Frustrated Graduate is tired of waiting

Stay at Covenant, as bad as they are. First, you have a suspension that will keep you from many companies. Second, you are in Florida. Third, you won't be hired and in orentation between now and April with any other company. Call and politely try to get them to push your time up.

 

check CT Transportation out of Savannah. they might still be hiring students. they have a terminal in Apollo Beach.

 

1099trucker, classadrivers.com, findatruckjob.com.. These sites have a search engine to pop up only those hireing in the locations you choose, even a drop down box for students, grads, experianced, so on. Local work is also an option, I started as a roll off driver for a disposal company. My personal experiance will tell you to avoid Werner and Central.Also, find a buddy and team, companies are always ready to jump on a chance to hire a hard charging team. Also, on those sites there are headhunter agencies who get paid by the company that hires you after you are seated in a truck. They have called me often and seem to be more organized then the Trucking companies themselves. Good Luck to you and safe travels. Congrats on your cdl.

 

you can make just as much money running local as you can otr....

and you will most likely be happier

 

waster mgt, stevens. waste mgt means your home good pay good benifits

 

try the local beverage companies i know pepsi hiring they just put on 20 transport drivers wil trans can get u in quick as well

 

OK, so you go over the road and start at what? .30 cpm? if you get 2800 miles a week average that is 840 a week. That is gross, so take home would be around 680, since you have no state income tax.
Now subtract 120 a week from that to live on the road, this is a low amount, some spend more some a little less.
Now you are at 560 a week.
You are only home 3-4 days a month, and you have no life outside work.
So you will spend more money on the road for entertainment, like movies, books, computer etc.

Working for waste management you would probably start at around 14.00 an hour, maybe more. You would work a minimum of 40 hours a week, some weeks maybe allot more if you cover some residential routes while people are on vacation etc.
So you would gross around 560 a week, take home around 420. Yes you would still need to eat etc, but you would be home every day and it is cheaper to eat food you cook than what you get at a truck stop.
Also you would not get so burned out. And you could still have a life outside work.
Plus local there is room for advancement. In OTR there is none.

I also did that at a 40 hour work week local. Most local drivers will tell you that 50 hours is more common, just as OTR drivers will tell you that 60+ hours and working 7 days a week is more common, which is how I did the miles for the OTR spot.
The gross with 10 hours OT on the local would be 780, and taking home around 630.

 

.......practically begging makes most companies pass you by, prove to them your worth, find friends out in trucks get them to add to your ability lists, Covenant is not a real good start, go where most trainees go, Swifts a good start, Schnieder, if you can get past all the strange people that "man" their offices, I know how you feel, been there, done that, keep at it though, you just might be in the right place at the right time........

 

Well said and pretty much true....

But you know as well as I do you cannot explain to anyone what it is like being OTR...esp. when someone is starting out because (IMO) being an OTR Truck Driver virtually screams 'adventure' & 'excitment' and it is not until you are out there, after seeing every state & truck stop in the country, that you realise just how much of a life you don't have as a Solo driver and how lonely it can be...for some drivers. Don't attack me, I know a lot of drivers who prefer it by themselves...~lol~

Now I say Solo because if you are a H/W Team it is much better out there, in fact we had a great time because we made sure that when we took our restarts we got a hotel, a rental car and went adventuring. It made being away from home so more worthwhile.

I am not saying don't go OTR and I am not saying do...these are just my thoughts..~smiles~