Recently in our trucker’s forum here at TruckingTruth there was a discussion about how to handle finances as an OTR truck driver. I decided to write on my blog about it, as everybody getting into truck driving should know what they are about to face. Finances on the road can be tough when first getting started, but hopefully this will provide you with a little insight on how to stay out of trouble.
Truck Drivers In Training
When first starting out in truck driving, you’ll probably begin with a weekly base salary. This pay can vary greatly from company to company. Some companies pay upwards of $500 per week for training pay, while others pay as little as $200 or so. But after all, it is paid training. Many other industries will not pay for you to get your certifications / training. Generally, training will last from 4 to 6 weeks, but maybe longer. So, if possible, it’s good to have some money saved up in the bank to help cover your bills at home, as well as any expenses on the road that you may come across. Try to set up a budget for yourself too, so you know exactly how much you can spend each week. A few hundred dollars per week wont get you far, so it’s best to be very frugal when you first get started.
After Your Training Is Over
After training is over, the vast majority of people who drive OTR will be paid based on how many miles are driven in a given week. This also varies greatly by company, but can be anywhere from 25 to 35 cents per mile when you first start, with raises after a given period of time or miles driven. Generally you will receive 2500 miles per week. Sometimes more, sometimes less. A lot depends on the economy, the time of year, and if you are experiencing any problems with your truck, which will land you in the shop for repairs. An honest estimate on first year income will be in the $30,000 to $40,000 range, leaning more towards $30,000. The reason there is such a range is because each company is going to be different. Some flatbed companies pay more than dry van companies, for example. But earning less than $30,000 or more than $40,000 in your first year is very unlikely. That is, unless you decide to lease or become an owner operator your first year, which I highly advise against (I’ll leave that for a future blog).
Your Biggest Expense
So, what is your biggest expense on the road? That is a very easy question to answer. Without a doubt, your biggest expense is food. It is very easy to rack up $30 or more in a single day eating food on the road. That comes out to over $200 per week, and over $10,000 per year! WOW!
There aren’t many places truck drivers can eat other than truck stops or restaurants that have truck parking. It’s pretty difficult to make a large variety of meals in the truck, and most drivers don’t have much time to prepare meals either. Although, quite a few do use crock pots, mini electric ovens, lunch box cookers, and other devices to make some rather good meals. But the vast majority end up eating fast food and restaurant food. You can imagine how expensive this gets.
Truck stops are masters of marketing as well. One major truck stop chain frequently advertises all you can eat ribs for just $9.99. And the ribs are rather tasty! Yes, I’ve had them! But after taxes and a tip, that $9.99 has quickly turned into almost 15 bucks. The dinner buffets are usually around $10. Once again, after taxes and a tip, you’re looking at paying more than $10 for your meal. The worst part about the all you can eat menu and the buffets, is you can’t take any left over food with you for later.
Even fast food restaurants can get expensive. A meal from McDonald’s is going to be 6 or 7 bucks per meal. They have gourmet Angus burgers now that will run around $9. This all adds up during the course of a week, and seriously dwindles a paycheck.
Don’t forget about your drinks! Want a liter of Coke or a liter of bottled water? That’ll be $1.50 each. Want a snack for the road? Add on another few bucks. Everything is more expensive at a truck stop, and they find ways to nickle and dime drivers out of quite a bit of money. The trick is, the prices are more expensive on the cheaper items. So you don’t really realize how much extra you’re spending. But over time, it really adds up to a lot of money. continue to page 2 –>
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you are absolutely correct. You see those drivers all the time that are complaining about being broke as they walk off to get the buffet. Right now I do not have a fridge, but I do eat my fair share of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Another thing that I eat a lot of is the manchurin noodle cups. You can get free hot water from any truck stop, and they are pretty good. I am out for 14 days at a time and I think If I had a fridge, I could actually pack all my food for the 14 days. Maybe one day.
Another great post Mike,
Drive Safe,
Rob
Mike,
Good advice and very timely for me as I’m now waiting for my trainer and have dreaded the thought of eating from truck stops. I’m hoping my trainer stops at Wal-marts or other stores occasionally. We have a per diem plan and I signed up for it after crunching the numbers. Great idea about casinos. Awesome post! Be safe in all your travels!!!
Rick
hopefully soon!
Very sound advice for wanting to reel in your expenses while on the road.
A couple of things to add; Plan a budget that works and stick to it. Buy enough groceries for your time on the road and if you have anything left over in your budget, treat yourself to a restaurant meal or two, or better yet, deposit that money into your savings.
