Looking for some Info!!

Hello all,

I have spent many many hours researching and reading and more reading for quite some time now trying to find the courage to make the career move into the Trucking World. It is something I have always wanted to do since I was very young, since the first day I put the ole 70 something KW into gear when I was like 12. Many things over the past 20 some years have held me back from actually doing this ( I am 35 now ) and I am feeling more or less left in a dead end unsatisfiying career right now. I have a lot of reservations and worries and am trying to go into this as informed as I possibly can. I am grateful to have found this website!

After a lot of time, I am really leaning towards going to the Roehl School for many different reasons, one I live in Appleton, WI and two it seems to have a lot more positive vibe going than many of the other "starter" companies. My next door neighbor is actually a planner for Swift, but I just can't bring myself to believe in Swift at this point.

Onto some questions, I sent a email and received a response from Roehl with some questions I had. It had a lot of good answers but left me still wondering about a few things.

Most importantly is expected pay a Trucker can make here in their first year. This is very important to myself and my family and I am the sole provider currently, as my wife stays at home with our 2 yr old little man. I currently make 42k a year and we live fine off of this, we own a home have a newer car and can cover all our expenses. When I asked in my email what I could expect my first year as Roehl company driver I never really got a straight answer from the gal ( I believe a recruiter). She more or less said they try to get an average of 2100-2300 miles per week with a starting cpm starting at .28 - .33 depending on the fleet. So naturally I broke out the calculator and punched in the numbers on a 52 calender year and comes to roughly 35-36k on the low end of the range she gave me. However as I thought about it more I wasn't sure she was basing those numbers solely on driving weeks or an esimated yearly average of miles per week for a year. To clarify, do those numbers take in account hometime? I basically need to be in the 38k-40k a year to start to be able to make this switch, is this doable/possible as a first year driver?? Obviously as you become a more experienced driver this goes up quite a bit and hitting those numbers shouldn't be a problem at all.

Anyone able to shed some light on this for me? I understand not everyone is willing to throw out what they make on a forum but any help would be great!

Also, what fleet currently is getting the miles and getting paid the higher cpm? I was considering the Nat. Van or Reefer fleets, no interest in flats, with the 11/3 or possibly the 14/7. Will either of those pay about the same? Is there a huge difference? I am leaning more towards the 11/3 because I am not a fan of slip seating. I'd like my home away from home to be, well my home lol.

Also, benefit wise, are they good? Decent? Top Notch?

I probably will have a ton more questions, as I am taking this slow and being fully prepared before I make a plunge

Thanks for any insight from anyone in advance!

 

Bummer lots of views but no replys ... I guess I can simplify my thread a little bit ...

What is a realistic annual income at Roehl coming out of the school for your first year? Thanks !!

 

Thanks for the reply Treefork!!

Well I despise my career and my job currently. I need to change, if it means taking a pay cut for sometime that's fine with us! How much of a pay cut is what I need to realistically be aware of before going full steam into this.

If I could be around the 35k a year mark to start for a year or two we'd be fine with that, we would and will be doing some rebudgetting knowing I probably won't make what I currently do. First priority is to sell the 2011 Sportage we won't need! 20k if anyone is interested, only has 6500 miles !

So what is a very realistic number to see the first year or two until you get some experience built up? Shoot it at me, I need to know lol. Is 35k unreachable or unlikely? I've seen some posts saying they were getting checks for 250 a week and some saying they barely scratched 30k. This would be for the most part undoable for us at least as of right now.

Also is it realistic to be making 40-50k or more after having some years of experience under ya?
Thanks again Treefork!

 

Thanks for all the replys!

Ya I do have a job that pays well, however I do put in A LOT of time which I don't really get compensated for. A lot of hours, as of right now most of the week I don't see my wife and son for the most part except on the weekends. I go in 4 am and get home sometimes as late as 7 pm. Meaning get home eat shower and jump into bed, rinse and repeat. Both my wife and I are aware of the sacrifice of being away will be like for at least the first year or two, than at that point we could evaluate if a more local gig is the way to go after getting the experience.

It seems the starting pay at roehl is going to be quite a bit less than I was hoping. Is there other carriers that would pay more. My neighbor who is a planner for swift said I'd be around the 40k mark for my first year, but I believe going with them would mean very very little home time to make that kind of money with them.

I think I currently would lean towards Nat. Van fleet with the hopes of doing 11-15 / 3.

As to working for coke or pepsi, nay I do a "delivery service" type job similar to that now, which I don't want to do anymore. I just want to drive mostly. And to the one who posted about college, I actually have a 4 yr degree lol. My heart and aspirations keep steering me towards trucking as I love to be out on the road driving.