Who's The Worst Of Them ALL to work for?

Don't know where you are living, but $17/hr is plenty enough where I am at, and I have a wife and 3 kids . Should you be paid more? Hell, yes. But if you have trouble getting by on 17 then you are spending more than you should. Spend less than what you make and you are OK. It's always worked for me.

 

And when the cost of Rent or house payment, insurance and taxes combined with the cost of Utilities and groceries topped of with groceries, clothing and transportation just does not add up, what then?

The major problem of people within the world of personal finance is replies like this one.

The US Department of Labor states that 95% of all Americans fail when it comes to Personal Finance. The facts speak for themselves;
5% wealthy to rich.

95% upon retirement will be dependent upon government, family, friends, churches and welfare to survive.

It is not how much you have now when you think you are okay. It is your future based upon inflation and cost of living for basic necessities that will eat you alive if you don't prepare for it. Medical bills have taken many dreams and placed them in a heap; broken!

With our present infrastructure, if you are not making $35 per hour you are making nothing. Do the Math:

Cost of a Nice/Safe Vehicle: $ Car $ Pickup
Cost of a decent Family Home $
Cost of living budget just to cover basics
Whats left over. For most people; Bills!

When you think you are doing well, sit down and rethink where you are and where you are going, then find someone who understands the world around us and ask them for advice. A seasoned accountant can tell you the facts of life. Then again, you may have to get a second opinion.

 

Question Brick,

Last month going thru WY I saw what looked like small oil wells with two tanks side by side. What's the deal with that?

 

The NW.

I can get by on $17, because I don't have a family to take care of. I'm pass that point in my life. But there are many drivers that do and are forced to drive OTR because the local driving jobs don't pay.

A family of 5 would be in poverty or sunk in debt in my area, living off of $17 a hour driving a truck. This is a 2 income town unless one of you is making a professional wage which in my area is around $30+ a hour.

Given the choice of being away for 2-4 weeks at a time OTR again or being with my family. I would definitely be looking to find training other then driving a truck and not being home for my wife and kids.

 

This is somewhat deceiving. What it is saying is "satisfactory" is the highest rating, not that Swift is the highest. Roehl is actually the highest ranked by number. There are six major carriers that fit into the category "satisfactory." No inspection is required of trucks from these companies, because DOT assumes they are safe. The reason I know all this is because a Roehl recruiter passed out a list of the ratings and explained it.

How the hell does a company that kills 60 people in 2 years and has 2000 crashes get a "satisfactory" rating?

To even do pre-hires and disqualify people with too many tickets or convictions? or just poor work history and references or physical fails? I'm worried about that. I'm in CDL school and don't want to have a lot of anxiety until after orientation.

No raise? A Werner recruiter came to my class and was pretty convincing, but I know people say not so good things on here. A classmate asked him what the policy is if a driver is out on the road and finds out there has been a death in the family. The recruiter said they would get him home....

So his base wage per mile has been the same for 4 years? Has he switched routes, like OTR to regional to dedicated. The recruiter said different routes pay different wage, but beggining OTR drivers make 26 cents per mile, same as Swift.

 

I don't know how much it costs to survive in other parts of the country but I do know how much it costs to live in West Michigan... and what I said about living off $17/hr is absolutely true. I know because I did it (my wife was a stay-at-home mom until this year). We had to buy a house that needed work (still does) and purchase used vehicles instead of new. Had extra money leftover to dump in the 401K and join a gym. We did have to make sacrifices.

If I made $35/hr I could retire in 10 years for sure.

No doubt that healthcare in the US is broken. I won't defend it. And the inequalities in income between the haves and have nots are so huge it's shameful.

 

Don't bet on that $35 - 10 year retirement. The cost of living is rising and the cost of food is going to astronomical in the near future. Look at apples for an example. A year ago, many places posted 69 cents Lb. Now, you can't find apples for less than $1.50 lb.

If you have debt, you are a slave to the bank:
Mortage
Car/Truck Payments
Other Credit

If you are debt free and can stay that way, you have little to worry about, but only a few are in this position in this country today.

You need work on your home? You should not have to worry about the cost of time to get it done. If it needs it, it needs it now.

The problem again, with your comments is, they do not cover the cost of the future based on the fact:
The US Dollar is worthless: i.e. International Debt, National Debt, Big Government and rising cost of paying for Government (Taxes).
US Economy is in the Toilet despite the fact some say we have been in great position over the past 25 years. Read the books that tell you why our jobs have been outsourced. Our Big Companies have downsized, shipped jobs over seas, or closed their doors.

Look at the history of trucking and see that in 1980 the Freight rates were about 80 cents per mile and today, with the huge costs of equipment, tires, operational costs, etc, our rates are still (for the most part) under a Dollar per mile. See you Truck Recruiting Books (Owner Operators).

You think you can do it on your limited budget today? Tomorrow you will realize you were wrong pal.

Good luck.

 

It's not even fine for a single guy if the single guy has any dreams for a future.

Here are the facts:

To be in the upper class: No Bills, No Mortgages, $5million or more in the bank.

To be in the Middle Class: No Bills, No Mortgages, up to $5 million in the bank.

To be in the Lower Class: Bills, Mortgage, Living Pay check to Pay check for the most part and perhaps something going into a retirement plan.

To be in the Poverty Level: Bills, Rent payments, living pay check to pay check and not making it. Nothing in the bank and no future.

Most people fall in the Lower Class. In fact the latest stats I read was 94% are failing financially in this country. Thats up 1% from a year ago.

Why? Because some people are finding a money trail and getting on it like a hound dog on the hunt.

Most are just wishful thinking and those wishes don't taste good all too often.

 

I think it's more like 5% are coming out of the right vag and the other 95% aren't.