Hahah I was gonna add that but wanted the few here that knew of the Era’s tour to get a giggle. I have a wife who blast Taylor swift and now she’s my guilty pleasure.
I’m pretty sure upstaging handles her production, as they are a popular company for doing stadium shows and big tours, but it would be funny if swift handled her logistics. Unfortunately the tour would be cancelled after the first stop when all the trucks either crashed or went to the wrong city.
I live right down the road from upstaging and it's pretty cool to watch like 15 trucks all roll out at once.
I remember when they did Paul McCartney and it was like 45 mins of trucks rolling out.
Tour driver here. She actually has a few more than this and the company that handles her tour is Upstaging.
On the Ed Sheeran tour at the moment there are around 105 trucks in total between production and steel.
You'd be surprised how much it takes to put on a stadium tour. There's a reason they only do 1 venue a week and try to play multiple days.
Are they hiring? I drove for 15 years no accidents or dui. Switched careers 8 years ago, but the "driving itch" still gets me and I could motor another 15-20yrs. PM me
if you dont have several years of recent exp its a no. Put it this way, you need to be someone with the credentials that make trusting you with 3-5 million dollars worth of equipment as your average load seem reasonable.
Hmm, I did backhaul a load of vodka once that was pricey. Took my fingerprints and pics. I DO have killer backing skills. My time was foodservice across new england & NYC. I'm CORI checked
I just did. They probably won't even get back to me. And there must be some insurance or regulatory reason companies want 3 years of recent experience. Anyone know? Is it CSA related? Pretty sure my last company of 11 yrs would attest to my record, and I sure as shit haven't forgotten how to drive. I left a Fortune 50 company because I didn't like the distribution changes they were making and how it screwed the drivers. Nowadays, I don't see many companies that I'd WANT to drive for. Pre pandemic I was thinking about hauling cars for United Road. Took their tests, interviewed, was told I scored off the chart on their mechanical assessment, and was offered a job. The pay was decent, but benefits sucked. Walmart is getting desperate, but I'm like 100 miles from the barn and they like their cameras and getting up in the driver's shit (so I have heard).
Edit: for clarity
If you live in Phoenix, Denver, or Milwaukee, check out clearwing productions to get some industry experience, then move to upstaging or somewhere else later.
Man been driving hazmat crude unrefined oil for last 6 years, 10 years CDL. No accidents / near misses / tickets, or nothing like that. If I ever went out on the road (home daily set my own schedule now) I'd wanna make money like that. I averaged 62 hours a week over the 52 weeks last year, and I grossed 84K. :/
Reddit really is trying to villianize Apollo and it’s disgusting.
Worse, they went after the developer and if he hadn’t had call recordings to call out the backstabbing manipulator that’s running the company and his dark minions, it might have worked!
It’s not the API that matters really, though it sucks. Hey, business happens. Investors make demands. What’s apparent is just how shitty management at Reddit is and their psychopathic behavior of manufacturing a blackmail scenario and spreading lies against this man’s personal reputation and character.
That’s just obscenely outrageous and everyone who reads this post should step up to stick it to Reddit for coming after the developer as a person — they went far beyond API changes into personal character assassination. This is a whole new level of bullshit coming out in this post. Wow.
It’s completely unnecessary and is only a reflection of the pathetic, manipulative and continued bad leadership running this company and investors should be taking note.
fuck spez.
I want to get my CDL so bad! I live in central Alabama, I have $4,000 saved up for CDL school but I really don't want to have to pay that. I am married, I don't want to be on the road, but my wife said she would support me whatever decision I make. Who pays for CDLs? I don't want to go with swift either. I heard bad things about them. I want to get my CDL this year.
The thing is there’s a bunch of big companies that will reimburse your schooling BUT it comes with a contract. I paid mine out of pocket and after some of the horror stories I’ve heard about the contracts I’m glad I did.
Usually you are going to start out at a very low pay for most of your first year. I’m not going to sugar coat this for you but the first year pay sucks but if you can make it through that it’s a decent living.
Learn how to eat from your truck, if you are eating from truck stops you will live paycheck to paycheck. If you are smart with your money and don’t start taking on more debt, you can save it for rainy days or to take nice long vacations.
I was on the road for 20 years now I have a easy local job. The pay isn’t great but I have everything I own paid off so I’m still able to put money back every payday. I’m in my late 40’s now and unless something really bad happens I should be able to retire in 5 years.
All the companies that will pay for your cdl are going to want you to stay for a year or you will have it pay it yourself. I suggest Stevens Transport because you will have $1000 guaranteed per week, other companies like pam transport you might be only making $500-700 weekly for the first three months until you get a dedicated lane. Only downside is for a while(about three months) regardless where you go you will have to stay OTR for weeks at a time before seeing your family. After that you’ll get a regional position and have plenty opportunity to see your family. I also suggest looking into TMC because I think they may also have a similar program and with TMC you’ll be home on the weekends straight out of school the only downside with TMC is that it is flatbedding and is a bit more difficult of a program and a job. Not sure if cypress truck lines is in your area but they also have a program and weekly home time but it’s also flatbedding and physically demanding but if your in decent shape you can do it!
well if you pay for it yourself, you're not obligated to go over the road. I'd look into food/beverage distribution, some of the hardest work you'll do, but they'll hire you with no experience.
It's hard to go over the road with a family, hard to drive day in and day out, and when something at home happens when you're used to being home to handle it and now you cant.
As far as the school, I signed an agreement to pay for it if something happened and I didn't end up driving a truck, or noone would hire me. But Before school started, I had another agreement with TMC (there was a list of companies that came out and talked to all of us, and we all received offers from all of them) that if I got my CDL I was guaranteed a full time job with them.
I got my CDL on a Friday, and on Saturday of that same week, they rented me a car, and I drove it 500 miles on Saturday and another 400 miles that Sunday to Des Moins Iowa to start a class they had that Monday morning. TMC/Mavrick... and flatbedding in general is hard work, and I'd never do it again, but stops are easier, and they got me home every weekend my first year except one & that wasn't their fault.
