Regional/Local/OTR

Any idiot with half a brain can get on the big road, set the cruise, and hold it between the lines for 8-10 hours, ESPECIALLY if the truck has an automatic. An OTR truck typically doesn't deal with the tight docks, narrow surface streets, or congested city traffic on a daily basis like a "local" city driver.

What will really make you scratch your head, though, is after you've been driving locally for a few years the OTR companies will treat you like a newbie and they'll refuse to accept your "local" driving experience. I guess they figure you forgot how to set the cruise control or something....

 

This almost sounds like something out of "Ripley's Believe It Or Not".

 

Vert true.But i gotta tell you a story.I too did not want to go ''local'' and i thought i had my wife in the bag.I continued on and she begged me to stay home and be part of the family.I kept on.

She left me one day and i still kept on.A few years passed by and i woke up one day all alone in another truck stop.It was then i realized i had the best life and the best wife that any man could only dream of.I am sorry i tossed it all away because my refusal to be home with them and my lust for the ROAD...I would do anything today to have them back but it was just to late.

So maybe try and listen to your wife AND TALK TO HER.I wish no man to ever go through what i went through and the pain that is still there in my heart.I wish i would of listened.I wish you well and hope that would never happen to you..I wish that pain on no one.

Listen to the song some day...''You don't miss the water till the well runs dry''.

 

i retired from the bigroad and had no plans to ever go OTR again. Got a gig running heavyhaul for a local company. When I had to get back on the bigroad, no one would count the time as a local heavy haul driver as experience.

unbelievable.

 

It's actually not too bad. I get to drive the city routes 3 times a week and honestly once you get used to the routes and where you need to go everything goes smooth. Traffic and delays might get you late home but @ $20/hr and almost 25hrs of overtime the pain goes away as soon as you receive that check

 

Florida Rock & Tank has Atlanta local & I think FFE has a local terminal in Atlanta. Keep trying.!!!

 

It's amazing to read the threads between truckers here. Wouldn't life on any roadway be better if you were just doing the job you Loved. As the saying goes if you do what you love then you'll never work a day in your life. Some people will like local and some will like OTR why does who works harder than the other even enter into the mix. Try to use this motto...Were not here to see thru each other... were here to see each other thru. This is coming from a Marine corps vet, you know Band of Brothers. Be united there's enough crap out there to deal with. Follow Landstars advice keep your family intact and this includes trucker bros.

 

You have it backwards. I've done both (OTR and local), and I can assure you that driving locally is far more demanding. Just because you grew up in a city doesn't mean you can drive a semi locally in it. It's hard to explain why it's the way it is to someone not in the field, but you'll just have to take my word for it. There's a method to the madness. And if you think 2 years is a harsh requirement, my employer requires double that before they'll even look at your application, and most local companies (including my employer) don't like job-hoppers either. If you have the minimum experience but have an employment record the size of Mt Everest, your application will be overlooked 9 times out of 10.

 

OTR drivers get their share of tight docks and narrow roads. It sucks.
Many times have I watched a day-cab whip into a spot in seconds that takes me minutes to get in to.

I have also helped out with a local Walmart account, with their tight schedules.

OTR can be stressfull at either end, but local seems to be more so all the time.
And that may be why more experience is required for the local jobs.

OTR has much more control with timing and hours.
Local is much more prone to close quarters accidents.

I doubt I could be as good a local driver as I am as OTR.
I am too much a 'slacker'.
I like 12+ hour sleep breaks, as opposed to 10, because it takes me a few hours to be ready for sleep - no matter how long I drive. I like at least an hour for breaks during my driving time.
As OTR I can usually manage it.
As local, I would doubt it.