is local worth it ?

My feelings exactly. When i was OTR back in the 70's, i dreamed about the job i have now: Being able to make and keep appointments, Eat at home, sleep at home, go shopping after work if needed , work on Hobbies or my house, have pets etc. In other words, have a life! There is no Cents per mile, per diem, or windshield time that will ever Lure me into living life on the Hiway. As far as pay goes, good luck trying to compare an LTL drivers pay per hour spent in the cab versus OTR pay. Thats why most OTR outfits have a revolving door at their comapnies. Come and go, come and go. Same old same old!

 

couldnt agree more, being able to sleep in my own bed, eat at home, build my cars, drag racing, quadding, volunteer fd, and hanging with friend. I couldnt imagine being OTR and only being home every few weeks for a few days. Yes Some nights I get home way too late and all I do is shower, eat and sleep, but there are days I am home at about 5pm. If I get put onto line-haul which I might I will have 6 days on 2 off, will lose my weekends but will still have time off

 

Not every driver is suited to local P & D, just as not every driver is suited to OTR. Now I live and worked in a (relatively) rural area. So I really liked the local P & D. We were small enough that everyone knew everyone, (which of course can be a double-edged sword,) but big enough to have good wages and benefits. I made more money local, than I ever did OTR. Of course I worked a whole lot harder for it.

I liked the varied work that we did. Numerous sizes of trailers, and numerous types of loads.

Never found I was bored with "the same old run," because we covered a large geographical area. Our main dock was a decent size cross dock which was easy to work. There were enough of us there to get the job done, although the work was hard and the hours long.

But we also had a one man dock in a more rural area. I never would have wanted that guys job. You get the line haul in, break the freight out, load your own truck, then do your deliveries. Then back to the dock, load out again and go again. I did work that dock some of the time, but usually just for part of the day.

The company was a decent size regional freight company, along with a fuel hauling division. I never worked the fuel side, nor had any desire to.

But I did like to be home at night, and I liked my weekends and holidays off. Never had a problem in guessing if I would be home for a particular holiday or stuck clear across the country.

 

I sleep in my own bed next to my wife every night. I shower in my own clean bathroom and I poop in my own clean toilet. The only way I'd want to trade those things for an OTR paycheck is if that paycheck netted me six figures yearly and the first number in those six figures was at least a 2.

 

Long or short, home or away, I like it all.

 

yea well being home is for sure beats the heat out of showering in a nasty shower or eating really bad food specially when my wife can cook lol . but i like the fact i have a family life leaving can take a load out west if i want and i can just work 12 hours be home same day its all on me. but i usually get the itch if i stay home to long and dont go to far and i have to take a load somewhere for some reason. i guess part of it just being in your blood . but i notice when im out of the road for a while its a pain to keep up on the house ya know the hunny dew list getting pretty long at that point lol so i guess i have a between operation which is kinda nice in some cases specially come the slow season.

 

Its not about the money. I have done both and OTR does not make more money than local, in fact my experience it pays less.

I haul powder bulk products to Cement plants, glass plants, oil refineries, and scrap yards. Works is steady, pay averages 52 to 70 k.

Tractor and trailers parks at my home, leave around midnight back home by 11:00. I set my own schedule I can leave between 23:00 and 5:00 I like running while most are sleeping and there are few CHP lurking about. Off most weekends. And all holidays

The Tractor is a 2011 Cascadia, 16 detroit, 13 speed, Air Ride Steer and drive axle and cab. Its quiet inside, lots of power, ride better than my Z28. Really tough to take.

Trade for sleeping in a truck, showering in a truckstop, no way.......

I know of several jobs in the area that pay more, but it would mean commuting and I like parking at home.

 

To each his own. Some like women with dark hair. Some with Blonde hair. Some like automatics. Some like manual. Some want to be underneath a woman all day. Some want their space. As long as you are happy that's all that counts. Roll on highway. Roll On.

 

Believe me , i definitly agree with you.

 

I've been driving local out of Chicago for 7 yrs now. I work 8-12 hours and then home every night. On average 50 hours a week and bring home 1000-1100 gross. Every time I start to get strapped down with bills and rent I start looking at otr jobs again but every time I do I can't find anything that will make me more money then I do now.