Do all new drivers go OTR?

I drove for an entertainment company as a teen. We’d set up concert stages, wrestling and boxing rings.
I drove a beer truck. Hard work.
I went to food service, which is easier and safer than beer (beer had to be paid COD...twice, I had attempted robberies) and 2x the money and shorter hours.
I drove 4 axle dump truck for a paving company. Not as easy as you would think and hot asphalt can be dangerous.
I drove heavy haul for a construction/demolition company.

There are local jobs around as there are local companies around. In fact, the local and regional companies make up the majority of trucks on the road.

 

I have multiple college degrees and I had a fresh Class A license. I applied to every local driving company I could find. All rejected me. I even has insider ties to a local concrete company. He got me a test drive. I passed and still never heard anything else. After a year and a half I applied OTR and was hired within 45 minutes.

I'm certain not everyone goes OTR but I could not find ANYTHING local. While waiting I wound up getting a job as a dispatcher at one of the companies I applied as a driver for. Go figure.

I have to admire greenhorns who are hired locally fresh out of school. I don't know how they do it.

 

Some times it may be necessary to go where the local work is.

 

When I got my class A (1980's) Hahn Transport gave me a 10 mile road trip in a stone bucket truck out and back, a short interview and had me come back to meet my trainer in her pete the following morning at 2 am, ready to work a full day in bulk cement tanking.

Local certainly, with a operating radius up to 250 miles from Lime Kiln Maryland at the esscalato (Spelling) facility there. I had a absolute blast and made too much money each week until a fateful day vs a stupid Suit in the Rockville Fuel and Feed. I did approx 10,000 in damage to another company truck trying to back out of a situation that the suit is yelling about. (A hours wait would have sorted all that without a penny in damage.)

To this day I become a very big stubborn jacks mule when a suit starts yelling. I yell back, you wait a minute, we got this. Unless you like to see stuff wrecked into the 5 figures on this property of yours.

The new CDL Laws started in 1991 with a deadline for me personally april of 1994. Renew or revoke. That's the one with all the drug and alcohol testing we enjoy today.

 

What you are looking for and sound like you are open to is regional work. You can make really decent money M-F without making the commitment to OTR. My first job was mostly out-and-back daily but sometimes overnight. I switched to a different job now, still "regional" but I work with my dispatch to look for longer runs through the week. Staying at work during the week I make better money but like you I can't stay out for longer than the week or so.

Look for Regional work (terminal location) that is close to home.
I started with Schneider, dedicated, JCPenney account.

 

CDL A Delivery Truck Driver Trainee
Date: Jan 14, 2019
Company: Sysco
Sorry, this position has been filled.

 

Waste Pro USA > Apply On Company Site
Driver Trainee > will help you get a cdl.

 

Plenty of companies hire from Davidson Community College for local and regional jobs.
Tuition Reimbursement for Davidson Community College Graduates.
If you can attend this school, have a chat with someone there about the cdl course and local/regional jobs.
There's probably plenty of those jobs around Concord/Charlotte.

 

I miss the days when you filled out the application and then go for a road test. No trainer, just you and the boss. Good golly, if it didn't happen today, and I got the job. It's local, but it's a cake walk.14 years out of a big truck and I get the first job I applied for. Let the games begin.