Day Cab Trucking

I have a day cab I use 48 and 53 run about 150 200 mils a day have every night and weekends off I work around 10hrs a day I make around 55-58k a year

 

I run a 4 axle daycab, a 3+1 axle RGN (with a stinger on spreader) hauling dedicated OS/OW loads for a local company, 10-16 hrs. a day, 5 days a week and 2-3 Saturdays a month (though those are usually only half days due to OS curfew at noon in FL). OT after 40 hrs, average about 60-65 hrs. a week. Depending on what I'm hauling, I usually load/unload 3-5 machines a day, and using 1/2" chains and binders, end up slinging up to 2500lbs. + of steel a day. Pay is decent, but getting home every night makes it more than worth it! My OTR days are long gone thankfully....

 

day cabs are easier to back sight and blind side. Pros- You can maneuver in parking lots like your driving a volkswaggen. Don't get any ideas swift, Werner, and cr drivers. Oh and you rookies that just got licensed and an owner op just gave you his truck to run. You still can't back for dam sure. Day cabs, you stay in a hotel when you can't get home. Cons- not too many. Day cabs are the way to go. Otr is overrated.

 

I generally drive 300-400 miles/day and unload the rest of the day. Most days are 10-14 hours. The trailers are 53' floor loaded so you either have to two wheel it off or put it on pallets. It's relatively light though so it's not too bad. Keeps me shape. The best thing is no shippers or receivers. It's just me by myself wherever I go for the most part, other than a random salesman here or there.

 

We have twenty five trucks and only three have sleepers. We do mostly flat bed, dry bulk in hoppers, and pneumatic tankers. We don't do grocery warehouses and we seldom do peddle routes.
The drivers with the day cabs are usually home every night and every weekend. If they have to stay out over night we pay the motel plus per diem until they get back to the yard so we work really hard to get them back every night.
The runs are usually short haul line work, 300 to 500 miles a day. Pay is by the hour with OT and benefits. Average day is twelve hours.
Most of our drivers are older with many years of experience. The senior driver driver has been with the company over thirty years with several guys having fifteen to twenty years. I think that says a lot for the advantages of running day cabs. The guys, most of whom have had enough bad jobs to recognize a good one, don't leave.
We don't have any steady back and forth runs where a guy is doing the same thing every day...and getting bored out of their minds in the process... but we go to the same places often enough for the drivers to be familiar with them. Our customers have been with us for a long time and everybody knows everybody else.
We have never had a driver quit to go OTR. They know better.

 

Where do I sign up?

 

LOL...I'll put your application with the others. The last driver we hired was five years ago.

Most of the day cab work around here is seasonal but we run pretty much all year 'round. Like I said, the guys seem to stick with it and we're grateful for that. Training new drivers is a pain, I don't see how the megas figure it's worth it.

 

It can be hard to get in to it right away. Like I was the last driver hired ware I work that was 3 years ago

 

That's very true. The really good local or short haul jobs are never advertised in the paper or on CL. There are either a bunch of applications on file or one of the drivers already there knows of a good driver looking for work.
Most of our drivers were referrals from our other drivers.

Guys shouldn't lose hope though. Just keep knocking on doors, keep your record clean, and get to know people, drivers especially, in the area you want to drive.

 

Sometimes a "really good" local job has a hard time getting applicants, as in our case: we have an opening now, and as far as I know, only 5 people have applied for it. None of them worked out, so we're back at square one.