Truck driver at my company can make

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I found out a while ago that at my job they offer sleeper team jobs for truck drivers, this is where you and another driver drive all over the USA taking turns and you work for 5 days straight then off for 2 and repeat. I am not shitting you when I tell you they make around $200,000 a year doing this. Its $0.92 to $0.96 a mile + turn around pay they go over 5,000 miles a week on some of them.

Isn't that insane that you can make this kind of money driving a truck? Imagine if you and your wife both were a team and made 400k a year as a truck driver. If you started at 21 and were very modest with spending you could retire by 40.

https://www.dcvelocity.com/articles/29882-ups-teamster-compact-would-pay-new-sleeper-teams-nearly-1-per-mile

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Comments ( 10 )
  • [Old Memory]
    2 years ago

    i've considered becoming a truck driver before just to see if i could get out of the funk i'm in right now. problem is, I suck at driving a normal-ass car, so i don't think i'd be a good fit for truck-driving but i'd still try if life got me down far enough.

    you have to deal with other people trying to fuck you on the road, there are multiple federal regulations you must obey, your sleep schedule is unpredictable at times, and the dispatch guys are never intelligent or understanding, they're just janitors mostly who worked for the company before getting promoted to the all important dispatch -guy job - many of them have never driven a truck themselves. i imagine it would be stressful, but if you need the dough...

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    • Anonymous Post Author
      2 years ago

      It is kind of hard to learn. The hardest thing to learn is backing the trailer to a dock. Other than that its pretty easy. If you need help with your CDL test truckercountry.com has practice tests that have the exact same questions as the test.

      Your best bet is either swift which is a company that trains you to drive but pays badly or UPS. UPS is hit or miss but they will train you to drive and you start at 32 an hour once you get qualified. Good thing about UPS is they got runs where you go home every night

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  • olderdude-xx
    2 years ago

    I know some truck drivers, including a tandem pair: Its a lot harder life than it seems. Yes the money is good. Little chance to exercise properly, diet of often bad, etc.

    The sane ones don't drive all the long miles and hours so they can have a normal life... and don't make near the money you mention as a result.

    I've known a few who did the crazy hours and life for a few years to be able to buy a house (cash - not mortgage) and then slowed down.

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  • Whatintarnation
    2 years ago

    I know a few truckers. They make between 70 to 200 thousand a year. Repair and tow bills can kill you though. Depends if you own your truck or just drive for a company as well. Good money but it would be boring as shit. Plus I'd probably weigh 500 pounds from just sitting all day.

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  • Boojum
    2 years ago

    Having watched quite a few trucker dash-cam video compilation videos on YouTube, I think those truckers earn every penny.

    God alone knows why, but I actually read that article you linked to, and I think your numbers are a little wonky. Assuming the single-trailer rate of 92¢ per mile, assuming the guaranteed 60 hour week, assuming an average speed of 70mph, and assuming working for 52 weeks a year, the total does indeed work out to be around $200,000. But who in their right mind wants to work 52 weeks a year? And who seriously believes that you can maintain an average speed of 70mph during the 11 hours that truckers are allowed to drive in any 24 hour period?

    And, okay, going to the maximum of 70 hours per week and driving bigger rigs would bump up the pay a bit, but again, this rate is per-mile, and it's unrealistic to assume an average speed of 70mph from depot to depot, in all sorts of weather and all traffic conditions.

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    • Anonymous Post Author
      2 years ago

      Idk maybe it is less in total but I was shown a paycheck from a sleeper team driver and it was $4,000 for that week before taxes. After federal taxes it was around $3000 that he took home.

      But my math comes to more than $4,000 a week because they called me asking me to do a sleeper run for just one week, my wife shot it down, but they told me in total that it was over 5,000 miles that week. Plus I believe you get turn around pay for it. Could be wrong. Crazy to me how much they pay for that but I also did some math and I believe every trailer they take has about $30,000 dollars worth of capital that they charged customers for shipping the packages. And if over that week you are shipping 8 different trailers thats $240,000 of profits that the company made from moving that so $8,000 total for two drivers out of that really isnt that much considering that still making atleast $232,000 from us. Maybe minus another $500 for the time it took loaders and unloaders to load and unload it and probably $1500 for the delivery drivers.
      Still $230,000 the company is making.

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      • Boojum
        2 years ago

        Fair enough - if the guy showed you a check, then it is what it is. I obviously have no idea what other allowances drivers may get or how the numbers shake out in the real world; all I had to go on was the numbers in the article and a quick calculation.

        As for how much courier firms are taking in gross, I'm sure the numbers are huge and the explosion of online sales in recent years means there's crazy money in that sector of the economy (while bricks and mortar stores are getting absolutely hammered). But then I'm also sure that the up-front and running costs of big rigs isn't exactly pocket change either.

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  • MonteMetcalfe
    2 years ago

    Was the dark of the moon on the sixth of June
    In a Kenworth pullin' logs
    Cab-over Pete with a reefer on
    And a Jimmy haulin' hogs
    We is headin' for bear on i-one-oh
    'bout a mile outta shaky town
    I says, Pig Pen, this here's the Rubber Duck.
    And I'm about to put the hammer down.

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    • Anonymous Post Author
      2 years ago

      Copy that bubba

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      • MonteMetcalfe
        2 years ago

        Convoy by C.W. McCall

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqYTX7parRw

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