Miles, Miles, And More Miles!

Hey all!

So I don't have any cool stories or anything to tell ya right now, but I thought this was pretty interesting. In my first week on my own, as in a full 7 day period, I ran a little over 3200 miles. In two weeks that went up to 5500 miles. I've been running hard, just because my dispatch gives me deadlines that I feel are impossible, but I've gotta make them as close as possible.

Heading out to Nazareth, PA on Monday morning for a 5am delivery on Wednesday. 1200 miles in two days shouldn't be any issue at all.

Stay safe out there everyone!

That's awesome Julian! Especially this time of the year when things tend to slow down.

Just monitor yourself closely though to make sure that over a period of weeks and months you're not burning out. When I first got into trucking at 21 years old I went from $5.50/hour in a warehouse to basically $40k/year. About triple. I was sooooooo excited about being able to make all I wanted to make with mileage pay that I ran super hard all the time. Turns out you can do that for a while, but before long it catches up to you. I wound up taking a break from the road for a few months. Didn't even want to look at a truck for a while there. But after I recovered I went back out and kept my mileage sustainable.

I would say as a rookie you're going to be adjusting to life on the road, stress, sleeping in a truck, and the erratic sleep schedules for much of that first year. I think around 2400-2700 miles per week is comfortably sustainable as a rookie. Anything around the 3000+ mile per week area is really pushing it. You can do it sometimes, but trying to do that consistently might leave you haggard and zombie-eyed after a couple of months.

So play it cool out there. Keep making all of your appointment times safely and you'll always be given good miles. But know when to take a break if you need one. It's not about making all the money you can this week or this month. It's about staying safe and making a solid salary year after year.

Go get em!