My husband owns his own truck but leases out to a company in Cleveland, Ohio. Therefore, he is considered an independent contractor. He is paid 1.35 for loaded miles & .97 bobtail (no trailer attached). He is responsible for his own fuel, repairs, maintenance and plates. His plates run about $1600 a year because he is licensed in every state but Alaska & Hawaii. The companies that hire independents negotiates with the customer and have a set rate that they will charge. The trucker doesn't have the advantage of charging for anything. All they can do is accept or refuse a load. Last year hubby ran 263 days & his fuel cost was $ 70,000. Add that to any major repairs, which was about $ 36,000...most of this was to rebuild his engine & transmission...and you don't come out to far ahead. Yea, your 1099 might read $ 185,000 but by the time you add all your deductions up you may have an adjusted gross income of $ 23,000. I know, I'm his bookkeeper!!! Divide that by his 263 days on the road & he is driving for $ 87 a day. Everyone thinks they have it easy, all they do is drive all day. How would we like to maneuver a truck through downtown Chicago with a 53' trailer behind us? One thing to remember, is when those wheels stop running so does the money. Being a truckers wife & bookkeeper for 18+ years has been quite a ride to say the least. You have NO benefits given to you by the company you sign on with, whatever you have you pay for all by yourself. Sorry if I've bored you with statistics but that's what trucking is all about. And believe it or not our country depends on truckers for everything. If the trucking industry shuts down, so does our country. Are there any other truckers/trucking families out there feeling the "pinch" on their wallets?? If so sound off to this blog. Regarding the truckers that went to D.C. recently...I ran into a trucker & his wife at the grocery store the other week & he asked if my husband was going to shut down his truck & head to D.C. too. I told him that being an independent contractor we couldn't afford to shut down because bills had to be paid. His comment to that was just let the bills go & maybe this country would get the real story of who & what truckers are all about. To me that is not a very responsible approach, why lose everything you have worked for all your life just to prove a point!!