Never drive for a company that starts you out below .40 cents a mile!

$2k a month would barely cover my expenses. I would need to be making at least $3k per month (need a new car). My mortgage ($850), insurance ($75), utilities ($175), food ($200 -organic), gas ($100), and other necessities cost me well over $1,500 a month and I'm single living in one of the lowest cost of living states in the U.S. I can't imagine how tough it would be for a family man to support his kids on that kind of income and not being able to see them but a couple weeks a year. Not to mention, what if that man lived on a coastal city? He'd burn through his savings and have to sell or lose his house and move into something that is more within his means... boonies.

Hell, it may be better just to slack off in this business and take advantage of state welfare... you'll probably make more. (kidding).

I made almost $34k a year working full time at a job I hated. But I only had to spend 40 hours a week away from home. I'm expecting $45k to $50,000 my first year... God I hope so... with little to no home time. My ultimate goal is to be my own boss in a couple years making at least 50% more than working as a company driver. Another reason why I'm choosing this career is because I may have the ability to take a year off every once in a while to enjoy life, knowing that the supply of good truck drivers is low and the demand is high... which may change soon now that the economy is showing signs of a coming depression.

I'm kind of glad we have companies like swift, werner, etc. to take in probably 90% of the OTR newbies like me... just means that more will quit and the demand will stay high... and sooner or later... more likely later, the flat rate student pay of .20 to .32cpm will raise another 20%. At a time, I contemplated on going through one of those mega companies without actually doing research, like I am now... I probably wouldn't have lasted that long, seeing $300 to $500 a paycheck and putting up with BS dispatchers.

 

are you a vegetarian? not to bash as i have lots of knowledge stored away pertaining to the topic. an interesting expenditure.it's cheap-

btw- i read your whatever it is called postscript thing and observed that you used the word "standards". lower your standards in life as at your age you need to enjoy things. lower those standards for the trucking company and perhaps get on with a real trucking company,not a mega. lower your standards regarding dispatchers and eliminate the stress beforehand. and finally,lower your standards for women and have fun.

oops.you may be a she and if so,don't put up with the shooeit that guys in trucking will pass out in your direction.truck drivers are a dime a dozen or a nickel per twenty that act as if women can't do the job that they can.I see more women doing a better job out here than the me generation sissy guy that now drives.

male or female,my first two declarations apply evenly-

 

No, i just enjoy eating real food.

I don't think those standards are very high or out of reach. I think I found a couple companies that meet those standards already. Still looking. I'm willing to negotiate. For instance, if I were to get 3000 miles per week at .38 cpm, I'm willing to put up with any dispatcher.

One company I have an eye out for is System Trans. Pay is roughly .35 cpm after 3 months. Mileage is high from what I've heard. And after reading the boards, I know which dispatchers I need to stay away from.

 

I don't know how teams work. So I don't know if you're paid for the miles even if you aren't driving them/off duty. But if that's the case, you'd need to average around 700 miles per day, 1,400 combined for 7 days...

assuming he's only being paid miles that is. So you'd run coast to coast 3-4 times each week. Dunno, it's good money but it does seem like a good bit of work.

 

Lets see at .15 a mile x 5000 miles is 750. So if you run paper logs and take unmentionables and have two log books you MIGHT still have a pretty crappy paycheck.

Lol at .15

 

Let's be accurate here. An $850 mortgage, a new car and organic food are wants, not necessities. Sure it is nice having a new car and not a 10 year old 200,000+ mile hoopty and a nice house in a nice neighborhood, but those things are not *necessary*.

This is not aimed at you personally, but I know of too many people complaining that they are struggling to make ends meet, yet they buy/lease a new car every 2-3 years, must have the latest smart/iphone, wear designer label clothing and eat out at restaurants 3 or 4 times a week.

 

I think you are both right.

I've lived the past 2 years living LESS than paycheck to paycheck. I have $700 dollars in credit card debt that I recently maxed (which is good because otherwise I'd probably owe thousands) and a bank account that runs dry long before the next paycheck comes in. I have minimal bills (gas, car insurance, cheap dumb phone, Ramen noodles, etc). Some bills don't get paid.

There is nothing you can do to get out of this (that I know of) until you make enough to cover expenses, pay off debt, AND put some away for savings. Of course that magic number is different for everyone.


I've never been in a situation that I had extra money to manage outside of bills and necessities so I don't know what that's like, but you are correct in that when I do, I'll never take it for granted and live within my means.

 

There is something you can do about it, and I suspect that you already are working on it. I don't know the area well, but from what I understand Southern California is not a cheap place to live.

Someone earlier in the thread mentioned needing X amount every month because where they live in the North East is expensive. Moving to a cheaper area would allow them to maybe work doing what they wanted (or less hours/miles) and being able to do it while earning less money.

Everyone's circumstances are different. Someone may choose to work less and have less stress with the trade off being not having many niceties or luxuries in life. If they can cover their expenses and are satisfied with their life, then why should anyone care what they earn and how they spend it.