What do you average for miles each week as a driver?

When I was company drivers I drove anywhere from 2600 to 3700 miles. It was a flatbed company with 150 trucks. issue with big companies is they don’t care about your miles nor they care about you or your family. They enjoy short hops because often short hops pay well and they don’t waste a lot of fuel/tolls/maintenance. Also they only have to pay the driver $500 or so.

 

That’s not bad at all.

 

From what I’ve been seeing for years is everyone promises big $$$. In reality it’s usually about 75% real vs. advertised pay. Best to ask other Drivers experience before making a move. Flatbed, Tanker, etc. almost always pays more $$$ per year than OTR dry Van general freight. It should, it’s harder work. Dry Van is more dependent on getting enough miles. 2500 per week seems to be the average. 2800 consistently and still getting home time is possible. All depends on length of runs. Short runs for flat rate mileage, can be a waste of time. It can work well on a dedicated loop, especially if it’s drop and hook, and gets you home often. Still it’s a hustle. Less physical labor, but usually more driving required compared to flatbed. My main complaint with most OTR jobs is often not knowing where the next assignment will send me. IMO, a consistent idea on a daily basis is worth a lot in the overall picture. 2500 mikes @ 55 cpm, will net $1100 per week. Pick your poison, depending on desired lifestyle.

 

If you're "taking home" (net) $1,100.00 after taxes and other deductions (gross) you should think long and hard about leaving that assignment!

 

Depends on the week, but I'm averaging 2,100 miles per week short haul/regional

 

2800-3300 miles a week doing OTR reefer, but there are so many factors for average miles. 2500 at one company might be the best a driver can do there and 2500 at another might be bottom of the barrel. When you hear both say 2500, you're going to think they're the same, but they're not.

Load planners, freight quantity, driver consistency. If any of those are inconsistent, miles drop.

Some companies do the blanket, 50mph BS for time calculations. That's inaccurate and too conservative in most of the country IMO.

Some companies screw you on home time and send you 1500 miles a week for the last two week under the guise of "setting you up to get home". True to an extent, but they also like pawning off those 200 mile loads paying 1000 dollars to their pockets.

Always complain about multi stoppers, overnighters, or certain regions? Miles drop

Don't run out your clock? Miles can drop. Example being a 600 mile ASAP drop load. If you run it out and deliver same day, you have fresh hours and can run that 500 mile straight through load the next day that they need covered. If you only make 300 miles of progress on the first load, now you only have 6 hours to use the next day after delivery.

(None of this is directed at you. Its just examples of why vague mileage estimates never tell the whole story when seeking jobs)

 

if that's w2 on 1500 miles a week you're literally top 25% of "gainfully employed"

 

The guy that trained me explained the importance of accessory pay when it comes to picking a company. Some companies will fight it every inch of the way and basically tell you to hire a lawyer if you want anything outside of miles for pay. Other companies you don’t even have to ask. The key is to keep your nose, clean and clean and get in with the later company. They are out there. Although they’re becoming far and few inbetween. Many drivers don’t recognize the importance of accessory pay. They get a paycheck for a week that’s $1000 not realizing all the delays, the detention, the two days you sat at a truckstop without pay, all of that adds up and that thousand dollar check could’ve been $1500 if the company was properly paying you. The issue is, if you have any dings on your record, it’s much harder to get in with these companies. But they are out there. YOUR TIME IS VALUABLE. Period. Find a company that recognizes this and honors this.

 

Avg 1,500 miles a week with $2,300 gross paychecks bumping a lot of docks doing a lot of live unloads. Easiest money in trucking. Never did like running a lot of miles even when I had my own truck.