Which company driver had the best year? $$$$$$$

[Cluggy619]

I sell area rugs in scottsdale Arizona. Winter is good because all the snowbirds are here spending money. Summertimes too hot so they move back to their other cities. Therfor I want to get into trucking within the next couple of months.

I have a mortgage and alot of bills, probley 3600.00 a month to stay afloat. I have my house on the market and once that sells my money situation will be a bit better. That is why I need to find the best paying starter company out there.

Also, I've been with my company for seven years. It seems that there is alot of job jumping in the trucking industry. I would like to try and avoid that, if possible.

Anyother sugestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Not to rain on your parade, but you would be getting into this industry all wrong. Getting into trucking is easy...getting the miles or the right paycheck is hard.....there are people who don't make $3600 per month that has been driving for a few years.

This career choice will bankrupt you if you enter with that kind of debt. you need to lower you bills first, then think about driving.

And your timing is all wrong. You should wait until late April - early May when things pick up.


Good luck with what you decide. :wink:

[#1broncofan]

I understand I would have to run hard with minimal home time to start. I have a little money set aside probley 3 months worth. I just need to know who to go with to hit a little over 40k range 1st. year. After 1st. year, or once I sell my house my expences will be cut down considerabley.

I understand I would have to run hard with minimal home time to start. I have a little money set aside probley 3 months worth. I just need to know who to go with to hit a little over 40k range 1st. year. After 1st. year, or once I sell my house my expences will be cut down considerabley.

You've got to consider a few things first.

For one, you'll be in school for anywhere from 3-4 weeks with no pay. Then you'll go out with a trainer for a month or more making pauper wages. Right there, you're two months in the hole.

So that leaves you around 48 weeks out of the year to earn miles as a first-seat driver. Most companies start you out of the gate at around .28 cpm or so with raises up to about .34-.36 cpm after the first year. Let's use an average of .30 cpm then and figure 2500 average miles per week and knock 3 weeks out of the year for hometime. 45 weeks X 2500 X .30 = $33,750 + $1,000 for training month pay = about $35,000. Don't forget to factor in expenses such as tools, CB, cooler, motor carrier atlas, CDL, sleeping bag, etc. You won't get a paid vacation nor any holiday pay at most outfits until AFTER your first year (gee, what a deal!). And the bennies? Well to put it bluntly they suck.

[RockyMtnProDriver]

In my part of the world, Super B chip haulers can make $60,000 a year and logging truck drivers can make $70,000 or more. And these guys are home every day.

And many of them are drivers with less than one or two years driving experience.

And I have seen it many, many times where they are making that right out our driving school.

I graduated a guy three years ago, and he was pulling in 400 a day, for as many days as he could stay in the truck. That was in the Fort MacMurry area.

In his first full year he made close to $90,000. He was 20 years old at the time.

[Brown67]

In my part of the world, Super B chip haulers can make $60,000 a year and logging truck drivers can make $70,000 or more. And these guys are home every day.

And many of them are drivers with less than one or two years driving experience.

And I have seen it many, many times where they are making that right out our driving school.

I graduated a guy three years ago, and he was pulling in 400 a day, for as many days as he could stay in the truck. That was in the Fort MacMurry area.

In his first full year he made close to $90,000. He was 20 years old at the time.

How much is that is US dollars.

[RockyMtnProDriver]

90,000 CAN is about 77,000 USD

[COLT]

Yes, there is big money out there, I know... BUT Very few drivers could ever do the type of driving that pays very well. If anyone could do it, it would not pay 6 figures. Duh... I tried the whole week before Christmas to train a 50 yr. old male, 1,000000 miler, instructor, trainer, no incidents, accidents, tickets.... NOPE couldn't do it. Not even close. You must have a natural ability.... Some things can't be taught

[RockyMtnProDriver]

No getting around it, it is a young mans sport.

Everyone we send up there is in their 20's or 30's.

[BanditsCousin]

I just need to know who to go with to hit a little over 40k range 1st. year.

New World Van Lines

[Ian Williams]

Many of the CDL schools have a evenings and weekend deal for those who want to keep their current job as long as possible.

Doing HHG as your first gig would be hard core. If you were ambitious, young and in superb shape it could be worth a shot.

But I think that most folk should start off with dry van for the 1st three months or so.

[BanditsCousin]

Doing HHG as your first gig would be hard core.

