Need advice on local trucking

Be sure to consider companies that operate trucks to facilitate their primary business. Contact food and beverage distributors, contractors, manufacturers, warehouse operators, etc. One of my employers was in warehousing and real estate development, but they provide trucking service for their warehouse customers.

http://www.southshorecompanies.com/transportation.php

 

I won't say it's impossible but you have a long line of experienced drivers waiting for an opening so that they can come off the road and be with their families too. Usually local companies don't hire students and require a couple years of over the road driving. Maybe you have a friend or relative in the industry that could hook you up.
If you owned a business and spent $200,000 on a rig would you hire a student driver who has never driven a truck before and has no proven record or driving responsibility or would you hire a driver that has been over the road for a few years, has a proven track record, accident free/clean mvr and has refined their driving to the point of where he/she isn't going to burn through tires and brakes and transmissions? I know who I would hire. Sorry, not trying to be a smarty pants just trying to make a point. I think the recruiters may have embellished a little to get you to sign up for school. However it's not written in stone that it can't happen and some drivers do get lucky. Oh yeah, welcome to the forum.

 

My first job was with the pepsi bottling group which is straight days and local, I have been there 4 yrs

 

There are always jobs in the construction field.. pulling a dump trailer or running a tri axle dump truck with a equipment trailer.. It's all driving , local and gets you experiance... There are usually roll on roll off guys that carry cans around.. lots of haz mat..

Hey, you can join the National Guard or Reserves!! They'll teach you to drive a truck for free!! LOL

Or how about UPS, Mail, FedEx, Coke,Pepsi, or Budweiser?? Maybe WalMart, True Value, or grocery distribution warehouses?? Hit the yellow pages & you'll see some local stuff. Not all local stuff is taken by veterans. I did local and found I worked longer hours at "local" than OTR! Shoot I'd start at 4AM be on way to work by 5AM, find truck, hookup trailer, do pretrip.. Hit the road around 5:30AM or so maybe 5:45AM cause I had to be at 1st drop by 7AM 30mi. away (back roads).. So I would be there about 15min. early... okay, drive your butt off all day getting 13 drops off (no stopping for lunch.. You ate that "on the fly"). I would finish up 150mi away from the terminal at 4:30 - 5PM then bounce back in heavy traffic pull into yard around 7 - 8PM drop trailer in door, refuel and park truck go home be there around 9PM Then do it all over again tommorow!!

Hauling asphault (dump trucks) wasn't easier.. You worked till the job was done.. 15, 16, 18 hr days being normal.

I found it a heck of a lot easier to be on the road.. A lot less stressful, BUT ya got to have a understanding family...

 

Try the LTL companies in the area. Everyone will tell you it's impossible to get hired by one with little or no experience but it's not. Just apply and see what happens - every large LTL carrier has a decent sized operation in your area..