otr vs. local

Your talking regional or LTL shuttle not local, typically local is considered within 100 air mile radius of your home terminal or within a major city doing P&D.

 

I've only driven regional my whole career,and for only one company.I've never driven OTR and never wanted to.I drive 400 miles a day and work 4 ten hour days,not including overtime.I make good money,have great benefits,and really enjoy my job.
The jobs are out there,maybe harder to find then when I started,but they're out there. Good luck in your search

 

I love my local job, running around my home town driving a concrete mixer and being able to punch out an leave the truck to come to my home. I agree with the other posters, local driving in a tractor trailer is alot harder than anything otr. You have constant traffic, tight corners, foot traffic, tight docks, small alleys. Most otr drivers only see it maybe 2 or 3 times a week, where a local driver will see it 5 or 6 times a day. I just dont understand why if a guy driving local t/t cant get a job otr and has to start as a newb eventhough he has better skills than the majority of the newbs out there now. I started out otr, went midwest regional, back otr then to local. That regional though got me a lot of experience with chicago and denver city streets, lots and lots of small places and tight docks. But now that im driving local my experience doesnt matter if I ever wanted to go back otr which is stupid. But ill keep my local job and being home rather than being gone 2 weeks at a shot and only getting 2 days off for my time......

 

I got a job hauling fuel as a newb. The company is fair and I am home nightly with a 800+ take home every week. Many of their drivers have been there for over 6 years. A few over 20. Mostly about 5-6 though.

 

Thats a great post. I have been driving local for twenty + years local, never OTR. I made over 80K last year as a company driver working Mon-Fri with weekends off. On track to do the same again this year. 60 hours max per week. Plus I receive great benefits.

The real funny part is that I don't think I would even qualify with any of these OTR companies as a driver without having to go with a trainer. How sad is that? But if I did, I could look forward to the same BS that so many have to put up with day in and day out. Working for free, home time issues and less then stellar benefits. And that just to scratching the surface. No thank you! My hat is off to them though.

Your thinking is right on track. To others, well it's what you wanted to do. Isn't it? Oh the lifestyle. Barf!

Drive safe

 

Yeah its sad that you've been 20 years local and have way more experience then any of the noobs getting hired on, but you would have to go through a school to learn how to drive a truck that you already know how to drive. Then you'd have to sit atleast 2 weeks in a trainers truck an start at the bottom of the chain getting garbage pay and benefits. The otr lifesyle isnt bad if your single, no kids, and dont care if you only get home every two weeks for two days. But I do have to say I enjoyed my time otr, got to see a lot of places ive never seen, and some places I wish I wouldnt have seen. But before going otr the furthest from Minnesota I got was gurnee illinois by chicago. Now ive been just about everywhere except 6 states. But dont think you'd catch me back otr, I love the local gig to much and im making more than I would driving otr, oh and I get to sleep in my own bed every night and most weekends off.

 

The way economy is if you could work locally at an hourly pay is alot better than most otr drivers are making.

 

Yeah and you actually work less hours compared to otr, and get paid what you should for your time.

 

As I've said, I work local/regional based in Colo., we are permitted for 13 states, but primarily only hit about 6 of them regularly. I get paid a split of hourly/percentage, every day is different, I might come in at 4am, head to Goodland, KS and pick up 45,000lb of sunflower, get back in town about 1pm and still work another 3 hrs in town, or I might spend 10 hrs spotting trailers in town and staging empty containers in our yard for the next days runs. I've got 12 yrs, over 1.1 mil. miles and could probably get a decent OTR job, and perhaps one day I will go that route.

But what I see day in/out are a lot of OTR drivers who really need local driving skills.