Comments By Brian G.

I am curious what sort of health insurance / benefits should be expected as a truck driver. I'm asking from a position of "surprise control" and expectation management. As I've gotten older I've grown to appreciate the safety net that health insurance provides. I've watched friends who did not have it get "we'll keep you alive" care and those that did get average or amazing care. It is also an important part of your compensation when working for a company. I think I'm like most Americans in that I want to be able to go to the doctor if I'm sick and not worry about how I'm going to pay for it.

The company I used to work for was a non-profit association. We had stunning benefits. 401k was a match up to 4% and then you qualified for an 11% "gift" or "profit share".... yes, you put in 4% and they put in 15%. Short and Long term disability were company paid. Health insurance was one of 3 plans. A high deductible plan, a $500 out of pocket with 20% coinsurance for $30/mo and a $250 out of pocket (annual) with no coinsurance for about $100/mo. Those are employee only rates, family coverage was more. We were part of a PEO (professional employer organization) run by an outfit I'll call InMisery. InMisery is basically an HR compliance/management/consulting firm that optimizes people. Our health, dental and prescription was run through United Healthcare which was generally good even if they sent you more email, texts, and paper than you can shake a stick at for each claim. I'd like to think we were only there for the compliance and insurance package, but I saw them do some things that made me shake my head. Our dental was pretty run of the mill and it generally sucked for anything more than a cleaning and an uncomplicated filling. Vision was basically one set of glasses and an eye exam per year. We did have a health expense plan that was pre-tax and a great way to handle recurring expenses or planned expenses.... i.e. if you know you have a kid getting braces you can budget for it and put the money in your plan and pay for it pre-tax which is like a 25%+ discount depending on your tax bracket. I forget what that was called, but it was nice to have when I knew I had to have some dental work done.

I do not expect that sort of insurance. I've never seen another company that has benefits like that. Some of my friends have insurance that ranges from being a bad joke to being really good with a nasty out of pocket. A friend is a store manager for a big box discount retailer. He has good insurance.... after he meets the $1000 out of pocket that he pays 100% of. Another friend works for a big box home improvement place that has insurance, but he doesn't make enough to afford it and even if he could the out of pockets would eat him alive.

I'm curious what the "norm" is in trucking and look forward to hearing what others have seen available. This will help me manage my expectations, know what is a good option, and plan realistically.

I really appreciate the replies Dave and Rainy.

I particularly appreciate and can relate to the extra insight you shared Rainy. Thank you. While I don't have a car payment, I do have a house with all of the expenses and upkeep that go with it. I'd probably just rent a room out to someone I trust so that someone is here all the time. That's not today's problem.

Like you, I'm going to need a comfortable place to sleep if I'm going to be happy. Although, my definition of comfortable is keyed more to temperature. I find most hotels to be comfortable provided that there is not some sort of party going on in the room next door. lol. I do not mind the engine noise of other vehicles or my own.

Trucking is going to be a pay cut. Driving a mouse pays really well... but I hate office politics. I'm the guy who says something is a bad idea if that is what I believe and that gets me in trouble in a corporate 3 ring circus where backstabbing, gossip, and ladder climbing are the main attraction. Running a printing company was a pay cut as well, so I'm not married to money. I'd rather be happy than rich and trucking is something I find appealing because it is less prone to micro management and has a good deal of strategy and process to it.

Hopefully, by mid Summer I'll be there. I have to wind down the shop this month, figure out how I'm going to solve the vision waiver and get into school.

The honest information on this site is invaluable.

Those ought to be qualified by 200K in revenue with 150K in expenses. I wandered into a video on YouTube where a guy was going through his O/O L/P P&L (Profit and Loss or Income and Expenses). He was showing this really awesome topline number.... but only netting $12K before taxes and after expenses for 90 days of work.

You can comfortably assume that taxes will eat 30% of that. So he made $9K for 90 days. That's $3k/mo or $750 a week. It seems like you could work hard and earn more than that driving for someone else and let them worry about mechanical breakdowns, tires, etc.

Good reply overall. Brian most of the drivers that consider this have never run a business, Their decision is typically driven by emotion; shiny new truck, pride of owning something, the shallow lure of big money, and the misconception of greater freedom. They usually don't consider or understand they become married to their truck. 24x7x365, married.

Thank you.

I'm reminded of a joke I once heard.... it's not funny in business though.

When it comes to breakfast, the chicken is involved. The pig is committed.

The funny thing about owning a business is that everyone thinks it's vacations, luxury, and jet setting. It's more like wake up at 7am, work for a few hours in the home office, go to the shop for the day, then come home, eat dinner, and work until 11pm.

