I Am Confused.

First of all, I want to say right up front, I am not getting into trucking for the money. It is a steady job, which I have not had that in many years. I like the lifestyle. The travel, seeing the sites, etc.

As one said on here in another post, a "working vacation".

But I am really confused about all these comments on pay. For example the current post Is Trucking Sustainable

Everyone that answers question about pay, says a trucker will top out around 50,000. Now don't get me wrong. 50,000 dollar a year is pretty darn good. My wife and I right now hardly make that with both of our incomes.

Like I said at first, I am not in this for the money, but money is the reason we work. To make a living. To support ourselves and our families.

But to top out at 50,000 dollars a year. The math just doesn't add up unless the trucking companies are lying on their websites. Or there is something I am missing. Maybe I am not seeing the whole picture.

For example, on Crete's website it says you can make up to .44 cents per mile with the right experience. It doesn't say what kind of experience, but you can make up to that.

Well at 44 cents per mile. Lets take it on the low end. 44 cents per mile. 2500 miles per week. And driving 48 weeks out of a year. If you are down more than 4 weeks in a year, then I would think something is wrong, but I want to give it the benefit of the doubt.

.44 x 2500 = 1100

1100 x 48 = 52800.

Yes, that is in the 50,000 dollar a year range. But the figures I used are on the very low side. If you up that to 3000 miles a week and add 2 more weeks in there, you are up in the 60,000 dollar range. Quite a difference.

On Heartland's website, they advertise 48 cents per mile. In the "green area" (not sure what that is) it goes up to 52 cents per mile. Lets put those figures in. Just making this easier to read so you don't have to get out your calculators.

.48 x 2500 = 1200

1200 x 48 = 57,600

At 52 cents per mile:

.52 x 2500 = 1300

1300 x 48 = 62,400

Now if you take either one of those and up them a bit. At 48 cents per mile. If you up your mileage to 3000 miles and add 2 more weeks, that brings your income up to 72,000 dollars per year.

And with the 52 cents per mile. Your income would in the 78,000 dollar a year range.

None of this includes bonuses or anything extra.

The last two times I have been on the road, I passed a truck that had a placard on the back advertising needing drivers. Like most trucks you see. I don't see them very often but everyone of them I see, they are all the same. It is a large truck, not an 18 wheeler, always pulling a trailer. It has tarps down the sides. I think they were grey in color.

I talked to one of the drivers one time in a rest area. He told me they only carry high priced items. They are bonded. He said, they called them "special carries". He told me on his truck at the time, he had a Morgan valued at over 5 million dollars and a Rolls valued at over 7 million. Now he could have been blowing smoke and bragging. I don't know. But truckers don't brag do they?

But on the placard on the back of both of the trucks it said drivers make up to 72 cents per mile. I don't remember the company name. I am sure other drivers have seen them on the highway out there.

I don't know a thing about this company. Maybe their drivers only work a couple of weeks a month. Or only a few weeks a quarter. I have no idea. But if they get good miles and work a lot, and the placard is true, that puts the 50,000 dollar a year income way out of the park.

Everyone says eventually you will average 2500 to 3000 miles a week. OK. If that is true, then what am I missing with the yearly income?

Through out the year is a driver down more than 4 weeks? I am sorry, but the math just doesn't add up.

Please someone tell me what I am missing.

Keep it safe out there. Joe S

Now I'm just a newbie, not unlike you, but my 2 cents says you hit the nail on the head.

""""He said, they called them "special carries".""""

There are jobs out there that pay a percentage of the load, as opposed to by the mile. I have a friend that works one of these jobs and to get one, you have to have the experiences and safety like that of our esteemed moderator. Brett has over 1mm miles and 10 years of safety (I think I'm on the low end there). Furthermore, you have to have the contacts and be at the right place at the right time to get those jobs. Like corporate America, it's not what you know, its who you know and who you blow.

