Option to work local as Newbie

I was planning on making the truck my home if at all possible; driving OTR and only taking "hometime" on the rare occasion to visit a vacation spot like Vegas. So this statement would be inaccurate. I would be home at the truck stop.

 

I worked for Transforce for a few months when I got burnt out on OTR and it led to a very good regular local gig. Transforce pays pretty good for what it is.

That being said, it would not be a good fit for a brand newbie. When they send you out on jobs, the fleet you're working for expects you to be able to do the job with the barest minimum of instructions. I had about 5 years OTR experience and I still struggled to keep up some days, especially if it was a type of trucking that I wasn't familiar with.

 

The thing with "the money is not that important to you". It's that attitude that pounds the wages down for the whole industry.

 

Maybe for other people with no experience and a spotty past but hey I have to start somewhere. From what I hear if money and hometime is your main concern driving probably isn't the career for you anyway. The lack of pay raises isn't exclusive to trucking either; wages have been stagnant everywhere for decades now. Companies have been chewing up and spitting out newbies for a long time. Just modern capitalism at work. If you want to make money you have to break away from the herd and learn how to make your money work for you instead of just seeing how far you can overextend yourself selling your soul to the bank.