these are the five highest top paying
jobs in trucking this episode is brought
to you by GP transcon while we're
talking about high paying jobs check
these guys out there in the Chicago area
they do a little bit everything these
guys will make you some serious money I
guarantee it
so I have a look at GP Transco one of
the best highest paying trucking jobs is
with private fleets and private fleets
are great these days because they're not
worried about the cost of fuel
particularly ER the cost of equipment
they're there making that all back in
the products that they manufacture and
sell the people they're more concerned
with service they've got a customer base
they want to keep that customer supplied
with their product so they have nice
equipment and they want good guys
running good guys that are going to be
there when they say they're going to be
there they so they pay their guys well
usually places like this have a pension
plan built into the package they have
stock options built into the package
these private fleets are definitely
worth we're looking at and look at look
at some of the big ones okay
look at Walmart for instance the Walmart
fleet they're huge and those guys are
dragging in better than 80 grand a year
just for delivering to Walmart stores
they treat their guys good
it's nice equipment how much how much
better could get private fleets look it
up Pepsi or coca-cola
those are both private fleets nice
equipment but they're working for a
manufacturer they're not working for a
trucking company that's hauling somebody
else's Freight
they're hauling their own Freight so
they want to take the time to do it
right they'll spend the money to do it
right and they'll pay you to do it right
private fleets great thing to get on to
a chemical tanker now it's a wee bit
risky but they pay for every minute of
your time and it's not risky if you're
taking your time and being careful it's
a job for a professional not a look
that's for sure but you know if you if
you own your own truck for instance
you're hauling chemical tanker you also
get the benefits of better fuel mileage
because the tanks are small they're
skinny they're short it's not like
dragging a big
wagon through the wind they're smaller
and easier to maneuver and they pay you
for washes they pay you for loading they
pay you unloaded Mickey all your time a
lot of those guys have a pension package
built-in so chemical tankers I it used
to be that all all tankers paid a little
bit better these days
guys tankers not so much and food
tankers they're doing ok a little better
with the chemical tankers where the
money is not a lot of guys want to do
that now you're not handling this stuff
as a driver you're just backing in and
letting them handle it but you don't
want to roll the thing over on the
freeway and you don't want to have a
crash and there's liability involved so
you've got to be good you've got to be
careful but for that they pay you better
money and you'll make better money just
if you're in the truck as well as I said
with fuel mileage
these guys are self insured so your
insurance won't be as high so all sorts
of perks to Chemical kangkang oversized
loads these guys definitely are a niche
market and it definitely pays better now
personally that's the one thing I never
have tried is oversized I came across a
couple guys in oversize situations and I
looked at the messes they've gotten
themselves into and I decided that was
never for me I didn't have the nerve to
get stuck under a bridge and then sit
patiently while everybody figured out
how to get me out just wasn't for me but
and now that was that was years ago now
as I understand it these days oversize
loads are all charted out by the company
that they tell you specific routes there
are police escorts their ground escorts
the science is really approved on
oversize and the money's pretty darn
good and something else nice about
oversize is you're not on a race
schedule for the dispatcher you're going
to get there when you get there you
won't be running the thing in bad
weather just to make up time because
they just want you to get there and get
there in one piece generally the stuff
you're hauling is very heavy and very
expensive and they don't want to screw
ups so they want good calm guys that are
relaxed and have the skill to get these
wide loads through these narrow streets
or under these bridges or whatever they
got to do and they pay their guys well
for that and they
don't overwork them now another really
good way to make money and it always
worked for me was to be an
owner/operator but this is it's a risky
deal it's always been a risky deal it'll
continue to be you've got to be so
careful on who you contract with you've
got to know the contract inside and out
you've got to research the carrier
you've got it ask around find out who's
good who's me and who's bad but there
are still good deals out there for owner
operators now I'm not talking lease
operators I'm talking guys that own
their trucks enter paying for their
trucks through a bank not through the
carrier because the carrier's always got
an angle but if you own the truck and
you find a good carrier to work for
there's money to be made if you track
your miles they pay you by the mile if
they take percentage or you pay
percentage keep track of everything but
there are some good outfits out there
still for owner operators they're
becoming fewer and farther between
anymore but the right guy with the right
