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Troy: Alright! Hello and welcome listeners. The date is October 2nd and you’re listening to the 39th episode of Big Rig Banter and I’m your co-host, Troy Diffenderfer.
Lenay: And I’m your favorite co-host, Lenay Ruhl.
Troy: Lenay, how are you doing today?
Lenay: Good, Good. How are you, Troy?
Troy: I’m doing good. Just getting back in the swing of things at work and still missing New England. I think when we were up there, we definitely fell in love, both Lydia and I.
Lenay: In love with each other for the first time or in love with New England?
Troy: No, we’ve been in love for quite a while, but we fell in love with New England, just to catch you up Truckers, we just got back from our honeymoon. We went all up through New England and really enjoyed it. Some of our favorite spots were, obviously, Salem, Massachusettes for all that history. As well as Casco Bay and Orr’s Island, and the coast of Maine. Those were really beautiful places and it was definitely hard getting back to reality as soon as we got back.
Lenay: Yeah, that’s awesome. That’s actually one part of the country, I’ve never been to.
Troy: Yeah, I highly recommend it. Truckers, if you haven’t been there, you should definitely see if you can make a stop up there. For those who have been there, we’d love to hear some of your favorite places in New England, so make sure to let us know by using #bigrigbanter. We want to see where your favorite place to get a lobster roll is or favorite sight to see.
Lenay: And when you say New England, why don’t you break down the states that you drove through, cause for those listening, we are in Pennsylvania.
Troy: So, we actually went through Connecticut and then into Massachusettes. We hit Rhode Island a little bit, the tip of Vermont, and then made it through Maine, and then came back. So, we hit a good amount of states up there and it was really cool.
Lenay: Were the leaves starting to change at all or not so much?
Troy: Yeah, especially in Maine we noticed. There was really beautiful landscapes. The main highway is really cool, it just goes through the mountains pretty much and your going through a lot of wood…wooded areas and that was really cool to see.
Lenay: Awesome. Did you take a lot of pictures?
Troy: Yeah, Lydia took a whole bunch of pictures on her digital camera, so hopefully we’ll be able to post some of them. Maybe, we’ll post some on Big Rig Banter.
Lenay: Yeah, we’ll have to add those to our Instagram account, seems like some good Instagram footage.
Troy: For sure, and again, Truckers, feel free to send us your pictures from the New England area or wherever you’re at on the road. We really want to see them. But let’s jump into today’s episode. Lenay, I think we’re keeping it in the family this time when it comes to our special guest.
Lenay: Yeah, so today we’re going to talk about trucker driver pay and just kind of break down how you can make the most money as a truck driver, some things to consider, and how pay works. So, we have our coworker, Jillian Armstrong, in the room with us today. Jillian is an account manager at All Truck Jobs and she’s actually worked her for going on 5 years, so she knows what she’s talking about when it comes to this trucking stuff.
Troy: Alright, Jill, how are you today?
Jill: I’m doing alright! How are you doing, Troy?
Troy: Pretty good! So, this episode we’re talking all about how drivers get paid, what they can possibly make while they’re on the road. So, what are some variables you see when it comes to driver pay? Why don’t we talk about freight, first. I know there’s a different…there is a variety of different freight types. I’m sure many of you, Truckers out there, haul different things and that’s just one of the ton of variables that come into your driver pay.
Jill: Sure, so, what we’ve noticed a lot of carriers posting about or from what I see from my end of things is that more specialized freight, obviously, that would require additional endorsements or certifications will obviously pay more. But a lot of times it might take more time to get qualified and there can be more skill or responsibilities involved with that type of hauling as well. So, you have to kind of know if you’re willing to take on some of that stuff before you just get kind of blinded by the dollar signs.
Troy: And I think another one…another variable that truckers don’t consider is whether it’s a student driver or a company driver or things like that. That’s another big factor. I’m sure you see different programs that companies can offer when it comes to student driving and company driving and I’m sure that factors in to pay as well.
Jill: Yeah, it does. One of the other biggest variables that we’ve seen when it comes to driver pay would probably be that experience level. So, if you are a student, that’s not to say you’re not going to make money, but it may take a little bit more time to work your way up to what an experienced driver would make. A lot of carriers have incentives though for student drivers to make sure that we’re getting students in. I’ve seen things like student drivers have the opportunity to start at a certain cent-per-mile or whatever, and then they might increase them every month or every quarter. Things like that to make sure they are not keeping them at the same level for too long but getting them that experience at the same time.
