hello :) another newbie with questions :)
 

Hello everyone :)
My name is Jason. I am from Stockton, ca.
I have been with my current job (profesional sales) for 9 years. I was gaining pay and got up to 58k 2 yrs ago and then the economy tanked. Last 2 years i have been making less and less money. In fact last year i pulled in 42k and 2 months ago got work of another 10k a year cut. I have a wife and 2 kids to support now (didnt have this obsticle 2 1/2 years ago) and I cant wait for the economy to get better. This isnt meant to be a sob story because i fully understand alot of people are in the same boat. This is just a summary of why i am looking into this field. My brother in law, a friends son and a couple other people I know have suggested I look into trucking. I actually did a route with my Brother in law last week and grilled him the whole way on the ins and outs of trucking. I even helped unload the trailer (i havnt used a floor jack in almost 8 years. Back in the day i used to work Kmart part time and helped unload the truck and stock the store). I see this as something i can do. Here is part of why.
1. My current schedule is i leave my house at 10 minutes to 9am. i drive to antioch, work my shift, and am home around 10:30pm at night 3-4 days a week. Saturdays Its one hour less and sundays its 2 hours less (this doesnt include the monthly meetings that start at 8am in the bay area so i have to leave the house at 6:30am to get there and afterwards work a 10 hr shift and still get home at 9:30pm at night). I work almost all holidays and weekends. Im used to very long days (i know i may have to re adapt to nights but im sure i can adjust).
2. I have almost always worked at least 30 minutes (as much as an hour regular) each way from my living location. Ive covered shifts around Sacramento, the bay area and all the way down to sand city at one time or another while living in stockton. I have drove all these thousands of miles and still manage to keep a clean driving record (knock on wood). A year or so ago me and a buddy went to San Diego and i drove the whole way there, spent the night, and drove back myself.
3. i deal daily with traffic daily.
4. 3-4 days a week i work solo in the store. I can go a whole day without seeing a single customer. So working on my own is no problem. Im used to it.
5. I know how to drive a stick. yes a truck is alot bigger but i understand the concept. I know i can adjust to a Semi truck.
Basically im the kind of person that if i put my mind to it I will do it. I understand this field is WAY diffrent from what i used too. However from what ive been told unless i screw up major i shouldn't be making almost 1/2 the pay after 9 years in it. I also have my family to think of and that is motivation in itself.

I am aware the first 6 months to year will be hell. I will barely see my kids and family. However the ends justify the means and i know after i get some experiance under my belt i will be able to comfortably support them. :block:

So questions are as follows-
1. I have called Swift. My brother in law recomended them highly as being a place that will train me if i sign a contract. I personaly dont mind signing a contract if they pay for my schooling and keep me working. Now besides swift are there any other companies that do this (my brother in law didnt know of any others)?
2. Swift said there training is in arizona. Fine, if i have to go there then i go. Does anyone know if they board you there or do i need to rent a room (this is of course they let me in)?
3. I need starting pay to be at least 3k a month to cover the mortgage and basic bills. even that is going to be very tight. To be able to breath i need to be making 40k a year starting. I want to get back to 56k as soon as possible (we were living nicely with my income and my wifes. she works too but its just enough to cover half the mortgage, i cover the rest and all bills and medical ect) . Is this do able just starting out or is it unrealistic and starting out is a lot lower then that?

Any and all help and tips on how to get on with a company is appricated guys :)
this is completely new territory for me.
thank you

Running OTR, the first 6 months will likely be the same as the rest of it.

I believe CR England still trains, but they are just as bad as Swift (yeah, you're brother in law is wrong about them). They'll make you sign a contract, and will not guarantee any sort of pay level. They could very well leave you high and dry (which happens all too much in this economy), and if you leave, they'll hit you with a bill for the schooling. The schooling isn't necessarily transferable to another company - it's hit and miss.

They put you up in a room, and likely give you one or two meals a day. It's in the cost of the tuition.

40K starting out is unrealistic. 56K is very unrealistic. There are only a very small percentage of company drivers who earn that much. The companies they drive for tend to not have to recruit or advertise, as their turnover rates are extremely low.

