Local driver hours in a day expectation

The only type of trucking that could remotely give you a 8 -10 hour day would be LTL or dump truck. Trucking has too many variables that will extend your day beyond 10 hours - breakdowns, traffic, weather- being held up at a shipper or receiver. If you need a 10 hour day job, trucking is not it!

 

@Chinatown

 

I don't know about the hours with this one; you'll have to ask.
~
Florida Rock Tank Lines (floridarockandtanklines.com)
Alafaya, FL
$73,000 - $75,000 a year

• CDL Student Graduates/Apprentices with no experience accepted from approved truck driving school programs for non-hazmat Dry Bulk positions
• You must have a Class A CDL with Tanker (N) and Hazmat (H) or a combination (X) endorsement or the ability to obtain these endorsements
  

 

My first driving job was LTL linehaul. It was 11 or 12 hours, five nights a week
The P&D guys were about 10 hours. Depending on what's available when you start, maybe you can begin with P&D. Or you can start with linehaul, and try to shift over when they rebid. And like was said, a breakdown or other delay is always a possibility. So if you need to get home to walk the dog, you'll need backup.

 

Are you the sole caregiver? If your partner works days and you do linehaul at night, it might be OK. You'll be waking up when your daughter gets home from school, spend some time together, then fsmily dinner before you go to work. My kids were already grown and out of the house when I started, but I had colleagues who did that, and felt it worked out well for their families.

 

Trying to pick a shift that works for you when your fresh fish…..is like playing the lotto. Goodluck.

 

New to the CDL world?

11 hours, or less?

You need an office job.....

-- L

 

It varies a lot from what type of driving you're doing to which company you work for. I've heard that beverage delivery drivers can have 8-10 hour days, but that's if they work themselves hard to get finished fast. They typically leave early in the morning with all their product and they're finished when everything is delivered. That could be 11 in the morning or 8 at night. You can't predict it.

With that said, I wouldn't recommend going into trucking if you aren't open to at least a few 12+ hour shifts per week. There's more flexibilty in the industry when it comes to the total number of hours and days you work in a week, but long days are the norm. I've seen jobs where you work 4 on 2 off every week. I've also seen ones where you work 2 week schedules with 2 days off one week followed by 3 off the next. But all of those had 12-14 hour days.