just someone looking for friends

They stay in it for the love of the career, and being a free spirit on the open road. Granted in the last 15 years things are getting way to technology driven in this industry. Trucking is not a career where wealth is key to success. The money is not great, but with the right mentality, budgeting skills, and so forth. Many drivers are making enough to either pay the bills at home, or at least contribute to the bills with their paychecks. A company driver can make $40,000 - $ 55,000 a year. This is just an estimate on my behalf, and could be lower/higher. Stay away from Lease purchases of a company offering such a deal. You than become responsible for the overhead expenses being claimed as an O/O. The expenses will be taken out of your pay off the top. Fuel, maintenance, bobtail insurance, medical insurance, 401 K (if offered), Tax person, or company for filing taxes each year, and so forth. If you chose to get into trucking, stay a company driver for at least 5 years to gain experience, and knowledge. If at some point you decide to purchase a truck, either through lease purchase, or buying a truck through your own financial institution. Do research first, and plenty of it, have a lawyer look over any and all legal documents before signing anything. The idea of owning ones own truck, and their first truck is a dream come true. This is where the misunderstanding, confusion, and legal jargon that most common folks do not understand, that gets him/her in trouble. Feel free to ask at any time if you are unsure of something. There are many experienced, knowledgeable people that will be willing to help,or answer your question(s).

 

I can think of plenty of occupations that pay much better. It's an okay job that pays better than many jobs if you happen to work for the top 20% of companies. If your goal is to get rich and retire early it's probably not going to happen. If you still live with your parents you have a lot more options than most of us.

 

rabbiporkchop
I have to agree. It is not a career of riches, or one that will make you a millionaire. We do it for the love of the job.

 

Greetings brucely
You don't have to be crazy to hang out here
we'll train ya..lol

 

Brucely
This is at the top companies, if you were not being screwed out of the money and budgeting yourself right. With recent pay raises by so many companies, this is possible. In your case, just starting out the pay is low per mile especially since you will be training for those 2-8 weeks. I remember years ago. CRST, J.B, and other large companies were paying trainees half of what the pay per mile was. If pay per mile were $.30 cpm divide that in half $.15 cpm. 2000 miles x .15 = $ 300.00 before taxes, medical, insurance, and so forth. Look at what you will take home. You'd make the same working at McDonalds, maybe even better pay. I am 47 and just finished my first Master degree. Entered online college with University of Phoenix at age 41. I can remember when C.R.S.T was paying trainees .08 cpm while in training.

 

I think it would depend upon the company. Research the pay per mile, and ask questions such as are there guaranteed miles per week, what does a trainee make per mile for the training period, what is the pay after i receive my training and go solo. Think of a list of questions and write them down. Leave yourself room for answers from the companies you chose that interest you the most. Never be afraid to ask questions, the one question(s) you do not ask will be the one's to bite you in the butt later. If you live near a truck stop, go talk to drivers in person, and ask them questions about the company. If the company is on the up and up, and the driver is truly happy. They will show possible paycheck stubs, o something of the sort to proof to the situation. As they say "Proof is in the Puddin". Take the information you gain in your research , and this will help you to determine the right fit for you. You cannot always go by what you see in the good/bad trucking company forum postings. There may be circumstances one is not divulging in their post. To why they do or do not care for that particular company.

 

When you figure pay for a year, you can plan on driving 120,000 miles x Cents Per Mile. So a training company might only pay new drivers $0.28 CPM x120,000 miles is $33,000 a year.

My current company has guaranteed minimum pay of $1,000 a week or $52,000 a year with 2 years experience. I think it $800 a week less then 2 years experience.

The first year or two is hard to get the in trucking. Not getting home for holidays living in the truck and truck stops. Your not going out to party on the weekends. You will be driving. The whole going with a trainer is kinda messed up. Just because you got two guys in small space

If you want to make big money I did car hauling for 2 years and that pays like $75,000 a year. You drive a crappy old truck and we had lay in bed to get dressed in the morning. That got old quickly but they pay good money.

 

Congrats on that masters, partner. Says a lot about a man to continue educating himself even though he’s already been successful at business.

To the OP: What type of trucking do you plan on doing? Local, regional, long-haul? What kinda wagon?

Depending on where you live, there may be other types of work that you can start off with that’ll pay more right out of the gate. For instance: I live in oilfield country. Got a good paying job as soon as I got my CDL (20+ years ago). I never had to go thru the “put in your year with a cheap, crappy mega carrier and then maybe, possibly, if you’re lucky move on to something a little better” routine. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, just letting you know that there are other ways. Course, they may not all involve just driving. There’s a lot more physical labor involved in what we do than most regular OTR freight hauling in a dry van.