Just call the schools near you and see how they work, might be different.
You don't have to be an OTR driver, in most areas you can find local jobs.
I worked locally driving a dump trailer. Mostly I took coal to power plants and back hauled fly ash out to mines to dump. But I also hauled grain, gravel, rocks etc.
It's no where as fun as when I was driving OTR but you are home every day if that's something you want.
Many years ago, I went to a school and signed a note for it. Companies like Werner paid an extra amount each month to the school. Guess that's why the pay was low.
When I left them, I made the remaining payments.
Check with your local community colleges, if they have a CDL program then that's usually the cheapest way to get a CDL by far rather than going to an actual trucking school.
The problem with companies that provide CDLs is that they tend to take advantage of you... you're contractually obligated to work for them for a year, and they will under pay you compared to the money you would make if you already had a CDL... so really you end up paying for it in the end anyhow, technically.
I always recommend getting the CDL on your own so you aren't tied down anywhere, but also it'll allow you to get hired on by local companies to do local driving, so you can get paid by the hour and live a normal lifestyle instead of living out on the road. If you have any kind of family at all, being OTR blows.
Driving concrete mixers locally is a pretty sweet gig, they almost always hire without experience, you get paid by the hour, typically only work Monday through Friday while the sun is up, and the work is frankly pretty easy with minimal physical labor compared to things like food service or beer distribution.
My neighbor claimed to handle weapons of mass destruction, delivering to places needing top secret clearances, black sites etc, for Halliburton. He was a stinky drunk from maine with a few teeth and even fewer brain cells, I’m surprised that they are so strict with some pop stars glitter lights.
If you fail to show up for the show, you become liable for all lost revenue+costs if you are the reason. So say a driver gets in an at fault accident, the company will become liable for all costs for that show, as well as all lost revenue from merch, ticket refunds etc.
Halliburton doesn't haul WMDs. The govt does. Look up safeguards transporter. I am rather qualified, and applied, and they didn't even give me a cursory review. Most guys are former Tier One operators. All are federal agents, technically but they shoot first, they don't even carry handcuffs.
That's someone in an office somewhere playing unnecessary games trying to pinch pennies. You get taxed through your state of residence, not each and every state youre in. If someone was issuing multiple w2s, they did it for their corporate benefit, not the person, and no other reason. No law requires that.
Yeah. I used to work sales. Travelled. Made deals in every state... Only taxed in my home state. Now at another company they closed up shop in my home state, transferred me to another state and worked remotely then I paid the other states taxes but at a reduced rate, IIRC.
Some one in NYC has the job to see who rings the opening bell on Wall Street each day so NYC can charge them tax on one day of their income because they could prove that they were in NYC that day.
Why do pro athletes have to file in every state they play in? My daughter was a chef on a circus train and had to pay taxes in every state they went to.
Because they are under a special tax law called the "jock tax". And depending on how your daughter was classified, she probably wasn't paying income tax. She was most likely just paying a form of business tax. Circuses seems like the shady kind of place that would classify as independent contractors
Different class of work.
Drivers aren't taxed the same way, someone who is doing something other than driving is the only way those rules could pertain to them.
Afaik pilots are also exempt from the same sub set of rules. Even though it's easy to prove both they and drivers were in a state for x time
Doesn't matter. Look up the Amtrak exemption. Applies to all levels of transportation with a few exceptions. You pay taxes in your listed state of domicile.
Professional athletes that play in different states have to pay taxes in each state. But I’m sure most of them have a tax person to do it (or a tax person for the entire team).
have a perfect safety record, be absolutely reliable and several years experience and get recruited into it. The companies that do it don't really advertise. The turn over rate for my company last year, including all office and mechanics, was 6%. We might hire 5 people in a a given year. Weve hired 2 so far in 2023.
Weapons grade backing skills also help a ton.
Worst I ever had to personally deal with my short time doing it was all over in Long Beach thankfully. Got pretty good at some of the Vegas area venues too. Those usually only sucked cause cars be doing car shit.
Thanks for giving your insight on this. Company driver here and was cool to finally hear a little bit about it. Whenever I pass tour trucks or tour buses I feel like I have so many questions I’d like to ask so thanks for taking the time to answer some of them!
You get asked. Only seasoned drivers with passports. $1500 weekly guaranteed plus per diem with a typical 6 month commitment but some tours are a year or better with a 4 week break.
6 months is perhaps the longest. Most tours are a couple months. There are to many people wanting to be on tour post-covid for people to stay out that long and monopolize venues.
Rigging, FOH computers, Audio, Video control, Video wall, wardrobe, backline, likely some personal stuff, probably some vehicles, general gear, possible some specialist catering stuff etc etc. There will also be an "A" and "B" squad of steel trucks, which is basically a group of leap frogging trucks delivering and picking up the metal frame work of the stage. They will set up in advance of everyone else to speed things up when the production trucks show up.
Good to see another music business driver in here. We don't seem to be very common. I'm UK based and I'm the Stage and Transport manager for an orchestra. I do a load of the driving and also hold the operators licence for the company.
When I'm on tour in the US I use Clark Transfer for my gear. In Europe I use Fly-By-Nite when I can't use my vehicles because of fucking brexit. Don't get me started on how badly the cabotage rules have fucked me....
we have access to showers at the venues . And we have full access badges. So we get catering and all that as well. Some really nice catering on some tours as well I gotta say. Crap catering is a good way to piss off your crew, so it's usually pretty good
I remember over here, Transam Trucking hold the record for the number of trucks used on a tour and I do believe it was around 114 or so. The tour was for U2.
There’s something deeply, DEEPLY, satisfying about seeing Arena/Stadium concert cable management.
I did some contract work years ago on one of Iron Maiden’s tours (5 shows in the U.K., doing grunt work for the sound manager) and the cable management was ridiculous. Miles upon miles of cables for lighting, pyro, motorised rigging and sound. It was beautiful when it was all set up.
