Truck Driving Jobs

ben45750 · Joined: 23 Apr 2005 Posts: 1759

That was a weird feeling going home on the greyhound last nite with out a job or a truck. I had enough of working for a company that only pays .27 cpm. I cannot think. even recall how many times I have lied on my logs to get more miles so I could make a better check and get home for the weekend.
It was a good feeling to turn in my permits and keys to the safety director and tell her that "if I purposely wanted to kill myself I would jump out in front of a semi, not drive one for your company"

I live in Ohio, 6 months T/T,HAZMAT, Clean MVR,3 years experience hauling cars (1 ton dually/38ft trl)..... Does anyone know of any good small trucking company's that would hire me with my 6 months experience and pay a decent wage in Ohio or SE Ohio? not interested in Schneider,Swift, JB, ect........ Small company that treats their drivers like they should be treated

Highwayman · Joined: 27 Feb 2005 Posts: 1139 Location: At home

One of the best days of my life so far was when I turned in my last truck...absolutely liberating.

yoopr · Joined: 01 Dec 2004 Posts: 12865

Not to sound condescending to you but you just started driving truck-Do you REALLY think you're worth more than .27cmp?

ben45750 · Joined: 23 Apr 2005 Posts: 1759

can understand.... yeah. I know i'm worth more. no doubt in my mind. Hauling cars with a 1 ton compaired to driving a semi.....the semi is a much easier ride and easier to control. You see them out there on the highway all the time, guys hauling multiple cars with pickups, they are working as hard if not harder than the guys in the 18 wheelers.

hoohaa · Joined: 15 Feb 2004 Posts: 414 Location: Cleveland,TN

Quote: Not to sound condescending to you but you just started driving truck-Do you REALLY think you're worth more than .27cmp?

Companies are paying a lot more then 27 cents a mile....newbie wages from the early 90's is what that is.. :roll:

Living in a truck weeks at a time, being compensated for 50% of your time, running hot to make miles, putting up with the crap from dispatch, who doesnt care one way or another as long as you get there, and pick up the next load.......Did I mention giving away your time for free??

Yea... I think a newbie is worth a lot more then just 27 cents a mile...

volvo780 · Joined: 29 May 2005 Posts: 62

Number one rule

Never quite a job unless you allready have one set up to go to.

Future employers HATE that

red12 · Joined: 19 Jul 2005 Posts: 275 Location: St. Louis, MO

You sounded happy with star about 2 weeks ago you was say how good they was now you deciede to quit sad to hear that. But I gess you do what you gotta do.

Funksoulbro · Joined: 24 Jul 2005 Posts: 53

yoopr wrote: Not to sound condescending to you but you just started driving truck-Do you REALLY think you're worth more than .27cmp?

Yoopr ... I agree with your points 99.9% of the time. Not this time. Experience, No Experience, Education or No education. For having to live in a 5x4 box for seven plus days a week, away from family and friends .... That alone should be worth no less than 10 cpm. Working, driving 70 hours / 8 days and 2600+ miles driven a week should be worth another 20 cpm minimum. Anything less is like salvery ... no respect for you or what you do or your value as a productive member of a community. I personally take offense to any company that pays less than 30 cpm to any driver and expects them to be OTR for one week plus.

They get away with it because there are enough people out their who would accept it. .27cpm at 3000 miles would give you an avg of 11/hr. Most people can get that closer to home.

Hanged_Man · Joined: 05 Nov 2004 Posts: 635 Location: Montreal, QC

OTR is usually underpaid. 27cpm is not being underpaid for a new driver, but it works out to being underpaid with all of the other things that have to be done for free. If drivers got paid for all of the work they do there wouldn't be any complaints about the pay. Driving is not the only task that a driver does.

Getting paid per mile is like getting paid "piece work" which is fair, but now lets say you're getting paid piece work but first you have to drive 20 miles to pick up some of the parts from here and wait 14 hours at the dock, and then 10 miles to pick up some of the other parts and spend another 23 hrs, and then stock all the parts in the right place at the factory and complete a total of 4 hrs paper work for free before you could start earning your piece work pay, that would start to sound a little less like fairness wouldn't it?

As far as experience goes, my last company had an "Elite" program which pays the drivers 40cpm split teams instead of 31cpm split, no more slip seating, and the truck would be goverened at 72 instead of 64 (speed increase intended for easier passing only). To earn it you'd have to keep up a minimum fuel economy and so on. Less than 10% of the drivers qualified and some of the drivers that didn't qualify were driving more than 20 years. I qualified even though I had been driving for less than a year but I couldn't get the bonus because I had to be working for them for at leat 4 months (two evaluations, which are done every 3 months).

yoopr · Joined: 01 Dec 2004 Posts: 12865

Funksoulbro wrote: yoopr wrote: Not to sound condescending to you but you just started driving truck-Do you REALLY think you're worth more than .27cmp?

