I'm not loco for going local am I?

Still sounds better than most otr drivers to me. A lucky otr driver will get a 10 a the house each week

 

I won't disagree with you, But there is a trade off. I would have to have two days off. This is a pretty good discussion of Local vs OTR vs other types of work.-

 

I work 5 days a week in the winter, but they are all 14 hours and up. Usually over a 70 hour week. In the summer, it’s 14 hour days with Saturday’s being truly driver optional. But in the summer we also take home about 33-3400 every two weeks

 

Local is nice in that you do sleep in your own bed each night, eat your home cooked meals, etc. The trade off is that a lot of local jobs will burn your clock up. We have runs every day that are up to 640 miles in 65 mph trucks. You also spend more in gas driving back and forth every day, and you get less sleep with a wife and kids at home, that I can guarantee.

If I was single, I would probably go back to OTR or regional because the 4-5 hour sleep days to get up early and meet all my obligations gets old.

 

I don’t really think there is anything bad about it. I live in Northern California, so wages can be low around here. But there are still plenty of jobs that pay pretty well. Growing up here I would notice places I might want to work later on in life. One thing I like is that I know this area like the back of my hand. No need for maps or gps or anything like that.

 

@Hawkeye212,

Sounds like you are cut out for local then. My dad has been driving since 1969 and is still running hard probably until he turns 70. I get my work ethic from him too. People like that are becoming rare these days.

 

Let's be fair here. Your predictions may or may not be accurate. Depending on what kind of local work he would be doing he could end up working 50 hours a week and rarely see a Saturday.

There are a lot of different kinds of local accounts. I don't have any loads on the weekends because the customer I service most of the time doesn't do any weekend loads. There's another account I pickup at occasionally and, while they can be done on a weekend, I have never had to do one of those runs.

Saying "Local will run you to 59 hours, 59 minutes every week" ignores the fact that local usually services a customer, or customers, that have their own schedules and regular routines.
Companies that run local tend to assign drivers to cover the loads necessary and make it routine. And they need to build slack into the schedule because if you run out of hours 50 miles from the barn, you can't really just jump in the sleeper, grab your 10 and finish up the next day.

An OTR dispatcher is constantly scrambling to employ the trucks they are responsible for. Locals tend to prefer a set it and forget it approach because they can, that means building in some slack to the route.

The loads you haul are generally predictable and you will usually be given a regular route to do. It may be the same one every day, or a different one for each day of the week. But you will generally know at the beginning of the week what it will look like. It all depends on what the company you work for does and who they service.

And, lastly, not all local gigs are urban LTL, which is sorta the stereotypical image that you may think of. That is definitely a grind.

The variety is mind boggling when you think about it. So you really can't say "It will be this way."

 

Apparently I have hit the jackpot........No commute........my longest day is about 12 hours........have not worked a saturday in 2 years............I have a guarantee salary per week(have only had to use it once because we are paid %).............No bennies(luckily I can ride on the wifes policy) and during our busy season(winter) I might have to sleep in the truck one night a week.................Only way I will EVER consider anything remotely described as OTR,my wife will have to come along,and she aint even entertaining that idea!!! Local allllllll the way!!!!