Just passed a year experience. What should my next milestone be?

I'd switch to HM tanker, especially if it had a higher weekly guarantee paycheck or significantly higher CPM and dedicated customers. To me van/reefer OTR is just running on a hamster wheel, and staying there sounds like running on the wheel faster than the other hamsters. After almost 20 years in van I switched over to Quality Carriers. They gave me good hazmat training, run clean and legal, had nice fleet trucks with APUs. Our account even had free satellite TV/DVRs in the truck, fridge, inverter, APU. I found tanker work to be the gentleman's division of trucking. Cryo is probably a level above HM tanker.

In your situation the next goal might be shedding some of the routine annoyances that are inherent in van OTR, if you find any of them too frustrating. Staying and accumulating half-cent pay raises could be a good plan if you are attached to current employer. Don't make the perfect the enemy of the good. I would maybe consider one change and no more. It's easy and often doesn't work to try to change every time you hear of something a little bit better. Often seniority gets you better treatment and only some of the 'improvements' by changing ever materialize.

 

Sounds like you have a good plan.. So you've had three jobs to get this point if I read that right.. Now is the time to hunker down and stay a while..say shoot for 4-5 years..the money will be there when you show yourself reliable..On time delivery, etc..especially over time.. Its ok to jump to get what you want just don't do it pointlessly.. You've accomplished a logical progression.. that's good work.. most drivers make it look chaotic.. that's not good..

 

First, welcome aboard, us "old timers" you speak of would have killed for a site like this years ago.It was trial and error, mostly error. 2nd, initially, I was a bit put off by your post, 1 year, no big whup, but it was the "using America", then split. We need you here, not our training so you can say, muchos gracias, adios, suckers,,,then I thought, I have kids your age, and would probably do the same or similar thing, I read, US optimism is at an all time low,, and you know, kudos for thinking outside the box. these "dreams" simply aren't possible in Argentina, and what the heck, the system is going down anyway, may as well bleed America dry before it does. To be clear, $150gs is still a lot of money, and may take a bit longer, depending on where our economy goes. Companies fail left and right today, often with little, if any notice to the drivers. To be honest, Haz-Mat jobs are tough to get, and need more than a year, and since you are planning on chucking the whole works anyway, I'd stay put, and gain some seniority, Barr-Nunn has been around a long time, and will treat you right.
Now, if you have the conscience to leave after they took care of you, is something I was taught not to do. Best regards to Argentina, you couldn't get me to even set foot there,,,USA, USA!

 

Hey, it's cool, and I applaud your initiative, it may have just came out wrong. See, I'm 71, and grew up in a time when we never thought outside of the US. We grew up here, worked here, made and bought our own products, we couldn't have cared less about what other countries were doing, It all worked. Then came this wonderful machine I'm typing on. Suddenly, the world got a whole lot bigger, and didn't end at the coasts. I understand, thanks to my kids, it's a global economy now, and nothing wrong with what you plan to do. In fact, I almost encourage it. Most people did the opposite, left other countries to enjoy the riches here, but I read, that trend is changing. People are leaving Colorado in droves, because it's just not worth it. My son and DIL live in Portland, Or. and are thinking of buying a house. Their current rent is 4 figures/mo. and a decent 2 bedroom house, no less than $200,000, and they are willing to do it, but also expressed interest in maybe moving to the Philippines, for just those reasons. You're young and things could change on that "special night", but good luck pal.

 

Find one of the van or reefer OTR companies with layover, deadhead, 401k and stay there, or go to a LTL and chase 20 year vested union.. If you need to be around people you basically go the LTL or Walmart route.. If you can be a truck driver and handle isolation the OTR companies that pay you for everything you do; there are like three in the whole country with over 100 trucks and contracts..

 

Unfortunately America (politicians/corporations) started to sell out in the 70's. Nixon took the dollar off the gold standard which drove a lot of inflation and allowed the government an endless supply of money to finance needless wars..The purpose of the corporation changed to only maximizing value for the investors and to heck with the regular folks that made the country.. then Jimmy Carter came along...and all of a sudden there was the mass offshoring of good jobs and deregulation...then Reagan with trickle down economics..yeah it didn't trickle down..So around 1990 you could no longer graduate high school and just get a decent job that would train and invest in you.. oh no..they wanted to sell you on debt to go to school..Universities loved it. I believe it was Citizens United that made the corporation a heavily political lobbying entity, then NAFTA..and on and on to the dumpster fire we have today.. looking at our debt as a nation, we won't be the world reserve currency much longer.. and when that happens the real pain begins....we'll see how long they can kick the can down the road.. We could go to war though to fight for that reserve currency status and then the winner could just wipe the slate clean back to zero.. We wouldn't admit that's the reason we're going to war though ... Whoever wins..rinse and repeat..whoever loses would be looking at a situation like Europe had after WWII..