Average Miles Per Week

This is Trucking Truth, Us rookies (our wives our friends...) wanna to know how much they are going to make... We can tell them what our recruiters say... we can tell them what the complainers say... we know the money side is said to be about 30-35 a year to start... but that doesn't satisfy the mind. most recruiters say 2500 average... some complainers say less than 1000 miles... but that too does not satisfy the mind... its not a statistic of the Trucking Truth... I saw this question had been asked before with almost no answers... maybe we can get more company specific too...if all you want to shout out is the miles please share.

if you want to be more specific and want to help the to be rookies convince the other half...

Whats your average miles per week?

Refrigerated, Flatbed, Dry Van...?

OTR , LTL , Regional...?

Company?

This is Trucking Truth, Us rookies (our wives our friends...) wanna to know how much they are going to make... We can tell them what our recruiters say... we can tell them what the complainers say... we know the money side is said to be about 30-35 a year to start... but that doesn't satisfy the mind. most recruiters say 2500 average... some complainers say less than 1000 miles... but that too does not satisfy the mind... its not a statistic of the Trucking Truth... I saw this question had been asked before with almost no answers... maybe we can get more company specific too...if all you want to shout out is the miles please share.

if you want to be more specific and want to help the to be rookies convince the other half...

Whats your average miles per week?

Refrigerated, Flatbed, Dry Van...?

OTR , LTL , Regional...?

Company?

Hello and welcome to trucking truth i am a rookie also but i know from family that has been in this industry a long time . And truthfully their will never be a exact amount unless u are on salary you may ask why know because everything plays a part weather . Way your truck runs . How u feel. Breakdowns traffic Every little thing comes to play as a rookie brett told me over and over again and he will probably pop in her sometime as a rookie you want to aim for 2000 to 2500 but as a rookie your first year is survival its a learning game . But to answer ur question in a example say one week you may run 2500 miles thats fantastic but how ok so u didnt hit much traffic no bad weather u wernt tired when u were driving and the weather was good. Say the next week u only due 1800 now ask why say you are going thrww Texas and their is a tornado warning and winds are high . U wont be driving well u shouldn't or your truck breakes down these are all things too determin it verys week to week thats about all i can tell u

This is Trucking Truth, Us rookies (our wives our friends...) wanna to know how much they are going to make... We can tell them what our recruiters say... we can tell them what the complainers say... we know the money side is said to be about 30-35 a year to start... but that doesn't satisfy the mind. most recruiters say 2500 average... some complainers say less than 1000 miles... but that too does not satisfy the mind... its not a statistic of the Trucking Truth... I saw this question had been asked before with almost no answers... maybe we can get more company specific too...if all you want to shout out is the miles please share.

if you want to be more specific and want to help the to be rookies convince the other half...

Whats your average miles per week?

Refrigerated, Flatbed, Dry Van...?

OTR , LTL , Regional...?

Company?

Hello and welcome to trucking truth i am a rookie also but i know from family that has been in this industry a long time . And truthfully their will never be a exact amount unless u are on salary you may ask why know because everything plays a part weather . Way your truck runs . How u feel. Breakdowns traffic Every little thing comes to play as a rookie brett told me over and over again and he will probably pop in her sometime as a rookie you want to aim for 2000 to 2500 but as a rookie your first year is survival its a learning game . But to answer ur question in a example say one week you may run 2500 miles thats fantastic but how ok so u didnt hit much traffic no bad weather u wernt tired when u were driving and the weather was good. Say the next week u only due 1800 now ask why say you are going thrww Texas and their is a tornado warning and winds are high . U wont be driving well u shouldn't or your truck breakes down these are all things too determin it verys week to week thats about all i can tell u

thank you for the reply,

the average of your hypothetical situations is (2500+1800)/2=2150 :)

for the money average... lets say a really good rookie will get 35k

lets say he gets 30 cpm to start.

he drove 50 weeks.

35,000/50=700 per week

700/.30=2333 per week. we know thats not a perfect every week thing...

some weeks might be 500 miles because you waited 2 days for a load then it snows then you left your glad hands connected after dropping then...

but theres gotta be an average...

maybe i should ask: whats the lowest miles you have had this year in any given week? what is the best miles you have had this year in any given week?

my wife is nervous because her friends husband works for the company i am headed too and they said they gotta $33 check one time... that's like 150 miles...i dont know him so i havent conversed to see the story.

i show her 6 strings and Errol Vs posts to get her back on the bright side.

This is Trucking Truth, Us rookies (our wives our friends...) wanna to know how much they are going to make... We can tell them what our recruiters say... we can tell them what the complainers say... we know the money side is said to be about 30-35 a year to start... but that doesn't satisfy the mind. most recruiters say 2500 average... some complainers say less than 1000 miles... but that too does not satisfy the mind... its not a statistic of the Trucking Truth... I saw this question had been asked before with almost no answers... maybe we can get more company specific too...if all you want to shout out is the miles please share.

if you want to be more specific and want to help the to be rookies convince the other half...

Whats your average miles per week?

Refrigerated, Flatbed, Dry Van...?

OTR , LTL , Regional...?

Company?

