Profile For Bigtime

I've been looking to go back on the road, but am only interested in a pay structure that ensure that I will make over $1k/week. If I'm going to be gone for days or weeks at a time, and work 55-70 hours per week, I really don't think that's a lot to ask. It looks like companies across the board are offering lower pay, longer trips, and fewer (or no) guarantees. When I talk to them, they swear I can easily make $1600/week, but they're not willing to back that up with a guarantee. They want to offer mileage pay and a governed truck.

I see a lot of "Top earners make $X", "Earn up to $X", and "average pay is $x", but no $x/hour, day, or week.

I have too many bad experiences, being on short runs, spending long hours in docks, and not making any money on mileage pay. If I can't get a driving job that is not based on mileage pay, I'm going to get rid of my CDL.

I wouldn't say the way you're compensated matters. What DOES matter is how it all plays out in the end and if you feel you're earning what you feel you're worth.

My employer gives us the option of hourly or mile/stop. The way things are currently set up I'm actually earning MORE being mile/stop than hourly. A couple years ago we had drivers for TMC make a killing on percentage pay while freight rates were high. Now that rates have dropped they're likely not doing as well and possibly earn LESS than those on CPM.

I hear the market is pretty messed up right now. Farmers can't get enough for their grain. I look at ads for trucking jobs and they are a lot less tempting than the ads I remember seeing several years ago. I won't go back OTR without the money. Every time I go to the store, or pull up at the gas pump, I'm getting squeezed for even more.

Welcome to the forum Bigtime!

I completely relate with your struggles, especially because I’ve done a lot of local and regional work in my short career (I’ve been driving just over 6 years) and the pay tends to work quite a bit different on local stuff. I just went back to a true OTR gig (out for 3 weeks minimum) for the first time since my first year trucking and it’s definitely a little bit of culture shock. I do flatbed so I generally have very little wait time at shippers and receivers, but even things like getting the truck worked on or going home are stressful for me because I’m used to those things being more naturally worked into my schedule and not losing money on those things. The last local job I worked, I got a nice truck that was turned up, could go the speed limit, home daily with occasional regional runs, and I was compensated by the run (not by the mile) with $25/hr detention that kicked in after an hour every single time. Everything is different OTR and personally I believe OTR drivers get screwed more than any other segment of the industry. We can make decent money but we have to either log things questionably and/or sacrifice a lot of our personal time to do it.

Point being, I get it.

My advice is don’t swing doors if you want to do OTR but don’t want to spend a lot of time in docks. Flatbed is a great option if you want to spend less time at shippers and receivers, but it’s more work. I think it definitely has its perks like a better schedule overall, healthier lifestyle, pride in the work, less time sitting and waiting. I’d have a hard time saying it pays noticeably better than any other segment of trucking though so if you don’t enjoy getting your hands dirty you’re going to hate it.

Tanker is another option I’d look into if you haven’t already. That local gig I was talking about was pneumatic tanker. I’ve never done a liquid tanker gig but I would imagine the pay structure at shippers and receivers is a tad different like it was for me because there’s more involved than just waiting to get loaded or unloaded. You have to load and unload yourself. We have a couple tanker guys here on the forum that will hopefully chime in here.

Another option is LTL work. Whether it’s P&D or linehaul, those drivers tend to get compensated much more fairly than OTR drivers generally are in my opinion.

I’m sure there are other options I’m not thinking of at the moment. There are so many avenues in trucking it’s insane and with you having experience and a decent record you would be eligible for most jobs that are out there.

There are more and more OTR jobs paying hourly and/or having a minimum guarantee so if that’s what you’re looking for I’m sure you can find it. I tend to shy away from them because the ceiling is higher with cpm at a lot of places. Good luck

I'm sorry it's been a few days. A lot has happened this past week, and I don't have internet at the house.

Also, thanks for the input.

I'd be interested in doing some pneumatic dry bulk. I have a tank endorsement but not Hazmat. Are the hoses very heavy? One reason I've stayed away from flatbed is I don't have the back for it. I have picked up a tarp and walked the length of a trailer once, and I felt like I was going to collapse under its weight. I need to work out more, but I also have some back issues that make that kind of work very painful.

I do think I want to get away from swinging doors.

Hello Bigtime, and welcome to our forum!

You've come here as an experienced driver, and that's great. We love having both newbies and experienced hands in here. You sound a little burned out. I get it. Trucking can have that effect on us. It's unusual schedules with long and erratic hours. For some it's a grind. For others it's exhilarating. It often boils down to your personal preferences and approach to your lifestyle.

Nobody here would judge you for wanting your pay structure to be different. Trucking is challenging. It can be frustrating. Nobody wants to sit and wait without some form of compensation. We have to learn to make this job work for us. That has always been a challenge for the American truck driver. Coming up with solutions is very rewarding. Focusing on the frustration is demoralizing.

My first suggestion is to always focus on what you can do within your current situation to make things better. That's exactly opposite of what most truckers do. Most of us start looking for greener grass.

I'm going to get some more information to you a little later. I'm pressed for time at the moment.

Thanks for the welcome!

I have been burned a few times and I want to find a job that will meet my needs and not just take advantage of me. I see a lot of advertisements that seems deceptive to me. I recently got left stranded in Cincinnati by a sleazy company. I was nervous about coming out, but they assured me that it was fine and that the pay was $2k/week and there were no catches (besides it being 1099). I'd do 1099 for $2k/week, as long as there are not any unpleasant surprises, like forcing me to buy my own truck insurance or something like that. Anyway, those devils left me stranded and I had to spend almost all the money I have to get back to IL.

