Walmart to Pay Truckers $110,000, More Than Double What Average College Grad Makes

[Ray From Cleveland]

I've got four friends who are OTR drivers. All four of them are single and their kids are grown.

One of them used to work in a bacon factory (Daily's Premium Meats) in Missoula, Montana, one used to be the guitar player in a very popular rock band, one has been driving since being discharged from the Army, and the fourth has been a truck driver for as far back as anyone can remember.

My buddy from Missoula just turned 60, and has just started this new career. His two boys are grown with families of their own. He called me this morning from Miami, saying he was on his way to San Diego. He didn't mention any specifics, but he says he's making far more than he did at the bacon factory, and I know he was making $26 an hour there.

My Dad was a truck driver for over 30 years, but he was local, driving a tanker for Exxon. He drove over 1,000,000 incident-free miles. We weren't rich growing up, but Dad made enough for us to be pretty comfortable...

Drivers today have the world by the balls. Companies are willing to pay almost anything to get a good driver these days. Walmart is trying to get their warehouse people to get into the field. They are paying between 80K to over 100K, but of course the big bucks go to those with the most experience. But what the hell, free training, they will take you to your CDL test, and of course, guarantee you more than a livable wage job.

It's estimated the US is short over 80,000 drivers, and that number is predicted to go higher as we baby boomers retire, plus the lack of interest in young people to get into a hands-on field of work. If you don't want to be away from home, even good companies like FedEx and UPS are still looking for local drivers. The pay range is in the $28.00 an hour range plus overtime. As I understand it you can work as much OT as you like, and of course don't forget the benefits.

 

[westwall]

View attachment 629864

$110k a year?
You mean the REAL minimum wage?

You get paid what you are worth.

 

[candycorn]

I've got four friends who are OTR drivers. All four of them are single and their kids are grown.

One of them used to work in a bacon factory (Daily's Premium Meats) in Missoula, Montana, one used to be the guitar player in a very popular rock band, one has been driving since being discharged from the Army, and the fourth has been a truck driver for as far back as anyone can remember.

My buddy from Missoula just turned 60, and has just started this new career. His two boys are grown with families of their own. He called me this morning from Miami, saying he was on his way to San Diego. He didn't mention any specifics, but he says he's making far more than he did at the bacon factory, and I know he was making $26 an hour there.

My Dad was a truck driver for over 30 years, but he was local, driving a tanker for Exxon. He drove over 1,000,000 incident-free miles. We weren't rich growing up, but Dad made enough for us to be pretty comfortable...

Way back in the day, I used to have to drive my car all the way to Grand Junction to a campus we had up there. I would have to drive home every Sunday morning back to Tempe.

The thing I remember most about these trips through Monument Valley was hearing a church broadcast for truckers (anyone could listen of course) but the pastor or whatever he was did a great job tailoring the sermon to the road warriors.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Some do, many do not. There is a reason that there is a 100% turnover rate among over the road truckers.

Mostly for the poorly-paid, poorly-treated mega carriers. (And note: many of them have a 200% turnover!) Walmart's turnover is minimal.

Since truck drivers are exempt from Federal overtime laws, they will work about 100 hours a week for that, so yes, you're very close. And, like Ford's much touted '$5 day' not all of them will manage to make that.

You do not even know what you don't know.

Sure there is.

You do not even know what you don't know.

Rubbish. They limit driving hours past 70 hours in 8 days; they don't restrict hours of work at all.

You do not even know that you do not know what you don't know. Stop talking.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Who says they're going by laws? They limit driving and combinations of work and driving to 70 hours. As pointed out earlier, they don't cont sitting at docks as 'hours of work'. And after logging 70 hours they not supposed to drive, but they can indeed keep working. DOT doesn't regulate their hours of work at all..

You do not even know what you don't know.

Those are the maximum driving time. But when you take into account that many/most drivers are getting paid only by the mile the 5 hours they sit at the dock waiting to be loaded is not included in that.

Depends on the company. The good ones DO pay wait time.

No, truck drivers can't drive more than 70 hours in an 8 day rolling average. If a driver is not driving, they are resting.

Horse shit.

The federal overtime exemption allows the trucking company to not have to pay time and a half to their hourly drivers. For example, I drove otr for a short stint, when I came off the road, they let me run a local in town route for awhile. While I was doing that, all hours were paid as straight time rate, there was no overtime.

It's wrong in my opinion. If you are an hourly employee, you should get overtime pay.

Most hourly-paid drivers do. Many local drivers that don't are not paid hourly.

