Chuck,
If you're planning on working as a company driver, you're probably making as much right now as you're going to make driving a truck. In fact, you're probably making more right now.
However, it's important to do something you like and want to do, so if you have your heart set on trucking, by all means go for it.
Starting right out of truck driver school, and depending on how important it is for you to have home time, you can expect to earn from $35k (staying home most or every night) to $45k +/- if you're out on the road full time with occasional time back at the house.
As an owner/operator you should be able to make more, but there are a lot more headaches that go with that as well.
The two important things you want to look for in a new job are: (1) what is the average length of haul for the company, since every time you pull that parking brake to get loaded or unloaded you're going to be at someone's loading dock for 3 hours or so on average, or more; and (2) how much does the company pay per mile.
There are a lot of other things that are important as well, but those two factors are 90% of what I'd be looking at if I were looking for a job. (The other 10% being does the company run a forced dispatch operation or not.)
This is a very broad generalization, but I've noticed that some of the best paying trucking companies have older equipment. I guess they can either invest in trucks or in the truck drivers and many of the companies that have the nicest equipment just don't pay particularly well.
Just my $0.02 worth, as always.
-- c t
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