New Driver with Family - Looking for a company with good hometime

Look for a dedicated route. Often you will not make the highest pay, but neither will you as a new hire going over the road.

I have run shuttles from a burger manufacturer to a cold storage. I was up at 4am and home between 3-6pm depending on the number of loads per day.

Now I run trailers in and out of the rail yards. The hours are much more sporadic but I am still home nightly.

Mikeeee

 

Most flatbed companies get home weekly

 

Look into LTL my friend.Go in as a dockworker/driver apprentice.It can be done,as i did it with R&L right out of school.I never once worked the docks,either. You'll be put with an experienced driver for a few days, then they'll turn you loose on some easier routes to get your feet wet,so to speak.You'll be home every night,and get paid by the hour (I started at $16.50 plus OT 4 years ago) Drawbacks are long days, you WILL fingerprint freight,and you will most likely start out with a truck as old as you are. (Mine was Ford 9000 with about 1.2 mil,no AC,and suspension that drove your spine through your head on every bounce....LMAO! Good luck in whatever you choose.

 

Man I really hate to sound negative but you are absolutely barking up the wrong tree if you want to be home with the family. You are going to be highly disappointed and end up quitting only to go home with no job and having to pay off $6000 worth of trucking school. Over the road driving is exactly what it says. You will be driving over the road. You get paid highly because you are never home and it is very stressful. You also get paid by the mile. If you are home all the time you will not make any money. Most companies, despite what the recruiter will tell you, expect you to stay out at least 4-6 weeks or more. Then you get 2-3 days off and you do it all over again. Now here is how it works and you will soon find out firsthand so remember what I am telling you. Home time is a big pain in the butt for your dispatcher to arrange. The drivers willing to stay out for long periods of time and don't need to go home are the ones that get the good miles and good runs. One reason being is that the dispatcher loves this and rewards them for it. The drivers that need to go home all the time are used for delivering the others loads and preloading their trailers. You are kept closer to home so that it is easier for your dispatcher to send you home. You will make more being a part time greeter at Walmart then you will over the road having to be home all the time. The only way you are going to make money out there is if you are running for a couple months straight and are really hustling.

With all this being said, (please don't take this the wrong way) I highly advise you go no further in your endeavor. It is going to just cost you time and money to find out exactly what I just told you and the only exception will be that now you have to find a way to explain all this to your wife. Do your family a big favor and don't waste any more time with this. Save that money. Maybe look through Craigslist and see if you can drive a dump truck or garbage truck or something local. Local Class A positions are very tough to land but not impossible. Problem being is that in this economy there aren't many openings and when there is they tend to hire the experienced drivers over the newbies. Local driving is a lot more tough then over the road driving. A lot of places you deliver aren't meant for a tractor trailer and it really requires a lot of experienced skill to get into some of those places. Another option would be to work for one of these large companies or warehouses in which you just shuttle trailers around with the yard dog in and out of the docks.

Like I said, I really hope you don't take this the wrong way but I can tell you now that this isn't the career for you. I just hope you heed this advice and put your family in front of your pride. Family is number one and this is not the career to have with a family.

 

With this driver living in Jacksonville fl, he could get a flatbed job and be home on weekends 85% of the year & still make good $$.

 

Of course there are local gigs and regional and such jobs available but don't spend $6000 on school and plan on this! Chances are you will have to put your time in over the road for at least a year and if you aren't fully prepared to do so you will be greatly disappointed!

 

best advice, stay away from trucking
now if you have to be in it.. it's gonna be a road. you can't just expect to be home all the time. if you need to make money, you are gonna have to run.

the companies you have mentioned will keep you out at least 3 weeks, I'd recommend walking to trucking yards, talking to owners needing a driver. Now the advantage of the big company is taxation and benefits (for your family) which should be number 1 in your list (I for 1 as a father believe it is)

I have gone for the money, I work for an O/O and make a good check, I'm above $45 hundred a month. the companies you have mentioned keep their trucks speed governed, and they won't give you more than 24 hundred miles a week, I run between 3300 to 3700 legally (something to think about)

 

Possibly try Arnold transport and Boyd bros and possibly averitt where we are located the do hometime mmore than others and try tmc but they're strict on a lot...

 

They may ne strict but tmc shouldnt have an issue getting you home every wkend. Not only that but bringing home 1k a wk is normal. Lots of drywall lds coming out of n Florida. Give them a try.