Hourly Or By The Mile

I have been driving a truck for over 25 years as an hourly paid, local driver, so I know nothing about getting paid by the trip or mileage. I'm getting too old to be fingerprinting freight anymore so a left a job to get to something that's "no touch". I just took a job that advertised 18.00 an hour (ouch, but I'll take it since it's no touch). After going through all the drug and background check they eagerly hired me. I even turned down a few jobs and stopped looking thinking that this was the job I would stick with. Low and behold, once I start I'm told that I'm home ever night, but the trips that are over 300 miles are paid at .42 a mile. The boss told me that they would calculate it both ways and give me which ever is higher ( hourly or mileage). After talking to some of the other drivers, they say that never happens. Im with the company for about a week now and I only worked 1 day on the clock. If a load pays .42 a mile for 400 miles (its actually 417 but who's counting) that comes out to $168. I spent 11 hours from the time I started my pre-trip until I finished my post-trip, NOT including 30 min break. $168 divided by 11 hours comes out to $15.27 an hour! And it was a great day, no traffic, and no delays. I can't imagine what it would be like with bad weather and delays. After I get my first check, I'll sit down with the boss and discuss this and hopefully work this out. Everyone in the office is extremely nice, but at this point I'm feeling like I've been bamboozled.

Is this what it's like? Have any of you guys ever sat down to look at what your actually earning per hour. I see plenty of jobs advertised as 60-70K a year but they don't say how much you have to work to make that. When you think of how much responsibility it is to get a rig from point A to B, the salaries that are being offered are a disgrace.

Your opinions, PLEASE

Thanks, Mike

The last time I say down and figured it out I make about 14 to 16 bucks an hour. I drive OTR and I average 2500 miles a week @ 40 cpm. That is a heck of a lot better than anything I would make at home. I do agree the pay needs to go up but I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for it.

The last time I say down and figured it out I make about 14 to 16 bucks an hour. I drive OTR and I average 2500 miles a week @ 40 cpm. That is a heck of a lot better than anything I would make at home. I do agree the pay needs to go up but I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for it.

Wow! I guess that's not too bad if someone is living in S Carolina somewhere, but in Jersey, that's not going to pay the bills. Not to mention, all the time spent working. I don't ask for much, but I would like a little bit of a life too.

Is this what it's like? Have any of you guys ever sat down to look at what your actually earning per hour. I see plenty of jobs advertised as 60-70K a year but they don't say how much you have to work to make that. When you think of how much responsibility it is to get a rig from point A to B, the salaries that are being offered are a disgrace.

The salaries in trucking, adjusted for inflation, have been on the decline for decades unfortunately. Here is a chart I've shared a few times:

When I started in 1993 I made about $40,000 my first full year. Nowadays most drivers won't make that their first year. When adjusted for inflation, $40,000 in 1993 is the equivalent of about $64,000 today. I'd guess that fewer than 10% of experienced drivers in the trucking industry today are making what we started at in 1993 when adjusted for inflation.

And you certainly can't compare pay rates between jobs when you're unloading freight at one and the other is no-touch. That's comparing apples to oranges for sure.

My take has always been that if you don't enjoy the perks of the travelling lifestyle then there are probably better careers out there than trucking. I thought the travelling lifestyle was what made the job so amazing all those years and I absolutely loved it. When I had local jobs I was bored to death and trucking certainly didn't seem like the best option any longer.

We are paid a flat rate per day every day we are out...7 days a week rolling or sitting and get a small mileage "bonus" for all loaded miles. Bottom line is I make nearly double the weekly take home pay that I got as a software support analyst. Granted, I miss the weekends off and paid time off, but even though my "hourly" rate would come out lower I'm taking more money home. I've never minded hard work.