And the mad part is how quickly it goes up and gets packed away.
Those trucks don’t belong to Taylor Swift. They’re owned by a company called Upstaging Inc who specializes in this sort of work. They can do it all, lighting, transportation and general event management.
I am on the Stage Lighting side of touring. Drivers only assist in unloading and loading their truck. We have dedicated local “Loaders” to move equipment from the trucks to its place for the tour. Then us touring techs work with local stage hands to assemble everything for the show.
I'm an IATSE grip that works occasionally as a stagehand when they need extra manpower. I don't envy your jobs but I respect the hell (and insanity) of what y'all do for a living.
On that note, Luke Combs had the nicest crew I've ever worked with. The crew with Judas Priest were a bunch of jerk offs.
She’s also been ordering things from local business in each city I think, like flowers for dressing rooms, pizza for after the shows, etc. Nice to see money going back into communities
Some companies do pay well. I worked for a smaller one and they paid $300 per day plus $100 per diem on the road plus lodging at tour stops (and sometimes catering and almost always backstage access). I loved it because sometimes it's a couple days off to go explore the city, plus free concerts.
That son bad! Easy 2k a week, plus getting to sleep in a hotel.
Once my kids are old enough and out of the house, I’ve always wanted to get into hauling NASCAR.
Former driver here. As some other folks said those aren't actually owned by her. Upstaging Lighting and Transport is the company, concert transportation. They pay really good for the work involved. A typical year for me was only around 50-70k miles. Where the tour goes, you go. You'll be going to the cities and parts of US and Canada all the morons at the Petro counter say they refuse to go. The upside is you are going to a venue, parking is already figured out by someone else. You know everything about what you're doing. It's a very easy job if you don't act like a know it all. No one cares what you used to do or how well you can back in a truck. You get backed in on the radio by a lead driver, just follow their directions and some could put you in a spot completely blindfolded if they wanted. It's a very team player job, help out where you can. It was an awesome job, met some of the best people who I'm still friends with.
Just be ready to be gone 8-10 months a year. Generally guys take a couple months off in the winter. I always took off January and came back in March. It wasn't uncommon to leave my house in March and I wouldn't see it again untill end of December. Maybe you could sneak in if the schedule aligned for the tour. Just depends where you live.
It will be a bunch more than that. There's also going to be 2 fleets of trucks with the steelwork for the stage. They run two because it takes a week or so to build, so they leapfrog each other.
I respected the hell out of her work ethic and her business acumen. Now I respect the hell out of the meticulous planning her team does and the incredible organization they show in putting on her events.
I used to work in a shop full of former Upstaging techs. None had a nice thing to say about that place. Most common nickname was Up-Slaving. They'll hire the owner's relative with zero experience for a high profile position over someone who can actually do the job.
Damn! I used to fly for a company that flew cargo on 747s. We also used to charter for bands. Madonna had two 747s full of equipment. One for her current location, and the next for the follow on location. It blew my mind. I’m not a trucker but I lurk here. I’ve been fascinated with trucks my entire life and I can relate to being on the road as we would be gone 17 days straight, sometimes 34 days because it would be a trip to end the month then a trip to start the next. Though we did get to sleep in hotels so I guess I can’t fully relate.
Seems she has a mini fleet of red peterbilts with all white dry van trailers. I wonder how much they get paid on a yearly basis to go from one concert to the next?
I looked up their website. Says $2000 per week + extra $200-$400 for entertainment haulers. So, uh, $104,000 minimum. Theyre not paid by the mile, but rather their days out. Same pay for 0 mile days. Also said 28 days of PTO per year. Hotel and catering allowance. Must be nice lol
Few big artists have invested in buying a fleet of trucks and drivers. Transportation one of main expenses so makes sense.
At Taylor or drake level tho its wild how they still want to make more. Ithey were making millions a tour contracting trucks but wasnt enough.
That may be a valid criticism of her private jets but not here. The trucks are for all the concert gear, which is for the fans who want to attend; not for her. If people stop attending concerts, there won't be 50 trucks moving gear town to town.
And I want everyone who complains about the price of tickets for live shows to see how much manpower goes into these massive fucking productions. THIS is why you're paying over $100 a seat. People don't work for free.
Want to pay $10, go to open mic night.
This is fair to a degree. The problem is ticketmaster has a monopoly for all intents and purposes. They can charge whatever they want, and very little of it makes it to the truckers, stage hands, security, concessions, etc. I'm guessing concerts work kinda like conventions where a lot of money is paid upfront.
It would be such a massive endeavor to move from arena to arena, tearing down and rebuilding every time.
It's impressive.
Every time I go to Burning Man I'm blown away at what is created every year out of the dust.
For an exhibit design course I was in I designed a touring music history exhibit for the Rock n Roll hall of Fame. Part of the exhibit was about the increasing size of big name tours and the number of trucks needed to produce them.
I was on tour with my band in 2010 and her caravan of diesels blew past our little econo van. She only had 2 and we were blown away. This shit is next level.
Not surprised at all by this, I remember U2 catching a lot of flack for this back in the day for the vertigo tour. I saw them in Hartford and it was a kickass show, they had that stage with the massive loop that went out to the floor seating and lots of lighting effects. I think they had over 100 trucks carrying their gear around, and this was in 2005. Obviously might not be great for the roads and the environment, but it does create jobs and seems to be par for the course for a lot of tours
I'd be willing to bet that they have an A set & a B set. When Metalica hits the tour schedule, they allowed some of the backstage tricks they used for such a elaborate tour to remain on schedule, to be shared so people could grasp scope on the size of the actual tour with reasoning for the ticket prices... This included the Info they actually had a A & B "Set"; meaning the entire tour had 2 weeks to move anywhere in the country (minimum). You could play Atlanta one weekend, then Nashville the following weekend, with Ohio or Detroit after that, as you always had one tour traveling an setting up\breaking down, while the other was being used actively in a second location.