[clawHAMMER]

Can you make good money trucking? Sure. But like anything else you have to pay your dues. This industry is run on supply annd demand. The more freight, the less trucks, the higher the pay. And vice versa.

Right now there is more supply than demand. Too many freakin trucks. So the wages suck. Granted, they're better than they were, but they still leave ALOT to be desired considering the respondsibility that is required.

Working for a specialized carrier you can make the nice coin. But you won't start out there unless you know someone who knows someone who knows someone else and gets you on board. Kinda like trying to land a gig as a driver on the Nascar circut. Good luck with that, unless you know someone who......

I'm guessing you didn't start out making $50k a year in sales either. You worked up to that. Same thing in this occupation.

I don't look at this business as an end to all means. I'm a guy who drives a truck, I'm not a "truck driver" so-to-speak. I try to take things in 3 year increments and re-evaluate my situation. Do I still enjoy it? Do I like who I'm working for/with? Do the pro's outweigh the con's? What is the upside if I stay in it another year or two? What is the downside? Can I make more money doing something else? Working for myself, in another industry possibly?

This business is strictly a stepping stone for me. There will always be a need for drivers. I have a very entreprenurial mindset. I do it for awhile, get out and explore other business opportunities. This business is always something to fall back on if hard times surface in my endeavors. Just keep your nose clean, stay out of trouble, don't get any ridiculous speeding tickets and you'll always have a rig to jump into, even if it's for 6 months just to get back on your feet. I go about and do my job, do whats asked, keep my nose to the grind with my eyes on the prize (my goals, dreams, ambitions...my log cabin secluded in the woods on 10 acres and a couple of lucrative internet businesses . You get the picture. Plus one advantage of trucking is you get alot of time to think out your game plan.

I've been off the road for 10 years now. Totally walked away from trucking. I've recently met with some hard times and unexpected circumstances and lost everything I built. So here I am again. I've committed 3 years and I'll evaluate my situation again in Jan 2010.(that date just sounds like 25 years from now) Do I stay in or get out and pursue other things? Time will tell.

My suggestion is make a 2 year committment and re-evaluate things then and see if it's worth looking for another job in trucking that has what your looking for, or get out and move on. By then you'll have a couple years experience under your belt and provided you have a good record, other driving opportunities will present themselves and force you to take a hard look at all your options. By then you'll be in the drivers seat (or should be) and who knows what the trucking industry will be like in 2-3 years when a ton of these companies who are hanging on by a shoestring will be going under.

When that happens (not if), you'll have a market full of "qualified" drivers and only so many trucks and trucking companies. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out how the wage scale will go from there.

Will wages go down because you now have a huge surplus of drivers so the companies (not specialized ones) can keep paying low wages to get a butt in the seat?

OR...

Will the companies see the value in the cream-of-the-crop of the surplus qualified drivers and have to step up and pay them accordingly. Like a PROFESSIONAL driver should be paid, like any other professional, above average wages for the skills needed to do the job.

That would be an interesting debate....

Contrary to what you may think though, or anyone else for that matter, it takes a lot of skill to manuever 80,000 lbs of equipment from one side of the country to the other. It is not an easy job. But the starting pay has to be much better than what a manager at a Wendy's would get to supervise the smoke breaks of a bunch of $7 an hour employees.

Starting out I wouldn't go OTR. Look for an O/O, a smaller company, LTL carrier, a courier company, something like that to get your experience and get your toe in the water. Once you get alittle experience your options open up some more and you can grab another gear if you want to go that route down the road a ways. If you jump right into an OTR job chances are you'll get fed up reeeeeally quick and bail out before you've really given a chance. IMO start small, or local for a year or two and go from there.

BOL whatever route you decide to go.

PS. and thanks for letting me ramble on this subject. Sorry but my fingers get a plunkin and it's hard to slow them fellers down sometimes.

[Rev.Vassago]

I nominate this thread for the funniest of 2007.

[BanditsCousin]

I nominate this thread for the funniest of 2007.

I'll second that! But, we still have 10 months more to go, and if history repeats itself, we'll have something top this (shortly).

[okieoo]

I haul crude oil,off every Sunday and Monday,home every night.
Made $59,102.74 in 2006 as a company driver.
We usually work 11 to 12 hours daily.
That may not be as much $ as some but its good for rural Oklahoma.
We also have good medical,dental ins,free life ins,Wells Fargo company match to 6% 401K,12 vacation days,10 paid sick days,all paid holidays.
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