You better read the regulations...you're wrong

That's our Dud! Always certain, always wrong, and never understands why people point and laugh at him.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Yes, nothing prevents a driver from working after 70 hours, and yes they can't drive after 70...but really, most drivers rarely hit their 70 hours in an 8 day week. It's why drivers can drive, pretty much, every day, without taking any time off. It's why they call it a rolling 8 day week, you get hours back each day.

However, when sitting at a dock, I think you can be off duty, as long as you have no part in loading or supervising the loading of the truck.

Spot on. I have seen many OTR drivers getting loaded where I work sitting in the truck or taking a nap.

Though if not the end of the day, it DOES count toward the 14 hour limit.

Right, because when you are waiting..you're not working. You're usually sleeping.

Depends on the driver and the company.

People can lie to themselves all they want to make themselves feel better, but if you're sleeping and living out of the truck you're on the job, period.

Whatever you say, kid. Now sit down, the adults are talking.

I do know the rules....I gave you the rules...Hell, I even admitted that you had it partially right, in that, a Driver can work longer than his 11/14, but, that any work done must be logged as on duty, not driving, which subtracts hours from his 70 hrs for the week....So, yours and Moonbats claim that drivers can work as much as they want is just simply not true...

Also, much of what you are saying in here is just plain ignorant of the job....You don't have a clue...

Dud is not ignorant. Ignorance can be corrected. Dud is STUPID.

I was never tempted to or desperate enough to do OTR; that's the bottom of the barrel and a sweatshop job for carnies and ex-cons. And, the same rules apply anyway, dumbass.

This might be the stupidest thing ever posted on the internet.

People who can't get hired at McDonald's or to clean sewers go to truck driving school and get CDLs and do OTR.

Actually, this might be the stupidest thing ever posted on the internet.

I seriously doubt that. Major carriers are always looking for local drivers where you make around $28.00 an hour plus OT and benefits. It would make no sense to work OTR for 30K a year when you can drive locally and be home every night making around 60K a year or better with no expenses at all outside of food and drink.

Years ago a former co-worker of mine finally accepted a job at Fed-Ex. They were bugging him for months to join up. Last I heard (and this was years ago) he was pulling triples from Cleveland to Dayton and back doing 60 hours a week or so. The only thing he had to do outside of driving is load and unload the three trailers before he took off which is something OTR drivers don't have to worry about too much.

First, important observation: most FedEx line haul is contracted out. Next FedEx tractor you see, look closely: it will probably have the name of a different carrier on it.

But yes, FedEx contractors usually pay pretty well. I talked to one this past week...he makes $90K/year. (Though he lives in pricey Albany.) It's no-touch freight, 100% drop & hook, usually pulling doubles. (When I saw him, he had double 48s.)

 

[Jarlaxle]

I include travel time. My son is a truck driver who lives three miles from Bentonville, Arkansas and we both know how WalMart never delivers on their promises when employed with them. I have worked for WalMart in Bentonville at warehouse number four when Sam was alive and he lied to us to get us to work for him, I walked out and would never work for them again. So your analogy is as usual wrong.

You are so full of shit it is bubbling out your ears.

My problem are the foreigners. For whatever reason, they are out there with zero experience driving such vehicles. Granted it's been a very long time since I took the test, but I know what my former coworkers went through when my employer advanced them from a straight truck to a T/T. I also know from watching them try to back in a trailer there is no possible way they took our test to get a license.

I passed my road test without doing an alley dock or exceeding 30mph. (Tractor had a Fuller 10, never got past 7th gear.)

 

[Mr Natural]

Probably will have to work 110 hours a week to earn it.

You can be sure they’ll be looking to extract their pound of flesh.

 

[Turtlesoup]

All college grads? Man those doctors are getting ripped off....

Doctors spend what 8 years in school plus internships with how much debt?

 

[XponentialChaos]

Seems like a difficult job to get people to sign up for.

I sure as hell wouldn’t want to sit on my ass for 60+ hours a week, doing something completely monotonous, and not getting to see my family. I can see why they need to pay so much for someone willing to deal with that.

Unfortunately for them, it’s just a matter of time before self-driving cars eliminate this job profession.

 

[XponentialChaos]

Looks like it might happen sooner than I expected.

Walmart is using fully driverless trucks to ramp up its online grocery business

"Taking the driver out is the holy grail of this technology," Gatik CEO Gautam Narang, who founded the autonomous trucking company in 2017, told CNBC.

www.cnbc.com

“Taking the driver out is the holy grail of this technology.” Gatik CEO Gautam Narang, who founded the company in 2017, told CNBC.