My experience with mileage pay is sitting in a dock, or in traffic in Atlanta, Greenville, and Charlotte, and not making any money. When I worked at Smith, they had a daily rate on the account I was in, and it was not bad. I was able to make enough to keep doing, until I had COVID and vertigo that lasted a few months. I'd probably still be doing that. if not for that. After a while, they sent me a letter that said they were considering a certain day to be my resignation date. I drove for Watsontown, and they paid by the hour. I made similar money to Smith. Slightly less, but not bad. My only complaint there is the driver cam and some creepy software they made me put on my phone. If you don't trust me, don't hire me. I'm not gonna play with the phone while I'm driving. Even with that egregious intrusive software on the phone, I'll deal with it again if they'll hire me again. I'd love to stay out here in IL. I don't miss the Southeast at all. The only problem is I'm not finding anything.

Hi Bigtime.

What have you driven during your 4 years of experience? I assume you have a class A CDL, correct?

I’m not understanding why a driving job that pays by mileage won’t work for you. Most of us here on the forum get mileage pay and are doing well financially. Almost everyone works for a solid company and gets treated ok and paid according to the laws. Have you had 1099 jobs? If so that could be a problem. The collective wisdom here is to avoid 1099 jobs and go with a W2 job.

Perhaps I’m missing something about your situation. Could you elaborate further?

BTW, you can get hourly paying driving jobs. Mostly local work, not OTR.

In my experience, when I am getting mileage pay, I'm sitting in a dock door and the shipper is taking their sweet time to get me loaded. If I'm running the Southeast, I'm sitting in traffic. The south has taken the north's place when it comes to hellish traffic, and with it just being one big sprawling suburb, there is no break from it! I'm pretty cynical and bitter after multiple experiences of being taken advantage of. I have always insisted on a daily rate or hourly rate. If I can get that, I do OK. It seems like there is a ceiling on the pay and I can't ever break through it, but at least there is a floor and I'm not sitting in a dock door for free.

I think I had a daily rate at Smith and that was decent. I'd go back if they hired out of this area. I might move back east, as much as I don't want to, if they hire me back. I drove for Watsontown also. That was either $22 or $25/hour, and I did OK there, too. Again, it seems like there's a ceiling I can't break through, but there's also a floor. It was very stressful going up and down the 81 and 85 corridors, but at least I knew I was getting paid. My only real complaint about Watsontown was the stupid drivercam and this "corporate spyware" (that's what I'm calling it) they made me put on my phone. If you don't trust someone, don't hire them. I'm not gonna mess with my phone while I'm driving, because I don't want a big ticket. More importantly, I don't think I could live with myself if I was caused an accident with fatalities. Smith didn't have a driver cam or that software on my phone. As much as I hated that, I'd tolerate it again, if they hired me out of this area. It was a pain to deal with that, but if I can take home at least $1k/week, I'll grit my teeth and deal with it.

Oh yeah. One more thing I forgot. TMC, at least the TMC I'm thinking about, is a flatbed company and they LOVE to tarp their loads. Those tarps weigh like 80lbs. One of the things you have to do before you do anything else is pick that sucker up and walk the length of the trailer with it. If you aren't used to throwing that kind of weight around, muscles you didn't know you had will hurt the next day.

I'm going to repeat and emphasize some things because I didn't read everything you said before. When you said you want to change your life and threw your bongs away, I thought that was great! You do need to give it more time. Reading more of your posts is pretty concerning. If you do succeed at cheating the system once or twice, you will eventually run into trouble. In a best-case scenario, you will lose your job and career. If you end up killing people on the road, you're going to have to live with that. You'll probably be living with it in prison. I can't imagine sleeping with that on my conscience, even if it's an accident, even if it isn't my fault.

I think another forum user suggested this, and I'm going to repeat it. Get clean and don't use for at least a year. If you have the strength of will to do that, a lot of people will respect you. If you can't do that, this kind of work might not be a good fit for you. I know it's not going to be easy, but there are people who have done it.

Yes, there are companies that want to screw you over, but that's not my biggest concern right now.

I came out to southern IL to do some harvest work, and it was a lot of fun. It was a welcome and long overdue break from the stress of OTR trucking. Unfortunately, I didn't make a lot. Now the party is over and I'm sitting here with bills piling up. I thought there would be grain to haul, but the farmers are holding out because prices are too low. It's pretty disgusting. Farmers can't get $5.00/bushel, but when you go to the store everything is obscenely expensive!

Everything I see advertised is not even remotely attractive. I see a lot of deceptive ads talking about "top drivers earn $x", "average pay", or my favorite "up-to"! Up to means you can get paid $0.00 and they are strictly-speaking not lying. The other statements are pretty similar.

I've been screwed-over a few times and I guess I'm a little cynical because of that. I feel like I'm being robbed when I'm promised a rewarding career, and spend my time in a dock, not getting paid, and when I ask about detention, they "don't have money in their budget for it".

I'm looking for a daily rate, hourly rate, or some sort of minimum pay guarantee. What can you recommend? I have about 4 years of experience and a clean MVR. I have no SAP or DUIs in my history.

Thanks in advance.