few questions

just depends on the company, the big ones will keep you out longer and often only give you one day at home for every seven on the road. but they do generally pay a little more per mile but i will always stay away from the bigger companys..i like the small companys who no who you are...

 

If you're one of those pilots that pulls up when a plane begins to stall please don't become a trucker

That being said, this site has a lot of info available in various threads. Find the most useful comments that apply to you then you can click on that persons name and usually find more useful information from their other posts. That's how I use this site anyways...

In general, over the road you can expect to be out 1-3 weeks or longer if you chose. You will run between 90,000-128,000 miles per year depending on length of average haul, customer base, and trailer to tractor ratio. With a 3 to 1 ratio you are more likely to be able to find empty trailers when doing drop and hook deliveries.

Some deliveries are tight, some have extra days on them. It all depends one who you work for and what you agree to pull.

I get 34-50 hours off on the weekend. (around 40 usually) some guys get 1.5 off for every week out. Some carriers won't allow you to take more than 4 days off. It really depends.

Good luck.

 

As far as the delivery times it really does depend on who you work for, my company for example, say I have to be at xyz company to deliver at 10 pm but i left the shipper at 10 am and it takes 12.5 hours to get there. I have to be there at 10 pm sharp or i lose my unload time, i cannot speed and my logbook has to look perfect. You do the math and see what has to give, me or the delivery time? Ill give you two guesses but your only going to need one.

 

They suck about hometime, and your area is one of the worst.

Try very hard to get hired by a company with a terminal near you, like May Trucking.

Sorry about the lack of sugarcoating, I do Not believe in it.

Best of Luck........

 

Chevelle-468 you're asking for specific answers to a question that has different answers. Every company is different and you can only go by what company you're working for. You can get a general answer or idea but you'll never find a standard throughout the business. Some drivers like me have a shift and we have the same days off every week. Local driving and dedicated driver is were that is predominate. Even line-haul for LTL has the same days off with most companies. But you'll never know until you check out a specific company.

 

GasHauler hit the nail on the head. Every company out there will have a diffrent home time policy. You may work for a company that gets you home every weekend, or one that is once a month. Starting out is the hardest, you may be used to being away from home from your flying job. Do Not expect trucking to be on that level. Showering in a truckstop, no matter how clean, will not be the same as a hotel. The same for food.
Alot of the big companies will dispatch you at 55mph in order for you to get there on time, in many cases you will get there early and have to wait hours, if not days to deliver, there will be cases when you will not have enough time to get there.
Its kind of like a big crap shoot. I have in the past run my butt off to deliver on a Friday afternoon only to get there and have to wait to Monday.
Now, let me say I love what I do. I have a great job, good boss and nice truck, but I also say I have paid my dues to get to where I am today.
I wish you all the best of luck, it will be very hard at first just being on the road, and you will know soon enough if its for you.
I wish you many safe miles,

Larry

 

Chevelle,
I also live in Pensacola. I drive for Wiley Sanders out of Troy, AL. The guys are right,
most offer one day off per week. Wiley has a lot of loads coming out of Cantonment at IP and also out of Mobile at Kimberly Clark so I get two or three of those out of my normal two weeks out on the road. I am on one right now, picked up at IP yesterday evening and deliver in Louisiana on Monday so have truck parked at a local grocer that allows me to park in their lot and I am home for the weekend without having to request time off. Makes all the difference in the world.
I also have a great dispatcher, gives me good mileage, never complains if I request different route due to weather, works with me to get home when I need to. My 94 year old mother fell and was hospitalized in Dallas two weeks ago while I was delivering in Chicago. Called my dispatcher and he had me a new load heading to Dallas within an hour. Delivered within ten minutes taxi ride from the hospital. Wiley does not pay as much as some and trucks are older, mine is 1999 with 2 million miles but runs good. They never complain about idle time. They did pay for Idleaire until company folded.
All in all, not a bad place to work.

 

chevelle.... i just talked about home time on my companies thread...
lately i have been hearing a lot of our drivers complaining about home time and loads they will not take.. my company is not forced disp... but turning load after load down will not get you home any quicker...
you need to lean and understand and relearn and reunderstand that you are entering a field where you HAVE to go where the freigh is going... its part of the job...
you, and all the other newbs, need to understand that you will NOT ALWAYS be able to go home when you want to be.. understand the job and what you do.. have your family understand your job and what it involves... today you may have no clue where your going tommorrow... if your in Denver Co, and your trying to get back to Fla. and your the ONLY truck in the area to pick up the only load available for your company and its going to Montana... your gonna have to go to Montana..
your going to ask for days off and your going to let them know weeks in advance.. and when that tiimes comes around for your home/off time, you may not be able to get said hometime off... its part of the job... and being new you have to work your way up with the company... if you do as your asked and dont complian and show the company that your able to do the job.. then youll be fine...
its a hard job to handle at first... but as stated above, its not like being a pilot... you may never know when youll be home next...
companies will tell you that you will be home every 3 weeks..
they will tell you they can get you home every other weekend
they will tell you that they promise to get you home when you ask
they will tell you everything they can to make the job sound great just to get you hired on with them.... you have found a great tool here on this webpage to ask everything you have ever wanted to know about trucking... everyone is willing to chime in and give you their own opinion on what they think.. this is just mine..

i too wish you the best of luck and many many safe miles!
s2n..