I've been in this business for over two decades now and yes, I can say it can support a family. It takes some sacrifices (being away from your family for long periods of time), but again, it can support a family.
Believe it or not, I drove my Savana for 10 years (almost 800,000 miles) and I changed only one headlight (plus 2 brake lights and about 4-5 tag lights).
I believe that was the idea for raising the rates, to "kill" the small carriers by pushing the O/O's to those larger carriers that offer their own insurance for way lower rates.
Would you be so kind and show me where I mentioned CIS in this thread? I even don't dare to call CIS since per our last call they asked me 20K per vehicle...