Troy: So, a lot of times instead of set salaries, we’ll see truck drivers paid a little differently. Can you go into a little more detail in regard to what they can expect?
Jill: So, I can start off here and Lenay you can jump in if you want. It’s going to vary by carrier. What I’ve seen mostly, at least on our site, is that carriers usually start with a set cent-per-mile, per-experience-level. So, drivers with less experience might start off with a lower cent-per-mile, but as they can more experience they’ll be raised to a higher cent-per-mile. Some carriers will pay differently depending on divisions, as well. One division might pay cents-pe-mile while another division in the same company will pay hourly rates or, you know, if they have lease purchase or owner-operators they’ll make a percentage of the load instead of cent-per-mile. So, there’s a lot of variables there. But I haven’t seen many carriers that offer set salaries. Most will be able to tell you what their average driver makes salary-wise, calculated out based on cent-per-mile and the average amount of miles that they’re going to be driving. And then some carriers may off incentive pay packages, like pay increases every quarter up to their max based on performance or other standards or things like that.
Lenay: Yeah, definitely the more miles they drive, the more money they’ll make. I was on the government’s website where they have all their labor statistics and as of 2018, the average hourly rate for a truck driver is $21.91 per hour. And that’s for like a tractor-trailer truck driver. As for local trucking, it’s 17.75 per hour. Of course, that’s like averaged out considering the cent-per-mile and all that good stuff. So, that would make their average annual salary $45,000 a year for long haul and then $36,000 for local drivers.
Troy: And that’s something I wanted to bring up as well. What about the difference between OTR vs. local truck driving? Listeners, if you’re up to date with our blog, I actually just recently wrote a blog covering some of the differences between OTR and local truck driving and one of the big differences is the salary. Do you see a big difference here?
Jill: I think that there are obvious benefits to both. OTR, you’ll tend to make more money just because you’re racking up more miles and when you’re paid by cent-per-mile, obviously, the more miles you’re driving, the more you’ll be making. However, a lot of drivers would prefer a more steady and reliable paycheck amount and be able to get home every night with a local route. So, it just depends. If you have that family at home, and you really want to get home every day and that’s more important to you than making a slightly bigger paycheck, we have a lot people are interested in that. There are also guys that their kids are grown or they don’t have kids or whatever, they have no one to get home to, they just want to make as much money as possible and in that case Over The Road (OTR) is a great option. There’s also less risk of having complications like breaking down in the middle of nowhere when you’re local, having your loads canceled or be changed if you’re local. It’s more predictable. Whereas, some drivers just prefer that over the opportunity to make more money driving further and longer.
Lenay: Yeah, for sure. I mean when it comes to truck driver pay, you definitely have to weigh out for yourself what you’re willing to sacrifice to make more money, and I think also, depending on what state you live in, you might make more money as a local truck driver in, say, California than you would in another state just based on the fact that a lot of salaries are higher in certain states than others.
Jill: Yeah, I think you have to take into account cost of living and all of that. So, like, you said, some states like California may pay those higher local ranges just to be able to keep their drivers living with that salary.
Troy: And another big factor, just like OTR and local truck driving, what about owner-operator vs. company drivers? Listeners, I know you’ve might of heard our owner-operator episode that kind of covered some of those details. Do you see a difference there? And then, I’ll mention again, we’ve done another episode on team driving, as well. So, those are three completely different trucking jobs available and I’m sure there’s a variety of different factors that go in including salary.
