Local Jobs

Are they a big company or what? What kinda of work is it?

 

500 trks and thats not including the day cabs.They're a well known reefer company.They have 3 trls for every trk.So far I dont have any complaints but then again im not going otr either.

 

Everyone I checked out require two or more years...

After I completed my drivers training and earned my Class A CDL with every available endorsement as part of my Logistics Management degree via Clark State Community College, I applied at more than 250 companies in all; 200+ local companies; one job offer only -SWIFT...

Every local company I heard from said the same thing: "No experience, no job."

THE ONLY COMPANIES THAT RESPONDED WERE BFI COMPANIES... I reluctantly took the job SWIFT offered. After completing training I have to say I am very glad it worked out that way. While the time away from my family was very difficult on us all, I have experience that is respected by those in the industry that I meet now. My time with SWIFT and Schneider gave me lessons and experience that could be gained no other way.

I now drive a "Local" flatbed for a national parts supplier. While the position is considered local, I drive areas that could easily be classified as regional; Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, Pennsylvania. I am home daily and every weekend, with the exception of one night a week overnight in a motel somewhere in route. I run a paper log book just like I did at SWIFT and work 60+ hours a week. 12-14 hour days, but the money is right by most standards; Mileage pay, Stop pay, Hourly pay for non driving work completed, full benefits, and retirement. Aside from throwing straps at stops I almost never touch a piece of freight.

I currently receive 1-2 job offers a week; local and OTR.

By the way, a job offer that came across my VM a few days ago that someone out there may be interested in applying for is a trailer spotters position at MARS Pet Supplies on Fisher Road in Columbus, Ohio. Not sure what the full details are, but it puts you home everyday.

Just my.02

 

I've got a local job...and to be honest, at first your not sure what to do with all your new found free time...



I know that sounds strange...but your not...

And if you've been a true OTR or Road Hound, most of your driving career...to be home daily, can seem very odd at first...

When your OTR...your never really 'off'....Your always scooting along to get where you have to be...and drive a lot by mood (although companies with electronic logs put an end to mood driving)...

Mood driving worked best for me, forced 10 hour shut downs were almost hellish....

i don't even shut down that long while at home...
When I was OTR...I was always pumped up, and ready to go...

So many companies thought that electronic log stuff would be so great...then it became an akilies heal to many...

Anyways, when I was OTR...I was always uptight, and couldnt really relax unless I was 'there', at shipper or reciever...
If I had 180 miles left, I had to knock it out...rather than have it hanging over me...

There really is no standard day or hours when OTR...
Things come up all the time that require deviation from whatever planned schedual you had in your head...

Shippers hold you up, recievers hold you up, traffic holds you up, break downs hold you up, Cat weigh scales hold you up, DOT and Ag stations hold you up...lot's of things hold you up and so you spend a lot of your time playing 'catch up'...

And often expected to sleep when you can't, and run or drive, when you don't feel like it...

It's crazy...but some love it...as I did for a while...early in my driving career...

Anyways...so now your local...start at such and such a time, off by such and such a time...and when off work, your off...no qualcom, no unexpected 'Oh reciever needs load delivered early' ect ect...

Your simply off, and it's silent...

It's your time...something your not really use to...for being off while OTR is kind of an illusion...cause as long as your assigned to their truck, your never really off...

They won't let your off time come between them and a big clients needs...no sir ree...

Anyways...to sum this up...the oddest adjustment when first coming off the road is simply learning how to relax and enjoy your off time....



Without fear of being disrupted by a call from dispatcher asking you to pick up a load and start your run early on Sunday afternoon....

That is an awful feeling...
Sundays bring a lot of anxiody when OTR or Dedicated...cause if Mondays delivery is 200-400 miles away, that means you have to leave out sometime Sunday in order to get there, and then get there early enough to have time on your 14 hour rule, to deliver, pick up other load, and deliver it on time...

Dispatchers always assume that just because you made 7 am appt time, that you slept 10 full hours on their lot...many dispatchers forget that you may have been driving all through the night to get there...maybe started at 10 pm...arrive there at 5:30am...park and sleep, just to get woken up at 6:45 by lumper service or just hearing other trucks arrive...your eyes are red, and your grouchy, but have to conduct business for your company...

(it's even worse when some places ask you to leave your truck and wait inside some cob web infested trucker room)

Your unloaded in say 1-2 hours...half asleep or awake...and now your dispatchers, who had full nights rest at home, plan your day around there's...and act as if you to slept all night, woke up and went to work at 8 am...

I start around 8 am, am off between 3-5 pm...off on weekends...

The thought of going back out there right now, is like asking me to step back into a war zone...after serving a tour of duty in Nam or something...
I just don't have the stomache for it no more...but am gracious for those who still do, or none of us would have anything to eat or buy at the stores...

Try Lazer spot...if you don't mind jockeying...

http://www.lazerspot.com/

 

The local job i'll be starting this Tuesday requires a yr OTR exp.I just did'nt know if you had that or not.If your home every day you're local.You better hang onto that flatbed job.You're not going to make that OTR as a company driver especially with starter and mega companies.

 

Who cares how much experience a local job claims they require? Apply anyway. Whats it gonna hurt?

 

If it were only that easy.What's the point when most if not all require a yr OTR exp.I can see it now,somebody without even an once of exp drives for a local company and hits a low bridge,drives no trk routes,gets lost and ends up in a residential neighborhood.Ya ppl apply ain't gonna hirt a thing,

 

Whats the point? My company claims they require 2 years experience. We take on rookies all the time. Rookies that make over 63 cpm + drop hook hourly pay. Thats the point.

 

This post right here sums up all of my anxiety over why I abruptly quit doing the OTR thing a month and a half ago.
Everyone said that "I'd miss it" or something to that degree.
However, I don't live that far from a Pilot and just having to go by that place gives me the "CSI autopsy" creeps.
That said, I've come to realize that I'm one of those people who sees truck driving as strictly a job, and not the whole "semi-bum lifestyle" that's routinely imposed when having to deal with different states and a cramped sleeper everyday.
I actually do want to get back into it and seeing as how I've got some accumulated experience and tankers/doubles/HAZMat that I don't necessarily have to look at an OTR company again.

Seems local/daycab is the only way I'm going to make it work this time around. No 1/2 a--ing it.

 

Not many companies will take rookies unless they do have exp.That's my point.