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Truck Driver Salaries: Owner Operator Trucking Jobs - Career News | PayScale

"You know the difference between a fairy tale and a trucker tale? A fairy tale starts with: 'once upon a time...' and a trucker tale starts with: 'You're never going to believe this sh*t'...". - Don Floyd

Name: Don Floyd
Job Title: Long Distance Truck Driver/ Owner Operator Trucking

Truck Driver Salaries: Owner Operator Trucking Jobs




How much are average truck driver salaries?

Long distance truck driver salaries start at about $15.00 per hour, while experienced truck driver salaries can be upwards of $21.00 per hour (this salary chart has national median salaries). But most long-haul truck drivers don't get paid by the hour, they get paid by the mile. There are a couple types of truck driver employment options. You can be a company driver or there are also owner operator trucking jobs. Then there are even more options from there. With owner operator trucking jobs you can have a net-lease contract, where the company you're driving for pays for all of your gas and oil and licensing and everything else associated with driving a truck thousands of miles... and then they pay you about $0.60 per mile. The net-lease contract is particularly nice because you no longer have to worry about the truckers cost per mile calculation, because they're all paid by your employer.

How Many Hours Do Owner Operator Trucking Jobs require?


The hours of a long distance truck driver are actually federally regulated. A truck driver can't work more than 18 hours in a day, 10 hours of which can be driving. If you figure on averaging 65 miles per hour, you would be driving 650 miles every day. But, that's if you were driving in your dreams. In the waking world, traffic exists.  Lots of it. Traffic is the bane of a truck driver's existence; so when you ask a trucker what their favorite state is, don't be surprised when they say Texas. It's big and its roads are empty.


Doing either job requires a trucker to drink lots of coffee. A truck stop can go through 7 to 10 gallons of coffee in an 8 hour shift. If it's in the morning, it can be even more.

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By Adam Phillabaum for PayScale Salary Stories

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  1. 1 e bean 29 May



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