How long to get a grasp of income?

Curious as to how long does it take to get a grasp of your income driving? I've just begun my 4th week of being on my own and I'm questioning if my pay is worth being away from home . I've had 1 good pay check sandwich between 2 crappy pay checks . I now see their inflated gross income is joke, they put your comdata payouts on your check to inflate your gross .

It's only been 3 weeks and I calculated those 3 to see yearly income and saw 36k net . That's not worth it

 

how much did you make at your last job?




Oh by the way ... welcome to the wide world of trucking.

 

I don't know what company you work for. But some of the starter megas pay absolutely pitiful wages for their drivers. Having said that, lemme tell you this. You don't necessarily get paid "extra" to be out on the road. You should, but you don't. Find yourself a local gig that gets you home every day/night. If you work for one of the large LTL chains you can be home every day and make just as much, if not more, than most road drivers.

 

Megas always pay bad their only good for getting exp and running after...unless you want to do trainer, they make ok money depending on if you’re ok with using another rookie as an extra logbook not teaching him much which adds to the already numerous dangerous drivers out there.

Find a smaller company. Doesn’t have to be tiny can be in the 100-1000 tractor range they generally pay better. Some companies have low pay but the benefits they give compensate for it.

If you’re new to trucking. Get at least a year but 2 would be better and find another company. Don’t fall for the ones that offer $2000 sign on bonuses generally it’s like $500 now and $500 every 6 months and still low pay.

My honest opinion when you factor the time away from home, 70 hr shifts + unpaid waiting time at shippers/receivers, dangers you run to such as weather or steep grades or equipment failure, fact that you run into the chance of being a felon just cause the state you drove into doesn’t recognize your home state’s carry permit and etc... this job should be paying 2k a week after taxes and expenses. But as long as these megas and shady companies can find dumb meats in the seats to hold the wheel that ain’t happening.

My opinion they should place federal limits on how many cdls get issued so they can push quality over quantity. And REALLY crack down on drivers that cannot understand English nearly at all just blindly following the gps.

 

Your first year driving welcome to slavery.
I mean trucking. It'll get better but you have to build experience somewhere, and you pay for it with horrible wages.

 

By comdata payouts do you mean cash advances? If so then that is part of your gross.

 

If you're taking cash advances...stop! What is your base pay without bonuses and sign on money?

 

I thought the hole cut in the sleeper floor was for that.










No wait that's what a trucker gives birth to





Haha