Worrying about leaving my job for OTR trucking

Well; come on out to the road then.... You will will see all the other animals that need to be caged and you will even see the circus and all the clowns..... you will even encounter the rodeo with a few goat roping sessions.........

 

I'm in the same boat, you may have seen my posts elsewhere in this forum trying to get info, except I was making 40K, and my company went under on the 3rd.
What is the starting pay for a company driver vs owner/operator (assuming as an o/o your a good money manager and have business acumen.
some trucking co sites say new drivers make 85 and o/o make 165 (gross of course) which sounds like its a stretch to say the least.
Dan

 

Ouch !!! That's got to hurt, I don't care who you are.

The pumping of that much sunshine up yer.... Would require at least a 24 inch pipe.

 

Can you shed some more truthfull light on this?
ie starting pay for company drivers at good companys?
starting pay for new o/o at good companys?
if I go the o/o route I'm looking at aquiring a good used ('07) truck with about 150K on it, cash, so no loans to start with. so at least your not starting out it debt....
Thanks for any info.
curious too when they say 1yr of driving experience, would that be PAID? or just logbook miles? reason I ask is I might have someone I can drive with to gain miles/time..but not on a payroll.
Dan

 

The average Company driver DOES NOT make 85K a year. I see these ads all the time, Our company drivers average XXXX dollars per year.

O/O can make the amounts they stated, easily. If the freight and logistics are in place. But you have to bear in mind, that it's gross pay.

Let's compare the "company" average myth.

Top driver -- .45 a mile
Bottom Driver -- .30 a mile

52K average per year. Fleetwide average of 9600 miles per month.

Top Driver makes $4390 a month -- or $52,680 a year

New driver makes $2880 a month -- or $34,550 a year

Fuzzy math works well in the trucking industry.

Average Driver Pay = Possible training pay (up to .10 a mile), retention pay, recruitment bonuses, loading/unloading pay, layover pay, vacation and holiday pay. Not all drivers will EVER qualify for these pay perks.

 

notarps, is flatbedding really as exciting as it gets??? I went to sage/isothermal in the evenings after I got off of my day job from 5:00pm to 9:30pm in the evenings monday thru thursday. Done my range hrs on sunday.

 

i know what your saying,i have a secure job that i've been at for years that im not really happy with anymore and i've wanted to do otr trucking for a few years now. my hardest decision is after trucking school if im pre hired to go to oriantation is giving my notice to my secure job. i'd prob. use vacation time for the 4 days of oriantation and see how things go after the 4 days?

 

Some companies want you to not have a job when you go to orientation!

 

This thread is 3 YEARS old!.....

Trucking is a lifestyle,If you have a decent paying job and sleep in your bed every night...STAY WITH IT!

 

I gotta say, that if I make the new driver pay when I start, that'll be a good 14k a year MORE then what I make now...