Getting into the trucking industry (entry level), Denver CO USA

At Prime, company drivers accrew 1 home day every week out, and can take a max of 4 days at one time. That doesn't include you arrival and departure days. 3 weeks minimum between home time requests. We have a lot of freight that moves intoand through the front range- I've never had trouble getting back there.

 

I know a couple of the System guys, they run specialized flats in/out of the Denver intermodal ramp. They are local/regional, out max of 3 days, but they have all been with the company a couple of years. Voyager, IIRC is an out/back company, 5 to 7 days then home 1 or 2 days.
May has various options, a friend drove for them for a year, he did a 21/4 schedule, would be gone for 3 weeks then home for 4 days, but, they would be calling him with a routing by the end of his 3rd day.
Navajo will run you hard, I know one driver for them, he's single so it's him and the dog, if he's passing thru, he'll stop by for a 10 hr, then be gone. Unless he's on vacation or the truck is in the shop, he's never home more than 48 hours. Expect to be out 3 to 4 weeks.
Schneider and JB all have regional fleets based out of Denver with dedicated accounts, 2 to 3 days out, the also have regular OTR drivers based here.

 

Many local outfits will take 1 or 2 years of OTR experience... it depends on the insurance, they decide who sits in the seats. However, this is the Denver market... as much as 4 or 5 as a minimum? What say you Striker?

 

A lot of the Class-A CDL local haulers I've looked at want 6 months to 2 years experience. There are a couple who want as much as 5 years.

Home time depends on what you hire on for. If you're OTR, you could be out as much as 6 weeks at a time. You have to put in for home time in those situations. I was told by a trainer at Swift that it's best to request home time 10-14 days out. Be flexible. You may not get the exact days you asked for.

If you're regional, you get more frequent home time. Schneider has a few routes like that. Dedicated auto parts (driving doubles and teaming) gets home every several days, but you're right back out in two days. Once you're experienced, companies like FedEx have good pay and frequent home time. They don't hire out of school, though. I've also heard Heartland is really good.

I've had a few people mention Con-Way to me. Their Denver terminal is in Henderson and it's huge. It's actually right by Sage, off of Dallas Street. I've seen them run day cabs around Denver, but I don't know if they hire recent CDL grads for local stuff. Saia is also right by there. They drive LTL and long haul.

 

Interstate has a large presence here, there's also HVH (they have a company division) and CAST- but IIRC they require quite a bit of experience. There are plenty of local jobs around but as WoofWagon mentioned they will require experience. American Furniture is an out and back by the end of the week outfit. There's a couple of milk haulers, and lots of fuel tankers. McLane has a distribution facility in Longmont, and there are the beer distributors and soda pop outfits as well.

 

With local they don't have training.You have to know your way around not to mention how to back,make turns manuver in customers lots.So in order to do all that and then some,you need exp.OTR is actually easier I think because you travel alot of interstates.

 

The large OTR companies also for the most part are training companies, and are self-insured. Having a constant influx of new drivers helps keep overall wages down... that goes toward their bottom line. There isn't a whole lot of margin in OTR trucking. OTOH, local companies tend to be smaller, so their risk is distributed across a much smaller financial base, and they have to go to the insurance companies for coverage. The insurance companies are just looking out for their investors... more experience, lower risk.