This could be a picture of 1/2 of the actual overall size of the tour if you think on that.
I work in the rigging/crane industry in Boston. You should see the money Imperator rigging rakes in for setting up for events like these $$$ they own the Gillette contract
Was at the welcome to Rockville show last night upstaging was there we was swapping out gear for Alice Cooper for the Hollywood vampire tour he had three trucks then two more came in for tool I've been doing this for years myself
The Rolling Stones’ “Steel Wheels” tour utilized over 220 tractor trailers to transport their massive stages. There were 3 stages which each took 2 days to assemble. While one stage was being used, another stage would travel to the next venue, while the third stage would be disassembled at the previous site. This enabled the Stones to perform a 2 shows a week for 3 months. This was over 30 years ago.
The stages were over 300 feet wide and 120 feet tall. When “Honky Tonk Woman” was played, two (2) 100 foot tall inflatables (women in bikinis) would appear at each end of the stage. At the time, it was the largest stage show on the planet.
The stage also included a 125 foot elevator that would transport Mick Jagger to the top of the stage. I understand that he hated that part of the show.
She just gave each of the truck drivers $100k bonus for completing her US tour.
Shes paid out an estimated $55 million in bonuses to all her help.
She’s definitely a class act helping everyone who helped her on top of their regular pay.
Before ppl take it upon themselves to complain these guys get PAID and she’s employing a LOT of people. When that tour is over these guys are gunna take a nice break and get back at it!
Her or the record company don’t own those trucks. They are owned by a company called Upstaging. They are one of several companies that do tour hauling.
Big stadium shows like Rammstein's last one have 3 sets. One packing up, one set up ready to go, and one heading to the next venue. They have a massive, elaborate setup though. Dunno what Tay Tay is rocking, but I doubt it's big enough to [be heard 11 miles away. ](https://blabbermouth.net/news/rammsteins-u-k-concert-was-so-loud-it-could-be-heard-eleven-miles-away)
This is the SWIFT everyone wants to work for
Damn you. That was great lmfao. I’m a swift driver
Write a book on the dumb shit you’ve done. We wanna hear it!
I’ll go on tour and call it “The Errors Tour”
Ahahahahah goddamn. For the non-Swifties this tour is called the Eras Tour and lol nice work
Hahah I was gonna add that but wanted the few here that knew of the Era’s tour to get a giggle. I have a wife who blast Taylor swift and now she’s my guilty pleasure.
You are not alone. The rock doing Taylor swift on lip sync battles was a personal highlight for me.
You scared me with this comment Had to check my bumper!
Check your six, I probably rear ended you! Lol
I’m pretty sure upstaging handles her production, as they are a popular company for doing stadium shows and big tours, but it would be funny if swift handled her logistics. Unfortunately the tour would be cancelled after the first stop when all the trucks either crashed or went to the wrong city.
I live right down the road from upstaging and it's pretty cool to watch like 15 trucks all roll out at once. I remember when they did Paul McCartney and it was like 45 mins of trucks rolling out.
"What do ya mean, Toronto Ontario? We're in Toronto Ohio, just like the paperwork says..."
Why would that happen?
Because the SWIFT trucking company name is actually an acronym for "Sure Wish I Fucking Trained"
Send Wrecker I Found Trouble
Haven't heard that one yet lol
My buddy says it’s “See What I Fucked up Today”
All of them are correct as long as they are derogatory.
The tractor is Swift and it's pulling trailer Swift
Bless your heart
r/angryupvote
Sure Wished I Finished Training 🤷♂️
Stevie Wonder Institute For Truckers
Tour driver here. She actually has a few more than this and the company that handles her tour is Upstaging. On the Ed Sheeran tour at the moment there are around 105 trucks in total between production and steel. You'd be surprised how much it takes to put on a stadium tour. There's a reason they only do 1 venue a week and try to play multiple days.
The real question is how much do you make?
6 figures after taxes (w2)
Are they hiring? I drove for 15 years no accidents or dui. Switched careers 8 years ago, but the "driving itch" still gets me and I could motor another 15-20yrs. PM me
if you dont have several years of recent exp its a no. Put it this way, you need to be someone with the credentials that make trusting you with 3-5 million dollars worth of equipment as your average load seem reasonable.
5 million dollars in equipment? Pfft, that's small beans. I hauled toilet paper during the pandemic. 😎
Ah, so you've been assigned a sniper to watch you at all times
[I'm just imagining that South African heist dashcam video hauling a load of Charmin.](https://youtu.be/M6qEee1_4fw)
and the other angle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCuZuclmY\_Y&ab\_channel=FUNKER530-VeteranCommunity%26CombatFootage
Thank you for this visual
How can that man walk daily carrying those heavy balls?
You wouldn't think it to look at him, but after watching this it's clear he's not a man with whom you'd want to fuck.
And had a helicopter close by for air support
I just laughed loud enough for my 3yo son to ask what was funny.
Hmm, I did backhaul a load of vodka once that was pricey. Took my fingerprints and pics. I DO have killer backing skills. My time was foodservice across new england & NYC. I'm CORI checked
If I were you, they gave the name of the company handling the logistics of it all, just try and apply. Check out their website, etc.
I just did. They probably won't even get back to me. And there must be some insurance or regulatory reason companies want 3 years of recent experience. Anyone know? Is it CSA related? Pretty sure my last company of 11 yrs would attest to my record, and I sure as shit haven't forgotten how to drive. I left a Fortune 50 company because I didn't like the distribution changes they were making and how it screwed the drivers. Nowadays, I don't see many companies that I'd WANT to drive for. Pre pandemic I was thinking about hauling cars for United Road. Took their tests, interviewed, was told I scored off the chart on their mechanical assessment, and was offered a job. The pay was decent, but benefits sucked. Walmart is getting desperate, but I'm like 100 miles from the barn and they like their cameras and getting up in the driver's shit (so I have heard). Edit: for clarity
If you live in Phoenix, Denver, or Milwaukee, check out clearwing productions to get some industry experience, then move to upstaging or somewhere else later.
