Yearly incomes? for new and 2, 3 years out

The numbers in reality will vary wildly due to
- company worked for
- amount of effort driver will be willing to put forth
- US overall economy
- region(s) driver is willing to operate in
- amount of home-time driver demands

Can you make "good" money and be home "regularly"? Yes, there are a small handful of opportunities that can provide this but experience, luck, effort, and being in the right place at the right time is required.

 

Yeah I am in contact with a lot of buddies from class or the job orientation who went to other companies and I seem to be making the most out of all of them. They went to crap companies making $500 - $600 per week and I make double just starting out.

 

A new driver (or any other) should not be able to legally drive more than about 60 hours (even using a 34 hour reset, you just cannot get more than about 62 hours). As a new driver, providing time for PTI, fueling, etc, you are going to average around 45MPH (depending on where you drive). New students generally make $0.30 per mile.

60 hours/week x 45 miles/hour x $0.30/mile = $810 gross
This comes out to about $42,000 per year

Anything more than this and something does not add up. It could be a better pay for HAZMAT, could be higher speeds by driving out West with ungoverned trucks, etc.

Most of the truck drivers I have talked to have always said between $30,000 and $35,000 for a starting (student) driver. There are exceptions to most rules, but this seems to be backed up by most of the research I have done. Even recruiters rarely threw around numbers higher than $42,000. If recruiters put pay in the low 40s, then you have to assume this is the top end of the pay range for new drivers.

 

To give you a feel for the potential, to make $1000 (gross) per week (at 30 CPM), you need to run 3,333 miles per week. To run that in 62 hours means you need to be running an average of 53MPH (this includes "line 4" time).

 

OTR:

1st year: Dry Van OTR LTL $46,000
2nd Year: Specialized flatbed/heavy haul made over $20,000 1st quarter would have grossed $70,000 - $75,000 had i stay for all of 2012

Local

1st year: $40,000

2nd year: $42,000

3rd Year: On track to gross $55,000 to $60,000 (local line haul)





American Trucker

 

you need to learn how to log.....


in the morning when you pre-trip fuel at the same time and save 15 min on your log

average your speed 60-62mph in 65+mph states and 50-52mph in CA



if you dont gross $45k+ your first year OTR your wasteing your time





American Trucker

 

AT, you also stayed out for 6-8 weeks at a time with W/S didn't you? That right there has a big effect on your pay. I personally plan to do the same long stays OTR and plan on low to mid 40's first year.

That said, a driver who takes more home time can easily drop to $30 or $35. It all depends on priorities I guess.

 

Many of the starter companies govern their trucks 65 MPH or lower.

The maximum number of hours that can be worked per week is 62 hours. This is based on 11 hours working and 10 hours off with a reset after 6 shifts of driving/working. This comes out to 66 hours of working in a 150 hour period. You could add up to 4 hours more of work, but no more driving time, so no more money to be made during this period. This means with no home time at all, the most you can work in a week is 62 hours (averaged across a year and this number will go down when the new reset rules go into effect in 2013).

Even if you add the PTI (done during fueling) and vehicle inspections (done when taking a bathroom break) on line 4 during the 4 hours I discussed above, you may very well be able to maintain a speed only a few MPH below the posted speed limit, you still have to account for load/unload time, drop/hook time, waiting on customers (like the all too present 16 hour wait at a customer location) and all of the other things that keep drivers from making the maximum possible wage.

Even assuming you could run 65 MPH as your average speed across your hours worked (lines 3 and 4), then you would be at 4000 miles per week, at 30CPM--that comes out to $1200 per week. I have not heard of drivers consistently running those kinds of miles. 3600 seems to be a "good week" that happens a limited number of times per year for those willing to drive as hard as they can. Mostly, I hear that companies do not have those kinds of miles available for their drivers to run, even if they wanted to.

I have very limited experience, so I am more than willing to be corrected here. I have run the numbers (I have a strong math and computer background, including an MBA) every way I can think of (legally only) and these are the best numbers I can come up with. Those truckers I know constantly tell me my numbers are too high that you just cannot keep going that much, especially without hometime. Even if you were willing, the company usually does not have the miles available when you need them to keep moving like that. If they do have the miles, glitches like customer demands for delivery time, slow unloads, etc, make it unrealistic.

Please, if you have information to contradict the numbers, provide them--PLEASE! I want to know how to do better than the math suggests.

Thank you in advance for your experience vs. my paperwork and formulas!

 

I run a 65 mph governed company truck.

I keep my left door closed and can average 61-62 mph average for a day.

If I am running a lot of city/urban traffic and not big roads, my average is 58-59 mph.

My average drive time each day is 10:35 to 10:40 hours every day. This is based off my elogs since early March.

I can rather easily put in a 3950 mile week in 7 days even sitting on a dock for 11 hours and only getting to drive for 5 hours on one of those days.

How do I know? I just did it.