I am going OTR for a while, what are the essentials and what are the luxuries?

I have a few hundred to spend to make life easier… I have most of the essentials but I’m curious to hear what others advice may be, and as far as organizing clothes, food, dry goods etc, entertaining, anything that might save me money.
I’d appreciate it, thanks all.

 

Few hundred!! You’ll blow that with the first two lot lizards.

 

This is a frequently asked question. Try doing a search, lots of answers!

 

Get yourself one of those bucket toilets for taking a dump if you're parked on a ramp or wherever you need. It's a game changer and they are pretty cheap on amazon.

A good pillow and foam mattress topper if you don't have the best mattress in your sleeper.

Don't forget your shower shoes.

Audiobooks.

 

Rubbers aswell

 

Have a budget, saving for my own truck.

 

A good cell phone 5G capable with unlimited data or 60GB data each month. You can watch movies or play games or play music or podcasts or audio books. I would say cell phone with 256 GB or 512GB storage

 

It depends on what you are already doing each day. A microwave, fridge, or coffee maker can make a big difference if you have the room or use those. Some guys would rather starve to death than EVER eat food not delivered by a waitress or not drink truck stop coffee that taste like a cigarette butt. I like having hot food, coffee, breakfast with me everywhere I went. Sometimes I could find a great place to park with no food/showers nearby. I found being more independent from the truck stop makes more spots a good parking spot.

If you are a reader a Kindle is nice. If you don't have your phone service using Verizon or ATT you probably should. Other networks say they are great, but they may mean within 200 yards of the interstate or only within sight of the top 10 cities. There are providers that use the 2 big networks but charge much less than Verizon or ATT. I use one of them. It's half what Verizon would charge me for unlimited everything.

You might like satellite radio. I listened mostly to podcasts because my tastes run toward religion, documentary, history. I'm allergic to monthly fees so I only had satellite radio as a 6 month free trial with some of my new trucks. Some guys do OTR with little more than some blue jeans, a t-shirt, and a stolen ink pen. I eventually had most of the comforts of home in my trucks. One employer gave is a free satellite TV/DVR setup. That's nice if you sit around a lot.

 

Most of the essential luxuries are going to be company choice. Fridge, APU, decent bunk, etc.

Coffee maker, fridge, and a microwave cuts out a lot of relying on truck stops. Parking at night is a lot less stressful when you can have a decent dinner wherever you park.

When I did 6 weeks out regularly by choice, I had a hotspot, Xbox, and a nice TV. I was able to talk to friends and kill time easily. Verizon hotspot has been great for me — only iffy areas were the PNW.

Besides the whole living in a box thing, you can have most of your home comforts in a truck. If you put some thought and planning into storing everything, you can even have it all without your truck being a cluttered mess.

 

Luxuries?....

• Respect
• A safe, legal, reasonably quiet place to park at the end of your shift
• Competent, professional-grade dispatchers who have any clue as to what life is really like in a truck
• Any sort of genuine so-called "work/life balance"
• Actually getting what is promised when you take/show up for a CDL job
• Finding a truck stop that is (for the most part) clean/maintained--inside & out
• Really good, reasonably-priced (cooked) truck stop food
• A consistently GOOD experience with a recruiter

The above list is BY NO MEANS totally inclusive--but it's a decent start....

-- Lual