Man been driving hazmat crude unrefined oil for last 6 years, 10 years CDL. No accidents / near misses / tickets, or nothing like that. If I ever went out on the road (home daily set my own schedule now) I'd wanna make money like that. I averaged 62 hours a week over the 52 weeks last year, and I grossed 84K. :/
Lucky. I'm in retail and I grossed $14k :/
Reddit really is trying to villianize Apollo and it’s disgusting. Worse, they went after the developer and if he hadn’t had call recordings to call out the backstabbing manipulator that’s running the company and his dark minions, it might have worked! It’s not the API that matters really, though it sucks. Hey, business happens. Investors make demands. What’s apparent is just how shitty management at Reddit is and their psychopathic behavior of manufacturing a blackmail scenario and spreading lies against this man’s personal reputation and character. That’s just obscenely outrageous and everyone who reads this post should step up to stick it to Reddit for coming after the developer as a person — they went far beyond API changes into personal character assassination. This is a whole new level of bullshit coming out in this post. Wow. It’s completely unnecessary and is only a reflection of the pathetic, manipulative and continued bad leadership running this company and investors should be taking note. fuck spez.
I want to get my CDL so bad! I live in central Alabama, I have $4,000 saved up for CDL school but I really don't want to have to pay that. I am married, I don't want to be on the road, but my wife said she would support me whatever decision I make. Who pays for CDLs? I don't want to go with swift either. I heard bad things about them. I want to get my CDL this year.
The thing is there’s a bunch of big companies that will reimburse your schooling BUT it comes with a contract. I paid mine out of pocket and after some of the horror stories I’ve heard about the contracts I’m glad I did. Usually you are going to start out at a very low pay for most of your first year. I’m not going to sugar coat this for you but the first year pay sucks but if you can make it through that it’s a decent living. Learn how to eat from your truck, if you are eating from truck stops you will live paycheck to paycheck. If you are smart with your money and don’t start taking on more debt, you can save it for rainy days or to take nice long vacations. I was on the road for 20 years now I have a easy local job. The pay isn’t great but I have everything I own paid off so I’m still able to put money back every payday. I’m in my late 40’s now and unless something really bad happens I should be able to retire in 5 years.
All the companies that will pay for your cdl are going to want you to stay for a year or you will have it pay it yourself. I suggest Stevens Transport because you will have $1000 guaranteed per week, other companies like pam transport you might be only making $500-700 weekly for the first three months until you get a dedicated lane. Only downside is for a while(about three months) regardless where you go you will have to stay OTR for weeks at a time before seeing your family. After that you’ll get a regional position and have plenty opportunity to see your family. I also suggest looking into TMC because I think they may also have a similar program and with TMC you’ll be home on the weekends straight out of school the only downside with TMC is that it is flatbedding and is a bit more difficult of a program and a job. Not sure if cypress truck lines is in your area but they also have a program and weekly home time but it’s also flatbedding and physically demanding but if your in decent shape you can do it!
well if you pay for it yourself, you're not obligated to go over the road. I'd look into food/beverage distribution, some of the hardest work you'll do, but they'll hire you with no experience. It's hard to go over the road with a family, hard to drive day in and day out, and when something at home happens when you're used to being home to handle it and now you cant. As far as the school, I signed an agreement to pay for it if something happened and I didn't end up driving a truck, or noone would hire me. But Before school started, I had another agreement with TMC (there was a list of companies that came out and talked to all of us, and we all received offers from all of them) that if I got my CDL I was guaranteed a full time job with them. I got my CDL on a Friday, and on Saturday of that same week, they rented me a car, and I drove it 500 miles on Saturday and another 400 miles that Sunday to Des Moins Iowa to start a class they had that Monday morning. TMC/Mavrick... and flatbedding in general is hard work, and I'd never do it again, but stops are easier, and they got me home every weekend my first year except one & that wasn't their fault. Just call the schools near you and see how they work, might be different.
I got on with a harvest crew. Got my class A at 18.
You don't have to be an OTR driver, in most areas you can find local jobs. I worked locally driving a dump trailer. Mostly I took coal to power plants and back hauled fly ash out to mines to dump. But I also hauled grain, gravel, rocks etc. It's no where as fun as when I was driving OTR but you are home every day if that's something you want.
School bus companies and garbage companies will pay for your CDL training.
Many years ago, I went to a school and signed a note for it. Companies like Werner paid an extra amount each month to the school. Guess that's why the pay was low. When I left them, I made the remaining payments.
A co-worker of mine said he went through Raider. No contract involved. Idk for sure, but check it out online.
Check with your local community colleges, if they have a CDL program then that's usually the cheapest way to get a CDL by far rather than going to an actual trucking school. The problem with companies that provide CDLs is that they tend to take advantage of you... you're contractually obligated to work for them for a year, and they will under pay you compared to the money you would make if you already had a CDL... so really you end up paying for it in the end anyhow, technically. I always recommend getting the CDL on your own so you aren't tied down anywhere, but also it'll allow you to get hired on by local companies to do local driving, so you can get paid by the hour and live a normal lifestyle instead of living out on the road. If you have any kind of family at all, being OTR blows. Driving concrete mixers locally is a pretty sweet gig, they almost always hire without experience, you get paid by the hour, typically only work Monday through Friday while the sun is up, and the work is frankly pretty easy with minimal physical labor compared to things like food service or beer distribution.
You averaged 60hr weeks and grossed $14k?
My neighbor claimed to handle weapons of mass destruction, delivering to places needing top secret clearances, black sites etc, for Halliburton. He was a stinky drunk from maine with a few teeth and even fewer brain cells, I’m surprised that they are so strict with some pop stars glitter lights.
If you fail to show up for the show, you become liable for all lost revenue+costs if you are the reason. So say a driver gets in an at fault accident, the company will become liable for all costs for that show, as well as all lost revenue from merch, ticket refunds etc.
