New Driver with Family - Looking for a company with good hometime

Roehl 14/7 out If Jacksonville. We have a drop yard there as well. Try it out til u decide you want to go out further. TMC a driver with us just quit said he never got home. Swift, US, and Werner all 1 day per week out. Sni has a hometime plan but I don't have info on them. Epes either but heard good things. Do some reasearch, a lot of research then choose. Websites and on here you can find info. I ran 14/7 out of Jacksonville for 9 months. Now 11/3 but u can do 14/4 or 21/5 etc.

 

If you think Roehl is a better option then you're seriously delusional. Roehl is horrible. Roehl reminds me a lot of Nazi Germany, except instead of Hitler, we have a family of Roehls. If you decide to come to work here I really do feel sorry for you because you're obviously mentally handicapped.

 

Whoever mentioned Arnold above...they're owned by USX and have same home time as everyone else. 14/2 21/3...

 

Be weary of those ads boasting home time like 7 days on 7 days off crap! If for some reason it were true how would you make money working two weeks a months? You would have to make $2000 a week to make it worth it. Otherwise you are making Mcdonalds wages while being gone from your family and still having to pay off your school loan!

I went to a mega-carrier who boasted about home time and every day I was in orientation the time out grew. The last day of orientation I met my dispatcher and they had absolutely no clue what I was talking about when I asked about the special home time policy!

For you newbies and others convinced that this is true, I can tell you for certain that there is no way to make the math work! Even that 14/7 schedule. How the hell can you possibly make money with that schedule?! Do the math.... Every two weeks you take a full week off!!! Like I said, unless you are being paid or clearing $2000 a week you aren't making any money! Why would you drive over the road if you aren't going to make any money? Well I guess you could do it for the fun it or just to have a place to live but for most, why would you spend all that time away from home making less than Mcdonald wages?

Its tough to make money staying out for three weeks let alone two. If you are being paid by the mile and are out three weeks it is very rare you will have three solid weeks of miles. At least one week will be short. No accompany this one week of short miles with a week of breakdowns, ouch! You just wasted three weeks away from home. This is why staying out 6-8 weeks really helps your average. This is where you start making $35,000 and up in the industry. Out of 8 weeks running if you have 2-3 bad weeks and 2-3 really good weeks then another 2 average weeks throws your earnings average above par. However, you also have to average your home time into your earnings equation. For some reason many drivers do not and this is what throws them off.

So you stay out 5 weeks, long time right? You have two really good weeks, two bad weeks and one average week. So this isn't a bad trip out. You came out ahead and are a little above average right? This is great, but not if you now want to take off and spend time with the family. You have been working straight for 5 weeks and are exhausted. You haven't seen the kids, nor the wife. You decide that you want to take a week off. You now just killed your average. What sucks is that you are #### sure entitled to this week of rest! You busted your hump stayed out extra long just to make sure your good weeks covered your bad weeks and now in order to see the family and take a little time to recoop you have to add another solid week of no earnings to your average.

Now most newbies don't realize that when you take time off it messes up your pay for three weeks. This is why.... When you come home the company you drive for just doesn't let you drive the truck home empty. They will arrange things so that you will get as close to home loaded as possible. To do this it may take a few loads to get set up for the grand finally. With this being said your week coming home will normally be slow due to your dispatcher trying to get you as close to home as possible. Now the second week, or week you are actually home, of course won't make you a dime. Now the third week or week you go back to work is also slow. Especially if you live in places like Florida. Getting back out is slow because you have been out of the loop and need to work your way back into the freight lanes and cycle of freight. You maybe bounced around a bit before hitting the lanes just for the simple fact that they don't want to deadhead you. Which is understandable. When I was an owner op I would often take the deadhead just to get me back in the freight lanes instead of running willy-nilly piddly loads to get back in position. We lived in Florida and on most occasions would leave the truck in Atlanta and drive our car home back to Florida. Saved us tons of money!

Anyway so that's the lowdown. Results may vary but would surely be rare. Think you have been offered a good deal by your recruiter? Sit down and do the math! Not just the immediate math, but the long term math. You need to equate the entire average!

 

You can make at least $45k and coming home every week or even 2 weeks if that's all your company allows. If you're just making $35k then you need to start looking at another company. I made at least that at USA and was home every other week. I make even more now, and work for Averitt and can be home every weekend. I took a Cali run for extra cash last week, so had to stay out and take a 34 hour restart, but also got paid for it.

 

What he said. Conway LTL is another that will take you into a training/dock thing. Although I'd check with the others first. FedEx Freight, UPS Freight, R&L, Saia, Averitt, etc. Good luck

 

If u want to make the most money then yes u have to stay out longer. If you have a family or life then a hometime plan is good. If you don't have to depend on your sole income to provide then its fine. 14/7 I never got home on the 14th day. Most times was 15-16 due to living in FL. But u always got a week of no matter what. Its a rotation with 2 other drivers. You can switch fleets if hometime doesn't work and u want to stay out longer in your own truck. If you are the sole income then I wouldn't do a hometime plan anywhere I do agree with chompi. Just depends on your situation. Apparently I'm delusional as well. I have a 2012 truck, over 2500 mile most weeks and a FM that leaves me alone to do my work. 18 days out this time 4 at home in Fla. Roehl works for majority the others whine about how this that and the other ruined their life blah blah blah.