Raise Driver Pay

well as long as youre getting paid for the time it isnt a negative (for you) until your company goes bankrupt. or until it afdfects the contracts they have.

 

raise the flag all you want. I'm an O/O now, but didn't buy my truck until August. My last year with this [mega, BFI as some have it] netted me more than $56,000. Now I was a L/O with them, but still good money.
I have a good friend with them that made low 50's in '10, and over 70 this year, but he's now a trainer, so that accounts for the extra money.
I know plently of company drivers making more than $42.
You won't do it the first or even the second year, usually, but it's out there.
You have to work for it.
Now I know you'll call me a liar, but that's just the way it is.

 

I've only read up to page 5 so far, but I want to put this up before I lose the thought.


There are a few people in this thread kicking that opinion around that new truckers have nothing to complain about making their average $40k per year out of the CDL school, that drivers don't want to work.

Problem #1: that $40k, or whatever amount is being quoted, is GROSS INCOME! Before taxation and benefits, before food, before showers and other necessaries are accounted for. Also given the typical industry pay, any more income than that basically means living in the truck throughout the year with rare or no home time.
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Problem #2: OTR truckers, who make up the bulk of the industry and are the focus of this topic, are paid by SHORT or PRACTICAL MILES. Not HUB miles or HOURLY. Over-the-road drivers are being screwed every single mile they drive. Which leads to...
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Problem #3: OTR guys working 70+ hours per week, without fair compensation, leading to an actual rate of pay not much higher than a McDonald's job.
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Problem #4: as OTR drivers are basically on call 24/7 whether at home or on the road, and given the constantly changing sleep/work cycles demanded by the work, why is there not additional consideration and pay given to these hardships? The office pukes see their homes every day, sleep during natural hours in their own beds, sit in their $300 leather chairs in a climate controlled room each working day, and they always make more than the drivers who get the hardest of the work done.
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And finally, returning to the point of this thread and my own problem #1, your take-home, expendable income as a typical driver grossing $40k/year is somewhere around $26-32k/year after accounting for income taxes (around 17% I think) and a $100-$200 per week expenditure on foods and necessities while away from home.


$26-$32k take-home, per year, for someone who works 70 hours every week doing 10-16 hour days, is treated like dirt by their own employer and the majority of motorists/truckers, yet somehow is the foundation upon which this country's economy and standards of living are dependant is absolutely criminal and outrageous. And we've not even begun talking about your upkeep and rent costs for the place you call home, or even the cost of your cellular phone bill (which trucking companies expect you to have but don't want to partially reimburse you for).

Based upon the "ignition on" hour meter and odometer in my truck, and my rate of pay, I calculated my compensation at $10.40 per hour, were I paid by time and not miles. It's equipped with an APU, so any and all idling time is with me either behind the wheel or doing the thing at the docks. I'm so thoroughly disgusted with this industry as a whole and those scumbags on the ATA, I could just about puke.

 

Go puke and quit complaining.
I'm tired of whineybutts.

 

No sir, I'm not here to cause trouble or raise a ruckus or call people liars. All I'm saying is I get skeptical when some kid with a still new with tags on it CR England shirt that he got 2 months ago at orentation tells me he is on track to make 70K this year I can't help but question his math skills. Esp. With a payscale that starts out at .25 cents a mile........

 

He could make 70k, all it will take is a shade under 300k miles for the year, lol.

 

I read a post the driver grosses 56K per year but how many hours do you work per week?... I bet close to 70 & with no time & 1/2.....Now figure it out in real terms of a regular 40 hour week....Im no mathamatician but that would take you down to around 32K .....No gripe but you have to think of it in more realistic terms...Right now I make 14 per hour 0730 to 1600 everyday M to F hardly any OT but Im not out there having to bust butt 14 hours per day either...I look at it like just because DOT says I can work 70 a week doesnt mean I have to..

 

Only 1 in 800 truckers know how to use a computer. 200 of them don't know how to google!

 

How comfortable are the seats?