Experienced local driver cant find OTR work

Yes, Yes...I see your point.

Hauling 80k of top heavy product down back ### country roads that wind and twist, slowing from 55mph to 25 mph every couple miles. Could never translate into the skills of a city driver. Especially when those back ### roads accounted for ONLY 75% of the routing.

When you consider the maximum length of a day cab and trailer combo is 10 feet shorter than an OTR set-up. It's a wonder these OTR drivers can even figure out how to get in the cab and all.

I was especially fond of the 8 roll overs in 2 months that occurred at my prior company. It didn't make any since at all, since they all had over 2 years experience....city driving.

What dumb ### of a dispatcher thought they needed to take a load to the terminal....from the mill.

Yes my friend. City drivers are the BEST America has to offer.

 

Takes more then 2 years to be really good at city or local driving, IMO.

I have done P&D city, DC to store delivery, OTR, line-haul, off-road tanker hauling and lots of winter driving, so I figure I know what I am talking about.

I can't tell you how many times I have seen OTR drivers get a local job and then have accidents right away or they can't back into a tight or odd dock.

Had one OTR joker got a local DC job, pulled into a company store delivery stop and took out two parked cars with his tandems that were on the drivers side in broad daylight. No excuse for that, since there was NO traffic to deal with and no adverse weather conditions either. Lots of room to maneuver as well.

Others cant get into any tight docks without hitting something. So perhaps its experience that counts more then anything. And city driving will give you lots of that.

But yeah, I still think a few years of big city delivery driving really gives a driver ALL the experience they need to go OTR with very little training needed.

My .02 cents.

 

Watkins and Shepard doesn't send you out with a trainer.

 

do they take people with no otr experience? do they let you pick when you go home?

 

They hire recent grads,and with no otr exp you'd probably have to take a reresher. Not sure as I don't drive for them...yet.

Check out their dac thread, tons of recent info as the drivers that post are like a family.

 

well the other thing is that i have 2 pitbulls and im not giving them up and i doubt a company would let me bring them, another reason why if i go otr it'll be with my own truck.

 

It's all a trick to take your money..either pay for school or become an indentured servant w/ free tution to a company like SWIFT. I wish i had better news for you

 

They allow pets but you have to wait 90 days same as passengers.

Don't know about the pits or the fact you have more than one though. Those two factors will limit you as well.

Con-way, us xpress and werner also have pet policy. I hear trans am might but it's a huge deposit.

There are companies out there just have to look for them as I'm sure there's a lot more than I've posted.

Pet policy is huge for me as well as W/S and Con-Way are my top two at the moment.

good luck to ya if you decide to go otr though.

 

I don't believe you can compare one type of driving to another without considering all the aspect of the job. Every company is different in some way. All I can do is pass along my personal experience from driving OTR and local. The local has been the hardest I've ever had to do. But that could be from the type of work and truck. I hauled gasoline in an oversized tanker within the city and it was no cake walk. The truck was 85' and could gross up to 110,000lbs and just maneuvering around the city for 12 hours everyday took some extra skills.

For a company to tell any of our drivers they were not experienced enough for them was a joke. But for them to tell a broke down dirt hauler could very well be correct. I just think they don't bother to take the time to look at the driver past employer so the driver is stuck to play by their rules since they run the game. Like danc694u says you're going to put a driver with tons of experience in a truck with a driver that's only been driving for 2 months and rely on the new driver evaluation. That's an insult. But if you want the job what are you going to do?

 

Yeap. Hauled lots of petroleum myself so I know where you are coming from. Backing a Tr & Tl out of a gas station with lots of traffic is no picnic.