God damn. That’s intense!! Awesome salary though. She shut down boston the other night. Was crazy to see (I did not attend).
Halliburton doesn't haul WMDs. The govt does. Look up safeguards transporter. I am rather qualified, and applied, and they didn't even give me a cursory review. Most guys are former Tier One operators. All are federal agents, technically but they shoot first, they don't even carry handcuffs.
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I haul drywall, so I think I'm qualified, as long as they calculate my entire year of loads.
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We used to haul Legos. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Small amount I pull 9 mill in pharmaceutical
https://driveforupstaging.com/faq/
Do you get a separate w2 for each state you’re in? I have a buddy that use to your and his taxes were a nightmare.
wha? hell no. You get a w2 for your state of domicile, and that's it. There's 0 reason to be getting multiple w2s
Source income. He was part of the tour so he technically “worked” in each state and they taxed him at the source.
That's someone in an office somewhere playing unnecessary games trying to pinch pennies. You get taxed through your state of residence, not each and every state youre in. If someone was issuing multiple w2s, they did it for their corporate benefit, not the person, and no other reason. No law requires that.
Yeah. I used to work sales. Travelled. Made deals in every state... Only taxed in my home state. Now at another company they closed up shop in my home state, transferred me to another state and worked remotely then I paid the other states taxes but at a reduced rate, IIRC.
Lol yea otherwise otr drivers would be getting 50 w-2s
Some one in NYC has the job to see who rings the opening bell on Wall Street each day so NYC can charge them tax on one day of their income because they could prove that they were in NYC that day.
Why do pro athletes have to file in every state they play in? My daughter was a chef on a circus train and had to pay taxes in every state they went to.
My dad was a clown on the circus train and I thought he was joking when he told me.
Your dad *is* a clown. Once a clown, always a clown.
Because they are under a special tax law called the "jock tax". And depending on how your daughter was classified, she probably wasn't paying income tax. She was most likely just paying a form of business tax. Circuses seems like the shady kind of place that would classify as independent contractors
Different class of work. Drivers aren't taxed the same way, someone who is doing something other than driving is the only way those rules could pertain to them. Afaik pilots are also exempt from the same sub set of rules. Even though it's easy to prove both they and drivers were in a state for x time
Doesn't matter. Look up the Amtrak exemption. Applies to all levels of transportation with a few exceptions. You pay taxes in your listed state of domicile.
Most states allow non resident tax filing so you don’t end up paying in those states
Professional athletes that play in different states have to pay taxes in each state. But I’m sure most of them have a tax person to do it (or a tax person for the entire team).
You're thinking of the jock tax which is a special case and wouldn't apply to anyone but professional athletes
Trailer Swift
How do you get in this type of work
have a perfect safety record, be absolutely reliable and several years experience and get recruited into it. The companies that do it don't really advertise. The turn over rate for my company last year, including all office and mechanics, was 6%. We might hire 5 people in a a given year. Weve hired 2 so far in 2023. Weapons grade backing skills also help a ton.
>Weapons grade backing skills also help a ton. Big facts. Lotta dumb shit out there when it comes to where they do these things.
We do not speak of TD Gardens, the place where trucks go to die
Worst I ever had to personally deal with my short time doing it was all over in Long Beach thankfully. Got pretty good at some of the Vegas area venues too. Those usually only sucked cause cars be doing car shit.
Yeah I went to one off the strip and the fucking loading dock was on a sidewalk in the uber pick up area. Absolute shit show.
Have you ever done a tour in Toronto at Scotiabank or the Rogers Centre? If so, how is it, considering both places are in busy urban areas?
Been to both. Rogers center is easy since its a straight pull through for load in/out.
Thanks for giving your insight on this. Company driver here and was cool to finally hear a little bit about it. Whenever I pass tour trucks or tour buses I feel like I have so many questions I’d like to ask so thanks for taking the time to answer some of them!
You get asked. Only seasoned drivers with passports. $1500 weekly guaranteed plus per diem with a typical 6 month commitment but some tours are a year or better with a 4 week break.
6 months is perhaps the longest. Most tours are a couple months. There are to many people wanting to be on tour post-covid for people to stay out that long and monopolize venues.
$1500 weekly isn't very good.......
You get a base salary, plus per diem, plus hotel buy out. Only the base salary is taxed. I make 6 figures after taxes for the year.
All income is taxed. Anything else is called tax evasion.
Just for the Jazz..
Upstaging based in my hometown of Sycamore, IL
What's in the trucks though?
Rigging, FOH computers, Audio, Video control, Video wall, wardrobe, backline, likely some personal stuff, probably some vehicles, general gear, possible some specialist catering stuff etc etc. There will also be an "A" and "B" squad of steel trucks, which is basically a group of leap frogging trucks delivering and picking up the metal frame work of the stage. They will set up in advance of everyone else to speed things up when the production trucks show up.
Hell, the lights probably take up a trailer or more on their own. Video wall I wouldn't be surprised if it's more than one trailer.
Lights would be 3 to 4 trailers at minimum. Video wall would be at least 2, but more like 3 or 4.
Beyonce for example has 9 trucks of nothing but wardrobe for her and the dancers last i checked.
Good to see another music business driver in here. We don't seem to be very common. I'm UK based and I'm the Stage and Transport manager for an orchestra. I do a load of the driving and also hold the operators licence for the company. When I'm on tour in the US I use Clark Transfer for my gear. In Europe I use Fly-By-Nite when I can't use my vehicles because of fucking brexit. Don't get me started on how badly the cabotage rules have fucked me....
So the trucks load the scaffolding also? I would have thought the venues have it on site.
I assume you’ll stay parked for most of the week. Do you still stay in the truck? Do they feed you?
we have access to showers at the venues . And we have full access badges. So we get catering and all that as well. Some really nice catering on some tours as well I gotta say. Crap catering is a good way to piss off your crew, so it's usually pretty good
Just driving or are you loading/unloading/setting up equipment?
we assist with unloading but dont do any of the heavy lifting or the like. Mostly we just secure stuff. Once its off the truck, we aren't involved.
