Best path for newbie: LTL or OTR?

If one's end goal is to make as much money as possible in this business, would a newbies be better off getting his (2) years experience in LTL or OTR?

I have a family and being home daily would be preferable to being away for a week at a time. But if in the long run I could make more as an O/O maybe OTR would be the way to go.

Thoughts?

 

Ltl. You mention home daily and a family. As an O/O your not going to get benefits such as 401k match, pension, and health, medical, dental that you would as s company driver. Get that prescription at Target for 32 cents.

If your end goal is local why go OTR? You don’t have to be OTR to get a local gig. I work with many O/O’s and they all are WAY good people. They run HARD. They make fantastic money but none of them have much in the way of home life. Just my 2 cents.

 

Where is your location?
Do you have a cdl?
Do you have endorsements?

 

@Chinatown

If you had a dollar for every time you posted “where is your location”, you’d be a rich man.

 

The best way to make money in trucking is to be willing to do jobs that others can’t or won’t do.A lot of divers want to be home every day,anyone can haul toilet paper and jello therefore it makes sense that that would pay less.I don’t no why people think that they have to be an o/o to make a lot of money.

 

The flaw in the original question is that most LTLs won't hire inexperienced drivers (except in rare circumstances). The exeption being dockworkers who move up and train in a dock-to-driver program. And those guys will back more trailers as yard jockeys in a week than most OTR drivers do in a year.

 

Yes and like I said the guys working on the dock put in the time doing the dirty work that some don’t want to do and then get a seat in the truck

 

Yep. They definitely earn that seat.

 

Just sacrifice at least 6 months to a year otr then start applying with ltl companies..something will come up.

 

Another question I would like to see is are you the sole provider to your family? If you're on a dual income you have way more flexibility on what you want to do.