rookie pay working for owner operator

i am in sage cdl school right now and have pre hires from roehl transam and werner. my friend is a owner operator and asked if he got his second truck running if i would drive flat bed for him. he said he would pay half of net pay of truck after all expenses. and he would train me before setting me off on my own. is that reasonable for pay or would i be better off with a company?

 

Tough choice starting out. For me it's a no brainer. I go with the O/O simply because of fewer headaches. 1. No dingy dispatcher. 2. No BS company rules. 3. He 's willing to spend the time to train you and probably put up with some rookie mistakes. 4. Not likely to threaten you with termination over idle time,fuel stops, etc. 5. The pay doesn't sound all that bad but you can count on good weeks and bad weeks. Here's the thing: What do you think? No one can tell you for sure how this is gonna work. Do you want the benefits of the company? Health Insurance, 401K, etc. If so drive company. On the other hand if you are comfortable without all that go with the O/O. I can only relate from my past. That's how I got started and if you read some of the other threads on here so did a lot of others. We learned from people who had experience and took the time and effort to help us.

 

Personally, if I was in your shoes I would go with a larger company. There's a potential for higher pay from the start but it also has too many possible drawbacks as well.

A larger companies have: more experiences at training beginners, more resources for industry related educations (logs, regulations), benefits - 401k / health (better than none), payroll taxes, financial stability, newer equipments, etc... and most importantly better insurance (liability) coverage. I would say flat bedders have higher propensity to get injured on the job than say freight haulers. Without proper training (especially for someone who's learning to drive and getting around shippers/receivers/routing/ weather conditions) permanent and fatal injuries could put a little damper on a trucking career. That's not even including minor vehicle / load accidents that could ruin someone else's day as well. (for good! ) Just possibilities.


Working for a smaller company / owner could have benefits too. Such as: more hands on training from a person with extensive experience, don't have to follow up the chain of command to get the final decisions, faster vehicles (could go either way), older equipments (?), direct / personal communications, etc... and not the least higher starting pay (?).


Got to weigh the differences and see which way's right for you. I rather be on the cautious side personally.

 

I'd have to say go with the smaller company/owner operator. BUT, I've never worked for a big company as a driver, either. And, I have always had health insurance and benefits through my wife's job with the government, and so that's a consideration, too.

 

tell him you want a percentage of the gross not the net. i would think 18% or so would be fair for a trainee. mabey negotiate a raise at the one year point right away.
percentage of the net is too variable. if his truck breaks down do you loose pay? because techniclly truck maintenance is an expense that is figured into the net.

 

depends on what you are going to be expected to cover while you are running? If the owner pays for fuel, half is great, but for that much pay I am guessing you will be expected to cover down on something.

 

thanks for all the opinions, i know it would probably be better to run with a big company first and get started that way. he told me he would cover fuel, and all expenses toward the truck. the truck is prolly a 2000 something freightliner century unknown miles and i know he owns it outright. and after all costs half of net. i dont know which is better percentage or net.

 

Most pay pct of gross. That's fine as long as he's not hauling cheap ### freight.

Half of net would be pct also but if you have many breakdowns or repairs which you most likely will with that old of a truck then the net drops quickly so 50% of net may still be alot less than 18-19 % of gross. Clear as mud right?

 

I would try and get 25% of the gross and be happy to get the free training which is very valuable.

 

how much of a friend is this?

because that might be changing by the time this ordeal is over.

That's just the way the world works.
Same with moving in with a friend as roommates.

Having one as a boss might strain the relationship beyond repair.
Keep that in mind if it's a close friendship.