Furthermore, in my humble opinion, that ad is duplicitous in it's wording. It makes you think you can earn that kind of money being a truck driver for that company ... well ... yes and no. You can make that kind of money, BUT you have to own (or possibly lease) your own truck to get that kind of cash flow. Now, I'm sure you've read trucker mike's reports on o/o and we know how Brett et al feels about leasing. Yes, you make the bigger bucks, BUT you also have the bigger outlay, the more risk etc. In the end, that 75k-100k a year IS possible, but after all the expenditures, you're better off being a company driver. Less headaches, same bottom line.

Now, again, Im just a newbie, and I don't know, because. well, I'm a newbie. but the only thing your missing is a step back and a view of the bigger picture. That's not right. My guess is you already know this, but simply overlooked it, or perhaps didn't make the connection between the two.

Again, the newbie here, and I don't want to speak for the vets to whom your query was posed, but what I've read, and supposed, this is what the hubbub is all about.

Or in other words, creative advertising.

On a side note, Joe, when do you start classes? I'm heading out next week. See you on the road.

If you use the words "up to" in a marketing statement you should go directly to jail. Those two words drive me insane. My internet speed is "up to" the speed of light (182,000 miles per second) but it generally averages about 5 miles per hour.

First of all you can figure you'll average about 110,000-120,000 miles per year. That's a safe average from your second year on. First year might be a bit lower. You're going to be taking time off, you're going to hit slowdowns from time to time, your truck is going to break down, etc. So figure in that range.

Now a lot of companies have a "sliding pay scale" which means you're not always making the same amount per mile. Some pay you more per mile on shorter runs, others pay you a little more for running the Northeast (because the Northeast is congested and difficult to drive in). So when they say "up to 48 cents per mile" they probably mean if you have 12 years of safe driving experience and you're hauling a 150 mile run in the Northeast - that kind of thing. But that "up to 48 cents per mile" probably means you'll average 38 cents per mile. So take those "up to" figures with a block of salt (not just a grain).

Now my last year on the road I made $62,000 but here's how:

• I had 15 years of experience with a safe record
• I was in my 6th year with that company
• I was on a dedicated account where we had to unload the entire trailer ourselves, putting boxes on those roller conveyors one at a time.
• I averaged unloading 90,000 pounds of boxes every 5 days
• I averaged 2,500 miles driving every 5 days
• I averaged about 3 hours of sleep each night

So to make $62,000 I ran relentlessly, unloaded trucks every minute I wasn't driving, and barely slept. I was home on weekends but slept most of the weekend away to recover from the brutal schedule. The logbook was paper logs so I could cheat all I wanted to.

So unless you're in some sort of specialized hauling, a special division of a company, or you're with one of the Teamster Companies, you can expect your salary to top out about $55,000 or so. You can squeeze out a little more, but most people don't.

We have a great article on truck driver pay called My 2010 Salary – Finishing Up My Second Year Behind The Wheel. He gives a nice rundown of what he made and how he made it. Those numbers are only a couple of years old and still apply quite well. In fact, in 1994 I made about $42,000 in my first full year behind the wheel so truck driver salaries haven't changed hardly at all in twenty years.

Furthermore, in my humble opinion, that ad is duplicitous in it's wording. It makes you think you can earn that kind of money being a truck driver for that company ... well ... yes and no. You can make that kind of money, BUT you have to own (or possibly lease) your own truck to get that kind of cash flow.

I forgot to mention. They are not O/O. They are company drivers only. That is one of the questions I asked the driver I met at the rest area. The company he worked for did not have O/O. They were company trucks only.

Thank you Brett. That tells me a lot.

Just like any other company out there trucking or not. All the advertising is the cream of the crop and maybe a little bit of "stretching the truth" along the way. Not the real world.

Just like a friend of mine used to always say. He will never lie to anyone ever. He might tell them the truth 10 different ways, but he will never lie to them.

Keep it safe out there. Joe S

PR.

I start with Celadon 2 weeks from today.

Keep it safe out there. Joe S