Litmus test for new drivers...

Wait ...... let me get comfortable

 

New drivers at my place start out at $26.92 with time and a half after 8 hours every day. Paid for 8 even if you only work 2 hours. You feel like working a saturday? All time and half!

It's fast paced, somewhat stressful, and definitely not easy, but everyone's home every day to help make dinner, eat with their families, help kids with their homework, have some quality time with their loved ones etc etc

No one here has ever even considered spending one second living in a truck. We're too busy getting our shore houses up and running for that stuff.

Don't buy that "must pay your dues running long haul" garbage. It all depends on your area.

If you wanna run long haul, great, go for it. It's an important job. But there's too many types of driving jobs to be miserable because you think you have to do one for a year

 

I think you may need to define your location more precisely than "East Coast".

Half of us will be looking to move there to get a job and the rest of us will be thinking "Ya but, what's the cost of living gotta be for that wage to work out for the company?"

 

And on the other hand, you'd be living on the East Coast.... Meh.
For now, I'm content with my $700-800 paychecks, take home. It pays all our bills, I can afford a toy car, money is being put into savings, and I'm always keeping an ear out for something better.

And that takehome number is after all my insurance deductions, 401K contributions, etc. My next job won't have a 401K right away, most likely, but I plan on setting that amount aside to roll into another form of investment.

 

Nothing wrong with the east coast. Matter of fact, I love it. I ain't leaving. I can zip to NYC, Philly, DC, the shore etc etc etc on a whim any time I want.

I grew up in the Midwest. You can keep them corn fed women I like the bright lights of the big city. As long as I can easily drive home to my house in the woods every night. Lol.

Like I said, to each their own. You wanna go OTR? Do it! Important job, just don't think you HAVE to do it if you don't want to. That's all I'm saying

 

I just started driving otr, my first trucking job. I have no complaints about besides the money I am making.
I think people just don't think things thru sometimes.
Being a trucker requires a mature mind.
If you still want to party and drink and smoke weed and do fun things. You might want to take a minute and think things thru. Nothing wrong wrong with partying smoking weed and drinking. But you need to be a adult about it and do it in moderation or have self Controll.
I look at life as one big sacrifice.
You sacrifice one thing for another in hopes you can retire and have a fulfilling 10 years before your death bed. Lol

I think trucking jobs can do a better job to accommodate new drivers tho.

Considering the turn over rates. It's no wonder.
This job is not for everyone.
A lot of people just won't be able to drive this big machine on the road. Others just can't afford working for what new drivers make. And others just won't be able to with the lifestyle.

Pay is the biggest issue for me.
I can make the same money working in McDonald's and only work 5 days a week.
I can work warehouse jobs and make 2-3x as much by working 5-7 days a week.

I think once you're a driver and see that they are capable you need to find ways to retain those drivers by giving them a fair wage.

Right now all I see is this company recycling new and good drivers.

I just want to get my one year over with and go to a better paying company

I might even consider it sooner depending on my paychecks in the next few weeks/months.

 

Recently it has become possible to get a new CDL and get a local or regional job. When I got into trucking in the mid-1990s going local was a matter of HOW MANY years you spent OTR. My current company, back then, required 2 years OTR to become a yard switcher. They dropped that to 1 year, then 6 months and now you need a CDL and you will ride with their trainers until they say you are good-to-go.

You know how new drivers can't go from the truck stop fuel pumps to the bathroom without a qualcomm message, a GPS and a scout-guide? What was once exceptional is no becoming the bare-minimum. On a really bad day new drivers might have to send 5 Qualcomm messages. They would give birth to cows if they had to walk from the truck to a payphone every hour until they got a backhaul.

 

Is yours a union gig? LTL?

 

OTR is the whole reason I'm still wrenching and not driving yet. I have zero interest in living in a truck. I spent too much on my home and bed to not enjoy them every day. Don't get me wrong, if I stumble across a good paying local or even a regional gig I'd be in the driver's seat in a heartbeat.