What Would A Good Cpm Be For A New Driver In 2024?

Someone has asked this question before but it was around 11 years ago…obviously times change. One company I contacted told me they pay 0.40/mile and average about 2800/week(?). I have a friend who used to drive for England and he said that sounded pretty low to him. Also I’ve heard stories of new drivers being promised miles then once they sign up they’re messed around. How do you prevent that from happening? I start Cdl training in a couple days…so I don’t have my CDL yet but I’m already putting feelers out to companies for when I graduate.

I don't know what training companies pay currently. It sounds like you are going to a private school. If so, are they associated with any companies? I sure hope so, because it's tough getting on with training companies in this economy. You get your CDL and might find that you can't get hired for a while and that CDL will become stale after a couple months and you will have to go through training again. If this school has companies that will hire you on, you will go through more training. Most of those companies have training pay that you will get until you go solo in your own truck.

Here are some links for you to start reading before you start worrying about how much you are going to make:

• Truck Driver's Career Guide
• Brett's Book: The Raw Truth About Trucking (free online version)
• High Road CDL Training Program
• CDL Practice Tests

There are other links for you to read also.

Laura

Hello Sara D!

We highly recommend Paid CDL Training Programs over private schools. It sounds like you've already started a private school. That's okay, but there's no guaranteed job for you. The school takes your money and then you have to find someone willing to take an inexperienced driver into their care. That's not always as easy as it seems.

Personally I wouldn't concern myself with the rate of pay. Most important is finding a company willing to hire you. That's your first priority. If you can get hired quickly, you can start earning some money. That's going to be real important.

One company I contacted told me they pay 0.40/mile and average about 2800/week(?). I have a friend who used to drive for England and he said that sounded pretty low to him.

There's no way you're going to make $2,800 per week. So, get that idea out of your head. Shoot for $1,000 per week. That's a reasonable goal for a rookie driver in this economy. CPM rates vary a lot. I'd say try to find something in the range of .40-.45/mile. That's doable and reasonable. That should put you in that 50k range for your first year.

Also I’ve heard stories of new drivers being promised miles then once they sign up they’re messed around. How do you prevent that from happening?

Look, trucking companies make their money by turning as many miles as possible. The reality is that we are currently in a serious freight downturn. Trucking companies are hurting. Therefore drivers are feeling the effects.

There's no magic formula by which the company can "promise" you miles. Trucking is performance based. Your record of performance defines your worth to the company. As a rookie, you have no record. Wherever you get started, that will be your priority. What I'm saying is you have to establish your level of worth to the company.

For that first year you must really prove to be extra reliable, super helpful, and squeaky clean safe. Trust me, there are drivers there who have been doing this for years. They are the company's "go to" team members. They will have a lot easier time than you at keeping busy. They get prioritized because they have proven themselves.

You are in that process of proving yourself all through your first year. The way you avoid getting "messed around" is to never be late for an appointment, be easy to work with, and don't hit anything while driving that rig. That's how you establish yourself. That's how you become a driver who is prioritized for loads. That's how you earn the top pay.

You can't just try to find the highest pay and think that's how you make this job work well for you. There is a process which must be followed. Your performance writes your story in trucking. It takes highly motivated individuals to succeed at this.

Focus on being the best. That's how you find the best pay and the best job. You'd be surprised at how many people find that success at places the internet says are terrible.

Never trust or believe drivers who can't seem to stay somewhere and make a go of it. If you're going to listen to a truck driver's advice, make sure they are successful and satisfied with their company. Those are the folks who've figured this out.

She meant 2800 miles per week, not dollars. My company starts at 50cpm but with weekly bonuses, you average more like 59cpm. Possibly more in a lightweight truck. However..it seems we are getting less miles. More like 2500ish. Freight sucks right now

Duh!

Thanks Kearsey! Sometimes I have to laugh at myself. I see something and it's totally wrong!

At .40 cpm and 2800 miles, it would be a gross of 1,120 per week. Doesn’t sound too bad until you divide $1,120 by 70 hours per week. Then it’s $16 per hour. What does flipping burgers pay per hour?

My first driving job was at .49 per mile, but the company gave me less than 2000 miles per week, so that wasn’t good. But it got me to my second job where I make .61 per mile and get about 3500 miles per week. Not the best, but not too bad, either. Finally, a job better than flipping burgers, lol.

I started out @ $0.31 a mile w/ CRST, wow a whole extra penny for military duty haha. Wonder how much they got from Uncle Sammy.....Anyways, we got 1 penny per month raises the 1st year, I was around $0.45. When they gave every one with over 1 year a big driver retention raise. I went up to 60 CPM after that bump. Soon after my co driver got his bump up.

After my 5 month "vacation" and going to drive for Legends (co had started there, doing local) I went to drive there @ 59 cpm solo, and loved it ! No debts/bills was the best part for me to save up a big wad for my early retirement.....Only thing I miss are those big weekly pay days lol, but my SSA check is more than enough here in Asia, even with my GF and her 2 kids (10&11)

At .40 cpm and 2800 miles, it would be a gross of 1,120 per week. Doesn’t sound too bad until you divide $1,120 by 70 hours per week. Then it’s $16 per hour. What does flipping burgers pay per hour?

I'm all about getting paid at a good rate and I think we don't make what we should for the amount of work we put in. I think the math you did is a little off though. If a driver is averaging about 2800 miles per week, at 55 mph (in general about what we average for every hour on duty) that comes out to roughly 51 hours. Even if we overshoot and say the driver is working 55 hours (they're new so everthing takes longer), $1120 divided by 55 equals $20.36 per hour (straight pay, no time and a half pay in there). Still not anything to write home about but not as bad as $16 per hour.

In general though, yeah we don't make what we should. If I do a 3500 mile week and actually log things on duty like I should I would pretty much max out my clock and work 70 hours. At roughly 60 cpm, 3500 miles comes out to $2100 gross pay for the week. Sounds pretty good until you divide $2100 by 70 and it comes out to $30 per hour. Still doesn't look too bad until you consider that that is straight pay with no time and a half pay after 40 hours like most industries pay. If I were paid hourly with time and a half after 40 hours, my pay would actually come out to $24.71 per hour. Considering the risk involved in our job I think that's too low.

I think the math you did is a little off though. If a driver is averaging about 2800 miles per week, at 55 mph (in general about what we average for every hour on duty) that comes out to roughly 51 hours. Even if we overshoot and say the driver is working 55 hours

Oh, just 51 or 55 hours? I didn’t realize we were talking about a part time driving job. Sorry, my bad.

Oh, just 51 or 55 hours? I didn’t realize we were talking about a part time driving job. Sorry, my bad.

🤣🤣