Five lanes, with what each one pays and where each one runs. Find the one that fits the man you have in mind.
Start with where he lives, not with the biggest number.
The lane that pays the most per week is the lane that keeps him out the longest, and that is not a coincidence — it is the trade. If he is within reach of Memphis, West Memphis or Blytheville, the dedicated flatbed runs a day rate on a tight footprint. If he is in east Texas or the Arkansas delta, the mileage-pay flatbed lane was built around exactly those towns. If he is in the Ohio Valley or the Southeast, the percentage-pay flatbed lane covers more ground than anything else Empire runs. If none of that fits and he wants miles, OTR van is the one.
He does not have to pick correctly. The form has an option for “not sure yet” and a recruiter will work it out with him on the phone. Sending him to the wrong lane page is not a mistake worth worrying about — sending him nowhere is.
Same pay figures as driveforempire.com, read from the same files, so the card and the lane page and the careers site cannot disagree with each other. You can hand this to somebody without checking it first.
Pay, home time and hiring area for every lane Empire is hiring in. These are the same numbers driveforempire.com publishes — they are read from one place, so the two sites cannot tell your friend two different things.
$300
per day
$3,000
sign-on bonus
Dedicated flatbed driving for Empire Express out of Memphis, West Memphis and Blytheville. $300 per day plus a weekly bonus, a $3,000 sign-on bonus, and a modern assigned flatbed tractor.
$0.75
per mile, up to
$1,400 – $2,000
average weekly gross
$3,000
sign-on bonus
Regional flatbed driving for Empire Express out of Memphis, Arkansas, east Texas and Louisiana. Up to $0.75 per mile, $1,400 to $2,000 average weekly gross, a $3,000 sign-on bonus, and an assigned late-model Peterbilt, Volvo or Cascadia.
28%
of line haul
$1,800 – $2,400
average weekly gross
Percentage-pay regional flatbed driving for Empire Express across Kentucky, the Ohio Valley, the Great Lakes, the Mid-Atlantic and the Southeast. $1,800 to $2,400 average weekly gross in an assigned 2026 or 2027 Freightliner Cascadia.
$0.75
per mile, up to
$1,600 – $2,200
average weekly gross
$3,000
sign-on bonus
Over-the-road dry van driving for Empire Express. Up to $0.75 per mile, $1,600 to $2,200 average weekly gross, a $3,000 sign-on bonus, and an assigned 2025 Peterbilt 579 UltraLoft or 2026 Freightliner Cascadia.
75%
of line haul, with your trailer
Owner-operator opportunities with Empire Express. Seventy-five percent of line haul pulling your own trailer, or sixty-seven percent pulling ours, running out of Memphis, Tennessee.
The same in every lane. If something differs by lane, it is on that lane's page, not buried here.
Most carrier application forms ask for your Social Security number, ten years of address history and three references before anybody has told you what the job pays or whether they hire in your county. That is backwards. It is a lot of a driver's evening spent on a job they may not want.
So this one is nine questions, and none of them are your Social Security number. A recruiter calls you, tells you what is actually open near you, and answers whatever you ask. If it sounds like a fit, the full DOT application comes after that conversation — and by then you will know what you are filling it out for.
