New driver schedule

One place you might want to try is Magnum LTL. They have an LTL terminal in Denver, and I know for a fact they have hired LTL drivers right out of school in the Sioux Falls, Coon Rapids, and Fargo terminals because I have met those drivers personally.

They would also hire you as an OTR driver, but I think they still want drivers to say a minimum of three weeks for the OTR stuff, though they have a pretty liberal hometime policy otherwise. I usually took a week off every five to six weeks when I drove OTR for them.

I've worked for both the LTL and OTR divisions in the past and was treated pretty well at both.

 

Unreasonable that you'd want that, no. Unreasonable to expect it, yes. But there are some companies that will do it. I don't know about the 2 to 3 days for a reset, considering you only need 34 hours for that. If you are in the DFW area I know a place that will get you home every week for your reset. Just the days you are in for the reset may be any given day of the week each week and not necessarily a set or planned day.

 

I suspect Chinatown is either a cyborg with a computer in his brain or simply has a photographic memory.
It's just all up there all the time.

Brainiac v1.0 perhaps?

 

Company drivers make decent money but only because they put in very long hours. If you only want to work a 5 day 40 hour week, then you will make that much doing just about anything these days.
Getting someone to clean your Airbnb rental is 45 bucks an hour now.

 

In my area around Nashville, TN it is easy to do OTR and be home each weekend. There are numerous companies offering that. However if you live in remote areas, or areas with little freight origination or far from both shippers and receivers of anything, you cannot expect to both get miles and get home each weekend. In the old days families moved much more often than today and moving for work was common, not unexpected. Also, a vast majority of newbies only consider a tiny handful of big carriers, not just because that is all they have heard but because they have done zero research and think those are the only employers. The top 20 trucking companies might only control 10-20% of all trucking freight. Trucking is hard to know much about until you start working in it, but every trucking company has a SAFER entry with the FMCSA. Every trucking company with a name has a phone number. Google FMCSA SAFER Web carrier snapshot and you can search every company by Name, location, or DOT number. Pop the results of that search into the internet search and get their phone number. Information is more available know than anytime in the past. There are also more people these days waiting for the information to climb a mountain and come find them.

 

@tscottme,

you hit the nail on the head very well on all points.

I live on the space coast and it is hard to get freight in and out of there. There is a reason why Florida’s called the one-way state. My goal is to eventually move to North Central Florida or TN where there are more opportunities.

 

Areas where 2 or more federal interstate highways (I-24 & I-65 & I-40, for example) cross usually have good trucking jobs in large numbers, or maybe it's more the no income-tax and business friendly atmosphere is key. It's hard to say.