Pay My Own Way Or "free" Company School? And Which Company Has Best Starting Pay?

Just wanted to jump on here a sec to say a few things. Pay or com when you 1st get out here doesn't matter until you figure out how to run your truck properly. Once you've proven yourself the miles and money will come in. I started out with short runs and low miles a few months ago. I'm with Maverick, running flatbed. I've only been here 4 months and my milage has improved dramatically. Here we start at 38 cpm with an automatic 2 cent bonus bringing you to 40. At 6 months we go to 44 and can earn 6 more cpm for performance. I'll be at 50 in November. It's hard work out here, but very rewarding if you do what you're supposed to. I believe Prime is similar but I'm not sure.

Just wanted to jump on here a sec to say a few things. Pay or com when you 1st get out here doesn't matter until you figure out how to run your truck properly. Once you've proven yourself the miles and money will come in. I started out with short runs and low miles a few months ago. I'm with Maverick, running flatbed. I've only been here 4 months and my milage has improved dramatically. Here we start at 38 cpm with an automatic 2 cent bonus bringing you to 40. At 6 months we go to 44 and can earn 6 more cpm for performance. I'll be at 50 in November. It's hard work out here, but very rewarding if you do what you're supposed to. I believe Prime is similar but I'm not sure.

Thanks CT for your input. It's posts like these that give me hope.

I think 50 cpm sounds pretty good actually, especially if you eventually can start getting 2000+ miles per week. If it takes 6 mos to a year to get there (which seems to be the case) then so be it I suppose. But that's grossing $1k per week which is where I am shooting at minimum (in time, of course). The closer you get to 3k miles per week, even better, although I wouldn't necessarily expect that all the time. And again, all after several months of learning and putting in the time. Sounds reasonable to me.

Some guesstimates on earning potential in Trucking. Year 1 $32,000 - $40,000. Year 2 $40,000 - $50,000 Year 3 $50,000- $60,000. There are exceptions to this, but they have proven to be pretty reliable numbers. For example. Walmart Company Fleet Drivers can make around $80,000 +or- in their first year. But........... You need 30 months of Recent OTR experience and a squeaky clean driving record. Also, I'm sure a good record of longevity with your current Company, great references, etc. Those are coveted jobs in this industry. They can be VERY SELECTIVE with the wages and benefits packages they offer. In many cases it requires moving and taking up residence within 20-30 miles of your assigned DC or Terminal. This can be difficult for many people with families, etc. It is Definitely on my radar a couple of years down the road, as I am currently one of those "Homeless" drivers. All of my worldly possessions are stored with Family in my Hometown. I have no ties to a particular location, so relocating to "Where Ever" would be quite easy for me. I hope this helps!

In fact if I could do that in reefer or dry van I think I'd be happy as a clam. Maybe I change my mind later if I start withering away from lack of physical activity just sitting and driving all the time. :) We'll see I suppose...

I averaged about 1700 to 2000 miles initially. I'm around 2200 to 2600 now. I learn more every week and aim to improve. Also get paid to tarp. Usually 3 tarps a week.

Yes I have read those numbers everywhere, they are somewhat discouraging (to me at least).

OTOH, I plan on being one of those exceptions, because I am exceptional! Not in a special snowflake kind of way, but in a scarily competent, bad arse kind of way. :)

Thanks for the feedback on the mythical Wally World driving jobs I keep hearing about. My understanding is that FedEx (or was it UPS?) are also like that. That's what I might be shooting for longer term as well, but we will see.

Which is why I want to try and make sure I get in with the right company, I don't want to be bamboozled by a recruiter only to find out it was all Bee Ess and then have to change companies because they lied. Because that makes me look bad (instability). And my understanding is that like Army recruiters, they all lie. lol This is another argument in favor of paying my own way through school, btw, although the jury is still out on that one overall...

Sorry guys if I remain negative / cynical in spite of your best efforts, but it's a cold hard world out there and I have no illusions. The interests of corporations, by their inherent nature, are diametrically opposed to my own interests. They want to reduce expenses by paying me as little as they can get away with, and I want to make as much as I can. At the end of the day. nothing else really matters.

