My first job offer is a 1099. Here are the details. Any feedback is appreciated.

Well, in his defense, he came her first rather than after being screwed.

 

The old observation of you put10 drivers in a room and you are going to get 12 different opinions seems to be holding true here also if you look at it the right way......

Drop the opinions into categories of green light go for it and various shades of yellow and red, Don't think there was one green light in the group. That says a bunch.

 

I have been a company driver my entire career (1995) and I have NEVER been asked for an escrow fund.

You made the right decision.

Your trucking job is out there. You gotta dig a little to find it. Good luck!

 

Thanks Homeskillet. I def salute and appreciate everyone who gave me feedback in this thread. I’m waiting to hear back from Bison and Covenant.

 

This is correct, and I am glad he did.

 

Sorry for the late reply, just parked. Anyway .63 is good...if you get miles and get to keep it NORMALLY however keep in mind your going to lose a lot of bennys from that pay jump. IF you get 3400 miles at .63 your MAX pay is going to be around $64K assumeing you work all 52 weeks. Western express averages around $45K a year or so. Sounds good on paper till you dig in.

First you lose 16.5% right off the top from both using IL state imcome tax as an assumption for ONLY western express so that 45k becomes 42K. As a 1099 you get to pay self employment tax rate of 15.3% PLUS your state income tax. So 19.8 so 64K becomes 51300 after taxes and western becomes 37600k which still looks good.

Second your paying ALL your own health insurance. That is not cheap. Mine is $550 a month as an INDIVIDUAL. Or around $6600 a year. So 51300 becomes 44700. Health insurance is provided by western for a nominal fee of im guessing around $100 max. Call it $1200 a year so 37600 becomes 36400

Third you are going to need to pay your unemployment stuff which i dont know the rate for IL but im going to guess simular to my own in SD which is around $1500. So 44700 is now 43200. Western express pays that for you. Still 36400.

Fourth you as a 1099 also get to pay your social security and medicare tax fica tax as well, SUPRISE! MORE TAXES. And that tax is on the 64K at the start. Since thst is your EARNED income, not whats left. I think this year its at 7.65% of your income. So that 43200 becomes 38300. Western express pays that half of your fica. And unlike a true O/O who can asorb some of that by funneling extra cash into the business such as repairs or upgrades you get squat.

But wait there is more! These figures are assumeing you work 52 weeks at the 1099. With NO time off at all. No home time, no days off nothing and doing 3400 miles EVERY SINGLE WEEK. Now redo all the math above but at a more reasonable 2000 miles and 48 weeks a year....suddenly your now making less then a part timer at mcdonalds and well below western express.

Oh and for refrence that 45k was the company driver AVERAGE so with people taking days off and such. You wouldnt get any of that at the 1099.

1099 is a #### scam and i hate seeing new drivers fall into the big numbers trap.

 

Perfect

 

1099 is the first thing that points to HELL NO. On top of that it is a Chicago company = NO , HELL NO, Find something else. Why would you want an illegal job?

 

I'm certainly glad you're passing on that offer. 63 cpm on 1099 is the same as 43 cpm on W-2. In fact, the 43 cpm may be better. If Bison offered you a job, take it. 43 cpm is ok to get started out of school. After 1 year, you can command the money closer to the industry average. 1099 companies are meant for people who have had hiccups along the way. They may have a dirty drug test, bad driving record, or a spotty criminal record. They're meant for drivers to rehab their careers. I went that route for some years due to poor decisions on my part. Had to rehab my career. Once I got my record cleaned up, I got out of there. You're fresh out of school. Don't get seduced by "seemingly high pay." Experienced drivers are making 60 cpm or more on a W-2. Be patient ans get the experience. The money will come as you get more experienced. Experience isnthe most valuable thing yo have in this industry.

It's not always easy to get miles with a 1099 company as they have a tendency to put their eggs in one basket. They love the northeast lanes. That west coast dedicated lane, I'd be surprised if you had ran that more than 3 times. They'll wine you and dine you, and take care of you. That is a good thing. They run broker freight so it's entirely possible that there will be stretches that you sit for a couple of days. As a rookie, 43 cpm is about average. Once you get experience, you can work for companies that pay you 55 to 65 cpm average.

 

Thankyou so much to everyone in this thread. I almost made a bad decision but thanks to you all I’ll never know just how bad.