Good question

It looks like you've already made your decision but for the benefit of other newbies with the same question I would recommend doing OTR for one year with the plan of looking for a local gig after that if you desire that.

Traveling on your own dime is very expensive and limiting travel to one or two weeks a year on what most people are allotted in vacation leaves about 99% of the country unexplored. You only live once on this earth once so I'd cut your teeth in a sleeper cab and try to see the sights on your restarts. Take lots of pictures and do all you can to make memories and document your travels. If you take advantage of all your opportunities you will experience more of this country than 99% of the general public. New drivers often look at OTR as a prison sentence on their way to a better local job. If you look at it as an opportunity that few people get you will enjoy your time much better. Unfortunately too many drivers miss out on capitalizing on their OTR time. I drove OTR 3 years before I started playing tourist. I regret that I didn't do this from the getgo and now that I am local I miss that aspect.

As far as the $10/hr comments I believe that opinion is based on the fact that if you enter the local driving market with 1 year of OTR experience with a clean record you will have a much bigger pool of opportunities in the local driver market. More choices often result in more good options and better paying options. The actual pay rate whether it is $10/hr $15 or $20/hr will depend on several factors including driver availability, local economy, demand, cost of living, geographical region, other factors such as personal work record, references,driving record, health, physical demands of job, etc. But more experience always beats less experience provided your experience is relevant and reflects a good record.

 

I paid for my own driving school and worked for a meat packing plant for 10 months before going over the road. JB Hunt didn't care about my local experience when they hired me from that job.

So I went out with a trainer who had been driving SIX MONTHS. (Six months TOTAL driving experience)- I had to show him how to back, how to float gears, how to read maps, how to adjust brakes and do a proper PTI, and a few other important things he should have known before he started training.

He had just retired from the USAF. When he was finished training me, he quit and chased another career.

Frankly, big companies need warm bodies to deliver freight. In the front door, out the back door. The working drivers are only a computer screen of numbers and statistics to them, faceless, nameless and useless unless those statistics are on time and delivering loads. They hardly care how you present yourself, personally or professionally.

If you don't mind being a faceless, mindless animal in their herd collecting their paychecks for being the tool that drives their equipment, it's OK.

If you have pride in your job, look for a company that hires proud professionals and recognizes them. If you want to start on the bottom rung like some of us and work your way up, that's OK too. Maximize your career by partnering with people that respect your efforts, don't get used and thrown away like a statistic.

 

That's sad. It looks like we can add J.B.Hunt to the list of bad companies where you'll get bad experience. There should be some regulations in place to prevent this because you the new driver are the ones that are going to suffer.

 

Was your post intended for a different thread? I'm not seeing how it is relevant to the original poster's query. He asked for feedback for whether or not he should do OTR before taking a local job. As best I can tell your reply does very little in addressing this issue. Your post appears to be a soapbox sermon concerning big companies versus small companies as well as a vendetta against a former employer in which you had a bad experience what? over 20 years ago? Maybe instead of hi-jacking threads to suit your purposes maybe you should seek some counseling. It's been over 20 years if I'm reading this right and you're still so miffed you're posting details about it in places it has no relevancy? Apparently this method of therapy hasn't been very effective for you.

 

His profile shows he's been a trucker 22 years and he is relating a bad experience from when he was a student driver.

Gashauler I would think you are wise enough to realize companies can change over the course of two decades. Some change for the better, some change for the worse and some don't change much at all. But I wouldn't jump to any conclusions about a potential current situation based upon a story from 22 years ago. And a story that is posted in a thread that has almost nothing to do with his response is clearly coming from a bitter person that is unable to move on with his life so I'd have to take it with a grain of salt. If he wants to dog his employer over an event that happened two decades ago then he should vent of the JB bash threads or the big company bash threads. But to spew his bad feelings on random threads? That is rather revealing more about the poster than the company or group of companies he is targeting.

 

How do you know he didn't go to a refresher course? It's you that looks like you're jumping to conclusions. Besides that I never heard of a company using a driver with 6 months experience 22 years ago. That doesn't mean it didn't happen I just never heard of it. Stick around you'll see a lot of postings change subjects, some good some bad.

 

I got my class B 1st and got my class A all from local jobs.. and still runing local with Pepsi as a bulk/transport driver M-F 4:30 am to 5pm makeing on the avg of 1100 a week... dont seem to bad to me.. but i do find if funny that i hit docks all day long.. and a OTR co would not hire me.. but who needs it when your runing local already..

 

roadkill- you sound like a frustrated Psyche Major. Maybe you can give me some counseling?

 

Neither frustrated (strike one) nor a psych major (strike two) and no I am not qualified to counsel you (strike three).

You worked at JB for 5.5 years isn't that what you said in another thread? But you were turned off from the getgo by an unqualified trainer. And you stayed more than 5 years after that?

For some reason I think there is more to the story concerning your time at JB than you are telling us....

I don't know anything other than what you claim to be true in your posts but the pieces are starting to shape up into the same formula I see time and time again.

I can't say with any certainty if this applies to you or not but......

1. Driver gets job with trucking company.
2. Works for said trucking company for a substantial (>2 years) amount of time.
3. Driver does something reckless, stupid or against company policy
4. Driver gets fired as a result of his own poor judgement
5. Driver holds grudge against company and does all he can to discredit and bash his former employer. After all it would take a mature human being to own up to one's mistakes and move on.

Maybe I'm off base here as I haven't taken a psychology class since college in 1988 but I've seen this same scenario played out time and time again so the red flags are getting easier to spot.

If you want to show me how far off base I am perhaps you want to explain:

A. If you were put off so bad during training why did you stay over 5 years after training?

B. Why you feel the need to bring up JB on multiple threads regardless of topic.

C.How many years has it been since you left JB.

D. What were the details and reasons for your leaving JB

If you aren't hiding anything I would imagine these questions could be answered rather quickly and without remorse or regret. If you want to get better, the first step is to come clean.