Whats better for a Newb... Western 11 or East Coast Furniture runs?

You show that your "location" is Ashville OHIO....key word here is OHIO!

Do you understand what Western 11 is? It doesn't include OHIO.

As a rookie...you go where they send you.

 

I have seen how stressed some of these guys and gal rookies are at grocery warehouses with a lot of room. Putting a brand new guy in a truck trying to deliver furniture and maneuvering behind buildings and parking lots with people. You are asking for trouble. Telephone pole who needs it. Fire Hydrant who needs it. I still wonder how some of these trucks get in these McDonalds and those convenient stores delivering. Sure it pays good but having my cruise on 60mph for 10 hrs is less stressful then trying to get 10 stops off before the place closes in the same ol traffic. Every day.. Your hair will go grey faster then a presidents if you have any left.

 

You offer us a choice between running for a large company or running for a mom and pop. The question comes down to lifestyle choices. I have a friend who ran furniture for a company out of Kansas City, Kansas. He basically invented their system for them. He would be out two or three days at time. Good home time, pay was okay. You have to push the furniture to the end of the truck so that gets old. Muscle work. You do drive in tight places but you are usually in a day cab which of course isn't really truck driving. It is much easier in the day cabs. And you stay in motels not a sleeper. Over the road is a much harder life but it has a future. If you want a career in trucking the over the road experience early in your career is the best way to go. You will learn faster driving in the cities but the companies want over the road experience. I think that is because the people who make the call on what kind of experience should count have no clue as to what they are doing. A day cab really is truck driving. It just is that you can see better.

Good luck with either choice.

 

Words from someone who's never seen Red Mountain...

 

Go Western 11. You lucky rascal, moving to AZ. Smart move.
My wife and I are looking seriously at moving to Las Vegas; home prices still dropping there. I love warm/hot weather. Enjoy the new career!

 

Drive PA backroads. 9% + grades, tight turns on a roads with no shoulder, no gaurd rails and no attention from plow trucks in the winter. Peddle 5+ stops in brooklyn on a busy afternoon with a 53' and tandems at the 41' mark. If ya wanna learn how to drive come over here. Anyone can gear down and use the jakes on long grades.

 

Doing furniture delivery with a 53 can be a real joke sometimes. Been there and done that for awhile...in the northeast no less, and frankly I don't think there is any realistic amount of money they could pay me to put up with that aggravation again. Was cool bopping around New England for awhile though from a touristic/adventurous standpoint...got to see all the states from PA to ME and everything in between which was pretty cool. Some of those furniture stores are really buried way out in the pucker brush. Didnt really feel like a trucker as much though. More like an underpaid delivery boy with too big a delivery van. The truck stops aren't nearly as entertaining up in those parts either.