More Than .45 Cents Per Mile For New Driver

I am about halfway through cdl school in NC. I have found a few companies that pay .45 cpm or higher I was wondering if anyone knows of anymore companies that pay that well for new drivers that I could call and check in on. Prime and McElroy are two that I have found.

Maybe flatbed companies. Check here. Trucking Company Reviews I think Abilene pays well. You may also want to look here,

• Trucker's Career Guide: Choosing Your First Truck Driving Job
• Article Category: Finding The Right Truck Driving Job
• Forum Topics Tagged "Choosing A Trucking Company"

Sometimes the best pay is not the best company.

To add to Scotts post, don't get too hung up on cpm. There are many factors that determine what you bring home, most of those being you and your work ethic. Company A may pay more cpm than company B, but company B may have more freight and nicer equipment. Do your research and see who fits you best. Flatbed typically pays a hire cpm but we don't get the miles box drivers get typically. So at the end of the day it balances out. I guess you could say we work harder but less often.

There is such a vast difference in cpm on some of these companies that I begin to wonder how companies like Schneider can offer .33 cpm and still have people go to work for them, that is a huge difference. I like some of the perks of working with a big company but the pay is so low you would have to run a whole bunch of miles to make the same amount elsewhere.

You will find a lot of Prime drivers on here, so you can talk to them. I do know that their training program is highly rated and that is something to consider. That's why I have decided to pursue a job with them when my current "job" (I take care of my dying grandmother) is complete. It doesn't matter how much they start you at if you end up in some horrible wreck. At least for me, I want to go where I will be trained the best, and I think that's the best thing a rookie driver can ask for. I know a lease driver team that is totally sick of the business end of the deal they signed up for (he is a long time 20+ year veteran and she is closing in on finishing her first year) and even though they are really bummed out on the money they're making as lease drivers, they still say it's the place to go for your training and to be a company driver for at least the first year. When you talk to people who are planning on leaving over money and they still say, "There is no way I could ever rag on their training," then you know the training is good.

I should point out they are upset at the money they are clearing as LEASE drivers and not company drivers. All the vets on here will tell you not to lease until you really have mastered trucking and know the ends and outs of the business, and I believe them. Of course, take what I say with a grain of salt; I am not yet even a student, but I have been hanging around here a while and researched the business extensively in my spare time. If you find a company that interests you in the link to the reviews of companies listed above, be sure and check out their websites. There are some bonuses you can earn a lot of times that I have found missing from some company reviews. Also some companies come right out and tell you on the websites just what benefits they have and how much they either cost or costed on the last year they have data for. Benefits are a huge thing to consider. Personally, I wouldn't go to a company that didn't have long term disability insurance. In trucking you're a failed physical away from being out of a job. I fought Social Security once on a disability case and damn I would have been homeless by the time I would have ever got it if my relatives didn't end up needing long term care givers. It was like three years from the time I applied to the time I got a hearing to the time the judge wrote a decision. There is no way I would risk that again.

Justin wrote:

There is such a vast difference in cpm on some of these companies that I begin to wonder how companies like Schneider can offer .33 cpm and still have people go to work for them, that is a huge difference. I like some of the perks of working with a big company but the pay is so low you would have to run a whole bunch of miles to make the same amount elsewhere.

Justin, rookie pay is a starting point. As a totally unproven, novice driver the company you hire on with is offering you a chance to learn this business. Fact is the learning curve can take up to one year to fully absorb. Trucking is all about safe and efficient performance. Once you begin to prove yourself safe and reliable, building that professional relationship with your dispatcher/driver manager, your CPM will increase and so will your miles.

As others have suggested, try not to focus on starting CPM, no matter where you go, 35-40k of first year income is the average.

Thanks everyone this is very helpful. 😁

One of the companies at the top of my list is Crete - if they accept drivers from your school, you may want to check them out. $550/wk for 8 weeks with a trainer, then 36cpm for 4 months, then 46cpm. This is on their 21 day out OTR dry van fleet, according to their website and their recruiter I spoke to. I have looked at Prime as well. Seems like a great company. Crete also has a refer division that pays a couple cpm more, called Shaffer.