What Is A Realistic Expectation For First Year Salary?

I just had a REALLY bad week only getting 1300 miles because of being shut down due to weather and getting held up for almost a day because a walmart DC lost my trailer, but i still had nearly 400 bucks take home. That should be my lowest check i ever see honestly, its over 100 miles short of most weeks.

Yea .25cpm is kind a low, I started at 28 two years ago and now have .35CPM..

In order for you to pull 30k you'll need 2500miles a week. 2500 is possible but it would need to be consistent to get 30k.

If your not getting miles, talk with your DM , also if your company does PTA's (Projected Time of Availability) then making sure you use this correctly when your ready for new loads will also maximize your time and mile.s

I agree.....that pay is pathetic. You could definitely flip burgers and make more than what you're showing. There's plenty of companies out there hiring at a much higher per mile rate than that.

I have to chime in here.

.25 cpm is lower than the bottom of a pay scale. No way in hell I would do this for that. I started regional at .32 cpm as an absolute new comer to trucking and now, many companies are starting rookies out even higher than that.

I have only been driving for about a year and a half now and have not seen anything less than a four digit weekly check since... September I think.

I normally would say stay with them for a year to get the experience and to build a good relationship with the company. In this case however I would show them you are worth more than that bs pay and if they can't, or won't acknowledge that, someone else will.

Good luck to ya and be safe

Snappy,

I wouldn't work for less than .35 cents per mile starting out and that's minimum. I know US Express is hiring new CDL drivers in Ohio at .47 cents per mile. They do runs around Michigan, OH, and WV----not that it helps you out---but it gives you an idea that there are trucking companies in the Midwest who pay a decent mileage rate if you do some research. Also, take into account a higher pay per mile rate won't do much if you are not getting the miles to run hard either. If the wheels aren't turning you are not getting paid.

Check into Watkins and Shepards, Melton and Transport America. They pay about .35 cents per mile and will run you hard most of the time. At least that is what I have been told from truckers who work for those companies. No trucking company is perfect so do your research. .25 cents a mile is not worth it. You can either stick with it to gain experience or start looking for a higher paying trucking company.

Here are the oil field trucking companies that you can check out. Google them, get their contact info. and call them. Ask if they are hiring. Power fuels Hess MBI energy Conoco Phillips Interplus Marathon Continental Resources

Here are some websites to check out as well to apply for jobs in the oil fields in N.D. http://www.jobsnd.com/ http://ndoiljobs.com/

Check out this youtube. This guy gives good information on driving a water truck in the oil fields making decent $$ with little experience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buErsfgGn3c&list=TLWq1ve_vSBde-WcsoCapTxNnIYccgZ262

Hope this helps.

Correction. I didn't put my commas in.

Power fuels, Hess, MBI energy, Conoco, Phillips, Interplus, Marathon, Continental Resources

Things are slow for most everyone right now this time of year. But I have to agree with everyone else....25 cpm is awful. Actually that would have been awful 20 years ago....seriously. So no matter how hard you run there you're just not going to make great money.

Listen, you just went solo recently so stick it out a short time. You know I almost never, ever encourage anyone to look elsewhere until that first year is up but I'll make a grand exception here. Once you've gotten about three months of solo time under your belt start making some phone calls. These days anything under 30 cpm is pretty much unacceptable if you have even six months of OTR experience. So unless they plan on giving you a couple of significant raises over the next few months I would stick it out a little longer and then start making some calls.

Wow... I don't have enough time for a proper response right now, but I am shocked and glad for the support all at the same time! :) I'll be following up soon with answers to some specific questions, and to pose a few of my own.

Snappy, I would do exactly as Brett suggested. You're losing out on hundreds of dollars every single week that you stay in this position. I made in one week at Prime what you made in an entire month and we're both doing the same job. I would start looking into others.

And this goes to you and everyone else. Know your worth. You may be a rookie, but that CDL you hold is worth a lot! Companies are desperate for drivers so take the best offer you get that fits your needs. There's no reason to lowball yourself because you're a rookie. Everyone has to start somewhere, but in the end the dangers and risks of this job are too great to not be paid decently. Don't just look into one company - look into all of them.

Ok, so I just got my last check, and I'm feeling pretty hopeless right now. Going back through my pay history and doing some basic addition, I made $1533.20 net for the month of December. Some simple multiplication shows that if that's all I can expect, I'll net about $18300 - $18400 my first year.

Is this normal? I haven't even ttaken any home time since I left on November 3rd. Am I getting screwed? What can I do to make this better? I can make more flipping burgers than driving at this rate. Any ideas or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Wow dude.try wel companies they start out.non experience.drivers at .35 cpm