But just do the math. If you're earning $0.34 per mile (which is about average, maybe a bit higher), you'd have to run 118,000 miles per year to earn $40K. That's 2450 miles per week, with 4 weeks off per year (which would be scattered throughout the year). You'd have to run almost 165,000 miles a year to earn that $56K. That's 3167 miles a week if you NEVER go home. It's just not likely to happen.

i should have probobly clarified. i need 36k maybe a hair less just to make the mortgage and basic bills. im sure it will take time to get up to the 56k (2-3 years maybe?). is the 36k (3k a month) still unrealistic starting pay?
thanks :)

I was a company driver for the first 8 years of my career as a truck driver, and I never saw $56,000 per year. As I said, the chances of you earning that much EVER are few and far between. Only a handful of drivers are at that level, and you'll likely never know where they are working. They certainly aren't at any company that you're seeing in any sort of trucking magazine.

In this economy? At Swift? Probably. Not trying to burst your bubble, just being realistic. Companies are going out of business left and right. It is not a driver's market.

You will make more in your current job than your first year of trucking. I had what people would call a sucessful first year OTR and made an average of $600 a week, some weeks $800 but never more. Don't forget tolls, detention, chasing trailers, waiting for a load, food while on the road, medical insurance, and getting lost. You will be lucky to be at $30,000 if you get there, you will be learning and will make many mistakes that will cost you $$$, I am not saying you should not drive OTR, but I think your expectations are a little high. Most likely you will bring home $300 - $400 a week your first few weeks out. Then you will learn how to trip plan, and make the most of your time so you can drive and make some $$. Also you may be OK with being away from your family, but will they be OK with you being away. It is a very helpless feeling to be 2000 miles away from your children when they need you. You will probably have to fight at first to get TAH, and be so tired when you do get home, all you want to do is sleep the 1st day or so back. If you don't request TAH at the right time you will find yourself out 5-6 weeks at a time with no forseeable way to get home, they do not care if you get home or not, if you don't believe that, you are fooling yourself. But if you make a stand and insist they get you home as planned most times you will get there close to when you want.

When you are OTR you are there to drive for them and pick up and deliver loads. They are not accomidating for any personal needs you may have. There are very strict PU and Del. times and that is the most important thing to the company, your needs or your families needs will have to wait. I am not saying these things to scare you, but just to relay facts of OTR driving, you are a slave to the truck and the load you are under and all else is secondary.

One other thing I forgot to add is that you are responsible for any tickets you may get, I know of one guy who made a very innocent mistake and it cost him more than you would believe. He was over weight because he forgot to move his tandems to the 5th hole when he got to CA, and got pulled into a scale. He was`then given a full DOT inspection and was also ticketed for log violations. It was over $3000 and the Co loaned him the money but he did not get paid for two months. It is very easy to forget something and DOT is not a forgiving bunch.

:thumbsup::clap:

thanks for the input guys.
i got a small bit of good news. countrywide (who we had our mortage. they refused to work with us to remodify to get the payment down. Since im incalifornia like alot of us we are major upside down. countrywide said they would only modify what current market is and we had to cough up the other 100+k) got bought by BOA. BOA apparently allows principle reduction (short refinance). this means there is a good chance i can refinance, lower our mortgage to what is afordable, and i can tell this current job bye bye and afford to work for alot less to start out. this may end up working out afterall :)


in reply to an above post the wife is the one pushing me to look into this deeper. she works for a trucking company in stockton and cuts the drivers checks. so she sees what they take home and sees it as good money. i know better personally and have tried to explain they have experiance and i dont. She is aware i will be on the road and so i have her support on this. Being away form my 2 babaies is a diffrent story i am struggling with. I only get to see them for like 20 minutes in the morning 5-6 days a week and on my 1-2 days off as it is. But in the long run this career can end up paying off. i can get a local route and be home more (this is what my brother in law does). Im a realist and realize i wont be home every night but still id be home more. but it takes experiance to get to the point of being hired by one of thoes gigs and from what ive read on the boards so far it looks like most want 2 years unless I go food which is ok. Im 26 yrs old in overall good shape (im only 215lbs) and can handle a floor jack.
So besides having to cope with the pay what other tidbits can be suggested? any other companies willing to train? if i go the route of paying for my own school, getting all my tage for doubles, triples, tankers, hazmat, ect (i heard this is a good way to go to get it all done at once since im at the dmv anyways and its one flat fee) how hard will it be to get work if im not with swift or england ect?
thaks again guys :)

