New Solo Driver Miles.

The recruiter for the company I've been looking into said that I would begin getting about 2000 miles a week, after 6 months my miles would increase, (2300-2600) but not by much. Does every company limit newbies on the mileage they receive? Or does it essentially depend on you running hard? any tips for running more miles in a week? Thanks!

Are you with Rohel? Once you are out solo, it will be up to you to prove yourself. As a new driver it will take you some time to get into your rhythm. I do not know if they guarantee a certain amount of miles. However, it is up to you to prove yourself to be a top performer. You can look up Rohel's reviews here, Paid CDL Training Programs and here, Trucking Company Reviews. I hope this helps. You can also use the search bar at the top of the page to look for questions to ask recruiters. Good luck.

I've been looking at a lot of companies and it looks like Roehl will work best for me and my family. I plan on starting my training with them in April. Thanks for your response!

Hey Seth, welcome aboard!

It's not really that they are limiting the miles that rookies can get. The reality is that rookies are basically overwhelmed when they start out this career. It is daunting at first. Nobody ever seems to understand that until they get out here and experience all the things a new driver faces.

Each driver will be expected to do as much as they can handle, and they will prove their ability to handle the big miles as they progress. Some folks never quite manage to be top tier drivers, while others do it quite well. There are average drivers, poor drivers, and really great drivers out here. But the driver himself will determine which camp he falls into.

These trucking companies make money the same way their drivers do. Moving freight is what it's all about. They will be expecting you to prove to them that you are capable of doing that, and that takes time to establish an accurate track record. Once you've done your part, and you can expect that to take at a minimum of one year, you'll be doing all the miles you can handle. When you have proven that you know how to safely make money for the company, they will get behind you and trust you with more than you will know what to do with.

That's how it works out here. Forget about all those whiners on trucking forums who have been sharing their stories of woe about their company not giving them any miles. There is a reason they aren't top performers and it has nothing to do with their employer holding them back. Their employer not only wants them running big miles, they need it.

I think you are being given the average, actual miles can, and do, vary. When I first started solo I had a 2900 mile week and it was tough! There is so much more to this than just getting behind the wheel and going. Especially for a noob. There is so much planning and extraneous junk that goes along with this it can be very overwhelming. As OS said, top performers can exceed those quoted miles, but it takes grit and a whole lot of learning to get there. Just be determined to do better every load and to learn from your mistakes and you can be in the top tier.

What Kanelin said. Technically my first month in I did 10k miles. But Feb has been a bear, trapped out West with fewer loads available to everyone.. It's been a tight two weeks, but yes, it's all about the average.

I hear guys saying keep up a good rapport with your DM/Dispatcher, I don't know how it works in other companies. I'm with the guys who wish they had faster trucks.. and with OTR you tend to land in planning zones, the planners are always looking at who's about to arrive in their area and see if you match up with what they've got avail. End of Jan/first week of Feb I was lucky to clear over 1k miles a week, since Thurs of last week (2/9) I'm over 1700 and planned out for a following 400 that will take me through early Tues morning.

And another thing that keeps getting repeated. Don't turn anything down if you've got the hours and can make it work. I got offered an 18mile run.. I was seriously WTF, that's a day cab run.. But oh well better than nothing.. 15min after accepting it, I had a followup offer for a 700+ miler.

Kanelin and I have the the same FM. My first solo week he gave me 2600 miles. I think he tests us to see if we can handle it. Those who can, get high miles and those who cant, see a reduction. One of his drivers complained to me that he only got 1200 miles per week. Wanna guess why? He was late to every load, so his loads got more drawn out. I can do 1100 miles in two drive shifts and be early. Guess who gets the miles? That guy is getting 1100 to run over four days cause on tighter schedules he is late.

Some other FMs seem to start rookies out with less miles to ease them into it. Its hard going solo cause during training you weren't paying attention to where interstates ran or available parking. You concentrated on not hitting anything and shifting. You weren't really concerned with trip planning cause it was done for you.

Want a tip? Leave ASAP and park close to the customer if no parking on site. I often arrive at the shipper with nearly a full clock then roll as far as I can the first couple days. That way if I want to relax and only do a few hundred miles the last day....do some laundry or stop at walmart, I have time. If I want to run hard and run it in early to rack up the miles I do that also. Not all customers let you though.

Quite often, like with my current load...I'll park close by a day early. But I know my FM won't let me sit on a load. He'll have someone out of hours meet me and I'll then run that guy's load and the guy will run my load in the next day when he gets hours back.

I don't sit. If I have five hours left on my clock I get a preplan for five hours lol I had to ask for a 34 this weekend cause I know he'd find me a load to pick up with three hours left lol. But the driver who over sleeps and he needs to call and wake up will be the one sitting on my load for 24hrs.

In the beginning I would message my FM at the end of his day to assure him of my progress cause at the time I tried to stay nights. I would message him at 5pm "will be at shipper by 2300 for 0700 appt."

He got so used to me doing that, after a month or so he said "I get it. Ur great at getting in early. I never have to worry about you with that." After that I stopped.

Part of having a great rapport is not bothering them for stupid stuff. "My Qualcomm speakers aren't working, my wipers need replacing, the 12v outlet in the truck is broken". ... These are things he can't fix. He is concerned with getting you loads, changing appts, and giving you info. If you don't know who to call to get your truck fixed. By all means ask him who to call. But after a couple months...you should know. Your FM doesn't need to know every freaking detail of your road life. So calling him ten times every day is taking his time away from other drivers who might need him.

Remember they are dealing with accidents, training new drivers, preplanning your load, making sure all loads are in on time, routing people for home time. I know when I need him I'll get his time as if I'm the only driver he has. So why would I be selfsish and bother him with stupid stuff when another driver might be needing him at that moment?

Thank you for all your replies, it really does help!