One year of LTL in review...

Driver profile:

Name: SMH
Age: 30
Region: Northwest
Company: USF branch
Job Title: Linedriver
Hire Date: June 2012
Previous CDL exp: NONE
Last OTR/LTL carrier: N/A
CDL holder since: November 2011
Endorsements: Double/triple trls, tanker, and HazMat
CDL School: Sage Technical Services, Billings Montana
Previous non-DOT driving exp: 8 years military. 250K accident free miles, one combat tour in Iraq doing convoys/linehauls in 2009

Driving history with current carrier (commercial)

Current Pay: 44 cpm & $16/hour (non-driving duties)
Shortest workday: 7.5 hrs
Longest documented workday: 14 hrs
Average workday: 9.5 hrs
Average drive time: 6 hrs/shift
Average non-driving work time: 1.5 hrs/shift
Average detention time: 0.5 - 2.5 hrs/shift
Shift start time: 2030 hrs
Shift end time: 0600 hrs
Total sick days used: 0 (zero)
Lost time due to injuries: 0 (zero) hours

Mileage:

Total Mileage: 98,000 miles
Bobtail miles: 850 (estimate)
Single trl miles: 4,000
Double trl miles: 70,000
Triple trl miles: 23,150

Terminals supported: 9
Total layovers: 16

Total breakdown: 20 hrs
Total detention: 85 hrs (liberal estimate)
Total DOT inspections: 1 (one), Level 3 DOT in Lima, Montana... passed
Total # of chain-ups: 11

Accidents: 1 (one). Minor incident, turned too sharp with rocky mt set, caused minor damage to company owned equipment.
Total accident reports: 4
Deer Strikes: 3
Bird Strikes: 5
Letter of Reprimands: 1
Letter of Suspensions: 0

Total fuel tanked: 19,500 gallons (92625 litres)
Total end of one year pay: $58,000 (and some change)
Overall job satisfaction score: Good - Really Good

PERSONAL NOTES:

Pros: Excellent LTL company, excellent pay & benefits. Firm but fair terminal manager. Outstanding dispatchers that keep me moving and treat me really well. Superb coworkers that are willing to share their experience & provide advice. Paper logs. Fairly antiquated but reliable equipment.

Cons: Ever changing barrage of DOT laws (industry wide), antiquated equipment., 60% of terminals are gravel, communications between drivers, managers, and dispatchers need to improve.

If responding to thread, please do not quote this text as part of your response. Just ask your questions or make your comments.. Lets keep the rest of our forum members from having to browse through my OP. Thanks!

ANOTHER NOTE: This is intended to be an informative thread which outlines my first year as a linedriver under an LTL company. This is not meant as an assessment of my driving nor a way to compare my wages vs the rest of the LTL world or country. If you feel that my carrier is underpaying me, please direct your concerns towards my carrier and NOT me. I am just some random guy, a mere tick on some labour report on a spreadsheet that my carrier generates each month. Just like the rest of you guys that subscribe to TTR, I am just a person that is making a living by contributing to the transportation industry. Thank you.

 

All three deer strikes were in Montana during night time driving. Two deer strikes were head on collisions. One deer crossed the road after I passed it and went under the passenger side of my second trailer while I was hauling triple trailers. Average deer strikes per year/per driver within that state are four. My average speed per strike was 55 MPH. Our carrier governs out our trucks at 63 MPH.

Two strikes caused no damages. One head on strike knocked out a fog light.

Two bird strikes were at highway speeds at night. The others happened in the daytime at highway speeds.

If you can figure out a way to prevent deer from crossing my path of travel, please PM me. I will be more than open to your suggestions.

 

Aside from that, you don't have anything better to add?

Not gonna get into a pissing match on who gets paid the most. I will say this: My cost of living in my area is low. My take-home pay is roughly $1000/week (after 20% goes into saving/retirement and Uncle Sam takes his cut), My mortgage payment is $817/month plus whatever other bills I got to pay. I am not gonna get a new truck anytime soon, but what I make keeps the lights on and food on the table. You might make more, but you may also pay out more for your cost of living.