Yoopr ... I agree with your points 99.9% of the time. Not this time. Experience, No Experience, Education or No education. For having to live in a 5x4 box for seven plus days a week, away from family and friends .... That alone should be worth no less than 10 cpm. Working, driving 70 hours / 8 days and 2600+ miles driven a week should be worth another 20 cpm minimum. Anything less is like salvery ... no respect for you or what you do or your value as a productive member of a community. I personally take offense to any company that pays less than 30 cpm to any driver and expects them to be OTR for one week plus.

They get away with it because there are enough people out their who would accept it. .27cpm at 3000 miles would give you an avg of 11/hr. Most people can get that closer to home.

OK-it's ok to disagree of course-that's what makes the US Great
I agree with you and Disagree with you at the same time-What I was talking about was learning curve and Money-When I first started I would pretty much accept Anything just to get my start. My point being that after a Year he'd probably get up to .32cpm

RockyMtnProDriver · Joined: 12 Jun 2005 Posts: 1558 Location: Cranbrook BC

Underpaid and overpaid.

I think that is a state of mind.

If you accept .10 cents a mile and average 50 mph, then you are getting $5.00 an hour.

Obviously, if you where to accept that, then that is exactly what you think you are worth.

Something is worth exactly what someone else is will to pay for it.

Everyone has the right to say yes and no to a job. Unless you are in the Military.

Walmart and Macdonalds are full of of low paying jobs. And everyone one of them was applied for and taken.

Mr. Ford95 · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 1934 Location: Orange, VA

I see what yooper is saying, .27 cpm is not bad to start at. How can you believe your worth more when you have zero experience with OTR?? That is the wrong attitude to have as is believing that pulling a 38 foot car trailer with a 1 ton dually is the same as pulling a 53 footer or 48 foot flatbed. I drive a dump truck that pulls a 25 foot tilt deck trailer and I know it is nothing of the same and I don't pretend that it is even if I am pulling load that is nearly the same as a regular semi.

In a 7 day week with an average of 2700 miles, 385 miles per day, you would see a check of over $700 before taxes and all the other stuff which is more like $14/hour. You could have been paid less to start, I believe Swift starts guys at .21 cpm which is only about $11/hour.

Yes you are out on the road and not at home very often, or as much as you want to be, but that comes with the job. If .27 is not enough for you then you prolly won't find much else out there paying much over .28.

skyraider

Turnover in trucking?, read the stats,,,200,000openings a year,,of a class of 100 new drivers,,only 2, maybe 3 will be out there after 18 months and these are liberal figures. Trucking is unforgiving, and low pay. If u want to make more money in trucking,,u will not do it by driving for the other guy. " something to think about , now put your ( Male Ego) in a jar and listen up............. IN some states there are state schools that teach nursing,,,yep,,that's right nursing,,,its an LPN course,,its only 12 months long,,they are paying 17 bucks an hour in Tennessee to start after your schooling............it cost about 3300 bucks for the year. You would be home every night, no travel, no dispatch, overtime would be about 25 bucks an hour and u don't have to spend 125 bucks a week on the road and u get to spend the night in your bed...OK,,u can stop laughing now,,,,,,,,,,,its a thought,,,,,,,,,,,big trucker egos cant handle some of this.................i know,,opinions are like rear ends,,we all got them......................... :D :) :shock:

RockyMtnProDriver · Joined: 12 Jun 2005 Posts: 1558 Location: Cranbrook BC

skyraider wrote: Turnover in trucking?, read the stats,,,200,000openings a year,,of a class of 100 new drivers,,only 2, maybe 3 will be out there after 18 months and these are liberal figures. Trucking is unforgiving, and low pay. If u want to make more money in trucking,,u will not do it by driving for the other guy. " something to think about , now put your ( Male Ego) in a jar and listen up............. IN some states there are state schools that teach nursing,,,yep,,that's right nursing,,,its an LPN course,,its only 12 months long,,they are paying 17 bucks an hour in Tennessee to start after your schooling............it cost about 3300 bucks for the year. You would be home every night, no travel, no dispatch, overtime would be about 25 bucks an hour and u don't have to spend 125 bucks a week on the road and u get to spend the night in your bed...OK,,u can stop laughing now,,,,,,,,,,,its a thought,,,,,,,,,,,big trucker egos cant handle some of this.................i know,,opinions are like rear ends,,we all got them......................... :D :) :shock:

Chaining in the winter, or changing old peoples diapers.

I dont know, sounds the same to me. :roll:

choperbob · Joined: 30 Mar 2005 Posts: 707 Location: Tucumcari,NM

:oops: as a rookie in this trade, it is like all the other trades i was in. when i started at the bike shop i wasn't even paid! had to clean wrenches and put them away. :shock: as a newbie with a shiney new CDL withno expierence i expect to have to earn the higher paying loads. transport america is starting me out at a fair wage(mile pay) just to learn. what a deal. gotta get that first year, then if i need to or want to i can go find another company. bol with new employer.

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