no logs

Oh man. What you said about no freight I hope isn't completely true. I plan to start next month. The recruiter at Schneider said I would average 2400 miles per week. Is that close to right? I'm not saying your lying, but I hope you are exaggerating. I would consider myself rich with 2400 miles a week.

 

KD5...

I wouldn't know any of the folks on this board if they came up and smacked me with a 2X4. I'd not trust them with my liquor or my woman. But I'd trust them a heck of a lot sooner than I'd trust anything ANY recruiter says.

The recruiter's job is to get you to sign on the dotted line. While I'll give most of them the benefit of the doubt, at least some of them lie outright. The rest give you... facts and let you make assumptions. For any number a recruiter gives you, ask for documentation. Ask for a worst case number (what's the least amount a noob driver makes.. etc)

I talked to one just the other day (I'm a noob, fresh out of school. My CDL is still a hunk of paper, not a plastic laminated card). He was quoting figures here and there. They were pretty nice. I ignored them as .. unlikely for a noob. Sure, if I make what he says, that would be great. On the other hand, if I make HALF of what he says, that will be fine, too.

Yes, I'm going to try to work for them. Not because of his promises. Because his operational area is what I'm looking for. Local (home every day) and driving in the mountains. After that, who cares? So long as I get my bills paid and set aside a bit for the kids schooling, I'm covered.

 

KD5,

You may be able to do 2400 miles per week. I have not driven for schneider. The problem with 2400 is that it takes you 7 days times 24 hours to make 2400 miles. If schneider pays you 30 cpm that is $720.00 gross pay. We'll take 7 days times 24 hours equals 168 hours per week. I'll be generous and let s say your schneider company really makes you take ten continuous hours off like the regs require. Thus we'll subtract 70 from 168 to get 98 hours worked per week. We divide $720.00 by 98 hours worked and we get an hourly wage of $7.35 cents. Thus, even if you get 2400 miles each and every week, you still barely make more than minumum wage and you have to be gone all week long every week to do it.

$720.00 times 52 weeks equals $37,440 annually. Is it really that great? Has ANY recruiter ever done this math with you?

Now, let's do the DOT math. You can easily and lawfully drive 550 miles each and every day you are away from home. That is if you don't have to wait for loading and unloading. 550 miles each day times 7 days equals 3850 miles per week. 3850 miles times 30 cpm equals $1155.00 gross pay per week. This is the way experienced drivers especially team drivers can make money. The problem is you NEVER have ANY say in what miles you get unless you are married to the boss's daughter. The drivers who get these kinds of miles consistently get great drop and hook and drive illegal a lot too.

I want to make this clear. I love driving a semi. I am proud of my accomplishments. I have grown a tremendous amount having survived trucking. But it is a harsh lifestyle. It is not a job replacement. Unless you can drive with a husband or wife, I would not recommend it if you have one. I will tell you the worst I can hoping that if you learn about the worst and still jump in you will be better prepared to survive.

I would love to drive with my wife. She however makes six figures working only 12 hours a day five days a week. She isn't gonna get in that truck with me because her opportunity cost is too great. I don't blame her but I sure miss her.

BRI

 

The recruiter didn't do the math with me but I did the weekly earning potential from the 2400 miles a week. I have divided it by 7 to assume I will be driving like that. I never expected to get rich in this business. Right now I am in college and already $28,000 in debt. I have 10-15 years to pay it off. Continuing in college will only dig deeper in debt by a lot and still only make around $35,000 per year. The most I ever made in a year was around 20,000 and the job sucked. I put in a lot of overtime each week, most of that year. Being single and not having bills, except eating on the road if I made more than $20,000 per year, I call that rich. Also right now I am going to test out this business to see if I can enjoy it and make a living. If not I will head back to school and accept what I am forced to do. I do have to run 18 months anyway.

I know this job isn't all sunshine but being by myself driving and not having somebody telling me I suck all the time sounds better than McDonald's. If I did remain in college I would almost have to work full time and go to school full time, to keep from getting a $100,000 debt. Plus it seems I have become addicted to driving. This semester I rented cars and probably spent $2,000. Most of that in around 1.5 months. It is strange to want to be happy working at a particular job and not so much the pay. I did drive about 4,000 miles over that 1.5 months. But that is only because gas is so much.

But anyway, thanks for your information on this matter. If I made 1/2 what they are talking about I would be happy. I will just have to hope foods and supplies needed are enough to keep me busy. Personally my only requirements for how far I will drive is I have to remain on earth. Canada would be fine too, if the weather isn't too deadly. I would have to skip Mexico though. I have grown attached to living.

 

You raise a point many people overlook.

It's not how much you make, it's how much you make against how much you NEED

If you earn $75k/year and your bills are $74k, are you really making more than the guy who's earning $50k, but whose bills are only $45k?

I, for one, don't need $75k. In fact.. well, I won't say what I need, but I'm not worried about making it in the trucking industry! Anything above that is Monopoly money