Finding Companies That Are Paying More Per Mile?

Hello;

I am a new driver. I have been driving for about 6 months, dry Van. I am earning $0.39 per mile. How do I go about finding companies that are paying more per mile? Or do you guys have maybe a list of recommended companies ?

In one week, I will be taking the test for the HazMat endorsement, and I will be applying for a TWIC card. Are these good ideas to increase my marketability or driver pay per mile?

Thank you

In this forum it's a good idea to post the name of your company. Some members here can give you more direct advice.

As for more CPM , generally the company that pays more is the one you stick with longer. In an OTR gig, you'll get raises if you're not having accidents or other issues. Your best bet is to stay with the company at least a year. Especially as a new driver, job-hopping is not a good thing on your resumé.

That's a good CPM rate for a rookie. All you need is 2564 miles in a week for a $1000.00 gross pay. What did you think you would make? As Errol asked, what company are you with? When is your next pay raise with your current company? How often are you taking home time? There are several threads on here where we show our rookie pay. I have one and so does Rainy D. Use the search bar at the top of this page to search for anything. Also, we highly recommend staying with your current company at least one year. After one year of safe driving many opportunities will open up to you. Good luck we are here to help.

Vincent that is an excellent rookie CPM. More than necessary to make a good income...if you are getting the miles. Big “IF”.

Top performing drivers typically do not worry about a few cents here or there on their rare; they focus on managing their clock, building a good working relationship with their dispatcher/driver manager, effective communication, planning/preparation, leveraging available tools and above all else safe operation.

Are you working towards top performance? A couple of pennies per mile won’t matter if you are not.

I suggest investing time reading articles found in the TT blog section to better understand what it takes to succeed in this business.

Here are just a couple of examples:

Top Performers are Like a Successful Business Owner

Show Me The Money

That's an excellent cpm fir a new driver. I started out at 32 cpm and brought home around $1k per week starting out and they then bumped up my pay earlier than the normally scheduled raises.

You need to stay put. Why start all over again from scratch at another company where they don't know you and get yourself known as a job hopper?

Hey Tony, welcome to Trucking Truth!

One of the most common misunderstood concepts about this career is how you go about earning more money. Most of us are accustomed to regular jobs that are paid an hourly wage. In that type of job there's basically two ways you can earn more money. One is to be paid a higher wage, and the other is to work more hours so that we get overtime pay. Both of those ways to earn more money are generally determined by someone other than ourself. Our boss might decide to increase our hourly wage, or we might have a heavy enough work load so that overtime hours are required.

In trucking we don't get paid for our time. We get paid by the mile. In other words, we're getting paid for how much we can get done. We often refer to this as "performance based" pay. It's a concept that we must appreciate and understand if we want to start earning more money.

All over the internet you can find disgruntled truckers complaining about their company not "giving" them enough miles. For professional drivers who have found success at this, it's fairly obvious these malcontents have not learned how this all works. There's not a trucking company around who doesn't want their drivers moving lots of freight and turning lots of miles. If the drivers aren't turning plenty of miles, nor are they helping the company's bottom line.

I like to say that we drivers get to measure out our own level of pay. It's really true, but if we're struggling we have to ask ourselves why. The correct answer to that question is usually never related to our CPM rate. You are really just getting started. You haven't yet learned the principles and practices that experienced drivers incorporate to increase their likelihood of getting the best loads and being pre-planned early so they don't burn up their available hours waiting excessively.

I will earn twice the annual pay as some of the drivers in my fleet who are basically getting paid the same CPM rate as me. Some of them come to me for advice, and others of them quit and look for a higher CPM rate. Here's a couple more links to some valuable teaching concerning how you earn more money in this career. If you can lay hold of the concepts and incorporate the principles, you'll find yourself doing very well right where you are. You'll also find that your company will begin realizing your value and they will more than likely offer you a better pay rate.

One Out Of Five Drivers Does A Great Job

What It Takes To Be A Top Tier Driver