Truck drivers are not only operating trucks but also pulling trailers and trailers of truck drivers’ choice. Truck driving is a very vast field. As a truck driver you can haul produce, auto-parts, livestock and almost anything that you see around you. This is what makes trucking so interesting.

As old trucking joke goes, “everything is delivered by trucks other than babies.”

When entering the trucking world, many drivers go through many different experiments before they get to the filed they like to haul in. For example, some drivers start with dump trucks and end up with hauling liquid and some go other way around.

All trades within trucking pay differently. As a truck driver, it’s the matter of finding; what haul you enjoy and at the same time, what pays well.

Mainly there are three types of pay packages in trucking; hourly pay, pay by miles, load percentage.

Many local distribution companies with their own trucks and trailer hire people on hourly rates. For example companies that deliver food to restaurants, they have an hourly rate. This type of job would guaranty you home everyday but in this type of work companies expect you to do psychical work for the most part. For example, in this type of work drivers make deliveries or in other words offload trucks.

Pay by the mile has two sides because some drivers have their own truck — drivers that have their own trucks are called owner/operators. Owner/operators’ pay rate by the mile is much higher than a company driver’s rate because they own the truck and they are responsible for all the maintenance and other expenses on the truck. On the other hand, company drivers’ mileage pay is lower but he/she doesn’t pay anything for the maintenance of the truck. It’s company’s responsibility to maintain the truck and equipment.

The last method of payment is as easy as it looks; the company you chose to work for gets a load for let’s suppose $100 and they make a deal with you that they will pay you $80 out of $100. The company will keep $20 for their services for example finding the load and making arrangement for pickup and delivery. With this particular method the drivers have to own a truck. So, basically you have to be an owner/operator.

All of the payment methods pay well in trucking, it is just the matter of kind of haul you do and what method is easy for you deal with.