One year in... What now?

Where are you located?

 

Every single student at every single CDL in the country says "I'm going to do a year OTR then get a local job". Literally every student says this. The local jobs that you will be able to get, with rare exceptions, take advantage of their unlimited pool of applicants for limited positions by working you 14 hr days and/or paying laughable wages. Most of the ones I've seen pay something on the order of $150 per day (12-14 hr day that is). You do the math on what that works out to per hour.

There are decent local jobs out there, but they are few and far between and generally require more experience then pulling a dry van OTR for a year. I've got a good regional job where I'm out 5 days and off weekends (a lot of times I get by the house during the week for my 10 too). I make more than $800 per week and I have my full weekends to relax and have quality family time (I'm not married but I have 2 young kids). This works better for me than any available local jobs in my area.

 

Im in a similar situation... I came off the road after getting a little over a year under my belt in January. I have a wife and kids at home, one being a newborn (Jan 17th) so I knew my wife needed help around the house taking care of a baby, a toddler, and 2 school age kids. The job I found averaged 800 to 900 a week, working 12 hour shifts, and only had night positions opened so I jumped on it thinking it was pretty close to what I was making over the road plus I will be home daily. I'm at this very moment looking for a company to go back on the road with
My gross has been in the range they said, but my bring home after taxes, insurances, child support, etc is a joke! I now realize what a life saver per diem was for me getting paid cpm instead of a flat rate. On top of not making any money, I barely see my family. Most weeks we work 6 days and even when they give us saturday off, I have to go just to try to make a descent check which means sunday is my only off day. Some times I manage to get home just as my family is leaving for school/work in the mornings so I see them then, go to sleep and back on the job before they get home in the evenings. Sometimes I go a few days and never see them.
So now I'm at the point where it's pointless to be home to sleep in my bed everyday if I don't have any money to enjoy being home and I hardly see my family. After I hustle my butt of to pay the rent in a couple weeks, I'm headed back on the road.... again.

 

Good luck with whatever you decide to do... I would definitely check into regional work to at least get by the house often and also look at tanker jobs. From what I've seen locally, gas haulers are making the most money but most want that year of tanker experience like you said... however, there are some that will train. I have a friend in FL that just came off the road after 8yrs with the same company (and first company as well) and he got on with a gas company that is training him. So it is possible.... A lot of local companies wont hire you if you have a lot of driving jobs in the past couple years too so keep that in mind.

 

I didn't say that, I don't want a local job, but I do want to make sure I always have a good one

 

Hi Dis, I feel bad for you, but your story is about as typical as it gets, and that's one of the reasons there is such a driver shortage. First, if you want a home life, you have no business driving a truck. I don't mean to sound nasty, but the 2 just don't mix. It cost me my marriage, and I missed a lot of things in my kids life, and I WAS A LOCAL DRIVER. If you are having a hard time now, owning your own truck will really screw you up , even more. O/O takes a huge dedication to the truck, you can't just walk away from it at the end of the day, it IS your life. While I enjoyed being an O/O, it was the toughest job I ever did with a truck. I hauled Intermodal for several years, and while things have gotten better, it is still a crappy job. If you want to be with your family, which I strongly suggest, (you'll never be able to relive your kids first steps or that little league game)find a different line of work. When the kids are grown, you can always drive a truck, but take it from an old fart, I've been there, and would do it a lot different if I had the chance. Good luck.

 

Funny op, you have local almost down to a t...sort of.

I drove regional for about 1200 gross but hated living out of a truck. Have over 2 years otr and the first local gig I snagged was intermodal local (los angeles).

First few weeks sucked monkey balls, went exactly how you said (worked 14 hours all night for about $160). I was VERY tempted to beg for my regional job thinking I mad a huge mistake.

Im still very new to local its only been a lil over a month but I manage to work 10 hours a day (yes a few I have to work 11 or 12). I average 925 gross a week (5 days off) i start at 4pm and try to be off by 2am so im not a go getter by any means (although in civilian life, a 10 hour day is pleanty!)

Schedule sucked at first but luckily my body adjusted.

Is the pay cut worth it? To me a big fat heck yes! I went surfing every day the last week before work, beautiful weather, wouldnt give it up if the regional gig offered to double what they were paying me and thats God's honest truth.