How much should an OTR driver earn? Here's my opinion!

No thanks. But reading on here and checking the US Bureau of Labor stats it looks like $800.00 or less is the norm and not the exception. I was just curious how you came up with the number you did.

 

With a years experience,

60K gross at least !!!

 

Maybe it's just me, but I'm not really getting into this for the money. Though, the money sounds great, I'd just rather get my experience in first and be thankful that the company gives me a opportunity to improve my skills and run their customers loads. Work Ethics, trust, and integrity speaks 10000 words.. Not everyone is born with that understanding sadly.

 

As an O/O, there are lots of items that go and will go broke in the truck/trailer, don't forget about that so a higher weekly income is necessary to compensate for that(that is what am trying to do...).

As a company driver, the income can be substantially lower specially if the company pays Per Diem(daily extra), and hold up/loading/breakdown pay.

Yes, it is not for the money or eveybody would be having a dedicated lane or pull a flatbed. It is for the love of being out there and trying to be a cowboy like in the old days when things were rougher and it took real people to GET THE JOB done(male/female).
Drving can be tough, anyone agree?

That is why we have drivers who complain about small items and refuse to do their job, last time I shifted gears out there on the road, I had to adjust multiple times to WHATEVER was thrown at me. Ouch...

 

That's because people choose to work for crappy companies......90% of my pay checks are over $800 take home and its been like that since my first check straight out of orientation


You all can defend companies that give you .25cpm and 2200 miles a week all you want, but that doesn't make it right. Im not in trucking for the money, but im not working for free.



American Trucker

 

You didn't say whether you started out making $800/week right after driving school, just that you started out making that much straight out of orientation. Most NEW drivers will not start out making $800/week. I don't know of anyone who has defended companies who pay $0.25/mile or regularly only gets 2,200/week. But there are some realities in this industry. Pay is normally less when someone is new and inexperienced than later when your value to the company is greater. No driver who does their job well will stay at the lower wage. The average driver should get about 2,700 miles per week, if you look at a full year. During slow times he may only get 1,800-2,200 miles/week. When business is good, he may drive 3,000-3,500 miles/week. Virtually every segment of this industry has times when business is slow and they won't be able to get as many miles. They may not have enough hours in the day to run all the miles when business is good.

If you are one of those drivers who move from one carrier to another then you are not as likely to earn as much money as a driver who works with his company and dispatcher to resolve any issues. You cannot expect to be at a high level of earning when you change jobs every 3-6 months. If you start working with a manufacturing company you may start at minimum or just above minimum wage, unless you have experience in that industry. As you gain experience you should receive raises until you are making a good living. The more you do your job the higher the wage. Most people understand that they won't start at top wages in a manufacturing or other type of job, but can't seem to relate the same criteria to trucking.

As a new driver with no experience you should still earn between $30,000-35,000. Try that with a manufacturing job, fast food or most any other job. Without a degree you are not likely to start at that wage.

If you are in this business strictly for the money, you are not likely to stay. Although you can earn an above average wage with only a few weeks training, it can be physically and mentally taxing. You will spend time away from home, family and friends. Some people thrive on this type of lifestyle change. For others, it is not something they want to do. If you don't like spending time with your own thoughts then you are probably not someone who will stay with this career.

Trucking seems to attract a very wide range of people. You will find those with a GED and some with a PhD. Many have a BS or Masters. Some started college and dropped out for a variety of reasons. It is a much different mixture of backgrounds than I saw 30 or 40 years ago. The economy may have something to do with the change. I have noticed a lot of IT people who have come to this industry the last decade. Wherever you came from you need to understand one thing. This is not IT or any other industry. Trucking is a unique industry unlike any other profession. The pay is what it is and you cannot realistically relate the pay to any other profession. You will put in a lot of hours during the week. This is not hard manual labor. If you were at home you would be sitting watching TV. In this business you may not be watching TV, but you are sitting, seeing the countryside and making money.

There are ways in which you can give yourself more value or where you can earn more money. Instead of whining about what you don't have or how little you earn, find ways in which to enhance your value. When you start with a carrier, make up your mind to stick with them. Find ways in which to enhance your value to your company. Set up a long range plan to buy your own truck or get your authority. Make a commitment to save a certain amount of money out of every check toward achieving your goal. If your credit is not up to par, then work to rebuild your credit while you save for your truck. Learn as much as you can about how to run a truck as you continue to save.

Everything we achieve in life comes at a price. Every carrier in this industry started out pretty much the same way. Werner, JB Hunt, US Xpress and others did not start with thousands of trucks. The founders of these companies risked their money and made a commitment of time in order to achieve their goal. Some may have come close to losing everything to reach their goal. They persevered and build a major company that employed thousands of drivers. You don't have to build a company with thousands of drivers in order to be successful. We each have our own idea of what it means to be successful. You can be successful as a company driver. As I have posted before, there are company drivers who earn $75,000-120,000 per year. They have found a niche' in the market and enhanced their skills to increase their value in the marketplace. Achieving an annual income of $40,000-50,000 is very achievable in any segment of this industry. That can be considered successful to some. Those who have achieved a high level of success or income rarely do so by working. They plan for their success. They save their money and invest it where it works for them while they earn a living. You can become a millionaire as a company driver. You won't normally earn that with your job, but you can save from each paycheck and invest wisely and be a millionaire when you retire. I am not talking about starting when you are in your 50's, but if you start out when you are in your 20's or 30's, there is no reason you cannot be very comfortable when you reach retirement age. It isn't what you earn, but what you save and how you invest that will insure your financial future.

 

I'm happy with .28 a mile and 2200 miles a week. But hey I'm new just starting out and still learning the ins and outs of things. .28 a mile is better then zero I was making with no job. I look at it like this, the company but some time into me on their own dime to train me and took a chance to see how I perform the job. If I do good and learn then the pay will go up as I make the company money then I make money.

What I don't get is new drivers that go to crappy companies for training with plans to leave in a few months or a year. Isn't this just setting yourself up for failure or low pay. If you keep quiting company after company in search of better pay better miles then eventually no company will want you. They will see you job hoping around and not want to put the time into you thinking you will leave within a year. If you stick it out let the BS run off your back and work at it you will get more miles and pay from that company. Once they know they can depend on you as a driver the pay will come thats what keeps them in buisness. We all have to start somewhere even doctors don't start out at doctors pay they start out as interns as they learn then they get doctors pay.

 

I started another post in the (World is a joke) "Will McDonalds hire me?"

 

I really dont need the money, but I told them, If I have to get out of bed, come in to work, I want all the O/T, ALL THE MONEY. And I get it. My time is golden.

 

Getting older?

Just before the funeral services, the undertaker came up to the very elderly widow and asked,
How old was your husband?' '98,' she replied.
'Two years older than me.'
'So you're 96,' the undertaker commented.
She responded, 'Hardly worth going home, is it?'