OTR vs LTL contridiction...which is more skillful?

Discussion in 'Experienced Truckers' Advice' started by UKJ, Apr 12, 2015.

  1. 379exhd

    379exhd Road Train Member

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    ^^not really apples to oranges when it comes to home time and what you're driving but otherwise it's really not. Both deal with traffic driving backin turning fueling etc. You're both driving on the same highways City streets etc. Yes a local driver doesn't need a map or to memories truck routes etc. But they're the same in all actuality. not being disrespectful or anything just saying. They both have their perks and challenges. One major difference is traffic. Yes there's traffic on the interstate but driving around the maniacs around town is a whole different ball game as far as I'm concerned.

    As you said neither job is really hard any idiot can do it with a little training
     
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  3. G.Anthony

    G.Anthony Road Train Member

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    Having been in this industry for a very short time, (26 years), here is what I can remember from my beginnings.

    Back then, unless you KNEW someone. you were NOT getting an LTL gig. Many companies that were around back then, were pretty much all union. Now of course, I am speaking pretty much the east coast, and mid-west like Chicago as only one example.

    Ok so now, out of driving school you had to go what we called Long Haul back then. (someone wanted to pretty it up, and make it sound better years ago, by calling it OTR now).


    No LTL or other type of "local" trucking companies would hire a newbie out of school. If you worked the loading docks back then, you did have an easier chance at being one of their local drivers however.

    The way I am seeing it for oh, say the past 15 years (at a minimum), is that local companies that were once run b powerful unions, are now pretty much wimpy and powerless as to who the company can hire. So the proverbial flood gates opened up for local hiring first over OTR.

    I think too from what can be also a reason why one cannot go easily into OTR from local can be one of several reasons.

    One is that the driver is "used to" driving smaller equipment, like day cabs and in many instances shorter trailers doing local, over say the condo sleeper and 53 foot trailers.

    Another reason why some OTR jobs for local drivers are hard to come by is, life on the road. We all know it to be tough, and now put a guy so used to a home life, he may quit maybe as soon as his first load is delivered. I mean here I am, putting in maybe all of 45-50 hours each week, weekends off, holidays, etc,etc, and I'm gonna give that up and not be home???????????

    Yes, the insurance companies actually rule who can and cannot be hired, but then, one can simply NOT apply to the mega-carriers that are from I have seen, the bane of local drivers, wanting to go OTR. SO the best route, for a local driver wanting to go OTR, would be in my best learned opinion, find a smaller outfit.

    When we say that some companies stink, and we all know who they are, we need to remember that nearly everyone of them are "entry level", for people who have never driven before. It will be a cold day in hell, when some snot-nosed moron from a mega-carrier says to me that my 26 years means nothing, if I wanted to go back OTR (ahem, LONG HAUL). I'd so easily tell him, or her, I hold back no emotions to a moron, and tell them to shove it up their collective.............

    So the end result is, let them hired the INEXPERIENCED drivers, over us, and PAY OUT MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR CLAIMS..........!!!!!
     
  4. Brandonpdx

    Brandonpdx Road Train Member

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    LTL has its ups and downs and nasty days doing inside deliveries and lift gate/pallet jack hell, but generally the driving isn't as big of a deal since you're close to home and probably pulling a pup trailer with 2 axle day cab. Pretty hard to get yourself in trouble there. OTR can be a nail biter once you're off the interstate and negotiating local traffic with big equipment. Some parts of the country aren't bad but if you're hitting mom and pop sized places it can get ugly.
     
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  5. browndawg

    browndawg Medium Load Member

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    I have been back and forth between both, and currently I am delivering auto parts in a single axle daycab with a pup, Third shift so traffic is light all my dealers are closed when I get there so no one in my way except for the occasional "parking lot" that comes in and poops cars all over the lot. Its funny cause it is totally gravy but I make more money than when I was running the road. tractor-trailer experience is tractor-trailer experience in my eyes. There are company's out there that will take you no matter what size equipment you are currently running or have ran. Time to make coffee!!!!!!
     
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  6. browndawg

    browndawg Medium Load Member

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    Well put G.Anthony on post #12, As a matter of fact I am glad that I have a combination of both, local and OTR, It has made me a more well rounded driver. And when the time comes like in the past I will have no problem going back to running the road (finding a company that will take me on that is).
     
  7. misc

    misc Light Load Member

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    Another thing to consider is when it snows.

    LTL drivers can't go looking for a parking spot when it gets greasy.
     
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  8. already gone

    already gone Road Train Member

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    Ltl drivers will have higher expectations on pay and hometime, and generally wont work out in a run of the mill otr company. If the companies wanted the skill, they would pay for it. Otr companies want a guy with low expectations, and who believes the truck is his new home.

    Insurance cant have anything to do with it, dont try and tell me the insurance companies dont know a 20 year city p&d man isnt 10x the driver a 20 year otr trucker is. The otr companies do this cuz they dont need experience or skill. Thats why they love every electronic babysitter they can put in these trucks..
     
    Last edited: Apr 15, 2015
  9. Starboyjim

    Starboyjim Road Train Member

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    I agree with Cargo. I also think this is an apples and oranges thing. I don't think anybody has ever done a survey or has any facts to prove one way or another. OTR has a lot of issues that LTL doesn't bother with. Fuel. Parking. Scales. (new scales) Finding new locations nearly every pickup/delivery. Roads and conditions where you've never been before.

    LTL has challenges OTR drivers don't deal with. Red lights all day every day. Traffic, multiple customers, fingerprints on boxes, sorting freight, so on.

    All driving has it's particular challenges. It does NOT mean one kind of driving is "better" than any other. I don't like this kind of thinking, that there's a hierarchy of drivers. Who's top dog? Who's bringing up the rear? What BS. If you have a current CDL, you can go either way, there's plenty of freight and companies that move it.
     
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  10. superflow

    superflow Road Train Member

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    Most drivers who run LTL won't bother with an OTR outfit anyway
     
  11. chris887

    chris887 Medium Load Member

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    The idea that you have to go otr before ltl is completely wrong. Most ltl guys I know have never been otr. And to answer your question otr and local are completely differantly jobs with completely differant skill sets. The only thing the same is having a truck. I drive local never been otr so I don't know anything about log books, trip planning, dot scales, living on the road and whatever else you need otr. But i sure am good at driving in tight spaces and crowed city streets and insane traffic.
     
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