I think you have already made up your mind about it and really anything else I or anyone else may say is probably not going to help you. You gave your expectations on earnings and were in told in no uncertain terms you would not make that in your first year. Yet you come back and tell us that your wife says she knows what truck drivers make and it sounds like good money. I've given you my experience, and I am certain if 100 others gave you theirs you would still have your mind made up to go OTR. So at this point I don't believe I or any one else can convince you of the truth of what your first year is going to be like. So I will just end this by saying good luck, and I hope you find what you are looking for.

well i can spin this a diffrent way to get the point of why im looking to change careers.

has anyone in this industry have this done to you?
you been with an outfit for 9 years. you have been loyal, can count on one hand in the 9 years how many days you have called in sick, worked sick with the flu, colds, actual diagnosed walking pnemonia, ect. Made good numbers in sales your entire career (i wouldnt have lasted this long if i sucked at this job), missed countless family gatherings to cover a shift because it was a mandatory weekend (they call them blackouts here). sacraficed seeing your kids grow up. work in all kinds of stores way out of your normal driving perimeter and not get reimbersed for anything. was told to cover shifts on your days off (sometimes in stores way far from home) so other employees can attend parties, and concerts, and stuff like that, not sell anything thus working for free. then when something comes up and you need a day off am told there is no one to cover so you have to cancel. Get stabbed in the back by your co workers on customers (basicaly they stealing your commission) so you lose even more money.

then you get rewarded for all this by them cuting your pay almost in half over a 2 year period, your hours get increased making it impossible to pick a second job up to make ends meet. Be countlessly denied transfering to a location closer to home stating there is no room (but other training classes go through and thoes rookies are put in the stores close to your home) have your health insurance rates increase due to cut backs, 401k matching taken away, and the constant threat of being fired due to the inability to make there infated sales quotas in this economy.
oh yeah i forgot, i complained that i wanted to change divisions because under the new pay scale id make more money at a comprable store in the other division as i was making now. so they put me in the division.......................in the second slowest store in the company. thus im making less then i was before. then try to spin it off as them doing me a favor for alowing me to work here.
At the latest meeting (which i wasnt paid to go to but was forced to burn my gas and work a 10 hr shift afterwards) the head guy makes a crack saying they can do this new pay system (i.e paycut) because there isnt anything else out there right now.

Im sure you would be sick of the BS and be looking for a diffrent job as well. the pay is beign adressed, we have a savings that can take care of the diffrence for the first 6 months or so till im making decent money on the road. once the mortgage is fixed I wont have to make as much to cover the bills. so money aside and time from the family which will suck yeah i am really considering this. I havnt made up my mind completley and wont till the house thing is finalized (now a few months out acording to the guy i talked too), in the mean time ill do some more looking into all the companies i guess. If this career isnt something that pay will increase with experiance then someone tell me that because form what i can see if i stick to my guns in a few years time ill make decent money. I cant do this job much longer, i need out :(

Yup. That sounds like truck driving all right.:thumbsup:

Oh wait - you were saying that is WHY you want to get into truck driving?:hellno: My mistake.

yeah I had almost the same thing happen to me, and I paid for my training and got my cdl then went job hunting. Even when there was a "driver shortage" many co. still would jerk you around, I went thru several before finding a home and that was when biz was good! You really need to sit down with your wife and go over some of the threads on here RE; I hate otr. If you don't I think (my 2 cents) that you and the wife may very well regrete it.
Ok I'm off my soapbox and wish you well in whatever you do.

Look, I am not trying to tell you not to drive a truck, if thats what you want to do by all means do it. What I am trying to convey to you is this, getting into truck driving to make a better life for you and your family is not a good idea. You will essentially remove yourself from your families life, take a big cut in pay, and can't be a parent to your kids or a husband to your wife. Being a good husband and father is not just bringing home the bacon, so to speak, it is being there for them, when they need you. You cannot possibly be there for them if you are in a truck 2000 miles away. I learned this the hard way, and I am trying to help you so you don't have to do the same.

