How much trucker/18-wheerer driver gets salary at US?

[Mika73]

Does someone know how much trucker of 18-wheeler gets salary at US?

How much is tax usually..

Someone told that they get 50000-55000/year.. And I just cant believe.. Over 4000USD/month sounds just too good to be true..

[flyin ryan]

that's a pretty open question. a lot of different pay structures. i deal with truckers at my truck wash everyday & from what i see they either struggle month to month, paycheck to paycheck or they they do pretty good. not really any middle class, middle ground. owner operators seem to put a ton of money back in their rigs. sure they make big money but they have big expences too, large fuel bill's, insurance & road toles, oversize permits the list goes on & on. oh ya & big wash bill's ha,ha. the number you said i have no trouble believing some good company drivers make but i would say they are few & far between, but possible.

[Mika73]

http://www.usvaaputkeen.com/index.html

Just found this cool page of two Finnish guys who drive truck at US. Its Finnish language, but links at left show lot of cool pics.

I am upgrading my drivers license to truck/18-wheeler, course it was hard get job as computer support. At the moment I am at home with broken angle, course fall at ice/water road when I was coming back from foodstore end of november. Get plaster out of leg 8.1 and illholidays at home end 20.1. It had medical surgery, broken angle/bone and plaster. But then I shuld be back learning to drive that big thing.. Quite different than -90 ZR-1

What? This doesnt rev up to 7000RPM.. Whats wrong with it...

[djpatrick35]

They're able to make some decent money, but there's a lot of expenses to deal with. I guess they have to pay for their own fuel, tolls, etc. so a lot of their money goes right out the door.

[Mika73]

Driver has to pay fuel himself?

Isnt it company busines usually..

[flyin ryan]

that's what i was saying earlier. two different things. company driver's, owner operator's & a third would be contract driver's. we won't get into that right now

[SDZR-1]

ok...I'll chime in as I was a former driver. I drove for a company pulling a flatbed trailer and peterbilt 379 truck, both within a year old at the time. I drove about 140-150,000 miles/year and was paid on 26% of what the gross pay on each load was. I was unable to continue driving and had to quit last year, but grossed $58000 for the year and $53000 the prior year. Much of the wage has a lot to do w/ our economy when you get paid a percentage vs. other companies who will pay a per mile wage. So when the economy is good the loads pay better and the driver gets paid better....and the adverse is self explanatory. I work as a fleet manager now for the same company and our drivers arent doing as well this year vs. last year due to the poor economic times we are in. Bottom line, if you dont mind being away from home for a couple weeks at a time and willing to drive 500-700 miles/ day then yes those original numbers posted are realistic. I would imagine our more ambitious drivers will make $2-3000 less this year than last, but should remain around the $50k mark. Full Benefits and matching 401 K are also included.

Also, if anyone is interested we do have a unit open. Let me know and pass the word, I will pay a referral to anyone that provides an acceptable candidate.

[SDZR-1]

This is the 2006 tractor/trailer that I drove, which looks like the other 6. And my truck, which is leased to the company as well is an 07 KW W900L, red. We also lease an owner/operater to our company, which he pays for his fuel and expenses....we recieve 13% of his gross pay on each load for providing the operating authority and finding his loads. Just some more info that I thought might be interesting to those who dont know how it all works.

Love do drive one of those and owen it! specialy if behind motor is ZF6!!

[SDZR-1]

Nope...no zf6, sorry it's an eaton 18 speed....and a cat c-15 550HP