Best path for newbie: LTL or OTR?

If you want to maximize your income and time at home, it's hard to beat LTL linehaul. As a new driver, I'd definitely recommend linehaul over P&D since there will be less obstacles (no shippers / receivers).

Location will always trump experience. As @Bob Dobalina mentioned, it can be tricky to get into an LTL company. But it's not like it used to be 10+ years ago. LTLs are now hiring new drivers and even training prospective drivers to get their CDL - if you are in the right location. You need to get the feel for your area and call your local LTL terminals and ask about getting hired as a new driver. I was hired right out of trucking school at ODFL and have never looked back. I knew what kind of opportunity I had because I spent time talking with drivers, researching the industry, and hanging out in forums like these.

I highly recommend ODFL, FXF, and Estes. There are others. It all depends on your location.

And if your only reason to go O/O is to maximize your money, forget about that - especially if you're trying to be at home as well. As a linehaul driver at ODFL, I have enough seniority at my terminal to take a schedule run that gives me a little over $4,900 a month (yes, that's net or take-home pay after all deductions for taxes, setting aside 10% weekly for 401k, health insurance for a family, short / long term disability), gets me home everyday with two days off a week, that's also including two weeks paid vacation (can get up to 4 weeks depending on time at the company) with additional paid holidays (employee birthday, New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day), and also annual discretionary 401k matches by the company (last year I got over $3,000 put into my 401k). You consider that amount of income, with the time you're home with your family, plus the benefits / retirement / vacation package, and you'll be hard-pressed to find an O/O that can rival that and be home everyday.

Of course that example was considering a very good run at a specific terminal, and actually, there are runs at my terminal that gross over $100,000 a year - but I can't get any of those yet with my seniority. The average linehaul run should give you 70-80k gross. That run I used as an example grosses around $95,000 a year. I went into detail to make a point. Linehaul drivers at LTL companies do very well. You get to leave that company truck behind at the end of your shift everyday, put those company truck keys in your pocket, and go home to your family without having to review your spreadsheet or find a load for your next paycheck.

 

If you're new you'll be looking at Dock or training positions. On FxF look for Apprentice positions, on YRC (not the greatest but easier entry) type "less than one year" into the search box, they are also doing classes.

 

LTL is a great way to learn how the various freight behaves while bouncing around on a truck. So if something falls over or apart it isn’t too expensive of a mistake.
Then by the time you get to over the road truck load you know what works and what doesn’t hold up for load securement.

 

Thats kind of odd.. most companies are dying for truck drivers right now... If you want to drive, skip the dock working BS and go with a company that will put you in the seat of a truck.

 

Ooooh I misread.. I thought you already had it. Most companies with some time in will help you out in getting your class A.. If after 3 months they will train you to be a class A driver thats a pretty good gig it seems.

 

Michael, unless you wanna haul crude oil, there's no need to leave a linehaul job once you land it. Again, you'll have to check your options with the terminals nearby, but most linehaul gigs are indeed home every day and earning the kind of money you're talking about with hauling crude.

I came from sales and owning my business. It's nice to just have a W2 now. I also have a BA, and no, it won't help with a driving job - might help with an office or corporate job in the industry.

I'm only taking the time to respond to this thread of yours because I too have a family and have made a great life for us by being a linehaul driver. I'm paying it forward. Plus I know other prospective drivers will be reading this. Anytime I see somebody talk about going into trucking with a family, wanting to maximize income and hometime, I feel compelled to share the good life. Trucking isn't for everyone, but if you're a family man looking for a driver job and wanting to be home daily or at least weekly, linehaul is tough to beat. Some call it the factory job of trucking, and that it's boring. Suits me just fine. It's just a job, and a job I happen to love. I get to play truck driver and then go home like a normal person does.

Some people go into the industry for the OTR adventure. Others do OTR because they have to. If you're looking at trucking as just a job and you have LTL opportunities close by, then you've hit the jackpot my friend. And depending on your location, you might not need that magical 6 month, 1 year, or 2 years of experience. I walked into LTL linehaul with zero experience and a CDL from a private trucking school.

FYI, some LTL companies will keep you by the phone as a new driver on the extraboard. That means swing shifts. You'll be married to that phone 24 hours a day. When your 10 is up, be prepared to go in if there's work. YRC operates this way, so does ABF. You should ask how any terminal runs their extraboard, if that's where you'll be starting. Again, opportunities can vary from terminal to terminal. You might walk into a run, or you might have to pay your dues and wait a few years running the extraboard.

I can tell you that ODFL will have their extraboard drivers start their weekly shift during a specific start time or window of a few hours. You will not be on call 24 hours. Personally, I had to bag out (stay over night at hotels) for my first few months until I was asked if I wanted to run extraboard turns that got me home everyday. But even when I was bagging out, I realized how good I had it because I wasn't sleeping in a truck at truck stops. I was sleeping in hotel rooms with my own shower and bed, staying out no more than 4 days at a time, and making more money then most experienced drivers at truckload companies.

At ODFL, you have wild bag and wild turn runs (both are extraboard). During my first bid (I was hired in between bids), I was able to land a schedule or bid run. My experience was different from other drivers that were hired on at my terminal. It all depends if you're hired during a hiring spree or during a slower time. Some drivers had to be wild bag for a year or more, which meant that they had to stay out 4 out of 5 days. Other drivers walked right into a schedule run that was vacant. You see how drivers can have different experiences even at the same terminal.

Do your research and compare what the different LTL companies offer. For example, ABF does not give vacation time to new drivers until they reach 2 years of service. Somebody correct me if this has changed since I last looked. Some LTLs will have you on call if you're on the extraboard - like I stated before. Some terminals might have better opportunities than other ones within the same company. These are all things you'll need to check out. And when you have one LTL company in your area, you will have others. You'll be able to compare them with each other. They strategically huddle up in areas that are conducive to moving freight. So if you got ODFL and YRC, you probably also have UPSF, FXF, and maybe others depending what part of the country you're in. When I started, I made a list of all the LTL companies in my area, found out what they offered for pay, retirement, and benefits, talked to drivers, and then made my decision to apply to ODFL. For me, ODFL offered the best total package, and the terminal I'm at offers a ton of options for runs since it's a larger terminal.

Best wishes to you and your family.

 

If you can get LTL, then go LTL.