What's good hourly pay for company drivers now

Well, you have an idea of what you want; now find companies in your area that offer that.

Me personally, in a major metropolitan area...my wheels wouldn't turn for under $25 an hour with OT after 40.

Fortunately, my company pays quite a bit more than that. Lol

 

Much of what constitutes "good hourly pay" depends on where you live. In many areas of the country, including eastern South Dakota, were I currently live, you would concider what you have now to be a pretty sweet gig. There is an old country song with the line "too much month at the end of the money". If you are making a comfortable living where you are, and still have money for a few niceties and to grow some retirement savings, you are probably making a "good hourly pay". And if you move to an area with better hourly pay, cost of living may eat up a lot more than your gain. Then you would not be making a good hourly pay. If you are a good budget minded person who lives rather conservatively and you find you have "too much month at the end of the money" then its time to stress out.

 

In my opinion, the pay should be upwards of $30 regular time plus Overtime at 40 . Why? I don’t know about that area, but around DFW skilled trades only pay 18-28 or so per hr. That’s 8-12 hrs of actually working, so why in the world would driving a truck pay more?

 

Because trucking is a skilled labor, with a heck of a lot more liability than some guy working in a welding shop or whatever. Many of these guys doing this never develop the skill, but that doesnt negate the fact that it is supposed to be a skilled job.

 

30 per hour.

Pay me. That works out to .50 a mile trainee pay. 15 hours per day. $450.00 in day one. 900 Day two etc.

 

Out here in the Midwest, US Foods pays $26.26/hr to start. I think it’s a $2 raise after 2 years, plus other raises for taking certain difficult routes or being a utility driver.

In the same area, FedEx Freight starts at $22.58/hr with a 36 month progression topping out at $28.83 (mileage starts at $.05477 and tops out at $0.6832).

UNFI starts at $21.25/hr and tops out at $26/hr after 5 years.

UPS feeder and package car drivers start really low (I’ve heard $18/hr). I was talking with a driver who said he tops out after 10 years something like $36/hr, but year 9 to year 10 is an $8 increase.

All of those have OT after 40.

 

I agree with you, I personally wouldn't pull ISO hazmat for that rate of pay. The problem is that your local market disagrees with us. If the company pays $19.75\hr and keeps seats filled and trucks moving, then that's the "going rate" in that area. It's not the company fault, it's your fellow drivers for accepting that rate of pay for the work performed. If you buy something on Amazon for $10 that retails at your local store for $15 dollars are you at fault when the local business shuts its doors?

My last OTR job was with MS Carriers. Mr. Starnes paid us above-board, respected seniority, and we had some really nice routes in those days. But When Jerry Moyes bought us out, that all changed. He cut the pay, turned back the trucks, got rid of senior guys, etc. But the trucks kept moving and still do to this very day.

Which taught me a valuable lesson. If I wanted to avoid this happening again, I needed to find something that other drivers wouldn't or couldn't do. And so I went with LTL city driving and now I'm at $30/hr and nobody wants my job so they gotta keep raising pay haha.

 

These guys start you at top wage close to 28hr with experience
https://intelliapp.driverapponline.com/c/saia?uri_b=ia_saia_2081475169

 

UPS is a four-year progression, and the recent contract negotiations addressed the low starting pay. It's still not glamorous, but it's much better than it was.