If you are wanting to drive a truck just to drive a truck, then that is a different story. But if you are using OTR to say you want to provide a better life for you and your family, sorry, OTR and family do not go together. If you really want to provide fo ryour family and be separated from them, find a job locally, and then go to school at night to get an education. You will have accomplished the same, you can make the same money as driving OTR and still be away from them at night while in school. It will allow you to work the same amount of hours for the same pay. But in this case you will actually be doing something for them, getting an education so you can make better money down the road, thereby being able to provide for them and not having to leave for weeks at a time to do it.

I really wish you the best, and if your dream is to drive a truck, get it out of your system now while you are young. Then you can come back and really concentrate on what is important to you, or should be, your wife and children. Please believe me, you are doing your family no favors by going OTR, no matter how noble the intentions are.

Rev.,

He described working for a large OTR company to a T. But yet still wants to jump out of the frying pan into the fire. Why oh why, would someone who dislikes that type of work environment, want to do the same thing away from the comforts of home? I wish he could realize what he described in his post is a blueprint for the OTR driver.

THIS IS A BAD CHOICE!!! this is the wrong time to get into driving and you are doing it for all the wrong reasons. Get a second job to make the ends meet. you have no idea what it is like to leave your house for three weeks and never get home. you leave for work and your gone. no hey honey can you get some milk. etc. your basically leaving your wife to raise your kids alone. you won't even be in the same state if something happens.

as for the money if your lucky you will make 36,000 your first year. also your expenses will stay the same at home but you will paying more to support yourself on the road. You can count on being without pay for a least a month with school and another week waiting for a trainer to take you (if your lucky its only a week)

The fail rate in this business is very high. there where ten guys in my class. only 2 made it threw training and only one made it past a year.

x 2 well put

Rather then tell this young man why he shouldn't drive a truck we should welcome him with open arms. Please come on in and have a glass of Koolaid. We have orange and grape.

It is possible to make 36k first year, but as most everyone said, it will be damn tough. From my time with Swift, I still have a lot of friends and a few insiders with them, most of them are sitting, getting lucky to get 2000 miles a week. Swift starts you Solo at .26cpm. Your first couple of paychecks probably won't be more then $300 each after going solo. If you do go with Swift, try to get into a regional dedicated run if possible, but that probably won't happen. There are other companies out there that pay much better and hire newbs, but you would have to get your CDL first. If you are bent on doing it, then do that refinancing, and take a couple grand to get your CDL from a good reputable school local to you, that way you can do the schooling while still working. Swift's school is 3 to 6 weeks, and you do NOT make any money during that time. Consider this, Swift's schooling is $4200, now you don't pay any of that upfront, they deduct a certain amount every week, and after the first year, they pay you back in incraments once a week. BUT, let's say you take that $4000 and go to a local school, where you can still work while doing the school. How much money are you making for that period of time you do your schooling, versus the 0 you make while at Swift school. Not to mention you can find a good school for less then $4000.

If I where in your shoes, I would stay put. Gonig OTR is going to be tough on your family, and you will have to work your arse off PLUS have some good luck on your side to even meet the low end of your expectations.

I'm on pace to make 36K for my first year, But i work 6 days straight and 2 days off, i know most drivers will say "i wouldn't turn my key for that much" but i'm working towards something better... i have a future in the business and if it's being away from home six days straight just to get to it then it is what it is..

I will say this much i don't have no kids to watch grow up so it's not that hard out here for me plus my job is local/regional so i know this area clear as day, but i do miss hanging out with my friends, i do miss the late night booty calls from my skeezers, i do miss playing my xbox360, and i'm def. going to miss coaching little football, but i am making more money then two of my friends combine and not to mention my savings account is looking better by the week!!

Being in a moving fiberglass box all day is what you make out of it, there will be lots of times where you want to just say f-it and ask your self what did you get into.. But if you want to start off at the bottom of the totem poll and work your way up then hey go for it.. but remember you got babies and old lady to support on the other end.. The ball's in your court hand!!

Do you run out of Fontana?