In my view, bigger company might give you more opportunity to move laterally, that's a good point, but smaller company might pay you better, especially if the first generation owner is still around and calling the shots, perhaps even driving still. Because they still know what it means to work and they appreciate it and they appreciate what you do and therefore value it / pay you accordingly. I have seen far too many businesses (not in trucking, talking in general / other industries here) where they have gone to the kids, or some investors, or whatever, and they have totally lost sight of the things that got them to where they were in the first place. Just become greedy at some point, it all just becomes about the company making a profit no matter what, and drivers be damned. That's what I'm worried about. I care about these companies exactly as much as they "care" about me, which is to say, exactly zero. How much are you going to pay me? Put all the Bee Ess aside, and that tells me everything I need to know. It's the only thing that matters to me (I don't care about home time).

I suppose I need to start researching some companies, and see what their actual pay rates are...

Some guesstimates on earning potential in Trucking. Year 1 $32,000 - $40,000. Year 2 $40,000 - $50,000 Year 3 $50,000- $60,000. There are exceptions to this, but they have proven to be pretty reliable numbers. For example. Walmart Company Fleet Drivers can make around $80,000 +or- in their first year. But........... You need 30 months of Recent OTR experience and a squeaky clean driving record. Also, I'm sure a good record of longevity with your current Company, great references, etc. Those are coveted jobs in this industry. They can be VERY SELECTIVE with the wages and benefits packages they offer. In many cases it requires moving and taking up residence within 20-30 miles of your assigned DC or Terminal. This can be difficult for many people with families, etc. It is Definitely on my radar a couple of years down the road, as I am currently one of those "Homeless" drivers. All of my worldly possessions are stored with Family in my Hometown. I have no ties to a particular location, so relocating to "Where Ever" would be quite easy for me. I hope this helps!

here is an illustration of exactly what I am talking about: For all your trouble on that run, how much did you get paid? Because I am pretty sure that the company charged the customer a pretty penny on that load, what with all the parameters, wide load, through NYC, closing a bridge, and all the rest. And marked that all up to the customer. So, for your part in it, all your care in securing the load and transporting it, your responsibility, the ticket you received and presumably had to pay out of pocket (only $50 but easily could have been much worse by the sounds of it), how much was your share of the take? Recognizing of course the company owns the equipment, pays the fuel, and must pay the dispatcher , mechanic, and everything else and then make a profit of course. But how much profit did they make out of that load, vs how much did you make, and is that split fair, given the fact that you bore a much greater portion of the responsibility in delivering it safely and undamaged? And therein sort of lie the crux of my argument. Yes you made a rookie mistake not knowing some specifics about the bridge. But these things are bound to happen. And we as drivers are expected to have to roll with the punches. But how often is the company expected to roll with the punches? Not often is what I'm imagining, although I could be wrong.

Okay, you can do your own research into some of the numbers that I am going to throw out here if you want to verify the veracity of them, but I am just going to try to be close with some generalities. Truck drivers get paid by the mile, or another way to look at it is that they get paid for what they manage to accomplish each week. This is a very efficient system, despite the naysayers who think we should get paid by the hour. You stated that you had employees before. If your experience was like mine then you quickly discovered which ones were worth their wages and which ones weren't. What did you do in those various scenarios? Well, for my part I would try to assist the weaker ones with maybe some extra training or help, but if it was obvious they just weren't going to be good performers then I had to cut my losses with them - I got rid of them. Now the ones that were good, I did everything I could afford to do to keep them.

In the trucking business everybody from the top on down gets paid for performance. Your dispatcher will probably have some sort of base salary with performance bonuses attached. That means the better he can manage his fleet of drivers the more money he can make - he is getting more done - therefore he is getting a slice of the pie. There are layers of management in these companies, and each layer is getting performance pay based on how the layer under his guidance is doing. You may not like the term "trickle down economics," but trucking companies are a book study on it. From the top managers all the way down to the drivers, everybody wants to move more freight, because that is how each of us earns more money. Notice that the driver is at the bottom - always has been, always will be - you'd better be able to live with that, or you are going to be spinning your wheels in this business.

Now you seem to want to make sure that you are getting your fair share of the pie, and I like that - we certainly should be rewarded for our efforts, just as everybody else in this whole chain of command thing should be expecting to be paid for what they are worth also. This is a commodities business, therefore the margins are very thin. You can verify this by looking at some of the publicly traded large trucking companies and you will discover that the ones who are doing well are netting about 3% profits per annum. Now that three percent may be a large number, but 3% is a tough nut to cut. I don't care if it is in the billions, you just took a huge calculated risk to make 3%! You can't get distracted with the total number of dollars - you have got to realize that 3 % is a very small amount of profit. I'm stressing this point because I don't really know you yet, and some folks would just want to say, "well the company I'm working for posted 4 billion in profits, and I only got paid sixty grand - that is highway robbery - I want my share of the money!" If they would focus on what percentage of the value of the load they were receiving they might see it a little differently.

