Relocating for LTL/Linehaul or other home daily work.

So for the past year, I've been dealing with a sleeper and being out 4-5 nights a week. The pay is alright, but could be better($1000/week roughly, running milk tankers NM-TX-CO). But I feel with my HAZMat and doubles/triples being maintained, but not needed by my current company or any here in town(so many non HAZMat outfits in the Clovis NM area), I feel I could be doing much better as far as pay goes.


That said, I've kind of listed the places I'd move to in order to get a bite(1-Albuquerque, 2-Phoenix, 3-Denver metro). Denver metro seems to be one of those places I could move to without any work and be working within minutes of calling to check in on an app. Albuquerque has been tricky the past several years, but it's in state and won't require a CDL change. That and cheaper COL compared to other spots I've looked at.

With that out of the way, would it be wise to just drop the current company, throw caution to the wind, and just move to any of these areas with no work lined up? I mean, companies like ODFL and even Pilot/FJ fuel seem to want me to be living there(ABQ) before taking me on. I feel just getting out there beforehand and seeing what happens might be worth a shot. But then there's always that risk of the jobs no longer being there and then having to scramble. Most likely the case with ABQ. But Phoenix and Denver, I don't really see the local/daycab jobs disappearing any time soon.

 

I guess I've just prided myself on being a NM resident too much. I lived in CA previously and just feel like too much of an "invader" going up there and having to engage with other former Californians(run into less former ones here in NM than in CO). So I think the relocation might have less to do with a license change and more with me being too worried about potentially angering natives up there.

If only there were some sort of special category for those of us that clearly weren't intending on barging in. "Only here until I get some things paid off. Then I'm long gone." Or, something that shows you aren't there to shake things up. I feel like I hardly made any effort to make myself at home here in my current town, so it should be just as easy to be a ghost up there. What with the hours one will be putting in. I reckon one won't really have time to give the 20-somethings a passing glance.

 

If this has turned into a rant, fair enough. But ultimately, I think my penchant for caring more about time off/days off than pay/benefits has made me flake out on one too many job offers than the actual move.

I believe I may have burned myself into the "Unreliable Candidate" category.

 

No dice on that FedEx Freight app I put in for Albuquerque back in March apart from Memphis corporate recruiting. It'll probably just be one of those things where I'm contacted when I totally forget about it.

Current job is alright. But I feel I might have to jump if these loads remain inconsistent. One week, I'll get 3-4 loads between Hartley TX and Platteville CO. The next week I'll get only two. Then while I have two cool dispatchers in the office who are okay with my "dedicated route", I got that one whom I've dealt with at another company previously. Always badgering me in a condescending tone to "go further outside my box and be out longer". If it keeps up, I'll probably have to quit without notice and just take my chances elsewhere to avoid getting myself thrown into the brig.

Not a whole lot of options left locally either. So at this point, all I'm doing is biding my time.

"Angering the natives" is basically people complaining about new people moving in and worsening the traffic, making houses pricier and just overcrowding in general.

 

In short, been hauling milk tankers for the past eight years. Was doing local, but then had to go to regional/sleep in the truck after corporate got stupid. Mainly drop/hook and 5-6 nights a week. But paychecks are usually sitting at $1100/ week at best.

 

Ha!! Deliver pizzas. I'd be so fired from any job requiring regular human contact. Of course I'd be using my motorcycle for that. My pickup would definitely get the boot.