Can't find a job

I went otr with 3 kids at home all 7 and under. I did it for 8 months, then found a local job driving chip trucks. Still doing it. Home every night. Those 8 months went by pretty quick. I kind of miss it every once in a while. But if you're trying to support your family, you know you'll have to do what you have to do.

 

A friend of mine just landed a ''dedicated'' 580 round trip,home every day and weekend off job...He is a NEW DRIVER and only has about 1.5 months Exp...

Don't fall for all the B/S Hype on going OTR..If you are a good hard working man,you WILL FIND YOUR WAY...OTR SUCKS and it is for the Birds...You sound like a good man that cares about being with the wife and child.That says alot about you...

Good luck and keep banging on doors like my buddy did and you will get the BREAK YOU NEED...There is many many other ways to skin a cat...

 

I hope I am reading this wrong, you haven't even graduated from driving school and you are talking about getting your own authority? ARE YOU NUTS? do you have any customer's lines up , or are you going to be dealing with brokers? have you ever dealt with brokers? what are you going to be hauling? what kind of equipment are you going to get? for someone who doesn't even have a cdl yet you need to doa lot of research ,& get some experience before even talking about such things!

 

I know many guys that has there own Rights within 6 months of getting there CDL...

 

Of those that got their own authority within 6 month of getting their CDL, how many went bust? How many do you figure broke even or did less well than if they had been a company driver for the first year or two?

While I can certainly see the attraction of "biting the bullet" and getting one's own authority right off the bat in a "sink or swim" effort, I think most folks would be better served to get some experience under their belt before making that leap. It would certainly help if you had a mentor or two that are already independent truckers that will help you along, some business ownership experience to help you understand the enormity of additional time and expense you need to devote to "being a trucker", some knowledge of your customer base and lanes, and at least $30,000 cash after you purchase your truck for maintenance and operating capital.

 

You're in the hiring area for Southwest Regional with National Carriers.
You can also probably get home weekends with Maverick or McElroy.

 

Well, join the club! I think 90% of the drivers out there are looking to drive regional and be home every weekend. Not sure who sold you on that one but they were fibbing to you. Not saying its impossible landing a local gig right out of school but its definitely highly unlikely.

Put yourself in the employers shoes.... There is a long line of experienced drivers with proven records out there looking for local work. Do you hire the guy who just graduated trucking school with no proven record, barely knows how to drive forward let alone back up, is going to be hard on your equipment (that you spent over 150,000 on) and is going to cost you twice the amount to insure.... or are you going to hire an experienced driver with a proven track record, knows how to take care of your equipment, knows how to drive really well and is good at navigation, can back up in any scenario and tight places etc... and will save you money on insurance because he is a safe professional driver?

Who are you going to hire?

 

Out of the 6 guys i know.They are still at it..They ''by-passed'' the way trucking has set itself up for the newbies..They took a look at it and said this is SLAVE LABOR(any dummie can see this).So they took a leap of faith and did it ''different''.They choice not to follow the sheep to the slaughter house.

 

Well I garuntee that the 6 guys you are taking about are 1 in a million! I cannot seriously think that you would recommend some one with ZERO trucking experience to go out and get their own authority right after getting their cdl !

 

Why Not.?....Many many people do this.It's not rocket science.