From what I understand what they pay drivers is utter crap money, 50 cents a mile which means just to make $500 you have to drive 1000 miles and that’s $500 before taxes. This explains why they drive fast as hell on the highways. Maybe if they paid a little better, they would have less accidents and wouldn’t have to lay out millions for self driving Frankenstein trucks
The pay is a more than that, but it’s also regional. Drivers in one area of the country can make more or less than others doing the same jobs.
One thing that is effecting the industry is the refugees, asylum seekers, immigrants that are able to get a CDL. They can undercut everyone. They live in a hovel with their entire family and don’t have the same amount of overhead(truck payment, mortgage, etc) that the regular guy has, so they can do trips for much less.
Of course, the brokers aren’t getting paid less, they’re just sharing less.
Interesting thing to think about is, self driving Tesla’s crash. Seems like it’s more common, maybe, maybe not. But a semi-autonomous Tesla sedan getting into an accident is a tad bit different than an 80,000lb tractor trailer going 55mph.
A long haul trucker averages 125k miles per year. At 50 cents per mile, that’s $61.5k per year gross. Higher than average police officer salary in most states. About the same as an elementary school teacher who requires a 4 year degree in most circumstances.
IF NO DRIVER——WHO IS THE VEHICLE INSURANCE COVERING????