How hard is it to get a local/regional job with almost no experience?

j_martell · Sep 25, 2016

I got hired to run roll-off off the street with only on farm experience and a few trips to the "city" (Toronto)....

Got a raise before my first week was up.

street beater · Sep 25, 2016

Mike2633 said: ↑

Yes that's for sure, see I think it might be just new guy jitters it does ware off with time. I was scared too, when I started. Here is the thing about local, your going to be in a lot more traffic and have red lights and everything like that, I don't know if trading in the mountains or big roads for major metropolitan inner cities is a real good trade.

I wouldn't be to worried about driving on some bigger roads, here's the thing Interstates and what not yeah there hilly and whatever, but now a days you have a lot of resources you have google maps and satellite you can use all of that way to your advantage, you can do stuff now that guys back 15-20-30 years ago could never do and it doesn't cost you anything. There's so many resources and tools available I don't know what did we do before the internet and GPS and real time GPS tracking on google maps?

The other thing is LTL freight business and other local stuff is there's no shutting it down for bad weather nothing like that, when it's time to roll it's time to roll. You have one trailer behind you right now, a local company may very well have you running two trailers behind you.

I mean I can direct you to companies here in Ohio that are local where you won't be driving anywhere, but your going to be doing unloading your going to be doing inside deliveries which take someone like my self with extra special attitude to handle because most places are not organized enough (substitute the word organized for there just to lazy to get there garbage out of your way so you can deliver them the things they ordered and buy in order to run there business, but that's a whole different story) to accept inside deliveries.

Being in the city isn't always a picnic either your going to go to some I can't type the word here because it's a bad word, but your going to go to some BA#$%^%$ docks and I don't know one comes to mind to this day I still can't make it in there. Another 2 we do are hard as well and it's here go back in off the street with traffic behind you and nobody stopping and sometimes you have to get creative and find another way.

Then your actually making deliveries dealing with end user customers which isn't always bad, but it's a lot of stops and your pretty much the entire company to those people so your dealing with paper work and other problems.

If you do not have a local delivery job then you may have a line or shuttle or transit run which while you won't be going to docks or anything like that you most likely will be pulling doubles and you'll be going from a warehouse or freight depot/terminal to remote yards or terminals and some of the remote yards and terminals are in remote dark spots and places that make them hard to find and all you have is the night time darkness to show you the way, now those jobs are not bad once you know where your going, but most of your shuttle or night run work is going to be at night. The guys make the deliveries during the day and make the pick ups during the day, bring the stuff back to the terminal or yard at the end of the day and the night line goes and takes it to the big break bulk terminal where it's sorted and sent through the system to the outlying terminal for delivery.

The big road to me while to has it's moments, to me it's not as scary as busy inner city intersections and 4 wheelers and school buses and buses and jay walkers and all that stuff constantly jumping out at you all day.

I can direct you right now to a company here in Cleveland that has a state wide truck load run hauling beer, your going from the beer company in N.E.Ohio to the Miller Coors Brewery in Trenton, Ohio and back. You have enough experience they would hire you probably, personally I wouldn't relocate for that job and that company, but if your so desperate.

How do you like working and I mean working as unloading and dealing with customers. If you do not like driving I would tell you go to your local beer distributor and get on a side loader route, yes you will be in heavy inner city traffic, but driving is one thing you will not do a lot of because the routes are very dense, the hours still maybe long though, you could have up to 25 stops and that job has it's own major set of head aches, but you would be in a day cab truck working during the day you would be local and not in the mountains wouldn't really be worried about appointment times because most C-stores pretty much receive goods from open to close.

There was a company I don't see them as much any more, but NPO Transport of Michigan used to be a contract auto parts hauler and they used to haul from Fords Avon Lake Assembly Plant to Fords Walton Hills Stamping Plant. Easy short run those guys may have done 3-4 runs a shift depending on how fast the trailers got loaded.

However Georgia has some opportunities you guys have a lot of industries that came from the north and went south. Have you looked on indeed.com or where ever there could be and I always promote this there could be a contract mail hauler hiring which would be like you take a trailer or straight truck from the main postal sorting center to another main postal sorting center. Or they load a straight truck from the main postal sorting center and have you drop off mail at the little post office stations in the little one traffic light towns. Like up around St. Mary's, PA there are all kinds of little towns with there own little Post Office.
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And this is why mike has his own thread (sub forum really) in the ltl forums....

pattyj · Sep 25, 2016

Rachav said: ↑

I passed my cdl test last week and I've been working on my 30,000 OTR training miles for the past week or so, and I hate it. These roads scare the #### out of me.

How hard is it to get a local or regional job with less than 10,000 miles under your belt? I'm willing to move across the country if I have to.

Thanks for your help.
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Roads scared me too and everything when I was OTR took me a couple months to overcome fear and that's what you need to do.There's going to be times as a local or regional driver youll have the same fear.The longer you're at it the better you'll become,it just takes time.

Mike2633 · Sep 25, 2016

pattyj said: ↑

Roads scared me too and everything when I was OTR took me a couple months to overcome fear and that's what you need to do.There's going to be times as a local or regional driver youll have the same fear.The longer you're at it the better you'll become,it just takes time.
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It's true we still have places I've been to multiple times that I still do not like backing into and care not to go.

Mike2633 · Sep 25, 2016

street beater said: ↑

And this is why mike has his own thread (sub forum really) in the ltl forums....
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I've got friends on there now all of a sudden 2 of them came out of hiding! Cardfan is on pretty much everyday and Shep Shilo chimes in once a week or so he's the resident produce hauler.

tscottme · Sep 25, 2016

Rachav said: ↑

I passed my cdl test last week and I've been working on my 30,000 OTR training miles for the past week or so, and I hate it. These roads scare the #### out of me.

How hard is it to get a local or regional job with less than 10,000 miles under your belt? I'm willing to move across the country if I have to.

Thanks for your help.
Click to expand...

You can try for Switcher (Yard Jockey, Hostler). You drive a small specialized tractor meant for moving trailers into dock doors and on yards. At some locations (never on public roads) you don't even need a CDL. Pay varies a lot from $10 to much more at union jobs. It's hard work and you'll wear your knees out because you maybe be in and out of the truck a hundred times a day. You may or may not get overtime pay. Overtime pay is not required for overtime work, but some employers do pay overtime pay.

Mike2633 · Sep 25, 2016

tscottme said: ↑

You can try for Switcher (Yard Jockey, Hostler). You drive a small specialized tractor meant for moving trailers into dock doors and on yards. At some locations (never on public roads) you don't even need a CDL. Pay varies a lot from $10 to much more at union jobs. It's hard work and you'll wear your knees out because you maybe be in and out of the truck a hundred times a day. You may or may not get overtime pay. Overtime pay is not required for overtime work, but some employers do pay overtime pay.
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I forgot about that your right any major auto plant, LTL terminal or warehouse is going to have a yard switcher.

Driver91 · Sep 25, 2016

Pepsi and beer dist will usually hire with no experience. hard work but home daily
and usually auto trucks. And lots of place will hire you as a yard jockey.

SHOJim · Sep 25, 2016

What about dump trucks?

Koltrucker · Sep 25, 2016

Cement trucks too...I ran Prime me and a buddy and left he does cement and I'm trying to get back otr..

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