Snackbar is chillin'....at Shaffer

Whew this has been a amazing story so far.

 

Enjoy it, I’m out here now, hopefully you’ll be able to avoid the snow and have better traffic luck than me, I’m up around Arlington WA and they had two major accidents on I5 south today, the highway was closed for awhile - I ended up taking a 7hr break after loading…

 

Yes. $0.74 CPM base pay is big money. The majority of OTR reefer and dry van drivers on W2 payrolls are not making even close to that much (including myself). Although the internet in general would have you believe otherwise. I don't know about flatbed or tanker or other specialized work.

Also, your $0.74 CPM isn't the number to be comparing to Snackbar's $0.70 CPM. Because you're home everyday and on a dedicated (the same) run every day. So that $0.74 CPM is what a dedicated local run would look like.

The number to compare to Snackbar and OTR drivers is the $0.78 CPM. Because Extraboard (at least at Estes) is the LTL equivalent of a truckload OTR driver. And even then it's really more like the equivalent of a truckload regional driver as they generally (but not always) run 5 days out and 2 days home. Although I understand that a small minority of non-team drivers at Estes will choose to stay out and run the road true OTR style, just staying in hotels for their 34's.

The other thing to consider is that extraboard drivers are getting 8 days off per month. I doubt that Snackbar is taking 8 days off per month to hit his quarterly/monthly bonuses (although I could be wrong I don't know how Shaffer/Crete's bonus system or pay system works so maybe the amount of miles he runs each month/quarter has nothing to do with his bonus, I don't know).

Also, LTL extraboard guys don't have to put up with opti-idles, they go in hotels and just set the thermostat to a comfortable temperature lol (sorry I couldn't resist the stories about Snackbar's opti-idle are kind of funny).

Not trying to argue with either Kao or Snackbar, I just wanted to point out to anyone reading the thread who might be new to the industry not to get deceived. LTL and Estes in particular has its negatives for sure, but OTR reefer and dry van drivers on W2's are not ever going to beat what linehaul or extraboard drivers are making if we are going by how many hours are worked (for example Kao isn't maxing out his 70 each week if he's on a 490 mile linehaul dedicated run, unless they have him with really heavy loads each night and doing almost all mountain driving).

I would definetely advise anybody new to the industry to try out LTL to see if you like it, there's never been a better time to get into these places (where you don't have to work the dock and pay your dues first) than there is now. If you don't like it, you can always go back OTR like I did lol.

Sorry to derail the thread, carry on

 

Some hands don’t want to be home that often. Bad marriage or a wife that really doesn’t care if they are there or not. Neighbor down the street taking care of her needs. Who knows. Maybe they just like to be around the carnival workers you see at the truck stops.

 

If that works for you and the Mrs so be it. Just doesn’t seem like much of a life to stay out that long especially in a turdliner with the idling issues the company has. 4.5 days is enough for me plus I make about 3K less a year than you. I’ll take it for the comfort of home life.

 

Sounds like a solid gig to me! If you want that pay at home you might actually have to do real work like construction.