Looks like CRST wants to bring me on.

They will definitely get you home! It maybe every three months but they will get you home! Especially if you are running teams, you will be quite a lot longer than a solo driver. However you will be making a lot of $$$ in doing so!

Living in Florida is definitely a pain in the ### for an otr driver! When my wife and I were running owner operator we actually used to leave our truck in Atlanta when we came home because it was a lot cheaper and easier!

One way around this is to get a job driving for a company like Armellini. They are a floral company and all the their loads originate out of Florida. They also usually only run out 5-7 days at a time because once the truck is empty they grab a load and come back to Florida so that they can get another floral load. These are probably 95% team runs though. Personally I would recommend driving for them because you can make EXTREMELY good money! You not only get paid by the mile but you also get paid per stop and they can sometimes have 30-50 stops! When I first started driving I ran for a company called Stansell and they were exactly like Armellini. I was easily taking home around $1200 a week! Plus I was home all the time due to the short trips. Usually ran two runs back to back and then had 4 or 5 days off. During my time off I could drive local if I wanted to make extra money. Most of the flowers come out of Miami and they local drivers would go from North Central Florida (20 miles Northwest of Daytona) to Miami everyday. When they brought the loads up from Miami to the Pierson terminal they would combine it with the cut greens and fern and send the truck out from there with a team. Was nice because we never had to wait to get our load. We just showed up to work, did our pretrip and took off! Most of the back hauls were already pre-arranged also so there was really no down time. They really needed to get that truck back in time for another run so everything was mostly preplanned pretty well.

There are many other companies like Armellini that run the same type of runs out of Florida. A lot of them require experience though because of the places you go. Kind of like local over the road driving. You don't really deliver to many docks or warehouses. Most places are stores, flower shops etc... Most places aren't mean't for a tractor trailer. Definitely makes a good driver out of you! Some places you go you really have to be creative to get into!

Other companies like Armellini; Bonus, Peninsula, DTL, LCT, Honey etc... Most of them are smaller mom and pop companies.

Check them out if it sounds like something you maybe interested in...

 

Unfortunately, in this business you just have to find out for yourself. You can take information from people who have been there, but they might be disgruntled and what didn't work for them, might work for you. You're also going to find out that most recruiters have goals they have to meet and will tell you just about anything to get you to bite. Give it a shot, you might just like it. If it doesn't work, at least you're getting some experience. Just keep in mind, too much switching around can look bad on a resume, but sometimes you have to move around to find something that works. Good Luck.