IM SURE THIS QUESTION HAS BEEN ASKED A 1000 TIMES

Not on the road yet but its not to bad so far. as soon as i go solo i am thinking of doing video logging on youtube.

Ok, well thanks for your help and I look forward to your video, let me know when its up. I wish you good luck.

Hello Keith, and welcome to the forum!

Here's the deal on trucking pay. By the way I am a flat-bedder, and I have always been paid mileage pay.

The pay in trucking is totally performance based, so whether you are getting mileage or percentage pay you are getting paid for the amount of work that you get done. For some oddball reason there seems to be a psychological quirk that tends to make people think that if they are getting a percentage of the load pay they will be making more money. This is strictly my opinion, but personally I think percentage pay is more of a marketing ploy to attract good drivers who seem to think they aren't making enough where they are now. It also tends to push the driver into the performance pay mindset, so that they will try harder to get more done. To me you can only slice the pie so many ways, and personally I would not let that percentage versus mileage be on my radar as to making a decision on who I wanted to work for. As long as you understand that you are getting paid for how much you get done then you should be fine, and you won't be wasting any precious time fiddling around when you could be getting something accomplished.

The other thing about percentage pay is that you are having to completely trust "you don't even know who" to make sure that they are being honest and upfront with you about how much that load paid, whereas with mileage pay everyone is on the same page and you know right up front how many miles the load pays, and you can confirm it on your paycheck.

The one thing that will help you make more money in this career is your work ethic. I can't stress this enough. If you get out here on the road, and spend a little time at the counter in the truck stop cafes you will understand what I'm talking about. That is where you will be regaled by the pitiful trucker stories of how they can't make any money with the way they are being treated by this or that company. I used to sit and listen to people whine and sing the blues about how their company was treating them, knowing full well that I was working for the same company and doing extremely well with them. It's a crazy mixed up bag of people in this industry, but if you can prove yourself consistently as being productive and safe you will do well enough no matter what method you are getting paid.

Everything that OS said. There is a general shortage of truckers so there's money to be made and shipments to be run, if you prove yourself. In fact, not only is the pay performance-based, just keeping your job or getting runs is performance-based. The more you do, the more they throw out to you. It snow-balls. There are so many drivers out there who do the bare minimum and therefore receive the bare-minimum in work-load, that you really have to prove yourself as reliable, can-do, and hard-working, over and over again. As I've observed, watching OS and some of the other experienced guys out there, once you prove yourself over time, things start to fall into place a little better.

-mountain girl

Old school and Mountain Girl, you guys bring up valid points. Your right you do have to trust that you are getting paid the right percentage of what the load pays, and that is scary. Whom do you trust? I personally, have no choice but to have an excellent work ethic, this was instilled in me at a young age, not purposely, but I just figured out that I would never not be able to support my family. I just want to make sure that just because I will be a rookie driver, that I won't be taken advantage of. I have a fault of being honest, and I expect it from other people as well. I can't stand for some one to say one thing and do another. If I say I'm going to do something I do it. I will not be "that guy" in the truck stop or on the forum, complaining of how my company is doing me wrong.....unless it's true, cause it will not be because I'm not doing all I can.