Is trucking right for me if I only want 40 hours?

I'm basically a forklift driver that pulls a set for a few hours each night - it's by choice but only 7 of my 11-12 hours are actually driving. Call it what you will but I'm much more concerned with what work allows me to do while I'm away from it rather than what I'm doing while I'm there.. Since seniority has it's privileges, I don't mind work either because I was able to choose this run from many different options..

 

nobody on this site except walleye and jakebrake talk about LTL at all.....all these students come here and get told that its impossible to get a LTL job with no experience

well i work for a LTL company and i didnt have any experience and im a driver now...and a few other guys there never drove before, they started on the dock

you might have to start on the dock before you can drive but its worth it to me, i get to go home everyday

 

My son has class A CDL from Smith Solomon, but didn't want to go OTR with Werner,he got hired last month by a beer distributer for $13 per hour,plus commission on any cases over 300(union warehouse with complete benies).His hours are 6 AM-2PM if he finishes his route early he goes home and gets 8HRS pay,anything over 2pm is time and a half.Senior drivers get first pick of the routes,they usually take the big box warehouse deliveries that are done by forklift,some of them are done with their route and on their way home in 4hours,with a full days pay.If they sign up for a second route they can double their pay for that day.It's hard work loading and delivering but a good job for a young guy(he can buy cases of beer for $5, close to expiration that he sells to friends for $15,won't sell to minors.)

 

If a guy will sell stale beer to friends, he will sell to a minor...

 

If I was your kid I'd slap the wax out of your ears for telling the DOTers and ATF That I'm bootleggin'. Real smart!

 

You need to face that fact that there are very few truck driving jobs that will only be a 40 hour week. I'm not saying there are not any, just that they will be few and far between.

I think you need to decide if you want to work a forty hour week, or if you want a driving job.

Even the beverage distributors in a lot of areas are going to run you 50-60 hours, and a they may well not pay by the hour, but by commission. You really need to check with ones in YOUR area to see what they are currently doing.

As far as standard freight LTL, if you would be lucky enough to find anything right now, they might be just running forty hours. But once the economy picks up, they will kick those hours up to whatever is needed, (hopefully within the law.)

 

I'm one of them, been driving for a year and half now. Never been OTR, well besides they would ask to run here and there and stay up in a hotel.

 

I worked for a liquor distributor for 12 years,...I was a decent way to make a living,......

 

I started trucking in a concrete truck,old 2 stick Mack with no air except what came in thru the window. That first summer was real busy, 10-12 hrs a day, I thought it gonna kill me. This is after coming from a desk job doing 8 hrs a day.
I hated having to crawl through that hole in the back to hammer the fins to get the concrete build up knocked off. Plenty of room once you are inside, but squeezing through that hole sucked.

 

Allot of the local construction company's, dump, concrete, local materials flat delivery etc. Really do not want people with OTR experience.
I worked for quite a few years in these local fields and was asked to train drivers several times.
Some of these were new guys that just got a CDL. Most of them learned fast and worked well.
Some were OTR guys with a few years experience coming off the road. These guys were a pain in the rear to train. Many did not want to work, and could not shift a Mac, Ford, Diamond Rio, etc to save there lives.
If you as a company take the chance to train the person and take them on, they normally really appreciate it and stay on as a long term worker. They feel more connected to the company that gave them a chance as well.
The pay may or may not be as good as OTR. It really depends on the type of work and the company.
Construction type work mixer, dump. Normally are hourly. They are quite a bit of work and long hours. Depending on your area they start from 8.00-12.00 an hour.
I never worked driving for less than 9.00 and that was in 1991 in Maryland.
In Florida in 1993 or so I started at a trash company for 12.00
When I got back to Maryland after close to a year down there I was back to the old company at 12.00. Up to 14.00 2 years later.
Now they hire in that are with experience for 20.00

In the area I live now dump drivers start at 10.00, mixer drivers at 11-12. Unless you have exp, then you can get more.
Fuel haulers are 14-16 an hour to start here.
Hope that gives you some idea on pay. All areas are different and it depends on cost of living in your area.