What’s the truth on new company driver earnings?

I second this. What drivers have to understand is your pay is contingent on you. If you're running home a lot, it's going to be difficult to make money with the majority of these companies. That high number is coming from the upper 5 percent of the drivers for that company.

 

Truck drivers are exempted from the Overtime portion of the law that guarantees OT pay to most employees after 40 hours per week, That law is the Fair Labors Standards Act or FLSA. Just do an internet search of FLSA and transport worker exemption. Some companies CHOOSE to pay overtime. Some pay overtime after 8 hours per day, other pay OT after 40 hours per week. OT pay is NOT REQUIRED by law.

 

Well I'm a truck driver and I get OT after 8 hours. I also get double time after 12 hours. I also get paid OT for all hours worked on Saturday. I also get paid double time for working on a Sunday. And I also get paid double time and a half for working on a holiday. And as a bonus, I get to spend every night at home with my wife.

 

All I say is this.
Ain't none of us drivers in this comment section,
And on this forum, leaving our otr easy jobs for 15 bucks an hour.
None of us.

I pay my handyman 10 bucks an hour to do all
My yard and house work when I'm home, out of my pocket.
We out here because we don't want to work for 15 bucks an hour.

 

CPM is piece work, like you say. But a driver can and should work for jobs that pay hourly if they are tired of the rat-race of CPM work. Now, it's not fair to expect an employer paying drivers by the hour to also pay for them to sleep. Drivers, however they are paid, are going to sleep even if they had an office job. Everyone gets to choose what they value and how much they value it. I just get tired of new and experienced drivers that choose the cheapest way to enter the business or the fastest way to enter the business who then decide they have a right to demand the govt change the industry and force employers to pay in ways that were not important to them when they started. Govt doesn't solve problems, it never has. It simply changes one problem into another problem. Drivers that want hourly pay should only work at employers that pay hourly, not demand EVERYONE get paid hourly. Every method of pay has benefits and bad consequences. Pick your poison. I've worked at hourly driving jobs. It's not the Garden of Eden. The grass is always greener until you have to mow that grass.

 

Trucking works best if you live in the truck. It's not what you make, it's what you keep. Set up a ghost residence in a no-income tax state, no rent, no car. Just stack some coin. Plus trucking is not really 70 hours of work. It's more like a few hours plus time to reflect on life, sit back in the easy chair, cue 8 hours of podcasts and tunes and enjoy the ever-changing view. Chances are, the first week after getting into your own truck and hitting the open road you'll have a grin so big, you'll be asking yourself how it's even legal. Compare that with my first week at other jobs I had where I thought I'd rather die.

 

Wouldn't you rather go fishing than die?

 

HazMat