"Home Daily directly out of school? Is this realistic?

I worked for Tankstar for 5 years and they did hire new cdl grads at the terminal where I was.

 

There is a small Alcohol Distribution inside the core of Taneytown Maryland that might suit you. You will have probably a 25 minute run to get there via Walkersville and Keymar. Be in a suit if you go talk to these people.

I considered Frederick Maryland home base for the entire Country when we had the 76 there back in the day after I graduated from the MSD a few blocks north on Patrick St.

You have DM Bowman Flatbedding off English Muffin Way south of town a mile and half or so to two miles. They run 250 miles radius, you generally left there by 3 am to make first delivery at 8 am.

If you go to NC, keep in mind there is a difference in society down there. For example if you end up near Raliegh you will understand it's mostly college medical related for example.

When the truckstop was buried by the then new Costco, that took out one of the major reasons left to remain in that area. After that, Arkansas presented me with a opportunity to build a future. Well, I have built it and how.

Hahn transportation newmarket to your east will be where it's at across from the Scotland Shop on top of the first big pull off 144 into downtown. You have either bulk, stone or gasoline etc. Generally load out of Linekiln or Blue Circle Camden Baltimore at the seaport complex. Lehigh Union Bridge is the other loading point. Generally they closed a 200 year old quarry and I think are opening a second 5 miles away by conveyor belt to keep the mill going.

Genstar east frederick is a quarry for stone as well. There should still be a mountain of rock going god knows where one bucket truck at at time.

 

There are tons of local jobs. Question would be. What are their hiring requirements. If you can drive a truck. And they usually give a road test if you're a newbie cdl holder.

Construction needs dump truck drivers. Dairies need milk hauled. Refineries need oil hauled. Food plants need their liquid waste hauled away. And they need product brought in to make the food. Someone has to haul gas and diesel. Business's need their dumpsters emptied.

There's a wide range of jobs that will have you home every night. Besides what's mentioned here. Some jobs have long shifts. Some jobs are strict to the 60/7 hos.

 

OP, it seems to me that your priorities are finding a good career but caring for your family first. So, before responding, I did some googling on the job growth outlook over the next 6 years for welders. Here's what I found:

The percentage of growth by industry is:

Ornamental and architectural 20%
Heavy gauge manufacturing 27%
Support for oil and Gas 23%
Commercial building 14%,
Ship building & repairing 14%
Oil & Gas field machinery 21%
Sheet metal 18%

I'd say that looks pretty good. I also looked for welding jobs in and around Conway, SC and there were 200+ listings and wages seemed to average around $20 / hr. A full time 40 hr week would gross $41,600/year.

Son, you would be lucky to earn much more than that with your CDL in your first year or two, working 70+ hours a week and hardly ever seeing that newborn or your wife. You start as low man on the totem pole getting the crap jobs that no one else wants. It can be high stress, dangerous, and thankless. There is money in trucking, but it doesn't come early and it doesn't come without great personal and family sacrifice.

So, I'm going to agree with Mr. Ridgeline on post #11 and recommend that at this place in your life, you stick with welding. You certainly seem like a hard-working, responsible young man and now is the time to build the foundation for your family. Trucking can come later.

Best of luck to you, whatever you decide. And congratulations on the wife and child!

 

I don't really see how running local is better than OTR. OTR, you eat fast food a lot, work in adverse conditions, work long hrs, sleep in random spots. Local, you eat fast food a lot work in adverse conditions, work long hrs, get home long enough to sleep, and sleep in your bed next your wife. Your too tired for adult activities or pillow talk. Either way will lead to a disgruntled wife at times. Then when you get a day off, you're just recovering to go back to work. At least when you get home from OTR, you can get a string of days off in a row if you desire that

 

I worked for them when they were Unionized 24 yrs ago. They have the Freight and overtime always. Used to anyways. They are a lot bigger than most people realize. The Companies they Created include US Truck -McKinley - Titan -Mohawk- Pam- Universal- Tennessee Steel Haulers- Linc- FSS- the list goes on and on. Central is privately held and will probably remain that way forever. They will work the You good.That would be a great place to start as they don’t nitpick or play games. They will fire you and refuse to give you a reason if you don’t earn your way. I did good there. 42 k at $14.72 an hour 60 hrs a week sometimes in 4 days back then had weekends and we’d off for a few months. It was a good fit for me at the time was in similar situation as You

 

There sure are a lot of local versus OTR threads lately.

 

You're right. Also, for many of us, punching a time clock or doing local work is so stressful that we can't really enjoy being home to the extent we should. We need the open road and solitude to get our thoughts in order and do some reflection. We're all different and must do what's best in our own life. To be blunt, if I'd been stuck in a rut in a local job, whether it be trucking or anything else, probably would have jumped off a cliff years ago.