Newbie here, dedicated routes....

Your chances are directly dependent on your company and where you live. If your company has a busy freight lane in the area in which you live and not enough drivers to cover it, then you stand a pretty good chance of getting a run that would put you home more.

Mind you, the friend I mentioned in my previous post didn't make as much money as I made in my first year as a driver. But, he was home with his wife and 6 kids which was important to him.

 

The reason that it might be available to a new driver is that it might not be the most financially lucrative route they have, and for folks who have dealt with the so called "dedicated" routes and deals before, they may want nothing to do with it. Remember, the word dedicated here is being used to sell something, and it may not be as good of a deal as it appears on the outside. And, whenever any company has to ramp up to take care of new business, they have to reach into the pool of drivers and find people to service that business. If they don;t have local drivers doing th work, they have to route trucks in and out from other areas to handle it, and that costs more in fuel and other costs than it does to have a locally based crew.

 

I have to agree with the Flour Power (Burky)--check what kind of "dedication" you will be dedicating yourself to in this 'dedicated' scheme.

There is a good reason why drivers are needed at this DC, and it's the same ol' reason I've given for a lot of what you see in trucking, at least on the driver side--the job SUCKS. I'm sounding like a broken record, but you're new to the site.

I remember a Crete driver here (I believe his name was 'mycorky') was ######## about the loads at the Wally Mart DC in Sterling, Illinois not too long ago. What he had to say wasn't good. He did it once and quit Crete when they tried to run him through it all again. Look for his posts here. Do a search for "crete wal mart sterling". Read carefully before leaping. What he has to say will tell you why they need a whole new pool of fresh fools. He quit Crete over the problems there when it was actually the DC that was causing his grief.

 

Hey "truckergrl", i dont no how my in-put can help here, but Im currently in school, 2 weeks left, cant wait!!!, but anyway, iv been in school for 6 months, and i have met a lot of drivers that came through and talked to us, and the #1 thing that everyone said to me was " danm, i wish i was in your shoes today, no kids, no wife, no major payments. your lucky, you need to do the * 5 year plan *, 5 years otr, then, when the 5 years are up decide from there where you want to go, o/o, continue otr, reg, ded " im going to start out with 2 years otr, see how i like it, and if i like where i am, the money im making and so on, then im going to concider o/o, but we will see in 2 years,
you said your single, no kids, you would be wise to concider doing some otr for a year or 2, after that 1 or 2 year mark passes then a whole new door opens up for you, you have more choices as to what path you want to take.
just my thoughts, and im passing on what other vets have told me.
Best of Luck with you,
im hoping to go to Maverick, seem like a really good company

 

Dedicated can mean different things depending on the type of account. I ran the Family Dollar dedicated account when I worked for BoWevil Express. We ran out of West Memphis DC to all the stores served by that DC. We ran the South, west to New Mexico and as far north as South Dakota and the UP in Mich. I ran a General Motors dedicated route with Rush Trucking. I picked up at the same shippers every other day and delivered to the GM plant in OK City. See the difference, dedicated account, dedicated route.

 

If its dedicated out of a Walmart DC then its just going to the Walmarts in the area that DC services. Maybe a few backhauls for the DC but thats about it. I run out of a Walmart DC and the only places I go is.. well Walmart. I am dedicated to Walmart, so thats all I do..

 

Dedicated routes are great if you want some order in you driving. But, I don't really care for them because I get tired of the same trucks stops, diners, scenery. I enjoy variety, especially when you work for the smaller carriers and can choose your own routes. For instance, I had a dispatch from Seattle to Phoenix and chose to go the extra miles and travel through Zion National Park. It was beautiful and I treasure the experience, one I would probably never have had otherwise. It makes me cringe to hear drivers say, "I run the I-5 corridor." Nothing at all of interest from Mexico to well up in Northern Calif., even then, from No. Calif. to Canada gets old pretty quick.

It's all about what rings your bell, the best run, be it linehaul, longhaul, dedicated, or regional (my favorite). It all comes down to you, and likewise, there's a paycheck waiting for you at the end of the week and after all is said and done, ain't that the reason we do it? Good luck, where ever the road takes you.

 

The best way to work "WalMart Dedicated" is put in 3 years and go to work for WalMart's Private Fleet. My Dad is a driver for them and he says they pay well, but you've gotta work for it.

Good luck either way!
Russ