New Driver's: How is the pay, really?

I don't pretend to be a knowledgeable truck driver, having only driven a couple months before I had to care for my mom, but I saw and learned alot in those two months and since, as well as on this forum.

This is one very screwed up industry. I don't believe, outside of how farm workers, miners and illegals are treated, that there is a more mistreated group in the country, and with little to zero protection. If any group NEEDED unionization, it would be professional drivers. And to see guys ##### on one hand and then make excuses for the lousy pay, obscene hours and times away from home, and the lies and deceit and threats under which they are forced to work... it is incredible to me.

Your statement:
"Talked to one school recruiter, he had a truckers newspaper and started pointing out job offers. Said one outfit was paying .66 per mile! Can't remember who it was as but that set off an alarm in the back of my head that I may have been getting bs'd." ...

... this shows you are using your smarts... good. Rule #1 : when a Recruiters mouth is moving... what you hear is a lie. Period. No exceptions. And NOBODY is paying solo drivers .66 per mile. Your first year you will be between .26 and .30... and depending upon the company/ time of year/ dispatcher/ how much you want to push yourself... miles from 1000 to 3000 a week.

As I pointed out elsewhere... to compare apples to apples in the real world.. take the weekly gross and divide by the actual number of hours worked (all time with the truck, waiting for loads, repairs, weather, etc...), not just hours driven, then subtract food, costs, tolls, tools, accessories needed, clothes... and then remember, another 20% give or take for taxes. Now see how much you make.

Do what I am doing... check out union jobs and see if there are any in your area. Talk to the union drivers here and see what they get for their dues, which are approx. $65/mo. It may enlighten you a bit. It has me. I like driving. I admire professional drivers...always have. They are much like bikers, of which I am also... they are a unique group of independent minded people who are mostly honest and good Americans. Driving is a great living if you enjoy it. Many find they don't fit. Same is true with a MC Club... many find it just isn't for them. Both are for me. I just don't like being a slave.

Be safe...

 

Well obviously you didn't "pay your dues" and "picked the wrong company to work" for. After all "it is what you make of it".

I'm being sarcastic.
It really is amazing to see so many guys in such poor shape ( probably an avg. of 30+ lbs overweight and couldn't sustain a 125 beat per minute heart rate for even a minute ) have such bravado. As if taking poor treatment makes you tough. Nope, just makes you a guy who takes the bs.

Or even just a non-union local gig. The difference in pay/benefits/treatment is a world apart from over-the-road.

Just got to "find the right company" in other words, one that doesn't require as much "its part of the job" (free) work as the rest.
Even then, just because a company SAYS they pay breakdown/layover/detention doesn't mean they WILL.

Most drivers just keep turning and burning in the great churn. Thinking the next company will be different. Never even realizing that the companies profits(moving frieght), not the drivers work, is what the drivers earnings (miles) is based off of. Eventually a company has to unreasonably and immorally royally screw a driver or (god forbid) pay them according to what work they do and time they give (trucking companies pay they're office employees.)

Don't get me wrong when things are rolling (figurative too) driving OTR rocks, boring as can be, but still rocks. But not for any real length of time though. The house wins and yrs of your life will be gone. I've talked to a lot of truckers one on one and they own up to the fact that they really don't know how all the yrs went by so quick. And now they've been living "the life" for so long they don't know if they will be comfortable doing anything else because its "its in their blood".

I hesitate to say this, but

Most people measure their lives by a combination of how productive they were and how many long lasting and close connections with other people they had. Doing "longhaul" they'll have neither.

"This is one very screwed up industry." No doubt.
But its lot of fun if I don't take it personal.

Like I care if Wal-Mart gets there toliet paper on time, anyway. O NO. If its that important why not throw in a little differential pay for the vampire non stop loads instead of a "promise" to give me a run with lots of "miles".
As if I equate "miles" for compensation.
compensation is compensation
miles are miles
sleep is sleep
DOT is the DOT
and trucking has a 130% turnover because it sucks, and all you can do is "its what you make of it"
unless of course your identity is being a trucker.

sorry for the rant.

 

personally, if i am away from my wife and out on the road i'd probably rather be working.

i mean if you're away from your family you might as well do some work to pass the time. drive, clean the truck, pretrip, postrip, etc. when i travel now for business i spend the whole 100% of my available time either working, eating or sleeping. this R&R crap is for when you come home...period. it's only a slave industry if you make it one - and that comes from your mindset.

to all of you pushing for regulation in the trucking industry, think about this. if you want less work to do and succeed in getting the big trucking cos to support you in that, they'll just hire more drivers. more drivers=less miles=smaller paycheck. before you know it, it'll become one of those part time industries like the TSA bag checkers at the airport or UPS package loaders. most of the union jobs in my area are 100% CASUAL FREAKIN' LABOR. PART TIME! 20hrs/wk! try putting food on your table with that kinda paycheck.

i say this: if you don't like the hours or the pay, move over and let some of us that could care less and have a work ethic get in there and get our hands dirty. besides, i can guarantee you that the trucking companies will NEVER pay you for 100% of your hours worked ... it almost never happens in ANY industry.