Hello and welcome to trucking truth i am a rookie also but i know from family that has been in this industry a long time . And truthfully their will never be a exact amount unless u are on salary you may ask why know because everything plays a part weather . Way your truck runs . How u feel. Breakdowns traffic Every little thing comes to play as a rookie brett told me over and over again and he will probably pop in her sometime as a rookie you want to aim for 2000 to 2500 but as a rookie your first year is survival its a learning game . But to answer ur question in a example say one week you may run 2500 miles thats fantastic but how ok so u didnt hit much traffic no bad weather u wernt tired when u were driving and the weather was good. Say the next week u only due 1800 now ask why say you are going thrww Texas and their is a tornado warning and winds are high . U wont be driving well u shouldn't or your truck breakes down these are all things too determin it verys week to week thats about all i can tell u

thank you for the reply,

the average of your hypothetical situations is (2500+1800)/2=2150 :)

for the money average... lets say a really good rookie will get 35k

lets say he gets 30 cpm to start.

he drove 50 weeks.

35,000/50=700 per week

700/.30=2333 per week. we know thats not a perfect every week thing...

some weeks might be 500 miles because you waited 2 days for a load then it snows then you left your glad hands connected after dropping then...

but theres gotta be an average...

maybe i should ask: whats the lowest miles you have had this year in any given week? what is the best miles you have had this year in any given week?

my wife is nervous because her friends husband works for the company i am headed too and they said they gotta $33 check one time... that's like 150 miles...i dont know him so i havent conversed to see the story.

i show her 6 strings and Errol Vs posts to get her back on the bright side.

That would be correct but i regiment look into alot of companys get as many pre hire letters as u can so u have options I

my wife is nervous because her friends husband works for the company i am headed too and they said they gotta $33 check one time... that's like 150 miles...i dont know him so i havent conversed to see the story.

Just like you don't have to worry about "good companies versus bad companies" you also don't have to worry about "companies with good miles versus companies without" because companies without good miles available go bankrupt quickly.

Everyone is hauling a lot of the same freight using the same trucks, engines, fuel, highways, and of course it's all under the same set of rules & regulations. So the running costs that most companies face are similar and they all have to move enough freight to pay their bills.

So it really makes no difference what company you work for as far as available miles are concerned because they all have tons of miles available for their best drivers. Everyone suffers breakdowns, takes home time, and endures slow patches in freight movement so you'll always have some fluctuation in paychecks and miles. That being said, you should be able to average 2,500 miles per week and 10,000 miles per month over the long run without too much trouble no matter where you work. I always shot for an average of about 3,000 miles per week and rarely had any trouble getting that at any company I worked for regardless of the type of freight I was hauling. With time off, breakdowns, and everything else figured in an OTR driver should be able to rack up about 100,000-130,000 miles per year no matter where they work.

Everyone is hauling a lot of the same freight using the same trucks, engines, fuel, highways, and of course it's all under the same set of rules & regulations. So the running costs that most companies face are similar and they all have to move enough freight to pay their bills.

So it really makes no difference what company you work for as far as available miles are concerned because they all have tons of miles available for their best drivers. Everyone suffers breakdowns, takes home time, and endures slow patches in freight movement so you'll always have some fluctuation in paychecks and miles. That being said, you should be able to average 2,500 miles per week and 10,000 miles per month over the long run without too much trouble no matter where you work. I always shot for an average of about 3,000 miles per week and rarely had any trouble getting that at any company I worked for regardless of the type of freight I was hauling. With time off, breakdowns, and everything else figured in an OTR driver should be able to rack up about 100,000-130,000 miles per year no matter where they work.

Since getting into trucking (last December) I've noticed how similar the hiring ads are. As you describe, Brett, most trucking companies are working with similar resources and dealing with the same problems. Supermarkets are in the same boat. So are cell phone companies.

So what makes one trucking company any different than another? What's the difference between brown bread and white? Fords or Chevy's? Kenworth or Peterbilt? Well, it's all up to you.

As you research trucking companies to apply to, you will find important (for you) differences. Home time, areas served, pay, By all means, make your choices by what's important to you. Just like the common question here: "What's the difference between Verizon and AT&T for truckers?" The answer: "Not much".

What's my point here? Do the research. Make a short list of companies you would like to drive for. If you've gotten this far, I don't believe you could make a "wrong " choice.

I'll give you the numbers of miles I've driven since starting solo at Prime in September of last year.

1) 1,032
2) 2,472
3) 1,730
4) 2,182
5) 1,766
6) 2,391
7) 1,082
8) 3,222
9) 1,003
10) 2,095
11) 2,460
12) 2,427
13) 0
14) 1,431
15) 2,101
16) 2,447
17) 1,276
18) 2,553
19) 2,584
20) 1,936
21) 1,415
22) 1,528
23) 2,058
24) 1,657
25) 2,011

I stay out an average of 24 days and go home for 3. I hurt my miles by going home so often but with a 9 & 6 y/o at home, no way am I going to stay out longer than I have to. Also note the 0 miles driven were due to home time coupled with truck down time. Also note I make 43 cents a mile and usually hit my fuel bonus giving me 44 cents. Hope this helps.

Looks like 1,874 miles on average, which is $824.72 a week pay at $0.44 per mile.

I avg 2800 a week with Prime pulling reefer but don't take much if any hometime...

Ken C.

Average miles per week is something that varies greatly from one driver to the next and has little or no correlation to the company you drive for. As a rookie you'll be on the low side for a little while, but once you get a feel for managing all the variables, and have proven yourself reliable you will pretty much be the deciding factor in the amount of miles you run. There will always be things that hinder your efforts but it won't be the company trying to hold you down. They want you running all you can. The only time they are making money is when you are making money. They are literally depending on you to be a top performer, not you depending on them.