Which Trucking Company Honestly Offers the Most Home-time With Reliable Pay?

Several years ago I briefly ran 14/7 and then 7/7 for over a year with Roehl. I have not much good to say about the company but that schedule did work out for me and I was home over 90% of the time on the day I was supposed to be and the next day, for 6 days off, the rest of the time. Ran fairly well that week on also, averaged over 3,000 miles every week.

 

thats what i have heard, i'm not sure if it would work for the OP in terms of money but running 3 weeks a month is what i do now so maybe it would..

thanks for the insight

 

Everyone who thinks local is the way to go think again. I started OTR in 91 ran all 48 and knew Southern Cali better then my back yard.I fell into a local job in 92 because my children where young . I have made a good living the last 20 years but to think you will get more home time because you are local is a double edged sword . I work from 6am to 6 to 7 pm by the time I get home I am so wore out that by the time you shower and eat dinner it is time for bed . Granted I get weekends off but after a 65 to 70 hour work week what do you really feel like doing . I now am searching for another OTR job just so I can rest some and truthfully I miss the road. Most local companies have late start times EI 10am and you work until 8 or 900 granted that is not all but most . You make decent money hourly and most time better benefits but you earn it with the labor you have to put in. You are also tied to a work radio that makes qual com seem like child's play . You think it is hard to go from Atlanta to Grand Rapids in 14 hrs try going from south side of Savannah to Pooler ga at 330 in rush hour traffic to make a pick up by 4. After doing both OTR and Local I can tell you from experience local to me is way more stressful .Just my 2 cents................
You either are going to like going OTR or you are not, there is no in between . Loved it for the year and half I did it was gone 3 to 4 weeks at a time . And you are right if the wheels are not turning you are not earning . My kids are grown except for one who is 13 so me and the wife are counting the days until we both travel the road via truck ..
" SandMan"

 

Huntress,
Most of the larger LTL lines(conway, averitt, estes, etc.) Offer decent pay and generally get their OTR guys home on the weekends. You do have to have 1-2 experience though. Didn't read all of this thread so I apologize if you've already covered this. Good luck.

 

Your tag says Edgewater, and if he is in Edgewater too, see if he can go up to Port Canaveral and look for companies running out of the port there. Picking up trailers out of the port and delivering them to drop yards is daily work. It's closer than Orlando too.

Anyhoo, there are many many local companies he could go with. City Beverages (Bud distributor in Orlando), Snapple distributor, Coca Cola, Pepsi all have trucks that have side loader trailers, and the drivers drive prolly 40 miles a day. This low mileage protects your CDL from stupid rookie driving mistakes until you have some years under your belt. The rest of the time they are loading and unloading and setting up displays. They all hire students fresh out of school.

Cement haulers, tumbler trucks. Tarmac, Cemex. Dump truck outfits that haul sand and gravel to the ready mix (cement) plants. Tarmac has a huge trainyard and block and ready mix plant in Edgewater. We go there all the time to haul flyash from there down to different ready mix plants further south.

Heck, from Edgewater, you could hire on to Oakley hauling oranges to all the juice mills south of Orlando. That's daily work (but long days). You could even hire on to CCC, the company I work for, (they have a terminal at Port Canaveral and Orlando) but you said something about making a good paycheck, so they might be out!

You don't have to go OTR. I guess that's the point I'm trying to make. Especially with so many things going on at home. Being home should be the priority.

 

EDIT: one last thing about Roehl. You are so far down in Florida that the only fleet that will hire you is probably the van fleet. That guy getting 3000 miles is not in Florida. I went with Roehl for the first 6 months after my school. I never touched 3000 miles, and it wasn't for lack of trying. It was a mistake for me to go there. I am also in a similar situation as your fiance. I have a wife and 2 kids, 5 and 10 years old. Now, I don't think Roehl is a bad company, I just think their focus is not in Florida. It's in Wisconsin, Chicago, and the Northeast (meaning Northeast Canada too). There are alot of Roehl cheerleaders on this board. They post in many threads. I urge you to think long and hard about signing on with a company whose focus is so far from your home. Heck, there is always orange juice hauling with Indian River, Oakley, or Bynum out of Lake Wales. Or many others. You know that their focus is on Florida because the home office is here.