How realistic is it to make 75-80k a year eventually?

You should be able to get 20/hr easily in your area on a local gig. Add the average 15-20 hours of overtime in and you're at your goal.

 

@Chinatown let me ask you a question. Honestly, how many times do you give out carrier info both local and OTR to people coming in here with questions I was a driver (fill in the number) years ago and wonder how do I get back in? I see these questions and in most cases it breaks my heart. These new drivers come in with pie in the sky attitudes because they have bought hook line and sinker the crapola sold to them by the schools and these bottom feeder carriers. I would really love to stop this driver mill the US seems to have developed into. The only way to start doing it is to give these green drivers the info up front and not let them find it out when they are almost broke and laid over in Wyoming somewhere ready to abandon a truck.

 

100k is no longer good money and imo hasn't been "good money" since the 80s. I'm on track to make a legit 100k this year(gross over 2100 each week). After taxes health insurance and 401k my take home is only about 2300 to 2400 ever two weeks.

But to answer the ops original question yes you can gross 75k as a rookie. You'll need to find a job where you have to actually and go to several interviews opposed to a job where you make a phone call to recruiter and take a bus to orientation

 

No doubt. Well, keep practicing...you'll get it.

 

I don't think many people are organized enough for OTR trucking.
There's a lot to do, and always something that needs done.
I believe many come in with a "This is gonna be a cake walk" attitude, then they try to shift for the first time.

 

Great post! I can tell you if your in your 20’s-40’s I’d say jump into Foodservice as a newbie. But this forum is so anti physical labor that I just kick back now. I might try but everyone says LTL. While that’s great their are only a few positions for inexperienced drivers there. So very hard to get into. Depends on location. Foodservice probably every terminal in the US probably needs a min of 10 drivers. They will take you with experience or no experience. It’s becoming like that cartoon movie where everyone in the future is riding around in hover chairs instead of walking looking chubby. That’s what everyone wants to do in trucking.

If I was doing this all over again I would of went Foodservice 12 years ago to get my CDL. But I was like everyone wanted to check out OTR life. Got my 5 years OTR and haven’t been in a sleeper in 7 years. Those 5 years I would have probably doubled my income if I went the other route.

 

I would stay at your current job and not have to suffer for a few years compared to what you make now. I've been driving for about 4 and a half years. Had my share of accidents within the first month or 2 of being on my own. Stuck with it and made about 35k a year. I leased a truck and made $116k in a year but took not much more home than i did as an otr company driver. Now i drive for walmart and grossed 2x more in 8 months in my first year here than i did before. If you put in the time, you will be rewarded. But it sounds like you do well now. I know I'm doing well for just turning 27.

 

don't blow sunshine; the money is there <<< Right there you transitioned from one topic to another with little or no supporting information. If going after this so called money was that easy everybody would be doing it! Like a guy just said about foodservice, or the oil wells. You have to go to these jobs. Some of them are dirty and VERY labor intense. Or really have to work long tiresome weeks in some cases away from home. Everybody is not cut out for this life. Now I can't agree with some of the posts in this thread and others that are really laying it on kind of thick in regard to staying out. I'm not doing that. What I am trying to say is stop believing everything you see or hear and go get that year or 3 experience then go make some great money. Everybody has to start somewhere. However you have got to stop making it sound like it's all skittles and beer because it is not!

 

Dayton Freight is one example of an LTL company. We have 2 terminals in your area named after the nearby airports (MDW & ORD) as well as one in Rockford, IL. Our daytime (P&D) drivers make a little less than you're asking for at $26/hr (with our yearly raise coming later this month), and those of us running nights (linehaul drivers) make significantly more, while still home daily.

Most of us on linehaul are in the $90k range, with plenty making over $100k. However, these jobs are not exactly plentiful, nor are they easy. Many people just aren't able to handle nights. I consider my job easy relative to most trucking jobs, but it's hard to get guys who want to live like that. My nights are 10 hours when things go right, but they are the wrong 10 hours, and things often don't go quite right.

The only problem is LTL companies generally don't hire rookies, so you'll most likely have to pay some dues doing something else first. It sounds like you're burned out despite having a decent job. Just know that the median truck driver salary is below $50k, so you'll likely be taking a significant pay cut at first if you take the plunge.

Good luck, and let us know what you decide. Trucking is a no-brainer for people in low-paying jobs, but not necessarily for your situation.

 

A new driver doesn't need 2 or 3 yrs. experience to make good money; that new driver needs to do some research and not graduate from cdl school then immediately lease a truck, then complain about how trucking sucks because now they have to pay for fuel, tires, truck payment, insurance themselves instead of the trucking company paying for it. That's like telling your rich neighbor that you'll pay all his bills if he allows you to tell people you own his home.