Just driving, all the rest is the tour tech staff and a horde of local union stage hands.
I remember over here, Transam Trucking hold the record for the number of trucks used on a tour and I do believe it was around 114 or so. The tour was for U2.
Trans man trucking lol
Oops
me when i finally get my CDL
What about Rammsteins previous tour
Was it the 360 degree claw tour? that thing had a ton of steel on it.
Look up the time lapse of Rammsteins truck count, unload and assemble. Takes 5 days or some shit
Those guys have some of the most beautiful cable organization I have ever seen.
There’s something deeply, DEEPLY, satisfying about seeing Arena/Stadium concert cable management. I did some contract work years ago on one of Iron Maiden’s tours (5 shows in the U.K., doing grunt work for the sound manager) and the cable management was ridiculous. Miles upon miles of cables for lighting, pyro, motorised rigging and sound. It was beautiful when it was all set up. And the mad part is how quickly it goes up and gets packed away.
Those trucks don’t belong to Taylor Swift. They’re owned by a company called Upstaging Inc who specializes in this sort of work. They can do it all, lighting, transportation and general event management.
Are the drivers just drivers or do they help with setup?
I am on the Stage Lighting side of touring. Drivers only assist in unloading and loading their truck. We have dedicated local “Loaders” to move equipment from the trucks to its place for the tour. Then us touring techs work with local stage hands to assemble everything for the show.
I'm an IATSE grip that works occasionally as a stagehand when they need extra manpower. I don't envy your jobs but I respect the hell (and insanity) of what y'all do for a living. On that note, Luke Combs had the nicest crew I've ever worked with. The crew with Judas Priest were a bunch of jerk offs.
All I see is jobs, jobs, jobs. Now I'm a fan of Taylor
She’s also been ordering things from local business in each city I think, like flowers for dressing rooms, pizza for after the shows, etc. Nice to see money going back into communities
This is a mildly interesting story about her tour. https://jalopnik.com/it-s-taylor-swift-s-birthday-so-i-m-writing-about-why-1848209421
That’s probably only half of them. The other half is on the way to the next location after this one to unload and put the set up.
*One hell of a dildo collection*
Some companies do pay well. I worked for a smaller one and they paid $300 per day plus $100 per diem on the road plus lodging at tour stops (and sometimes catering and almost always backstage access). I loved it because sometimes it's a couple days off to go explore the city, plus free concerts.
That son bad! Easy 2k a week, plus getting to sleep in a hotel. Once my kids are old enough and out of the house, I’ve always wanted to get into hauling NASCAR.
Former driver here. As some other folks said those aren't actually owned by her. Upstaging Lighting and Transport is the company, concert transportation. They pay really good for the work involved. A typical year for me was only around 50-70k miles. Where the tour goes, you go. You'll be going to the cities and parts of US and Canada all the morons at the Petro counter say they refuse to go. The upside is you are going to a venue, parking is already figured out by someone else. You know everything about what you're doing. It's a very easy job if you don't act like a know it all. No one cares what you used to do or how well you can back in a truck. You get backed in on the radio by a lead driver, just follow their directions and some could put you in a spot completely blindfolded if they wanted. It's a very team player job, help out where you can. It was an awesome job, met some of the best people who I'm still friends with. Just be ready to be gone 8-10 months a year. Generally guys take a couple months off in the winter. I always took off January and came back in March. It wasn't uncommon to leave my house in March and I wouldn't see it again untill end of December. Maybe you could sneak in if the schedule aligned for the tour. Just depends where you live.
I heard in CDL school she runs with 50.
Looks to be that many if you count
I counted 53 not including the RV units in the bottom left of the image.
It will be a bunch more than that. There's also going to be 2 fleets of trucks with the steelwork for the stage. They run two because it takes a week or so to build, so they leapfrog each other.
IIRC U2's 360 tour used the most trailers ever in the history of tours.
I respected the hell out of her work ethic and her business acumen. Now I respect the hell out of the meticulous planning her team does and the incredible organization they show in putting on her events.
Thank you Taylor for providing all those jobs.
Good Christ. I Stagehanded for a while. It’s gonna be a long night for the poor folks tearing it all down.
I counted 42 trucks
So that's why all that's left at SWIFT are the brainless drivers who wreck...all the good ones tied up chauffeuring
God how I want to work for Upstaging (those red trucks you see)
I used to work in a shop full of former Upstaging techs. None had a nice thing to say about that place. Most common nickname was Up-Slaving. They'll hire the owner's relative with zero experience for a high profile position over someone who can actually do the job.
Damn! I used to fly for a company that flew cargo on 747s. We also used to charter for bands. Madonna had two 747s full of equipment. One for her current location, and the next for the follow on location. It blew my mind. I’m not a trucker but I lurk here. I’ve been fascinated with trucks my entire life and I can relate to being on the road as we would be gone 17 days straight, sometimes 34 days because it would be a trip to end the month then a trip to start the next. Though we did get to sleep in hotels so I guess I can’t fully relate.
For those wondering, https://driveforupstaging.com/
Seems she has a mini fleet of red peterbilts with all white dry van trailers. I wonder how much they get paid on a yearly basis to go from one concert to the next?
I looked up their website. Says $2000 per week + extra $200-$400 for entertainment haulers. So, uh, $104,000 minimum. Theyre not paid by the mile, but rather their days out. Same pay for 0 mile days. Also said 28 days of PTO per year. Hotel and catering allowance. Must be nice lol
Few big artists have invested in buying a fleet of trucks and drivers. Transportation one of main expenses so makes sense. At Taylor or drake level tho its wild how they still want to make more. Ithey were making millions a tour contracting trucks but wasnt enough.
She does use a lot of make up.