You can take any day off that you don't want to make money.

A holiday is simply an unpaid vacation.

Really great article Rainy. Thank you.

The driver with the motivation problem needs to be reminded of one of my favorite one-liners "If it was fun, you would pay us, but it's not, so we pay you."

One thing jumped out at me in your article... and having read some of your other posts and articles: - You mentioned that when you were in training money was an issue, but that you had left the USPS making more money. What was that transition like for you? Specifically going from a stable home base and making $$$$ but not being happy to making $$$ and living on the go?

The only way I could see rain being an issue is if it caused flooding. Unfortunately, in Houston that is becoming a regular occurrence. Mind you, the whole city doesn't flood, but it seems like every freeway has a low lying area that doubles as a storm retention pond.

So yes, if you saw that Houston was expected to get 6 inches of rain, and it turned into 10 inches and flooded the road for 8 hours I could see you being stuck. Possibly on the side of the road.

I don't see how rain would force you to keep driving. My understanding when I read the rule and supporting cases/articles was that "being late", "being short drivers" etc are not emergencies under the rule and explicitly not reasons to invoke.

I think an "unforseen emergency" would be something more akin to a forest fire or radiological disaster (nuclear meltdown) or Earthquake or some other disaster that somehow managed to occur as your hours ran out forcing you to drive to keep yourself, your cargo, and your vehicle safe.

Am I missing something in the rule?

Why not? That's the kind we actually recommend. Here's an article I've written about it:

I checked them out and for a number of reasons did not feel like it was the right fit. I think for my situation I need to take my training in Texas so that I can ensure I have a Texas CDL and vision waiver. I also do not like the concept of being contractually stuck to a company for a year in return for the training. I prefer to pay for the training and have the ability to search for the right company. This is a big jump and I don't want to feel or be trapped if for some reason I decide it's not right for me.

That's why I'm hoping you can get around that waiver and just get cleared straight away. It's going to be very difficult for a new driver to land a local job like that which stays near home. Most of those jobs require some experience first.

I 100% agree. I am having dinner tonight with a good friend who retired after 21 years of OTR.

Have you looked into the oil fields? I don't have any information on those companies unfortunately but that might work. Also, there might be opportunities hauling feed or produce for farms in the area.

I have. Not exhaustively, most of those seem to want 1 to 2 years of experience or Tanker experience. I have not written that area off. There should also be alot of intermodal here. Port Houston (Formerly the Port of Houston) is a huge container port and it's nearby. While the midwest stuff should go rail, the regional stuff should be truck.

Hmmmm,

A school bus and a box truck are darn near the same thing. My early 1980's school bus had the same parts as an International box truck. I converted it into a tent with wheels when I was in college. :) It was fun.

I will agree that a motorcoach and a box truck drive differently. You have a lot more leeway with a straight truck. It is extremely easy to high center or scrape the nose or tail of a motorcoach.

Depending on the unit you may have better or worse breaking. Some of the older coaches, which should not be in service commercially were known for being under-breaked.

Now the ride is a whole other thing..... most coaches ride like a cloud of air. The box truck I drove 2 weeks ago was like riding the business end of a jack hammer. I swore the axles were bolted to the frame. Every little crack, crevice or bump was a butt kicker!

Personally, I think driving a coach with passengers is far more taxing... that's just my opinion as someone who has owned 3 buses. 56 people who think you are going too fast, don't know how to drive, should turn here, stop there, or who want to chat with you from start to destination.

I don't mean any disrespect, I think driving a heavy truck requires your full, undivided and well rested attention. But a dry van of grain isn't going to chat your ear off or complain about your driving.

Thank you.

So I have been working on pre-hires. So far I'm batting zero. Everyone wants you to be interstate qualified which does not seem possible under the vision waiver rules.

From what I can tell the process is very easy to get a waiver in Texas (doctor's note) at which point you can get your CLP and take and pass the CDL.

I have had good conversations with: Roehl, Swift, CRST, and JB Hunt.

I did not follow up with Driver Solutions / PAM because they really seem to be pushing an in-house training program which isn't what I'm looking for. I want to be respectful of their time.

What kinds of companies are more likely to have intrastate driving positions?

Hi G-Town, I'm sorry if I came across wrong. I was just simply trying to show that I've driven vehicles heavier than a passenger car or pickup truck. I expect tractor-trailer combinations to be different with their own limitations and gotchas that need to be managed. I do think in some ways that trucks have much better backing maneuverability compared to other vehicle types.

With what I have driven I've learned to watch the road ahead and try to anticipate potential issues.