Casual Driver

I don't know about your neck of the woods, but when I was with maverick I met a causal driver for them. He had no bennies, but when he went home he told them when he wanted to run again. Sometimes he ran like a regular OTR driver; sometimes he ran when he wanted. He also did some farming and took off when he needed.

Sounded like a pretty good gig. Not bad there. I have never done it. Did not even know mav had casual drivers. Not sure how many co's do it.

 

I did it for a bit with refer loads. Took over truck in St. George, UT and ran to Denver or Ft. Collins, CO with produce, then deadhead to Lincoln, NE or Garden City, KS and grab a load of boxed beef. Brought it back to St. George and turned it over to the original driver. Good run that payed pretty well. Usually involved a live unload with the produce and a drop and hook for the meat.

Sometimes I'd grab a loaded beef truck in St. George, run it to one of the ports in Cali, then make produce picks up and down the coast. Now THAT was a PITA run that didn't pay very well. Everything here was live unload/load, and the numerous stops for produce were what cost me money.

I worked this around another part time job, and it worked very well for quite a while.

 

Casual is usually an on call part time driver with no benefits and no guarantee of any amount of work.
It's the employers dream come true.
I would not leave a full time job for a casual position.

 

If you are flexible, don't need steady work or benefits, it is a perfect setup. I've done it for years . . .

 

We have "casual" drivers where i work. You really can't have a full time job and be a casual driver. You need to be available when they call you at any time during the week. Seems like something for a retired person or someone not interested in making money. Thats just where I work though, maybe different at other places.

 

There are drivers that have been on the casual board for years with some of the union companies. They wouldn't have it any other way.

 

The programs I've heard of are slip seat, no benefits, And a minimum stay out requirement 2-4 weeks.

They will put you in areas that need coverage, and a lot of northeast, short hauls, re-powers, shuttling equipment, recoveries, swaps, etc ...

No where near your house till home time.

Get a truck when/if available, and sometimes travel necessary to get into another unit upon return.

A lot of BS, AND no assigned FM, dispatcher, etc ... but no hounding to return to work either.

Just depends on the drivers tastes.

 

I'm a casual driver for the past 6-8 years. I tend to change my status to full time when I'm about 2 months behind on bills which is becoming the norm now-a-days. I really don't want to drive full time but it's always there as an option if I have to. You're only on call when you want to be available to work. They shouldn't be able to force you to work if you are casual. But they would probably require you work at least once or twice a week to stay on their payroll. Even though I can't afford to work casual I still prefer it and don't mind struggling with money because I'm putting all my energy into figuring out what else I can make money at (haha) besides driving ! When I figure it out I will call and tell 'em it's been nice knowing you. The other drivers are right...there are no benefits expect that you can pretty much dictate when and when not you want to work as long as the freight is available.