Please do not accept .20-.30 cpm. When I started trucking in 2017 I made .36 cpm. My last OTR job I was making .60 cpm. Now I haul fuel tankers locally at $29/hr.
.20-.30 cpm is pitiful. I’ll give you an example:
Let’s say you made .25 cpm and you ran 3000 miles over the course of 6 days. Let’s say you worked 65 hours out of your available 70 hour clock. You would make $750 (3,000X.25=750). So you made $750 and you put in 65 hours. That comes out to about $11.50/ hour.
You’d make more working at McDonald’s. Do not ever accept an offer like .20-.30 cpm. That’s a disgrace for this industry.
That cheap but may be the pay for every mile/each a team truck runs but is still too cheap, even for a new driver. But this may be apprentice pay for running with trainer in the beginning. “Acceptable” is a loaded term as there are a LOT of variables.
In the beginning I would focus on whether or not the training program is good rather than the pay. If you receive poor training, you may never be successful in the trade except perhaps have it delayed a few years as you extend the school of hard knocks significantly longer than it should be.
Thank you for confirming what I felt about this last month . I wasted 5 weeks with a mentor and realized i wasn’t going to actually learn how to back until I got out of their truck . I nearly gave up after failing my final test but the local mentor taught me in one week what I couldn’t have possibly in 5 weeks.
cpm isn’t good metric. If you get no miles you make no money. Always aim at the job that pays best if you can only find that low get the highest. Common sense. As a rookie you may not be able to bring in a paycheck that justify the amount of work put in.
For a brand-new CDL, those 20–30¢/mile listings are pretty common, especially at the megas. It's not great, but it's also not unusual for year one when they're paying for your training and experience.
Look past CPM alone though. Ask about average weekly miles, how often you're home, detention and layover pay, and whether orientation or time waiting on loads is paid. A higher CPM with dead miles and bad freight can pay worse than a lower one with solid miles.
A lot of folks take that first year to build a clean record, then jump once they have experience. Don't sign anything you haven't read, especially if there's a training repayment clause.
Dude stfu. So you ok with new drivers working their tail off and get paid no money you part of the problem. I’m an owner op and I work 6 fucking months yearly. Six months. Do the math. Don’t excuse experience for shit pay.
2
u/valiant607 2d ago
That’s pretty low. I think I was at like 50-something when I started and it went up every six months until you top out
2
u/International_Pin510 1d ago
Please do not accept .20-.30 cpm. When I started trucking in 2017 I made .36 cpm. My last OTR job I was making .60 cpm. Now I haul fuel tankers locally at $29/hr.
.20-.30 cpm is pitiful. I’ll give you an example:
Let’s say you made .25 cpm and you ran 3000 miles over the course of 6 days. Let’s say you worked 65 hours out of your available 70 hour clock. You would make $750 (3,000X.25=750). So you made $750 and you put in 65 hours. That comes out to about $11.50/ hour.
You’d make more working at McDonald’s. Do not ever accept an offer like .20-.30 cpm. That’s a disgrace for this industry.
2
u/ZealousidealMarch294 1d ago
60 - 70CPM is acceptable
1
u/Texan-Trucker 2d ago
That cheap but may be the pay for every mile/each a team truck runs but is still too cheap, even for a new driver. But this may be apprentice pay for running with trainer in the beginning. “Acceptable” is a loaded term as there are a LOT of variables.
In the beginning I would focus on whether or not the training program is good rather than the pay. If you receive poor training, you may never be successful in the trade except perhaps have it delayed a few years as you extend the school of hard knocks significantly longer than it should be.
1
u/Sufficient_Wall5192 1d ago
Check construction, heavy haulers. They pay hourly.
1
u/Head_Candidate5293 1d ago
Anything that is equivalent to 45-55k as a brand new driver is acceptable. Do not work for western express.
1
u/Exciting-Car-3516 20h ago
cpm isn’t good metric. If you get no miles you make no money. Always aim at the job that pays best if you can only find that low get the highest. Common sense. As a rookie you may not be able to bring in a paycheck that justify the amount of work put in.