 

Now there's the attitude: "let some of us who could care less"... lol. THAT is what holds down those who want to see professional drivers treated and paid like professional drivers. Professional drivers are held to a higher work ethic, a higher standard... so why shouldn't the pay and respect be there as well? You equate working for free and being a ##### for some company with work ethic... that's laughable, but sad.

And you are wrong. "Aklmost no industry pays by the hour"??? Do you just make this stuff up??? I was a crane operator by the hour, drove dump trucks by the hour, installed irrigation systems by the hour and now run a maintenance business by the hour. The only time I never was paid by the hour was when I drew a salary from my companies and jobs.

There are plenty of smaller companies and local driving jobs, as well as all union driving jobs, that pay you for every single hour you work, including sitting and waiting for a load, waiting on repairs, etc... You are on the clock, you get paid. period. As it should be.

There is no reason the large companies can't operate like this as well and pay driver by the hour; they just don't because of guys like you... guys who are happy to work for $6 an hour.

Everyone is entitled to an opinion as are you. I wish you well and safe driving, but can't even fathom the lack of sense or logic in your thought process. Good luck.

 

Well we've seen the end of regulation. I'd like to see a true free market.
NO more gov't subsidy/kickbacks of truck driver training. That way the decent companies out there do not have to compete with the bottom feeders that turn and churn out people because they make more money.

I don't know how to address this without coming across as rude, but
This is America, Freaking america, 20hrs a week and your having to worry about food or even sporting a DVD player.

Apparantly there is a driver shortage that requires the gov't to help out poor CRengland, stevens, CRST (i'm not positive on crst)... with training drivers. So I don't think anyone needs to move over. And with the better companies boasting of a 50-60% turnover just blink your eyes and an opening will appear.

Fair enough. But how many hrs or percentage of work, time or just waiting should be done uncompensated? What if the company is debt free, self insured and profits in the millions while continuing to expand without incuring debt. Should someone sit all day hoping to work, waiting to work, wanting to work but being ignored by this company for nothing. What about shuttling the companies equipment to get it fixed. At what percentage of your time does giving it away to a company that activly lobbies the gov't to exempt its drivers from labor laws that would hurt is profits are you uncomfortable with? Surly you don't care to sit around all weekent in podonk, AL for nothing.

OTR (esp. decent companies) trucking is more and more becoming a regional "shorthaul" weekday business in which cpm is just more of a scam. Where companies shield their coffers from seasonal, economic downturns and things out of their control but keep their labor force on the ready for little (layover) to no cost.

 

the pay sucked when i started as a company driver and i bought out the loan. payed my dues so to speak for a couple years.. last weeks settlementwas 4k for the week. after expenses 2800 for the week. and they shorted me 175. they fixed.. so .. no it wasnt what it was in the begin. im on my second truck.. sometimes you eat the bear.and sometimes you pick the claws outa your butt. at the end of the year i will see 130.k. theres the math. hollow man

 

hey, the point is this: I HAVE TO START OUT IN THIS INDUSTRY SOMEWHERE. i'm talking about newbie work here. i'd love to walk over to ABF or YELLOW or maybe even Con-Way (lotsa conway trucks here) and would like "yeah, gimme a lotta miles ... oh anna salary too! oh, an' don' even think about not payin' me for every hour in the day whether i work or not ... and i want union benefits too!" and they're like "what experience do you have? call us when you have some EXPERIENCE."

so that's what i'm out to do ... get some experience. you're right, there's not a lot of glamor in being a swift driver, but you do have to start somewhere. besides, if it's that bad, a person can leave.

 

I see lots of crying with no solution mentioned. Since you seem to have this all figured out, Mr. AZ, enlighten us, please. Show us the Holy Grail.

Expect most new and prospective drivers here already know what you are preaching, but what can be done about it. If moaning, groaning and bi tching were the answer this site would lose a lot of posters. I don't have a problem finding my keyboard through the piles of cash laying around here.

 

InMyDreams,

I can assure you that your last paragraph in completely false in regards to 100% pay. In one sentence, you state NEVER and then almost never. Which is it?

I can tell you that if you are paid by the hour, you will be compensated for all hours worked.

If you meant something different, please clarify your thoughts.

Drive safe