Flat rate and mileage pay

40 hours at $7.75 hr for a week is not more than making $115 a day for a five day work week.

 

When I started in 95 I made more than that as a entry level driver at .26 a mile x 600 avg miles a day . And that was poor wages but experience I needed to move on.

 

That is trash tier pay even for a starter company. If you run over 1,800 miles a week you are just handing them an interest free loan for a month.

I started with Knight 5 years ago and made .38 a mile. I averaged about 2,500 miles a week and some good weeks I pushed up above 3,500. 1,800 miles would have been a bad week and not normal.

I would work somewhere else. No experienced driver aspires to work for Swift-Knight but it’s a better place to start then the deal you are getting.

Oh and by the way, I got $75/day layover when I was sitting without a load doing nothing. Yes you gotta fight for the layover pay but it’s not like get paid nothing.

 

I15 a day is horrid. Go there for a year, get your experience and move on. It will help you some because they rarely pre plan you so expect most of the time to sit a day between loads in some urine soaked turd baked truck stop..at least you will be getting paid. I was on mileage when I was there and left because I got tired of sitting. New drivers have to do the flat rate. I talked to several drivers that had been sitting for two or three days. Their saying was well at least I am getting paid. Beleive me that gets old.. I moved on because the miles for me just weren't there, got tired of not getting paid layover, they quit paying detention and I got sick of 61mph.

 

They don't call them "Low Pay May" for nothing. That's pitiful. I can guarantee that if you go with the flat rate per day, they will run the heck out of you, and if you go with the mileage pay, you will spend a lot of time sitting around. It's just how that company rolls.

There are other companies out there who will pay more for entry level drivers. You just need to do some research. My second driving job I had just six months experience, and I was getting $225 per day flat rate and only driving 2000 per week. I found them on Craigslist.

 

May has a few positive things, they do have newer trucks. I enjoyed their routes for the most part, u can sometimes get 1500 to 2000 mile plus runs..and a lot of Western open space driving...( Although the last year I was there I wasn't getting as many long runs) be ready for Wyoming and PNW winter driving..it can be very treacherous. They are good for experience but it's very rare for anyone to stay there for more than a year unless you are a mentor..there is just much better money out there. Just about every driver I ran into was new..they are a starter company as you know.

I have a friend at National Carriers and he likes them..they mainly stay east of I 35.. They keep him moving, the are owned by National Beef so they have that and other freight also.