Im going to get into truck driving. I need to go to school for CDL, which is why i am going to go with a big company that pays for school. I eventually want to do local driving for my careeer. I couldnt do otr for my career and dont want to either. I only want local where id be home every day or every couple day s. Im interested in schneider, but they only do otr. It takez 1 year to pay back the loan. I could handle otr for a year or two i think. So......are there any companies that would have local home every day or couple day runs available to new drivers after only a few months? How much expeirience do local companies want before theyll hire you? 1year, 2years? Im in chicago btw. I found a company that has local after like 6 months of otr, but the otr runs are 4weeks gone at a time, i couldnt do that. schneider is only otr, but its 2 weeks gone, one week home which is good in my mind. Do i have to just suck it up and do otr for a year or 2? or is there local stuff available shortly after your on youre own? Thans alot

Good Luck... is all I have to add to this.

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I'm gonna kill the next SOB who tells me I look stressed out.

--Unknown

For the most part .... you are going to need 1 year minimum OTR before local for a company .... there are some that require 2 years minimum

Its a matter of finding the right company .... if there is one looking for only 6 months OTR and they do local .... generally that means that they have a high turn over rate and are trying to find people

Best thing to do is get at least 1 year OTR and THEN start looking for a local .... Schneider might have regional or local out of Chicago also so you could also check with them on that to

as far as paying for school, have you talked to any schools about financial aid? ie: government job retraining money?

there are some local companies that would hire students (lumber yards, etc.) maybe not in the windy city though. what kind of local work do you want to do? most local work will have you worn out in a few months.

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"that truck driver tried to kill me!"

First rule to the trucking industry is to never believe them when they tell you how often you will get home.
Second thing is if you are already saying "I think I can mabey do a year of otr" ......you won't... trust me.
There is many comanies who can get you home every weekend. the schneiders, cr englands, swifts, jb's of the world are not them. I don't know how many schneider drivers I know who got done with school and got sent out the the east coast for 4 to 6 weeks right off the bat. Out of the mega carriers schneider probably is the best though but there school is fast paced and if you get sent home you ill get a bill for the school. most of them are like that.
Look at your local technical schools for cdl programs and see about financing. there is also grants around for some people. You are in a good area for local. if local is what you want then get your cdl from a school and try to find local right away. You will hate the otr, I can already tell and you will most likely hate the mega carriers who are the ones you will be stuck with. And if you quit before you serve your time (sound ike prison?? that's because it is) then you will get a HUGE bill for the school