Truck Driving Jobs

Douglas · #1 10-03-2007, 12:35 AM

On average, about how much money can a person driving OTR expect to bring home every week? (after taxes)
:?:
Right now at my city job I bring home about $616 every 2 weeks; it would be $313 a week if we got payed every week. I'm sure OTR would pay better than that, unless I had a really bad week and hardly got a load delivered.

BIG JEEP on 44's · #2 10-03-2007, 01:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Douglas

On average, about how much money can a person driving OTR expect to bring home every week? (after taxes)
:?:
Right now at my city job I bring home about $616 every 2 weeks; it would be $313 a week if we got payed every week. I'm sure OTR would pay better than that, unless I had a really bad week and hardly got a load delivered.

depends on the company when I started with Werner and was on 11 western back in early 2005 I was only making 15cpm unloaded and 21 loaded ,and because the dead head was only 15 CPM i usually onl;y averaged 18-19 CPM , so i was only making 350-400 take home even if i got 2800-3000 miles ,and i usually did not so I had many 250 dollar net pay checks .

As an OTR 48 state driver at Werner i made 2200-2500 miles a week at 26 CPM so I only made between 550-650 gross and a take home net of about 450-525... At other companies you will probably do better however I only have knowledge of Werner ...AND THEY SUCK ...So it's possibly you could drive OTR and either make exactly what are now or just slightly more with a starter company unil you get atleast a minimum of 1 year OTR ,But i wouldn't say it's a sure shot you are going to be banking much more than now ,and then you have all the trade offs of living OTR that make the money even more laughable .

Uturn2001 · #3 10-03-2007, 03:24 AM

Well 2000 miles at 28 cpm would gross $560 a week, 2500 miles would get you $700 a week gross. There are many companies paying better than 28 cpm now. There really is no realistic or accurate way to give you an idea of what take home pay would be because every person's tax situation is totally different, plus many may have other deductions like 401k, health insurance etc.

You best bet would be to figure the rough percentage of what you take home from your gross pay now and use that to give you an estimate of what your take home would be.

Drew10 · #4 10-03-2007, 03:31 AM

Quote:

at my city job I bring home about $616 every 2 weeks; it would be $313 a week if we got payed every week.

How many hours a week are you working? Your pay seems very low, especially if you are putting in full time hours everyweek. A new driver working for a starter company should beable to do better.

worldisnotenough · #5 10-03-2007, 03:35 AM

I hate to say this but if you are looking at weekly pay and are thinking about OTR, you might want to change your perspective. Most first year drivers, from what I can tell, make around 40K a year, give or take 5K. You can average that down to a week but I can tell you it will fluctuate from week to week, month to month!

Orange Andy · #6 10-03-2007, 03:42 AM

If you are working 40hrs. now, to take home 313 a week, isnt that about $9.50 an hour? I would hope you could earn more than that OTR. You will put in more hours, and should average at least 11.00 an hour doing it, from what I am hearing.

Ive been asking this same question myself,locally, and this seems to be the avg. reply, for new otr drivers. Others here will have the answer. Good luck

GMAN · #7 10-03-2007, 01:38 PM

I would expect to earn between $30-35M your first year with most companies.

unkut2003 · #8 10-03-2007, 08:25 PM

I'm a local/short haul driver and I usually average $1000-$1400 NET and gross $800-$1200 or so. It varies week to week, but I do have a $900 gross guarantee! So I can base my life on that and anything more is NICE, haha! But as for OTR.... NOT ME! I've got a wife and 3 small kids.... and theres no way in hell I'm spendin days/weeks in a truck like a circus animal for peanuts!!! At the very least I'd consider a dedicated or regional route.... but I'd pull atleast $.40 a mile or NO GO!!! But thats just me! When I was job hunting I had multifarious offers... but needed a local gig. I'd recommend you toss around your options and think them through..... 8)

harleypiper · #9 10-03-2007, 09:53 PM

Good Gawd Doug, I hope that isn't a 40 hr. work week. Unemployment pays better.

I'm in school now the state is picking up the tab for 5 of the guys and paying them unemployment. One dude is being sent from Rehab. Can you believe it "Rehab" How does that happen. Get a cdl license on Rehab. Doesn't that mean some sort of alchol or drug abuse. I guess us working fools who stay clean aren't so lucky.

Mr. Ford95 · #10 10-03-2007, 09:59 PM

I'm local also and paid by the hour. I choose to only run 40 hours a week and I take home $550 a week out of a gross of $700. If I run more than 40(my most was 57 hours) I saw a take home of $865 out of a gross of about $1100 and that was on a lower pay scale than my current by $2 an hour. I see time and a half for anything over 40 hours a week. I make about $33K a year but my 40 hours are a guarantee to be there.