responding to Belpre's post....
I think Belpre is making an error in accounting here. Either that, or his first "training" company couldn't keep his TEAM running more than a solo would.
14 cents/mile is an average starting pay for a TEAM driver.... who gets that amount for EVERY MILE the truck runs that week. He drives HALF of those miles, so essentially is getting paid 28 cpm for the miles "HE" drives.
Not saying that is a great rate of pay, but it is pretty close to the national average for "starter/mega carriers." Covenant was paying 19.5 cpm for team drivers when I started 4 years ago.
Most companies will pay a solo driver a little LESS than they pay a TEAM. i.e: solo gets 28 cpm... TEAM gets to split 30 cpm.
Now... having SAID all that, and correcting Belpre's mistake, I must say that it IS possible for a newbie SOLO driver to get much LESS than the average of 2500 miles/week. Therefore, MANY of them do not make much of a paycheck while living in their trucks. (and many megas pay a set rate of about $350 for MANY weeks of training.)
This is ONE reason that I recommend TEAMING for the first year or two, while learning the biz. TEAM trucks almost HAVE to be kept running by their dispatchers, where solo drivers can be left sitting.
I'll admit that, when I got out of CDL school, I went with a TEAM company that started me at 14 cpm for ALL MILES. The "TRICK" was that I picked a company that had contracts that took EVERY truck to the west coast each week, and we brought a load of produce back. I got home EVERY week for 2 days (or more)... and got about 5500 truck miles average.
That's $770 gross from my 5th week. The first 4 weeks were considered "training" and I got only 12 cpm. I STILL made more than nearly EVERY driver on this board that went with a MEGA!
I hear the horror stories from the likes of CFM, Belpre and others. I don't doubt they are telling the truth. I just don't understand the kind of people that take what they are offered when getting into something like this.
It's like the military. One of the jobs that has the HIGHEST recruitment/staffing need is "military police." The other is "infantry/grunt." If you show up at the recruiter's office and say, "I want to join the military," they are going to put you in the field they need you in the most.... and sell you a pig in a poke that will make you think you made the right choice!
If you walk into something like this WITHOUT doing your homework and considering your options.... you deserve the crap they will feed you.
This post is NOT a comment on the video being discussed. It is only a rebuttal of Belpre's negative views. As for the video? It sounded pretty truthful to me. We ALL know what is going on out there. We ALL need to be careful and suspect of every other driver on the road.... BIG RIG or not!
But, this is why my sigline says that "trucking is not for Wusses!" I KNEW before my first day of class that I would have NO PROBLEM driving a big rig. All I needed was for someone to show me the parts and explain their functions. Give me a spin around the park to get used to the gears and that big AZZ behind me, and I WILL DO THE REST!
I don't have a problem with women like the one in the video getting INTO this biz. I just have a problem with the "polyannic naivete" of many (of both sexes) who DO! I was IMPRESSED by the way she dealt with the problem... and she appears to have "made it" as a driver! Well done lady!
And don't be swayed by the fact that Rather got this stuff from a woman. MANY men out there, in their first year, would say the same things! Many more MEN have quit before they earned the respect THIS lady got from ME!
Yes, it's dangerous out there. Too many drivers of big rigs are NOT professionals.... seasoned OR rookie. I will go so far as to say I believe that Kevin is more professional than many so-called "seasoned veterans." Being a Veteran does not guarantee being a safe driver.
But, riddle me this.... would you rather be in a truck while there are fools around you.... or in a 4wheeler? Take a "civilian job," and you will be out there among the giants and much more vulnerable. Drive a truck and you have some survivability around you... not to mention a CB so you can yell at the schmuck!
And the MORE good drivers that join the biz, the more the bad ones will be pushed out. If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.
The sixteen year old girl, who just got her license and is texting her best friend ever, is JUST as dangerous on the road as a newbie driver of a big rig who hasn't received the "proper" training. I'm not defending the CDL mills.... but, at some point one HAS to wonder what makes people decide to drive a rig if they are a WUSS???!!!!