If he could get a gig like yours, then yes he would be much better off and it would be close to an ideal job. But SNI is not hiring new drivers and the liklihood of him getting on as a student and getting a regional job are slim to none. I did my training with a dedicated driver and it is a whole different ball game than running OTR. During training we were home each night, when I got out and on my own home became a place that was a thing of the past.

Freight is a bit more stable for a dedicated driver than an OTR driver, once you get out and deliver, you just have to hope that there is a load waiting for you. Now that frieght is slow the chances of waiting for your next load is much more of a possibility. So there you wait in the summer heat and you aint getting paid to sit and wait for frieght. Now you are idleing away your bonus, sweating your ***** off and still not getting paid, not a good way for a man with a family to support.

true true...but i was just giving my experience thats all

at swift or any other carrier, you will NOT ever see that 36,000 a year, or more. your wife is fooling not only herself. she is also fooling you. she doesn't drive tractor-trailers for a living. what does she know? when you're finally out there with the sharks, you'll eventually wake up and realize you've made a big, big mistake. OTR trucking is a giant venus flytrap, black hole, whirl pool, vortex, etc....once you're in, you're stukt and ***t.

stay with your current job. swift now charges more per weekly advance. it used to be $2.00 or something like that. with a hundred dollar advance every week. that's 5200 dollars a year that goes straight to your pocket. 100 bucks doesn't really last an entire week..if you do shower on a daily basis, and eat semi-decent meals. that 5200 within the year plus the other otr expenses you pay for, and you're looking at well over $11,000 of your gross pay all spent. in 2008, i grossed $33,698. i had very little to nothing to show for it. my road expenses and cash advances took nearly half of it. bills took another good chunk. after it was all said and done, i had something like $5,000 leftover. i still came out more than even. i barely made it, however.

mind you, i will admit to having fudged my logbook here and there in order to do something. unlike dollarshort, i will admit to making flagrant fudges in order to do runs that were impossible otherwise. the payoff was very little. there's really no difference in the legalized and illegal way of running. there's a LOT more to gamble when/if i ever got caught. fortunately i never did.

before i cut this off, i really believe you should spend 18 1/2 minutes to watch a video mackman posted a little while back. it's called sleep when you can. drive when you have to. not a single shred of information is an exaggeration. if you're still convinced you'll make the big dollars, go ahead and wreck any kind of life you once had.

While most of you guys are giving experiences from the McMega carriers that is fine, and probably exactly what he will exoerience in the first 1-2 years I think it needs to be said that just like any other job you need to do what is necessarry to get some experience.

Once he has 2 years in I believe that there are plenty of jobs out there where he can find much better pay and home time, if he and his family are willing to make a sacrafice for up to 2 years then there are plenty of doors that will open up at that time if he keeps his record clean and doesn't job hop.

I wish some of you guys would give your driving experience when you give this advice, some of you haven't even made it to the 2 year mark yet and have also had major accidents and you are giving your experinces as if it is what he can expect for the long term.

IMO in 2 years we may very well be in a drivers market again and if you have 2 years in and no major marks on your record I think you could have your choice of premium jobs at that time.

I think that no one that has 2 years experience should drive for one of the training compainies, unless you work into a nice dedicated run, but to get your time and experience I think they serve a purpose, too bad some of the better training companies have stopped their training programs, but it is what it is and I think there are plenty of worse jobs to do, with or without hometime.

With all the negative comments around here, you wonder why the hell ANYONE would want to become a truck driver.

While it's certainly unrealistic to expect to make any REAL $$ in the first year or two - the "instant gratification" attitude and lack of willingness to "pay your dues" is in great part responsible for false expectations and disappointments voiced by a lot of folks on this board.

Trucking is a TRADE - like any trade, you have to start at the BOTTOM. Unless you have some "in" with a family member or good friend, expect to be treated like a "field nigra" for the first year, or even two. Expect to have to COMPROMISE in many ways - in exchange for finding a company that will take you on as a NEWBIE DRIVER. In other trades (unionized for example) you had to get a JOURNEYMAN'S card, and get all the s*%t jobs, until you were a MASTER as evidenced by your experience, professionalism and ability to do quality work.

I'm not even finished with school yet - and I've already accepted that if trucking is going to be my career choice, and that being OTR means a lifestyle choice also (no big deal, since a bankruptcy and foreclosure will leave me with no home to even be concerned about "home time").

