Does local exist

Yeah it is, I just got out of school and started my local job yesterday yanking tankers around WA. You just gotta make the phone calls and get out there and not be scared to call the company that says 1yr experience. Sometimes they make exceptions, Like the company I got on with requires 6mos. or a year and I got on with them. It really depends on your record and weather or not your willing to work you butt off.

 

theres gonna be about 50 people after me who says its impossible to go local before OTR

well i did it, along with most of the guys i work with

im at UPS Freight...i dont know where youre at in Ohio but we have terminals in Dayton, Cincinatti, Cleveland, Mansfield, Toledo and maybe a few others

 

Might look into dump trucking or something like that, get to drive a Class 8 rig around all day and be home at night. For me its awesome.

 

Check some of the local manufacturers who run their own trucks.

 

It's not impossible to land a local job but you have to realize there are experienced drivers trying to do the same thing. Plus in this economy jobs aren't as easy to come by nowadays. You could get lucky though. Others on this forum have. Don't go to school though with the plans of driving local. You will highly disappointed and it will be quite a waste of time and money. Expect to be driving over the road when you graduate. If you do get a local gig then that will be great. If you aren't prepared to go otr then I would think twice about spending all that money. Trucking schools aren't cheap and the number one reason for drivers quitting is home time. Good luck to you!

 

I totally agree. Keep in mind you will be competing for those local jobs with drivers who have lots of OTR experience, and employers will look at them first - especially in Ohio, I would think, with as many drivers, companies, etc. are there. You should definitely be PREPARED to do your OTR time, as Chompi said!

 

i just got my license cdl a in november in i started off local

 

Yep its possible. I started local too (regional actually, but I was home every day), never went OTR. But don't let everyone in this thread fool you. We are all the exception, not the rule. If you're going to get into trucking, you need to understand that at any given time, in any given place, going OTR might be your only viable option.

If you go into this with that attitude that you can and will do whatever is required to get yourself where you want to go, then you'll have a much better chance of success.

One advantage of going to a trucking school that no one here seems to talk about is that it gives you the opportunity to network with several other people. Make friends with all your classmates and keep in contact with them after you finish school. You never know when one of them will be able to hook you up with a good job.

 

Most of the time otr for 1 year but check with your local scrap companies that run trucks thay useley don't pay very well but its a start yard jocky is another choice but not it may not be consederd exp maybe look into driving a bus good luck