Why are truckers with 20+years experience getting horrible pay?

Can’t speak from experience but from what I have observed many can’t manage money any better than a dog can manage a bowl full of treats.
I know a few o/o guys who are making somewhere between 150 and 250k per year and still don’t own anything other than maybe their beer fridge….it’s really sad…. And before everyone says i don’t know what I’m talking about I have run the same freight on the same lanes….and I know what can be made.

 

1 - Most drivers making good money are not going to talk about it. To them, this is not a competition because they achieved the level they wanted, and to many of them, it is a private affair.

2 - Many, too many, look at this as a job and not a profession, so they are treated as a commodity because they act like one.

3 - Because of #2, they don't offer anything to the company that they can't get from another driver. This for many medium and large fleets allow the revolving door problem to be perpetuated for years. This reinforces #2, and creates a vicious cycle.

4 - it is why we are going to see more and more autonomous trucks and robots increasing in numbers working in this industry.

 

They’re shocked at the money you “might” make?
How much money are you telling them..just curious.

What are you doing now, what are you grossing per week

 

I've never engaged in conversations with other drivers at truck stops. I stay away from them. When I go to truck stops, it's for fuel or shower or meal or rest break. I don't hang around inside other than to take care of business, then go to the truck, pull the curtains and take my rest breaks.
I can't stand to be around negative people and many are on this forum that always give negative comments and discourage drivers unless they obediently take their useless negative advice.
You have an excellent future planned, so focus on achieving that and use trucking as a stepping stone to reach that goal.

 

When I started I was kinda looking for the next higher paying job I covet with more experience. I did training that was easy way to double you pay working for same company. It gets old dealing with everything. You’re responsible to make the crazy schedule. Plus train new driver. It gets old because you can see your just running nonstop 24/7. The trucking companies don’t care about you. They put on a good show but they want that truck running the miles. They don’t care if you get sick. They still want the truck moving.

I did car hauling a couple years. The pay was great but we had old trucks and extremely small sleepers. We had to wear uniforms. In the summer your out in the summer heat and rain. In the winter your out in snow. When they had lots of cars to be delivered they would cancel home time.

when you get older you don’t always have that unlimited energy to keep going non stop. I don’t want to work out in snow 3 hours loading cars. No shower just so I can go park at truck stop and sleep in basically a coffin sleeper. Just to get up in the morning and do 5-6 stops unloading cars in snow and cold.

Maybe a private fleet job is ok, these trucking companies just don’t care about you as driver or person in my opinion. Older drive might want to be home more. If you fly a plane a long time you become Captain and that status gets you more pay more respect. If you get 20+ years of flying that experience worth something.

 

In short because they can't do math and don't understand the concepts of delayed gratification and enlightend self interest.

In order to maximize income, a driver needs to understand the company's pay structure and dispatch paradigm.

Schneider has a reputation for being a low paying company. They're not, but the perception comes from drivers not seeing the whole picture. Looking at just base pay, Schneider looks much lower. Adding in all the accessory pay increased my pay by about 8 cpm. A lot of drivers looked for long length of hauls and would happily sit and wait for them. Me, I loved the short runs because they paid better. Give me a choice between two 1,500 loads or 10 loads with a 200 mile average loh and I want the 10 loads. Same total amount of work, but the 10 loads would pay about $200 more.

Drivers who understand their freight base and patterns make more. There are times it pays to run hard and there are times it makes more sense to take it easy. Knowing the difference can easily increase your pay by 2-3%. A driver needs to do the math to figure this out. I can tell you every load I hauled for Schneider after my first year. It took time and effort to catalog and analyze the data, but it paid off.

Many drivers chase the rainbow. They change companies looking for better pay, better equipment, better dispatch, better whatever. In doing so they never advance. There is a prolific member who has worked for 6 companies in 10 years and is back where he started - making 2 cpm less than if he'd just stayed put. Counting all the "lost time" in going to orientation over and over, he's easily tossed away $100k.

Around my 3rd year I ran into a guy I went to cdl school with. He had started with a smaller 'better paying/treatment' carrier, then switched companies, then when back to the first company as a L/P, then went to a 3rd company. I was making more per mile, getting more miles, and driving a brand new truck. Instead of a quick payoff I went for long term growth and stability. There were times I took one on the chin, which granted me better results when I would push back. When I looked around for better opportunities, I saw more of the same. It's not about right now, it's about getting to the right place. Most drivers don't think about anything more than the next load, and they end up paying for it.

 

As an old timer "looking in", one thing is universal and always has been, the BS about pay. For starters, what is good pay today? In my time,( 80s-90s) high teens was good pay, and only UPS made over $20. Today, I see jobs I've had, that had a waiting list to get in, btw, now offering $28.50 to start, for a job I was paid $17.50. I don't think anyone works for "horrible" pay, I could live like a king on todays salaries. The bottom line, whether you like it or not, trucking is basically an unskilled job, with no real limitations, or lengthy high cost training, like say a doctor, and pays better than most other unskilled labor. An old timer told me a long time ago, "it isn't what you make, it's what you spend", and that still holds true. With certain situations aside, compared to many occupations, you don't do a heck of a lot considering what you get paid. I'm sure many work a lot harder for a lot less. It's what attracted me to trucking in the 1st place. I think if you are going to do trucking, you are doing the right thing, and don't talk about it. It's when you try to do it "all", is when problems come up.

 

Best thing you can do is worry about you, and avoid the noise of others. Like most things in life it is your attitude that will make or break you. Be positive, don't hit stuff and make your money. Best of luck to you.