TMC??? What’s the reality?

I'm gonna disagree with the other answers you've gotten to this question. I think local does pay better than OTR, in general. I landed a local job right out of CDL school and made over 60K my first year and about 65K my second. Average about 55-60 hrs per week and off at least one day every week. I could probably name a dozen other "local" trucking companies in this area that pay as well or better than mine. And I know other drivers who also went "local" right out of school and who are doing as well or better than I.

I live in a fairly large Midwestern city.

(By "local" I mean that you begin and end every shift at the same location and you sleep in your own bed every day.)

 

Most local jobs pay hourly and you're paid for everything you do. This makes for more consistent/predictable paychecks.

Most OTR driver are not paid (specifically) for many of the duties they perform. Some will say that it is factored into their mileage pay, but most will find that when they divide their gross pay by the total number of hours they worked (driving, waiting to be loaded/unloaded, fueling truck, stuck in traffic, searching for empty trailers, doing paperwork, on phone hold waiting to talk to dispatch, dealing with truck breakdown/maintenance, and all the other things we do) they get paid significantly less, in general, than local drivers per hour worked.

 

Local driving is more challenging, generally. More city traffic, more backing. But, you get used to it.

 

It's actually pretty good for down here. I know lots of folks making under 800 a week and can't understand why i wouldn't want to sell my truck and take that job.

 

So not Florida then.

If your fairly large Midwestern city happens to be a major trucking hub or on a busy freight lane then local driver pay will be much higher than in the overpopulated trucking black hole that is South and Central Florida

 

Congrats! Hope it works out well for you! I've heard good things about CFI, seems to be a decent enough outfit.

 

I would guess you are coming to Joplin MO to go to school, if so then welcome to the fourstates. I recommend the Golden Corral and CFI is a fixture here. They've gone through some ownership changes but they have retained some good drivers. Good luck Captain