"Trucking Companies do not recognize Pepsi as OTR" ?

I run in, up to four of the following states, five days a week & off on weekends: La, Ar, Tx, Ok & Ms then back home every night with a day cab. I'm not sure that, this qualifies as OTR with a lot of OTR companies.

I think most companies are looking for people who can take a load into any situation they dispatch you on. They need to be sure you can run from Phoenix to NY city & back into an alleyway in downtown NY City traffic. First, they want to know that you even understand how to get into downtown NY City. Personally, I don't. They want to know that you wont run across an old wooden bridge built in the 1870's like I saw in another thread on here. They want to know that you can run any given route they give you, not just a single run over & over every day. They want to know that you can run something besides a couple of lanes (routes). Speaking of lanes, most of us that run daily routes never see 8 & 10 lane roads/hwy's/streets in cities that we have to navigate. They want to know that you can back a 53 ft van into an impossible loading dock between two long nose Pete's.

While I drive into people's back yards sometimes with almost unimaginable situations, my over all situation isn't going to qualify me with most OTR companies as having OTR experience at this current job. However, I do have experience as OTR because previously, we ran TX to Fl, up the coast to Va, over to Il to Kansas & back into TX for a couple of years. That was the covered area, not just the route. We would run anywhere in that south, s/e, east coast, midwest area.

Personally, I don't think a log book is their defining answer to whether or not its OTR. I just don't think running 100 or 200 miles away from your terminal will qualify as OTR. The biggest thing I think they want to know is that you know the in's & out's of different states, cities, roads/hwy's/cities, DOT rules, some common sense & can adapt to situations out there whether in NY city or San Francisco, or some place back in the swamps of La that have limited roads or access. Sometimes how to get there when the roads aren't even on a map or GPS. Can you even go on that road with a big truck? They want to know that your experienced in driving in adverse weather conditions in Wisconsin during the winter months. When & how do you chain up? When does the law in that state require you to chain up? You need to have some knowledge of the mountainous area's & how to navigate those situations. There is a LOT of this that I don't know & would need to ride with someone for a while to learn this stuff... or go to a school or training etc.

I'm not saying that EVERY company needs you to do these things but, some companies do. Again, even with me running 5 states, I'm not sure it qualifies as OTR with some companies. But, with other companies it may qualify if its a "local" route or a they just need you to run two or three lanes/dedicated routes.

Hope this helps

 

Maybe he hasn't but we are & there will be others who come along in the future who will or may need this question or situation answered.
When a newbie comes to this board & asks a repetitive question that has been answered a hundred times, what do the old hands tell them? "Use the search feature..."
So, now if a newbie OR an old hand, is curious about this subject, he has a thread with answers he can go to.

Otherwise, why don't we just delete all threads started by people who came in here one time 2 years ago & now don't come in here no more?