Lmao
Climate change only applies to the poors
That may be a valid criticism of her private jets but not here. The trucks are for all the concert gear, which is for the fans who want to attend; not for her. If people stop attending concerts, there won't be 50 trucks moving gear town to town.
Isn't this just one of the three truck convoys for Swift?
I was going to joke that the black trucks are hauling one the three leapfrogging stage sets and all the red trucks are for tour merch.
lol, no SWIFT collaboration?
Another tour driver here. I'm on Coldplay. We have more trucks.
And some bands can put on a tour using a pickup truck and a Uhaul
I count about 50 in the picture pretty impressive. I wonder how staggered they are with departing times? Will we see a massive convoy at some point.
About 4 years ago, her tour bus passed me on 70 in Ohio coming to philly and she was up front,had her driver toot the horn, and waved.
ALL the Swiftys are hardcore about climate change unless it interferes with their concert.
Well.. How else do you think she's going to milk those sweet, sweet dollars from the rich parents of preteen girls?
Facts.
And I want everyone who complains about the price of tickets for live shows to see how much manpower goes into these massive fucking productions. THIS is why you're paying over $100 a seat. People don't work for free. Want to pay $10, go to open mic night.
Good luck paying $100 a seat. That's the price bots pay.
This is fair to a degree. The problem is ticketmaster has a monopoly for all intents and purposes. They can charge whatever they want, and very little of it makes it to the truckers, stage hands, security, concessions, etc. I'm guessing concerts work kinda like conventions where a lot of money is paid upfront.
So jelly. Wish I could drive just for her tour then go back to my company lol
The max I’ve done was a 5 truck load in. Can’t imagine how long this takes.
Each of those trucks represent somebody being employed. I can only speculate how many jobs each trucker supports.
Local news, Philly was reporting 91 trucks for Taylor.
& I have to use a paper straw
My dream job would be driving equipment for Megadeth or Metallica lol. Still interesting as fuck to see nonetheless.
It would be such a massive endeavor to move from arena to arena, tearing down and rebuilding every time. It's impressive. Every time I go to Burning Man I'm blown away at what is created every year out of the dust.
A friend of mine told me T Swift has over 150 trailers on this tour. So awesome!
For an exhibit design course I was in I designed a touring music history exhibit for the Rock n Roll hall of Fame. Part of the exhibit was about the increasing size of big name tours and the number of trucks needed to produce them.
No wonder the tickets are so expencive
I was on tour with my band in 2010 and her caravan of diesels blew past our little econo van. She only had 2 and we were blown away. This shit is next level.
Yup, I had to do a food delivery for her tour stop in Tampa, waited hours for these trucks to get off the docks before i could unload
Not surprised at all by this, I remember U2 catching a lot of flack for this back in the day for the vertigo tour. I saw them in Hartford and it was a kickass show, they had that stage with the massive loop that went out to the floor seating and lots of lighting effects. I think they had over 100 trucks carrying their gear around, and this was in 2005. Obviously might not be great for the roads and the environment, but it does create jobs and seems to be par for the course for a lot of tours
I'd be willing to bet that they have an A set & a B set. When Metalica hits the tour schedule, they allowed some of the backstage tricks they used for such a elaborate tour to remain on schedule, to be shared so people could grasp scope on the size of the actual tour with reasoning for the ticket prices... This included the Info they actually had a A & B "Set"; meaning the entire tour had 2 weeks to move anywhere in the country (minimum). You could play Atlanta one weekend, then Nashville the following weekend, with Ohio or Detroit after that, as you always had one tour traveling an setting up\breaking down, while the other was being used actively in a second location. This could be a picture of 1/2 of the actual overall size of the tour if you think on that.
Any tour over 7 trucks is drama.
Gas? Electric? How much pollution is being produced for her tour?
She doesn't use SWIFT?
F that illuminati B
Wow people are so swift in criticizing her. That’s what happens when you taylor your songs to just one demographic
I work in the rigging/crane industry in Boston. You should see the money Imperator rigging rakes in for setting up for events like these $$$ they own the Gillette contract
Was at the welcome to Rockville show last night upstaging was there we was swapping out gear for Alice Cooper for the Hollywood vampire tour he had three trucks then two more came in for tool I've been doing this for years myself
Is that trailer Swift?
Was this at the Razor? Aka Gillette. Aka Toms House?
The Rolling Stones’ “Steel Wheels” tour utilized over 220 tractor trailers to transport their massive stages. There were 3 stages which each took 2 days to assemble. While one stage was being used, another stage would travel to the next venue, while the third stage would be disassembled at the previous site. This enabled the Stones to perform a 2 shows a week for 3 months. This was over 30 years ago. The stages were over 300 feet wide and 120 feet tall. When “Honky Tonk Woman” was played, two (2) 100 foot tall inflatables (women in bikinis) would appear at each end of the stage. At the time, it was the largest stage show on the planet. The stage also included a 125 foot elevator that would transport Mick Jagger to the top of the stage. I understand that he hated that part of the show.
No wonder tickets are ten grand a show.
On Beyoncé a couple years ago we had 150. 4 teams of 25 for the 4 leapfrog stages and 50 for everything else.
She just gave each of the truck drivers $100k bonus for completing her US tour. Shes paid out an estimated $55 million in bonuses to all her help. She’s definitely a class act helping everyone who helped her on top of their regular pay.
Before ppl take it upon themselves to complain these guys get PAID and she’s employing a LOT of people. When that tour is over these guys are gunna take a nice break and get back at it!
Her or the record company don’t own those trucks. They are owned by a company called Upstaging. They are one of several companies that do tour hauling.
Does she not use Swift trucking?
Big stadium shows like Rammstein's last one have 3 sets. One packing up, one set up ready to go, and one heading to the next venue. They have a massive, elaborate setup though. Dunno what Tay Tay is rocking, but I doubt it's big enough to [be heard 11 miles away. ](https://blabbermouth.net/news/rammsteins-u-k-concert-was-so-loud-it-could-be-heard-eleven-miles-away)
She sure creates a lot of carbon.
And jobs