Getting into the Trucking Industry from Massachusetts

OP. You need to figure out if you wanna be home or not. I read the part about your dog. If you go local LTL, you'll be working 10+ hours on the P&D side every day. If you run linehaul, you might be asked to initially run 3-4 days a week and stay in hotels - you will not be able to bring your dog. This is a realistic scenario.

Basically you need to figure out what you want. Maximize your home time and income? Hard to beat LTL. I went linehaul right out of private school and never looked back. 70k easy your first year in linehaul.

ODFL has terminals in Worcester and Boston. Not sure how close you are. You've also got Providence. You can go to odfl.com and under Tools, find the Service Center section. Location for terminals by zip codes available. Don't just fill out an online app. Call the terminal manager or linehaul manager to follow up. I was recruited out of trucking school so I already had an open invitation. Call them by phone, don't hesitate.

 

mack0244 I didn't see your response ... right above mine.

I've been to all the terminals in New England, and WOR (Worcester) has an awesome terminal manager, if he's still there. As far as paying out of pocket for your CDL, I paid 5k and had it paid off within a few months with how well ODFL pays. Obviously I'd recommend ODFL over any other LTL for the same reasons I went with them, but Fed Ex Freight and SAIA are other good alternatives.

I know that out of HAR (Carlisle, which is the northeast break bulk terminal), we have just added more runs to service freight, and a few of those meet WOR drivers. They might be in a current hiring phase if you wanna run linehaul. Otherwise, I do think they have more P&D drivers.