When that happens, good luck finding another high-paying job for sitting on your ass.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

Looks like it might happen sooner than I expected.

Walmart is using fully driverless trucks to ramp up its online grocery business

"Taking the driver out is the holy grail of this technology," Gatik CEO Gautam Narang, who founded the autonomous trucking company in 2017, told CNBC.

www.cnbc.com

“Taking the driver out is the holy grail of this technology.” Gatik CEO Gautam Narang, who founded the company in 2017, told CNBC.

When that happens, good luck finding another high-paying job for sitting on your ass.

Yeah? Then try it sometime if that's all you think it is.

 

[XponentialChaos]

Yeah? Then try it sometime if that's all you think it is.

I just said that I wouldn’t want to do it.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

I just said that I wouldn’t want to do it.

A lot of people don't or can't. That's why we are currently short 60,000 drivers in this country and it's only going to get worse from here.

Oh, I can teach you how to drive a T/T, but I can't teach you how to be good at it. That's a talent you either have or you don't. If you can get good at it you'd have a very promising career where you are always in demand. If you're not good at it, you could end up in prison for 20 years after wiping out a family in a minivan because you Fd up, or even end up killing yourself.

Driving is in the top 10 deadliest careers in this country, even more deadly than a police officer or fireman.

 

[MizMolly]

Reason #26 why I support the Mike Rowe Foundation.

“For context, Walmart drivers make more than the average college graduate with a four-year degree. College graduates start out with an average salary of $55,260. Walmart truckers make double that, without the debt and wasted hours in the classroom with a nutty professor. Society sells college as a must. It’s a hustle. For some students, like those who enroll in STEM programs, college is ideal. Then there are the others who spend $100,000 in tuition for some useless degree and make far less than truckers, plumbers and welders do.”

Walmart To Pay Truckers $110,000 A Year, More Than Double Average

Walmart is raising the starting salary for in-house truck drivers to as much as $110,000 a year and no lower than $95,000, up from an average starting salary of $87,000.Walmart pla

www.outkick.com

It takes skill to drive truck

 

[DudleySmith]

Spot on. I have seen many OTR drivers getting loaded where I work sitting in the truck or taking a nap.

Though if not the end of the day, it DOES count toward the 14 hour limit.



Depends on the driver and the company.



Whatever you say, kid. Now sit down, the adults are talking.



Dud is not ignorant. Ignorance can be corrected. Dud is STUPID.



This might be the stupidest thing ever posted on the internet.



Actually, this might be the stupidest thing ever posted on the internet.



First, important observation: most FedEx line haul is contracted out. Next FedEx tractor you see, look closely: it will probably have the name of a different carrier on it.

But yes, FedEx contractors usually pay pretty well. I talked to one this past week...he makes $90K/year. (Though he lives in pricey Albany.) It's no-touch freight, 100% drop & hook, usually pulling doubles. (When I saw him, he had double 48s.)

^lol another triggered moron bloviates.

 

[DudleySmith]

A lot of people don't or can't. That's why we are currently short 60,000 drivers in this country and it's only going to get worse from here.

Oh, I can teach you how to drive a T/T, but I can't teach you how to be good at it. That's a talent you either have or you don't. If you can get good at it you'd have a very promising career where you are always in demand. If you're not good at it, you could end up in prison for 20 years after wiping out a family in a minivan because you Fd up, or even end up killing yourself.

Driving is in the top 10 deadliest careers in this country, even more deadly than a police officer or fireman.

Cheap sweatshop labor is always in demand.

 

[XponentialChaos]

A lot of people don't or can't. That's why we are currently short 60,000 drivers in this country and it's only going to get worse from here.

Until they replace them with self-driving vehicles.

 

[Jarlaxle]

^lol another triggered moron bloviates.

Boy, if I wanted shit from you, I'd squeeze your head.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

Until they replace them with self-driving vehicles.

Never happen in our lifetime. We can't even get self-driving cars to work properly. The autonomous trucks on the road today can only go straight, AND, you need a licensed driver on board in case something goes wrong, for safety inspections, to drive in the city which self-driving trucks are generations from doing, to back up,drop and pickup trailers.

First we would need to make autonomous cars 100% reliable, and do that for several years. Then it would wipe out the taxi and Uber industries. After all that we would need to do the same for trucks, then create a plan to mitigate the problems only a human driver can take care of today. Too many calculations need to take place to drive in the city, or get to a place that's on a residential side street. Currently they have no infallible truck GPS. Trust me, my last company used them.

So we are a long way off from the Jetson's. It will happen one day, but very far down the road.