Continued...

For the most part, the drivers pay is going to fall somewhere in the 25 - 35% of the dollar value of a load. Freight rates are different all the time due to a lot of factors which I don't have the time here to go into, but generally your mileage rate is going to fall into that range, and the better drivers with good solid years of experience behind them will be more near the high end of that range. And just so you know it those better drivers will receive special attention and perks that the lesser ones may not. Here's an example: Just recently I needed to take ten days off for some medical reasons. Normally it would be company policy at my company, and most any trucking company, for me to turn in my truck if I am going to be absent for that long. Then when I'm ready to return they will find me another truck and re-issue me a truck. It is their very expensive asset, and they need it to be moving if it is going to be producing revenues for the company. That is understandable. My driver manager wouldn't even hear of it - he told me to bob-tail the truck home, and to call him when I was ready to come back. He knew it was against company policy, but he also had the authority to make that call because he valued the driver enough to handle it that way. Forget all the bull excrement you've read about these companies not respecting their drivers. They respect the drivers who deserve the respect - this all goes back to what we've been discussing about this being a performance based job. The people in the internet chat rooms and forums who are always screaming about how badly they got treated by the trucking companies were not getting it done - it's as plain and simple as that.

I'm trying to stress the importance of performance to you - that is where most everyone who has problems in this industry falls short, and there are a lot of them.

Now as to your original questions about "how much of the pie am I the driver getting as compared to the company?" Well, after their expenses, which are astronomical (you can verify that one too if you are so inclined), they are getting around three percent, if they are doing well. I am getting somewhere between 25 and 35 percent for my efforts. Did I answer your question? Or did I just incite more curiosity?

Honestly, you may see yourself as a super trucker or whatever. Bottom line is, you can't jump into this industry and turn 3k miles or more week one. It takes time to learn and be productive. If I got drop n hooks all the time with longer runs I could do it no problem. Did I mention I'm regional and home every week? I'm home now until Monday night or Tuesday morning with the holiday. Otr drivers will get more miles but stay out longer. But either way it takes time to get to where you turn miles safely and efficiently. I'm still learning myself.

Sorry guys if I remain negative / cynical in spite of your best efforts, but it's a cold hard world out there and I have no illusions. The interests of corporations, by their inherent nature, are diametrically opposed to my own interests. They want to reduce expenses by paying me as little as they can get away with, and I want to make as much as I can. At the end of the day. nothing else really matters.

We are not trying to get you to see illusions, we are trying to get your focus on the realities of how this works. If you can't get that you are going to suffer in this business. We see it everyday - miserable drivers who are convinced that they are just "working for the man."

I want to make as much as I can. At the end of the day. nothing else really matters.

I'm quoting that one twice, because I seriously want you to think about what you are spouting off in here. I'm certainly not one to let anyone walk over me, but I have got to understand how this business works if I want to make the best efforts at making any money at it.

You spoke earlier about critical thinking and logic. Well, how is it logical for you to take the same approach to making the most money you can, let the company be damned, if that is not acceptable to you when you claim that the company takes that approach toward the employees. If nothing else really matters but that you are making the most money you can, then you have fallen into the same approach that you claim the company takes, and you say it is diametrically opposed to what you think is right and good!

Look, they are going to pay you based on what you can do for them, and if you can muster the skills and talents that keep bringing you to tell us how "special" you are then you are not going to have any problems at this career. The harsh reality in this business is that you "put up, or shut up." I'm just trying to help you see the way it works. If you want to enjoy the benefits of their system of providing good paying jobs for blue collar workers so that you can one day "get off the grid" and live your life just however you please, then you need to understand the basics of getting along inside the framework and structure of their system. There are thousands of drivers out there who are constantly trying to "buck" the system because they think of it as corporate greed. They are the ones who make it hard on themselves.

Brett did pretty much what you are talking about. He now lives like a hermit in the beautiful rolling hillsides of Upstate New York, eating out of his organic garden, and feeding his chickens and dogs off the extra Bibb lettuces that he grows. Heck, you have got to have an appointment if you even want to cross over his property line. He lives a secluded life, just the way he likes it! But to get there he busted his butt driving a truck and learning how things work in this industry so that he could reach his goals. If you want to make the most money you can at this, you will have to go about it in a way that works, and that way is what we specialize in helping people understand.