Reefer and dry van, what is considered a good yearly gross wage after 5-10 years experience?

Noobie here, been driving since the start of the year (2019 for this threads archives purposes).

I'm grossing $1,000 per week running dry van and reefer nationally. That gross average is taking into account taking about 1 week home-time every 4-6 weeks, so you know, I can actually see my family and stuff.

I would like more money, but am happy that it's allowed me to save a good bit of money up. Reading on these forums, it seems this average weekly gross wage is about average for new drivers (correct me if I'm wrong please).

However, I think I would be disappointed if I was 5 years into this and only grossing $1,000 per week.

I have looked into LTL a bit on these forums and it seems more money can be made there ,along with tankers and flatbed, though I haven't researched those two fields.

That said, when my year or two experience is up, I'll need to decide what my next move is. What I want to do, long term. To decide this, in part I'll need to look at the long term potential earnings in each trucking field.

So, For REEFER AND DRY VAN VETERANS, what would you guys say is a good yearly gross wage for, let's say, 5 years experience or 10 years experience?

 

At 10 years you are a old veteran and due top wages. If your company has failed to advance you into the realm of say .65 a mile etc then find another. Maybe tanking etc.

Reefer for me means loading and unloading food to and from the floor everytime with the big exception of medicines in highdollar loads. The money took care of itself. We did not ask whats what as long there was plenty to stuff into that bank.

 

Look into DOT Foods for reefer. I hear only good things about them, and their experienced drivers pulling about 80K a year driving solo which is about 1500 a week.

I hear the Walmart private fleet drivers make more than that, but it's more of a regional job.

I have been thinking about giving DOT a call, even though I live near Austin, just a little bit out of their preferred hiring area. Maybe they'll bring me on board and let me go out solo making about what I am earning right now teaming.

 

Can make $80K - $100k with line haul outfits.

 

Nice, but what about reefer? You've been doing reefer for forever, right China? Is there a cap on it or would it take staying at a company for a while? Can running reefers or dry vans get you up to the 80k-100k range like LTL?

Travr1 I forgot about Walmart, and actually I haven't thought about regional much but maybe I should. It might be a good compromise if I could still make 75k-80k like you mentioned.

You also mentioned DOT Foods but does either DOT foods or Walmart have minimum guarantees gross per week?

I've heard good things about magnum too they said lots of drivers out of NC where I'm from. The only thing is I think a company that could guarantee a set amount paycheck per week might be best. I don't know. So many options not counting the different fields for options as well.

 

I don't know of any reefer outfits that pay that much.
I could have made a lot more money with LTL outfits, but would not have had the job satisfaction of running the roads, which is what I like.
Your best bet for steady high income is LTL or hazmat/tankers.

 

I would say a run of the mile reefer driver for any otr outfit can expect to make around 1200-1400 a week gross . That's a real safe number to look for around 3-5 years experience. You just got to find what makes you happy and you'll find the money .

 

www.hornadytransportation.com has a minimum weekly guarantee of $1000.00 weekly. You can make more, but not less.

 

Even $1,000 a week for someone with less than two years experience seems low to me. Plenty of company’s where you can make 1200 or so a week and be home every weekend even with your “low” experience. To answer your other question. At 9 years (almost) I don’t think I’d consider a job if it didn’t pay 80-90K a year or more. Plenty of jobs out there in that range (and over).

Please don’t buy into the falsehood that you have to stay out weeks and weeks at a time to make a good paycheck. Companies take advantage of guys by conning them into that.

 

I run reefer from the rockies to the mid west and back every week, home for at least 34 hrs every week, I decide when I go back out on the road... Not the company. Company wants to see 10k miles a month on average... I run more than that. I take home after taxes about $1000 to $1200 every week. So far this year I have run 100,766 miles. Which is an average of abouy 12.5k miles per month. High mile month is like 15k miles... Low mile month is 10k... Give or take. Been with my company for 2 years.