What should I do?

I thought oil field was supposed to be such big money. I would say you got two options. Either stick it out and keep trying to work your way up the ladder to something that pays better or find a different job. These other guys may have different ideas and that's totally fine, but I have had little to no luck changing boss's or dispatchers. Either I quit or I changed my attitude and just took it. Good luck buddy!!!!

 

right, and you have to set aside money for taxes. this is not a well paying job.

even if you were to get your own truck., i think you'd be just as dirt poor as you are now.

 

I agree this is not a job you can live on once the Tax man shows up and lays waste to all of your finances to pay him.

Get out of it. Find a real job, you can maybe clear 25000 gross on minimum wage if not better at 10.00 a hour or more.

 

I don't know.

All I can tell you is that when dispatch gives me a load, paymiles minus 20% gross, minus 40% net expected pay I always set aside a majority of that to cash savings for feast and famine. So if a load was only 500 miles in one day or 3000 over 6 I do ok.

The proof of that concept met the cruicble of financial battle on the morning of 9-11 when we learned that our payroll dept has been destroyed. It might be weeks or months before we paid again. Do we go home unemployment? Hell no, keep rolling medicines on our savings. Which also accomodated a replacement bathroom roof to frame boards after storm damage for 9000 dollars that month. So money built against bad times is not the problem.

 

In 2001 when wife and I filed our taxes jointly after 306 service days away from home logged in team trucking coast to coast, we grossed 67000 flat. About half potential earnings or... 4.54 a hour each of us for the full year as filed.

Half minimum wage or nearly so. Nothing but losses. HOWEVER we used what money we got that year wisely and it managed to pay off some big debts. However... when we are given a training salary to me at 1550 week net and wife at trainee pay at 300 net a week (Starvation wages) and we are running 6000+ miles on the ground at what is supposed to be .75 a mile to the truck... you can understand FFE did not have to pay us about 4000 dollars gross together. After her training was done and salary lifted they paid us 0.75 to the truck. But by then the damage was done. They made their money that year. Just have to be very careful about accepting salary in trucking thats all.

That truck for a period of a few months was running around 25000 miles or more a month and probably would generate a payroll of about 16000 gross per month for the both of us. But that never happened. So we are out a minimum of about oh... 34000 dollars. At least. When you look at these losses as company team int he cold light of evaluating how we were paid versus what we could have been... We estimate that together the gross for the year taxable would stand about 121,000 done. But at 67000 for two drivers equals 34000 each.

Its not worth it.

Ultimately no real complaints. They paid us what they paid us. We learned some lessons from that year. Thats one of the reasons she got out of it. Its a racket.