Got no family, no steady girl, LOVE DRIVING, love traveling, love being alone, don't have a home to support or get home to - so being an OTR trucker seems a very logical choice for ME. I DID the family stuff, the homeowner stuff, the owning my own business stuff - I'm DONE AND OVER IT. It may be less so for others that DO have the things (home, family, etc.) that I DON'T. I'm not going in expecting to get rich, or even make a bunch of $$ for the first few years. I'm using the tips I've gotten from the many boards that I read, to better prepare myself for what to expect from this career choice (DON'T even think about buying a truck or leasing for awhile, among other REALLY GOOD suggestions).

So, for ME - I just want to get out there - start racking up miles and months. I want to run safe, legal and PROFESSIONAL, and become an ASSET to the trucking community. I'm more than willing to work hard and pay my dues - instead of whining like some little "female dog" about how being a newbie sucks.

I've been spending some time at some of the local distribution centers (no truck stops near Fort Lauderdale) talking to company drivers from various companies that appear willing to hire newb's (swift, schnieder, werner, etc.) and for every negative comment I read on internet boards - these drivers don't seem as whiney in person - as anonymous folks on the internet seem.

bluebikerboy - as with any new trade - don't set your expectations on being able to bring home any particular $$ amount - when it's not a 40 hr. a week, hourly/salary position. Expectations lead to DISAPPOINTMENT and RESENTMENT. There ARE NO SHORTCUTS - time takes TIME. EXPECT to be shat upon, and treated like someone who should want reparations for slavery. Otherwise - find a job that DOES GUARANTEE a REGULAR WAGE - as it appears trucking - for both newbie AND oldtimer, DOES NOT...

Rick

Perfect! Well said.

Having been to more distrubution centers than I care to remember, I wonder how you managed to access them. I have been fully loaded with a BOL and have had trouble getting access, and I was supposed to be there.

As for the companies you mentioned that are hiring, I don't know about the others, but I do know that SNI is NOT hiring inexperienced drivers. They have closed all there STA's and only take on experienced drivers.

The OP gave information as to what his salary needs are, and what his expectations of the first year should be. The information I gave him only relates to what he asked for and not his future as a driver. He indicated in the first post he would need 40K per year, and lowered his needs as the posts went on. He went down from needing 40k to not needing that much and having 6 months reserves to live on. Based on his initial post he would not make what he needs to survive driving a truck, period. Had his circumstances been different, perhaps the advice would have been different.

Well Said X2!!

Wasn't talking about, like a WalMart distro center, or the like. Pompano Beach has the Farmers Market and a couple of places nearby that do reefer loads and have a good combination of O/O, lease and company rigs coming in & out. It's not a gated yard, and "civilians" can get in and out to the dock area. So I catch guys waiting for a door, or waiting to be loaded/unloaded and strike up a conversation.

Ya never really even know if 1/2 the folks on most internet trucking boards have gotten any closer to a truck than having one blow by them on the interstate - anonymity of internet boards and all. At least talking to someone in the cab, you can get the REAL SCOOP on what a particular company is like...

Rick

I can assure you with 100% accuracy and assuredly that I am right now sitting in the sleeper of a Volvo 780 Semi, using my laptop after a day of driving bobtail :). Also as a former Swift driver, I am quite capable of giving out details on Swift :) also currently driving for an O/O and having to deal with brokers directly, as well as truck maintenance and certain financial dealings that company drivers will never have to mess with, I also can give you with much confidence much useful information from an o/o perspective. I think I am qualified enough to dish out advise and opinions.

Wasn't meant as an insult - or to call anyone out - just a statement of fact. You can be whomever you want on an internet discussion forum. I like going out and sitting with folks face-2-face. Not that I don't get some great insight(s) on the forums I read - just nothing beats one-on-one with a live person...

Rick

I didn't take it personal, I guess my post might seem like it though... But you can rest assured most of the people that posted in this thread already are indeed drivers.

We have already established that Belpre isnt a driver and he doesnt haul fuel around Indianappolis. He is the assistant to the assistant manager in the produce department at a Winn Dixie. The crash Matcat is always refering to was during a game of Super Mario Cart and I am a sophmore (you can tell by my humor) in high school. I gotta log off now my mom is making pancakes. Yummy!!!