Jill: Yeah, so, when it comes to owner-operator vs. company driver, some people will swear by one or the other. There are definitely pros and cons to both. So, being an owner-operator sometimes you have the potential to make a lot more money than company drivers, just because you can kind of negotiate your contracts with those carriers. You have a little bit more buying power if you will. And then you also have significant tax advantages and things like that when you’re an owner-operator because you’re essentially a business owner. So, you can make more money, but another pro to that would also be that you don’t ever have to share your equipment. That truck is yours, you don’t have to worry about slip seating which is what a lot of carriers will do with their company drivers. You’ll drive for whatever your route is, a couple days or a week or whatever, and then when you park the truck, you take all of your stuff out and the next driver takes over. So, you don’t have to deal with any of that, you don’t have to deal with the state of the truck of the last driver that drove it, so if they were just a mess and you have to clean it up, you don’t have to worry about any of that, or there’s also been instances where drivers will damage the truck and not report it and then you’re stuck dealing with it if you have that slip seating as a company driver. You can also be your own boss as an owner-operator, which can mean a little bit more flexibility for you. Sometimes you have more choice of what loads you want to take and which ones you don’t, whereas company drivers are kind of at the mercy of whatever is available for the carrier that they are working with. Some of the cons though of being an owner-operator would definitely be there’s a greater financial risk, obviously you own your own truck, so that means it’s all up to you, as far as the maintenance of it and fixing any issues, which can lead to more stress because if there’s something wrong with your truck, if you don’t know how to fix it, you have to pay somebody else to do it, you have to find the time to do it, and that’s during your time off when you’re not making money. So, I think a company driver has a little bit more of the you know when you’re done work, you’re done, you can go home, and not think about worrying about the truck or whatever. So, there’s a little bit more responsibility with being a owner-operator and a little bit more investment of, I’d say, time and money, but it just depends if that’s something you’ll willing to take on or not and if that’s something that you’d be willing to do for a longer period of time.
Troy: And just to wrap up, team driving as well is definitely another option and that’s something to consider, but again, you’re going to be splitting pretty much half your profits with the other, but you will be able to drive more miles, so that’s something to consider. In our team driving episode, we spoke to a mother and daughter that are making a pretty good living doing it, so that’s something to consider as well.
Jill: Absolutely! Just to chime in there, I know that outside of the obvious where you have a companion with you on the road, team driving, I know that a lot of carriers will offer bigger bonuses for teams because they can typically get more miles out of you at one time and that sort of thing, so that’s definitely a good option to consider.
Lenay: Yeah, and so you just mentioned bonuses. What kind of bonuses do you see that different companies are providing right now?
Jill: Some of the biggest ones that we’ve noticed pretty consistently would be, obviously, sign up bonuses, some carriers will offer just to sign on with them. A lot of times there’ll be stipulations, such as you have to work there for so many months before they’ll pay out the full amount. So, they might give you a quarter of it upfront or half of it up front, and then they’ll give you the rest in usually installations to make sure that you stay. They don’t want drivers just hopping from one carrier to another for, you know, just to get that sign-on bonus. So, it is an incentive and a good bonus to try to find when you’re signing up for a carrier, but just know that there will be some stipulations that come along with it.
Lenay: Yeah, that makes sense.
Troy: Alright and Jill, do you have anything else to add?
Jill: Besides everything else that we talked about, I mean there’s obviously some other opportunities available, there’s other bonuses available. Things that you could look into would be safety bonuses and longevity bonuses that carriers might offer, but if you are looking to get into the trucking industry, just kind of starting off without any experience just make sure that you are doing your research, a lot of carriers might start you off at a higher cent-per-mile, but not offer as many benefits or, you know, are going to run you further than you want to go or whatever. So, just the biggest suggestion I would have is to sometimes use sites kind of like All Truck Jobs, where you can see everything in one spot, you can compare carriers side by side based on what they offer, and then you can actually reach out to them and talk to them about what they offer separately as well.
Lenay: Yeah, it’s really important to just know what you want and do your research. Thank you so much Jill for sharing that info with us.
Jill: Absolutely. Thanks guys!
Troy: And once again, a big thanks to Jillian for joining us on the show. If you have any questions about truck driver pay, check out AllTruckJobs.com, your online trucking job board and the company that brings you Big Rig Banter.
Lenay: And if you like what you hear be sure to leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you’re listening.
Troy: Alright, well that about wraps things up. Once again, I’m your co-host, Troy Diffenderfer.
Lenay: And I’m your favorite co-host, Lenay Ruhl.
Troy: And this has been Big Rig Banter.
Music – Thanks for tuning into another edition of BigRigBanter. For your next job check out AllTruckJobs.com, the premier online source for finding the best driver jobs in the country. Browse hundreds of positions by freight or driver type to get back on the road with confidence. Click subscribe to keep the conversations coming until next time on BigRigBanter.
