A Few Questions about Cassens (Chicago Area)

Hey all!

I'm a new driver, got my CDL from an accredited school affiliated with a local Community College. I worked for Maverick for just less than a year. I really liked it. The company deserves the good reputation it has around here. I settled in to the groove very quickly and when I left my performance rating (used to figure bonuses) was perfect.

I would still be driving for them if it weren't for an unfortunate family medical issue. Long story short my wife and 2nd child both suffered some complications during both pregnancy and delivery. As a result I'll need to be home regularly and going OTR is no longer feasible.

I've done my research on car hauling both here and other forums. I understand that it's a lot of work. I'm no stranger to working hard and I've always accomplished what I've set out to do. I think I'm armed with enough info to at least go into it with my eyes open. I'd like to submit my application and go for it.

Questions:

Driving for Cassens is described as a "home daily" position with occassional overnight runs. Do you find this mostly to be true? Does home daily mean you actually have enough time to be home? Or are you pushing 14 hour duty times every day?

I live in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. I could go to either Aurora or Belvidere. Is there a difference? It seems that running out of Belvidere would be great since Chrysler Assembly is right there. But I don't know what's in Aurora.

Thanks for any feedback!

 

Thanks for the good info! I'm glad my hunch about Belvidere was good. Looks like I will head in that direction.

Can anyone else in the Chicago area say a bit more about what a typical duty day looks like?

Thanks!

 

I did some figuring. I know I'm making some assumptions but I tried to err on the side of being conservative.

Belvidere to Chicago is approximately 70 miles so I'll figure the average haul to Chicagoland Chrysler dealers is 70 miles.

As a new guy, I figure loading the trailer (receipt of load sheet to driving off the lot) at 3 hours.

Unloading 2 hours (arrival at dealer to departure)

7am Load = 3 hours
10am Drive 70 miles = 1.5 hours
11:30am Unload at dealer = 2 hours
1:30pm Return to Belivdere to reload 1.5 hours
3pm Load = 3 hours
6pm end of day.

If I did my math right, that's a 11 hour duty day with only 140 miles driven. Starting the following day loaded would give me one more return trip for 210 miles, but at a 13.5 hour day.

I understand that with experience load/unload times will be faster. But am I at least in the ballpark?

Thanks!