And everything I know about trucking I learned from reruns of BJ and the Bear, Movin On, White Line Fever, Smokey and the Bandit and the classic Flatbed Annie and Sweetie Pie.

breakfast at jumbo's house! i heard his mother is a MILF. :cool:

Well back in 75' I hauled steel out of Cleveland Ohio for $1.50 per mile.
In 2004 I helped a buddy of mine who runs a 12-horse operation and his trucks were averaging around $1.50 a mile or so.
Nowadays with the economy in the toilet and all it's got even worse as far as the mileage rates go.
I seen rates of less than a dollar a mile being offered.
So if I were to buy a rig today and haul general commodity loads, I'd be making the same or less than I was 34 years ago.
Can you name another industry like that?
I can't.

I been in trucking all my life.
I hauled everything from cars to tanks, hazardous waste, skates to vans, over dimensional, livestock, military, LTL, fuel...you name it I probably hauled it at one time or another.
With that being said, if I were a young man starting over again I would not drive truck for a living.
It just don't pay like it used to.
And the companies expect you to live out on the road for weeks at a time.

Back in my day, we ran alot of relays.
Meaning a driver in say Los Angeles would pick up the load and haul ass up to a point in Arizona where he'e swtichout with another driver and then turn around and head back home.
The AZ driver would take it to Texas.
Where the Texas driver would take it for final delivery.
So drivers would get home everynight and every weekend
And they could drive truck and still have a life.
We did this in 1982 and men made over $40k.
27 years ago!!!! :confused:

Taken directly from government statistics site on career statistics.

10% of Truck Drivers Earn $23,400 a year or less
50% of Truck Drivers earn $36,500 a year or less
90% of truck drivers earn $54,600 a year or less (10% make more)

In other words, the average is between $36k to 54k, but bare in mind according to that statistic, 50% make 36k or less, that is a LOT!

Compared to only 40% which make between 36k to 54k

Bear that data in mind when you see that big mega carrier saying you can make 55k+ a year, and that statistically only 10% in the industry make that much or more, and those statistics are not just for OTR, it is any truck driver driving a semi of any kind, local, otr, dry van, chemical, heavy haul, etc.

Your math makes no sense. The average wouldn't be between 36.5K to 54.6K. The average WOULD be 36.5K (50% are above 36.5K, and 50% are below 36.5K).

No rev, you are wrong, 36.5k is the MEDIAN.

Let us visit middle school math shall we?

An average is all numbers in a group added up and divided by the number of numbers in a group.

Let us do a simple demonstration.

Lets say we have 13 drivers, their yearly earnings:
$ 23,450.00
$ 32,890.00
$ 37,122.00
$ 38,194.00
$ 39,951.00
$ 41,823.00
$ 42,971.00
$ 49,784.00
$ 52,820.00
$ 53,940.00
$ 54,760.00
$ 57,122.00
$ 63,234.00

The average is $45,235
The Median is $42,971

for this group of numbers of which I made up.

If you want to be statistical like that, then based on the stats I quoted in the OP, the average would be $38,166, which covers 80% of drivers.

Like I said, between 36.5k and 54.6k

does being in california help at all? this state wages are usualy a little higher (in most fields) then the rest of the country, like in the mid west for instance?

You said:

From Wikipedia:

In mathematics, an average, or central tendency[1] of a data set refers to a measure of the "middle" or "expected" value of the data set. There are many different descriptive statistics that can be chosen as a measurement of the central tendency of the data items.

The median is the middle number of the group when they are ranked in order. (If there are an even number of numbers, the average of the middle two is taken.)
Thus to find the median, order the list according to its elements' magnitude and then repeatedly remove the pair consisting of the highest and lowest values until either one or two values are left. If exactly one value is left, it is the median; if two values, the median is the arithmetic mean of these two. This method takes the list 1, 7, 3, 13 and orders it to read 1, 3, 7, 13. Then the 1 and 13 are removed to obtain the list 3, 7. Since there are two elements in this remaining list, the median is their arithmetic mean, (3 + 7)/2 = 5.