2 to 3 nights a week and his nights off was Sunday and Monday. On the nights he worked he would work 12 to 14 hours. Sometimes it was driving sometimes it was working on the docks. Local isn't all gravy like a lot of people make it out to be.

You also have to think about taxes. Back when I worked hourly there wasn't much difference between $10 an hour and $15 an hour. Taxes will eat up most of the extra $5 an hour.

At least with truckdriving you get huge tax breaks. Gloves, tools, logbooks, jeans, papertowels and everything else you buy while at work or if you buy it for work is considered a tax deduction. Plus you get the $35 to $50 dollar a day per-deim on the days that you are away from home. That alone is a huge deduction.

It's up to you what makes you happy. For me I like driving but I wanted to pick and choose my hometime. I made the choice to become and O/O and it is a world of difference between working 8 to 5 and company driving as well. Still it's risky. I could blow the engine in my truck and be out of business tomorrow. Until then I'm loving what I do and doing what I love.

 

You can expect to make between $20k and $50k your first year of driving. Your pay will depend on what company and/or account you get on. It will also depend on how willing you are to push yourself.

I've said it more than once on here. If you sit in the truckstops and refuse to work. Then don't be suprised when you only get $300 a week or less in pay.

I've drove illegal in the past. I've drove way past tired. I've woke up at 5 am before and would still be driving the next morning at 5am and would not have slept in between. I have let companies push me and I've pushed companies to let me drive when I was out of hours to drive. I used to think that was the ONLY way to make it.

Now I know better. A person can have a great life making $17k a year and another person can have a miserable life making $117k a year. Life is what you make of it.

Remember debit is dumb and cash is king. Don't bury yourself in debit and don't work your life away chasing a dollar. Just find somewhere in the middle and be happy with who and what you are.

 

well here is a pretty realistic senaro for you to consider, Im on a home time fleet with Roehl . 7/4 7/3 thats out seven days then home for four, then out for seven days and home for three, so I get to be at home on a set schedule. right now the miles are crap ! My average is 1500 to 2400 , sometimes more but not very often, due to pick up and deliverys on each load. very few drop and hooks. as of the end of october
my gross is a little over 27k . Not gettin rich but we are surviving and I'm not living in a trk for weeks or months at a time away from my family. Good luck with your decision !

 

This is a big issue.....Something to seriously think about.
My kids are grown and gone, so I dont care about that....but the guy I bought this rig from? An O/O and couldnt bear to be away from his 2 young girls.

Odd part? - He drove Sunday PM till Thursday PM. He was on a dedicated run and HOME each Thurs/Fri/Sat night. Pulled in really good money, since he did specialized runs (I didnt ask what) but he got a local driving job making crap and gets layed off each Winter - but he is home and happy....and in the end, thats all that matters.

Remember, 97 out of 100 people that enter OTR trucking are no longer in it at the 1yr point....
Best of luck to whatever you decide..and if you opt to do this and walk away from it, so be it.....YOU do whats right for YOU.

PS. I didnt steal this truck from him either...I gave him cash and a fair deal. We both walked away happy.....