Nearly 3 Months Solo

So it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything. I was fairly active keeping you informed with my progress through training but as you all know one can be fairly busy out here day to day....especially on a dedicated account.

So I’m looking for some input from the long timers/old timers. Didn’t want to infer that anyone is older than they feel but ya know what I mean. Just a quick reminder this isn’t my first go around in this industry but with the time lapse I had to go thru training and am glad I did. I’m back at Swift for my second time and things are pretty good. Miles are up and down but I do get home weekly for my reset plus a few hours most weeks.

In the 4 paychecks I’ve gotten this month the gross pay with mileage and extra pay due to detention and short haul is just under $3900 total. I do have full coverage insurance for me and family and started a 401k which they will start matching in a 2 more months. I average about 2200-2500 miles per week and have run as many as 3100 which left me thinking I could easily do 3400 even on this dedicated account with my time management skills.

Now for the question. In your opinion how do think I’m doing so far? Do you think I could better on a dedicated Walmart account or maybe regional OTR? Running 48 isn’t something I’m interested in doing and I truly want to take all the advice I read and stick it out for at least 1 year. The Walmart dedicated is in my home town and they run day cabs so it’s home daily gig. I’m really interested in that and mentioned in my first post that was my big picture goal.

Please chime in and lead this horse to water as I really just feel that I’m capable of running much harder to chase the bucks. After all....that’s why I’m out here doing this. 5 year plan to get debt free and then 5 year plan to reach a semi retired status.

So it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything. I was fairly active keeping you informed with my progress through training but as you all know one can be fairly busy out here day to day....especially on a dedicated account.

So I’m looking for some input from the long timers/old timers. Didn’t want to infer that anyone is older than they feel but ya know what I mean. Just a quick reminder this isn’t my first go around in this industry but with the time lapse I had to go thru training and am glad I did. I’m back at Swift for my second time and things are pretty good. Miles are up and down but I do get home weekly for my reset plus a few hours most weeks.

In the 4 paychecks I’ve gotten this month the gross pay with mileage and extra pay due to detention and short haul is just under $3900 total. I do have full coverage insurance for me and family and started a 401k which they will start matching in a 2 more months. I average about 2200-2500 miles per week and have run as many as 3100 which left me thinking I could easily do 3400 even on this dedicated account with my time management skills.

Now for the question. In your opinion how do think I’m doing so far? Do you think I could better on a dedicated Walmart account or maybe regional OTR? Running 48 isn’t something I’m interested in doing and I truly want to take all the advice I read and stick it out for at least 1 year. The Walmart dedicated is in my home town and they run day cabs so it’s home daily gig. I’m really interested in that and mentioned in my first post that was my big picture goal.

Please chime in and lead this horse to water as I really just feel that I’m capable of running much harder to chase the bucks. After all....that’s why I’m out here doing this. 5 year plan to get debt free and then 5 year plan to reach a semi retired status.

Three months here also bro. I also run walmart dedicated. On a weekly basis I pull about $1340-1440+ a week gross. That’s not even counting when I get Standby for 25 an hour just sleeping in my car somedays. So my checks could be $1500+ a week sometimes gross.

That equals to if we go off $1340x4 equal $5360 gross a month. Since you’re averaging $3900 gross for four weeks I would say you’re doing great! That’s like 58-63K a year. And you’re home everyday.

Can’t beat that bro. But I’m sure it has some faults, your job. Maybe not.

I personally think you have a good thing going at this stage of your career. I don’t know anything about walmart accounts but your miles on a regional account are about average. Regional is different in many ways to OTR. It has taken me several years and alot of networking to get an equilvant to what you have.

Money in this industry is always attached at the hip with miles turned. The more miles you run, the more money you make as a general rule. The exception is with hourly paid drivers. And that is my question regarding running the day cab. Most are paid by the hour, is this one? If so just find out the hours working and do the math. Compare that to what your doing now and you will have the info you need to make that decision.

Sometimes home daily runs are better, other times they aren’t. If all you have time at home for is to commute, shower, eat and sleep then maybe the home weekend deal is better. Only you can answer that question.

You can be home every day, don't work at night and get almost 4 grand a month, that's pretty great if you ask me. Of course, there's always a way to earn more with extra contracts, or if you start working at night or on weekends, but right now, you've got a job that's as comfortable as it gets in the trucking industry, which is nothing to scoff at.

Well I decided to follow the advice of most on this forum and stay at Swift rather than chase something that I probably won’t find any quicker than I’ll find it here. Had a decent paycheck today with gross at $1100.

That said, I got the call from Swift Walmart Dedicated out of Cocoa, Fl yesterday and jumped on the opportunity. The pay sounds fair and should be far better than what I’m doing now. Even if it was the same....I’ll be home daily with a set weekday off so life planning just got easier. The territory isn’t very large but it’s the central east coast of Florida west to the east side of Orlando so there’s a lot of stores packed in a small footprint.

I’ll be starting either Sunday or Monday depending on this tropical storm out there at the moment. They’re giving a few days of training on how the account works and I will be paid for the runs versus a training pay which is nice. I only live 20 minutes from the DC so I’ll be home daily as well. I expect that I’ll do very well on the account because I have built my stamina running the dedicated nestle water account and can handle an unpredictable schedule. I’ll keep posting to keep updates on how things go.

Congrats, that is awesome news!!

Congrats BJess, that's great. Scoring a gig there is an accomplishment. If you ever felt like jumping over to the Walmart side, you'd be in a perfect position to do so. Or you can run that out with Swift indefinitely if it's a better fit. Good luck!

Congrats BJess, that's great. Scoring a gig there is an accomplishment. If you ever felt like jumping over to the Walmart side, you'd be in a perfect position to do so. Or you can run that out with Swift indefinitely if it's a better fit. Good luck!

Thank you all! Yes I agree it’s big accomplishment. The nice thing is it’s just a simple transfer so all my benefits and things that have kicked in are fully intact. I thought about the possibility of moving to Walmart in time but one step at a time. Swift has been good to me and if you ever get tired of what you’re doing for them there are always options. A lot of people knock the big companies but they do come with as much upside as they do downside. Kinda like everything in life I suppose?!?!?!