Also, don’t forget about hidden costs, such as your health. Eating restaurant food, especially fast food, buying processed junk at the grocery store, will certainly impact your health at some point. And of course, having poor health means having to pay doctor bills, hospital bills, and the price of prescription drugs, not to mention the cost of taking time off to deal with medical issues.
So, make wise choices at the grocery store: Stay away from soda, all you really need is water. Avoid the fried stuff, try to stick with cold-cuts, baked or even grilled, if you can. Tuna is perfect, easy to prepare and great for you. Sweet potatoes, oatmeal, whole grain bread instead of white bread, low-fat yogurt — all good. Instead of chips or beef jerky, whatever your poison is, get plenty of fruit and healthy snack foods. There are chips and popcorn and all kinds of other snack foods available that don’t contain all those bad cholesterol building and artery clogging ingredients, just check out the nutrition facts and the list of ingredients. And if you have room in your cab, get a small juicer, make a gallon of juice with fresh fruit (and vegetables) before you head out, drop in some protein powder if you want.
In the long run, you’ll be healthier if you stick to a good diet plan, and it’s easy as hell once you do it for a while and it becomes second nature. Sure, treat yourself to a burger and fries on rare occasions, but after changing your habits, you may not even have the desire to eat anything greasy. You’ll save money on health costs, you’ll be more alert and focused while driving, possibly saving you more money because you’ll be a safer and happier driver. You’d be surprised what a healthy diet can do for your attitude and overall mood.
-Bob
VERY well said Bob! Here’s something I found out in a big way for myself some time ago:
If people realized how easy it is to make healthy eating their lifestyle by eating healthy consistently and not just consider themselves as “dieting” they would kick themselves for not doing it sooner. Great advice top to bottom. Thanks!
Yeah, that’s a good point. It’s not really a ‘diet’, it’s a permanent change in your eating habits. As with any big lifestyle change, it’s not easy to do at first… It definitely takes some willpower, especially if you’re addicted to certain types of food. Anyone can do it though.
I am loving the advice and suggestions I am reading on this site. It is wonderful that all you drivers take the time to post this when I am sure some of you would rather be sleeping right? Lucky for us!
I was a previous OTR driver and it cost my husband and I approximately $1000.00 to $1400.00 a month eating out of the truck stops. It was crazy and we were eating big unhealthy meals. Both of us love to sit down and have a meal and a good cup of coffee. But along with that comes the unhealthy issues. I gained a ton of weight and that creates havoc on every part of your body inside and out and we both were tired after eating a big meal and then wanted to just take a nap, which in this industry was not always and most times not possible. So, eating a big meal was counter productive for us financially and physically. We did have a fridge in our truck so we stopped at grocery stores and stocked up on what we called “ordervies” which consited of fresh fruit and vegetables, cheese and crackers and sandwich stuff. We would have our coffee in the morning and along about 10/11 am I would create a cheese, meat and vegie tray. That was our ordervies. It was healthy and not heavy so it didn’t make us tired. Then mid afternoon I would make us up a gormet sandwich out of the sandwich meat and the vegetables used earlier in the ordervies tray. It was good, healthy and really saved a ton of money running up and down the highway. If our schedule permitted, we would have a hot meal in the evening when we knew we where going to shut down for the night at a reasonable hour.
There are alot of grocery stores up and down the highway you can get into. Of course Walmart always does. The key is, if you see a store and need to replenish some items, take the few minutes to stop, don’t wait thinking you just get it down the road. You may not find another store, now you are out of groceries and guess what? You will be in that truckstop having that $20.00 “heavy” meal and that $20.00 could have bought a couple of days worth of good, healthy, nummy foods. And, it’s true, you will feel better, and after about 3 weeks you will start loosing the cravings for those high calorie/high fat, greasy foods. AND DRINK LOTS OF WATER. YOU WON’T BELIEVE HOW GOOD YOU WILL FEEL.
Take care of yourself out there. Don’t forget how important you are to yourself and others!!!!!
My wife and I bought a dorm type refrigerator at Lowe’s with the extended warranty.
It was much cheaper than a truck fridge and much larger. I have strapped down on our TOP bunk and after the first one blew(wonder why? ahem) the second one has been going for over a year. It runs off our 1750 watt inverter.
We have a microwave and toaster too.
In 9 years we have eaten in truckstop restaurant 3 times. Our daily food expenses never run over 10-$15. We eat some Mexican food about 3 times a week.
Changing our eating habits and preparing food ahead of time and on the road has my 5’7″ wife at a too skinny 130lbs and me….well never mind me. Also, we gave up all soda pop 2 years ago and my wife had drank Coke exclusively for most of her life. That is if she was 95% of her fluid intake was pop.
Bill