truck with the right carrier can still
make money as an owner operator but if
you bank it if you're careful if you
halt for the right carrier there is
still money serious money good money and
being an owner operator for the right
carrier and these jobs are getting fewer
and farther between these these jobs
used to be the way to go honestly we're
Union jobs because the Union took good
care of you the Union made sure that you
were making money because they didn't
want you to leave because the Union also
wanted to make a chunk out of what you
were making
so they ensured that you were making
money so they could make money and and
the guy paying was the carrier now you
know the Teamsters aren't what they used
to be I was I was a teamster for a
little while I found the system a little
bit awkward to work with particularly
when it came to seniority and some of
their rules like that because when
they've got slow everything's based on
seniority
so they'll suggest you you move to
another location to a different yard
because this yard so slower they'll sit
you at home because they're just not
that busy
the senior guys the top guys just keep
taking the loads of
taking the load zone you're sitting
there waiting and waiting and waiting
and and for the brief period of time
that I was a union guy I would sit until
the weather got really bad and then the
senior guys decided they didn't want to
work in the snow storms and the
blizzards and that was when they would
call me and I would go so there's some
tough parts to it but if you can stick
it out and it's not like that everywhere
with all unions they we used to laugh at
ups for instance but you know what ups
is a desired job anymore
forget about the shorts and the goofy
uniforms if you're dragging down 100
grand you're working for UPS why not
because that's what it's all about the
money at the end no one's gonna remember
20 years from now about your funny
outfit again Pepsi and coca-cola both
unionize the work may be a little boring
you may have to put up with some crap
but if you can put up with the crap
stick it out and stay for the long run
stay for the duration you've got a
pension you've got stock options you've
got benefits I've got all sorts of
pluses there's all sorts of benefits
you've got to think you know I can't
stand this another day you've got to
think you know what in 30 years
I'll be glad else I stuck this out I
know what I haven't know a guy that
drove for Pepsi for over thirty years
he's got a cottage on the lake he's got
a ski boat he's got a Corvette he's got
a high-dollar pickup truck he's got all
this stuff and just because he was calm
enough and smart enough to say yeah it
works a little boring but you know what
I can see the payday at the end of the
rainbow he stuck it out man he's in the
dome now retired and over 50 you're just
over 50 years old retired got all the
toys not lacking for anything
there's some serious benefits in being a
union driver now I was always one that
no matter how far I went I wanted to
progress I always wanted to make more
money
I knew the cost of living just kept
going up and up and up and up I wanted
to be the best I could be and part of
that deal was working for better
carriers and making more money and that
was a constant progression for me that
was what it was all about for me I like
the nice rides but for the
time I was putting in and there was a
lot of time I wanted to be making the
big bucks that was that was my goal
always make more money make more money
make more money so to do that you have
to get away from general freight and
mega carriers you can't do that stuff
because those guys are all about paying
themselves and paying you the least they
can possibly pay you they want the money
in their pocket not yours I wanted the
money in my pocket that's what I was all
about you've got to concentrate on on
specialized stuff these days niche
markets stuff where the costs and the
wages are going to increase with the
cost of living so you're always
constantly making more money remember
there is no pension hardly ever any more
in trucking unless you get one of these
specialized jobs and can either get a
pension provided by the company we're
building off into your own bank account
that you're building your own pension
because you know what the years go by
fast which is a good thing that's one of
the best things about trucking is how
quickly the years fly by but you'll be
surprised how quickly they fly by and at
the end of the day you want to have a
good chunk of dough in the bank to live
off because you know what'll work -
you're 90 years old you gotta take some
time you're yourself you've got to be
able to slow down you want to ease into
retirement
still take the occasional drive but
you've got to have the money in the bank
to do it these jobs generally aren't for
new guys they take a few years
experience you've got to have a clean
resume you've got to have a good record
you've got to have good recommendations
from carriers that you've worked for
before because these guys are looking
for the best of the best they're paying
top dollar they know they're paying top
dollar and they want the best drivers
they can possibly get and these are jobs
that generally don't have a lot of
turnover these guys if there's a spot
it's because somebody's retired out of
it it's not that they've gotten
frustrated and quit cuz the money was
too good they just stayed with it as
long as they could and retired and
