Got kicked out of my truck so my team partner could drive w\friend

Thanks for poppin in @TravR1 , your advice motivated me when I was looking for a job.
Just finishing running 4867 miles, looks to be a $1310 payday next week. This was a holiday week, gave us a 5-day run with the world's largest online retailer.
They did give me another 3X /week run to Texas, but its a 'peak lane', could very well go away after the holiday traffic is completed - I'll know here in a couple of days.
You are right. for teaming the way I was used to it, $1250 /wk is not worth it, except to get my experience in.
I was willing to take that from Schneider when I was first looking, but more sage advice saved me from a mega carrier - but never know, maybe I'll check out FFE someday, as you also recommended. I'm finding out that the best trucking companies out there (the likes of Old Dominion, Estes) don't even advertise hardly, so I will definitely try to verify what they pitch if I start looking for a another job seriously.

 

I'm a saver, already saved enough to live on for a year if i had to (25K - still blows me away to see a 5-digit figure in my checking account!). Did NOT upgrade my lifestyle, made myself a promise not to do that.

The company itself is pretty well run, they have even had me run empty just to get me back to Phoenix (instead of waiting around til they could find a load for me) and I get paid for all miles loaded and empty. Not many small companies would have taken a chance (or the insurance cost) for a newly-minted driver, so I owe them some loyalty.

Reading what many have said here, it probably is wise to stick it out for a while, see if they can get me back to a 6000+ miles/week in the not-too distant future. If its still not happening in the next couple of months, then maybe . . .

 

That is EXACTLY what I thought, make the guys who wanted the change take the new truck and the new lane (that might be holiday only) - You express my feelings perfectly!

 

Checked them out, thought about moving to Golden Valley area near Kingman before, love the Las Vegas quick connect, and home prices are still reasonable in that area. Thanks again @Chinatown !

 

Thats a great plan, and great advice. BTW, you also have in your tag line a quote from my personal hero, Benjamin Franklin - I paraphrase the savings quote as " The only money you make is the money you save- the rest is just cost of living". Used to use the poorrichard name on other gaming forums, etc .

Thanks for the reality check on the number of team drivers/trucks one can have in a year - I am currently with my 4th driver this year, guess that's not too bad considering the turnover rate in some companies. And I WILL check out FFE if I decide to bail, and I tried applying with R& L before I had any experience. AFter a year of OTR experience, that might become more possible.

 

Probably true, that's why I've been saying that I might have gotten spoiled making that kind of money/miles in my first year. Still feels like a huge loss (going from 90K/year down to 65K/yr, if it stays like this).

 

Well, all's well that ends well, it appears - one of the other teams dropped the ball on one of the Texas runs, and they are assigning their truck and runs to me and my new partner. Thanks again everyone for your feedback, it's like a therapy session coming and sharing with everyone . Thanks again @Coffey, @TravR1 , @Chinatown and all others who gave sound advice. Talk to y'all soon!