Minimum Expected CPM For Rookie
Topic 351 | Page 1
AJ,
From what I have seen so far, most companies start OTR out at about .28 - .30 CPM. I know Prime (whom I drive for) starts their new solo drivers out at .41 CPM driving one of the "light weight" freightliners.
I went through Prime's training program my self and was very satisfied with it.
Hope this helps. Any further questions about Prime, let me know. I will do my best to answer them for you.
OTR:
Over The Road
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.
CPM:
Cents Per Mile
Drivers are often paid by the mile and it's given in cents per mile, or cpm.
Unreasonable to expect the truck to roll every drivable hour? How so? You drive you 10 to 11 hours, lay down for your 10 rest break and then back up driving again. That is what you get paid to do.
During your 10 rest break you are expected to do your eating and showering and sleeping and clothes washing. When that break is up you are back into the driver seat and moving down the road.
You don't get to shut down at 5pm and get up the next morning at 8am. If you shutdown at 5pm then you are expected to be up at 3am and moving down the road unless you have extra time on the load.
So yes its very reasonable to expect you to be driving every available driveble hour the truck can roll.
I just finished my 6 week training at Swift and trying to hit 600 miles per day is hard. I only hit it twice and just exhausted afterwards. Now 500 per day is reasonable. But 600 you are running your clock down so low that you won't have time to park.
TWIC:
Transportation Worker Identification Credential
Truck drivers who regularly pick up from or deliver to the shipping ports will often be required to carry a TWIC card.
Your TWIC is a tamper-resistant biometric card which acts as both your identification in secure areas, as well as an indicator of you having passed the necessary security clearance. TWIC cards are valid for five years. The issuance of TWIC cards is overseen by the Transportation Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security.
I am a rookie driving for Prime. I have been solo since Jan 22nd and just turned 22,000 miles in 10 weeks. That an average of 2,200 per week. There have been a few weeks where I pushed 3,000 and a few days of over 600, but those are exhausting, especially since my truck is governed at 57 MPH. I earn .41 per mile for driving the light weight truck, less space than a condo, but its ok by me. I also earn a fuel bonus each week depending on my fuel mileage. It averages .02-.03 per mile extra on top of the .41. In addition to the driving portion of your day, your also expected to fuel the truck (and depending on where you go, that too can be a nightmare) washout the box if you have a refer, deal with the shippers and receivers , Oh and a lot of waiting ( which kills your clock).
Good Luck
Shipper:
The customer who is shipping the freight. This is where the driver will pick up a load and then deliver it to the receiver or consignee.
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
Here is what really needs to be considered. The 70 hour/8 day rule. The 70 hours includes both driving and on duty. If you are on duty (pre-trip and post-trip inspections) and are driving for 8 hours and 45 minutes. If you do that, you will never need a restart. Of course I am talking "theory" here. Some days will be 10/11 hours. Other days might be two or three hours and then waiting. Until tomorrow for the next load which is in one town over. The old timers already know this. Some trainees that have already been out with a trainer should know it as well.
Dave
The progression at my company for a rookie is as follows 0-3 months .33, 3-6 .36, 6-9 .38 and one year .40 which is now .42 since they just raised everyones cpm. I've ran anything from 2000 to 3500 a week. Our trucks re goveredned at 65. Also keep in mind sometimes not all your money comes from miles. We do a lot of LTL loads at WEL which is multistop loads and get paid $25 a drop (no freebees) if you get a 400 miles run plus drop pay its generally the same as running 600 miles a day plus. I can comfortably do 620 miles a day and I do not get fatigued, but then again I was runnin 500 to 600 miles a day in training and not getting tired. Everyone is different and your motivation may be that in which you can make more miles. Reefer and Flatbed tendto get the best cpm but the wait times on docking for reefer can be a pain and flatbedding is a lot of work. Dry box has a lot of drop and hooks depending on who you run for. Keep in mind miles aren't the only way to make money
LTL:
Less Than Truckload
Refers to carriers that make a lot of smaller pickups and deliveries for multiple customers as opposed to hauling one big load of freight for one customer. This type of hauling is normally done by companies with terminals scattered throughout the country where freight is sorted before being moved on to its destination.
LTL carriers include:
- FedEx Freight
- Con-way
- YRC Freight
- UPS
- Old Dominion
- Estes
- Yellow-Roadway
- ABF Freight
- R+L Carrier
CPM:
Cents Per Mile
Drivers are often paid by the mile and it's given in cents per mile, or cpm.
Reefer:
A refrigerated trailer.
Drop And Hook:
Drop and hook means the driver will drop one trailer and hook to another one.
In order to speed up the pickup and delivery process a driver may be instructed to drop their empty trailer and hook to one that is already loaded, or drop their loaded trailer and hook to one that is already empty. That way the driver will not have to wait for a trailer to be loaded or unloaded.
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What is the general CPM range for a rookie driver?
I guess it's good that they immediately put you OTR , as I would assume that would mostly be interstate miles and would accrue quickly.
So I'm looking at things like this.
Rolling 600 miles a day / 3000 a week ( wide open interstate travel) best case? w /o traffic etc. each .10cpm = $300 @ .30cpm = $900 @ .40cpm = $1200 @ .50cpm = $1500
It would be tough for me to go for this for anything under .30cpm . ...and that would mean the wheels would have to be moving for every drivable hour. And that would be unreasonable to expect.
So how quickly would a guy get to .40cpm? That would leave leeway for the inevitable headaches that are bound to happen.
..expecting too much?
You guys are the best, seriously. a divine hand brought me to this place. I will know exactly what I'm getting into and whether it's for me very quickly. :)
OTR:
Over The Road
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.
Interstate:
Commercial trade, business, movement of goods or money, or transportation from one state to another, regulated by the Federal Department Of Transportation (DOT).
CPM:
Cents Per Mile
Drivers are often paid by the mile and it's given in cents per mile, or cpm.
Per Diem:
Getting paid per diem means getting a portion of your salary paid to you without taxes taken out. It's technically classified as a meal and expense reimbursement.
Truck drivers and others who travel for a living get large tax deductions for meal expenses. The Government set up per diem pay as a way to reimburse some of the taxes you pay with each paycheck instead of making you wait until tax filing season.
Getting per diem pay means a driver will get a larger paycheck each week but a smaller tax return at tax time.
We have a ton of information on our wiki page on per diem pay
DAC:
Drive-A-Check Report
A truck drivers DAC report will contain detailed information about their job history of the last 10 years as a CDL driver (as required by the DOT).
It may also contain your criminal history, drug test results, DOT infractions and accident history. The program is strictly voluntary from a company standpoint, but most of the medium-to-large carriers will participate.
Most trucking companies use DAC reports as part of their hiring and background check process. It is extremely important that drivers verify that the information contained in it is correct, and have it fixed if it's not.
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.