that's why there's an opening so you may
not get a job the first time you you
applied at one of these deals but you
know what you've got to be persistent
because guys retire there come openings
there there changes you've got to stick
with the program
don't get discouraged keep in touch with
these people that you want to work for
that you've researched that you've
sought out you know they're paying well
and you want to get on there
keep at it be persistent have face to
face with the hiring guy the recruiter
just keep you always on their mind with
these high-paying jobs you've got to
realize that sometimes the niche doesn't
last and you've got to be prepared to
move and you've got to keep your eye on
the temperature and watch the
thermometer to see if things are
starting to slide because if they do you
got to be ready to move look at the the
Alberta oil fields up we're up in Canada
here where I live at one time that was
big money that was great money then the
politics got involved and slowly slowly
slowly those good jobs have disappeared
so and I'm there were guys here from
town that ran at Alberta to work in the
oil fields they made great money while
while it lasted you got to make hay
while the Sun shines but these days
they're all around here looking for work
because the oil fields of collapse
because of the politics involved up here
so you've got to be prepared always to
keep your eye on the weathervane to see
what's going on with your trucking job
and the climate around it so you can
jump if you need to and not get sucked
down in the vortex when the whole thing
collapses and that does happen once in a
while if the mandate of the eld is these
days you're restricted to the number of
hours that you can work it's already law
in the US it's going to be law up here
shortly in Canada so if they're telling
you you're restricted by hours you've
got to make the most money you can in
that time period it's not like the old
days when you could just work until you
dropped grab four hours of sleep and
dive in again these days it's highly
regulated so it's very important to be
at the top of your game get the most
bang for your buck because you've only
got so many hours with which to do it in
while we're on the subject of
high-dollar nice trucking car hauling
specialized car hauling used to be one
of those niches these days of course
everyone's had a kick at the cat and the
money's gone down the toilet but at one
time hauling cars was a big deal and it
paid really well now I remember the
early days when I remember passport
transport I believe they were out of
Florida they were the first ones I ever
noticed that that had gone into this
high-dollar car hauling niche market and
they were they were making big dough
they had fancy trucks and I remember I
remember seeing an article in overdrive
magazine about Passport I took it to the
guy I was hauling four at the time and
he was always interested in new angles
on making money I said hey look at this
look what these guys are doing
look at these car trailers they double
stacked cars the cars Japan you know
five ten grand apiece this guy is making
money these guys are making money so
this fella I was working for one yeah we
should try that and he fancied himself
to be a bit of an inventor so he built a
couple of car trailers but you know in
the early days when you're experimenting
you run into some speed bumps so the
biggest speed bumps that this fella ran
into and it was awful was there are two
decks in the car trailer it's the
enclosed car trailers so the first deck
would rise up and lock in and they'd
load another set of cars underneath it
but the the upper deck was supported by
uprights with holes and pins in the
decks but the first couple of trailers
he built he wanted to keep the trailers
light so they were fibreglass walls but
he didn't build the upright structure
independently of the walls
he built the uprights so they were
fastened to the fiberglass walls or FRP
walls or whatever that they called it
back then
cheap fibreglass walls and as the truck
rolled down the road the walls would
flex and buckle and Bend and weave so
what was happening was every once in a
while the walls would weave enough and
Bend enough that the pins holding the
upper deck would pop out on the top row
cars would come down on the bottom roll
cars and I remember strolling into the
office one day and I said where's the
boss how's it going he says I'll always
in my he's in the can throwing up he's
really he's really upset what had
happened was that the top rows of cars
BMWs had come down on the bottom rows of
cars so he had an entire roll of bottom
BMWs there were about maybe two and a
half feet high didn't exactly worked out
the way he planned he knew he had some
modifications to make on the trailer it
wasn't funny at the time he was blowing
Chow in the can because he knew what
this was gonna cost him now there are
other highly specialized niches that pay
really good money check the link below
go to our website have a look at that
article because it lists more of them
and it's it's excellent but that's the
way to make money in trucking these days
if you know if you just you're single
and enjoy the ride stick with the
general Freight it works for some guys
but me I always wanted the fancier rides
and the better money so that's how you
do try keep the rubber side down take
care and I'll see on the back off
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