Night driving jobs?

Freight companies run line haul at night. Truth be known driving at night isn't going make much difference in accidents the way I see it. Drunks,visibility,animals are some of the things you contend with. If it's going to happen it will. Drive safe,drive legal is your best bet.

 

My friend Mike drives locally for Coca-cola here in El Paso and he operates between 10pm and 8am delivering bulk product to the Walmarts in the area.

 

A lot of road construction happens at night as well and the most inconvenient kind like closed exits and detours.

 

Alot of overnite express companies operate at night

 

As do many other trucks.

 

You'll likley need experience to get driving jobs, like mine, with regular schedules. You get to drive at night because the freight is on a schedule other than OTR.

I've been drivign exclusively nights for over 10 years and it's the way to go. Yes, I've never seen any drunks or wrong-way drivers during the days and seen several of each at night. But, the big advantage at night is there is so much less traffic you can actually maneuver rather than being a sitting duck, hemmed in by surrounding traffic.

I've always been a night owl so driving nights fits me better than day. But night offers much, much less traffic. Many fewer phone interruptions from the boss. Daytime bosses are always on the verge of making decisions and switching things around because some shipper/receiver makes a screw up. At night far more schedule items are on put on autopilot because the daytime bosses don't think night people will make the right decision. Everything outside of the truck driving is more difficult if you are driving nights. Your sleep is screwed up and meeting up with normal people is a problem. The last thing a rookie needs is another reason to be driving with too little rest.

But the truth is you need to seek out the difficult driving and those items you are fearful of so you can learn the skills. If you avoid the difficult items early you will fear them too much even later.

 

Exactly the way I see it. For me, running at night is so much better than running in the daylight hours.

Many scales are closed and much of the law enforcement will have other things to do than worry about a big truck heading down the road.

Not only is the traffic on the interstates that much lighter, but if you can make it to your destination town before people get up to go to work, it makes managing those small streets all that much easier. Huge difference between manuevering through a small town in heavy traffic and when you are the only vehicle on the road. Especially true when you are having to do whatever stupid move is needed to back up to a dock off the road.

Also helps when you are one of the first ones to show up for your delivery and don't have to wait for others in front of you. Also makes you one of the first on the list for a load when you are done.

Finally, it puts you in the truckstop when it is empty. Never have to worry about finding parking when you are there when everyone else in on the road. Only downside to this is that it will be hotter in the summer when you are trying to sleep, so this might not work well for those companies that value a little fuel burned over your preventing heatstroke.


However, I do have to agree that this might not be the best schedule for someone new to the industry. Not only can it be tough to get your body to sleep during the day, it can be even tougher to stay awake while working a 14 hour day through the middle of the night. Might be best saved until your body is used to the OTR lifestyle, and even then still may not be a good idea for everyone depending on what kind of schedule your body will accept.

 

Just about all shift work has driving shifts at night. Gasoline runs around the clock and everyday of the year. But you need to work yourself up into these better working jobs. The best way to find a company that will give you what you want is to get out there and find them. Don't go by the computer to fill online appilcations because you'll only be a name. You can find the industrial part of town and go in there and talk with the people. Ask them what it will take if you find a good company and follow their advice. You never know until you try. I have seen companies hire right on the spot with no experience and that was hauling gasoline. There's a few good luck stories on this sites how the drivers went to the smaller companies and got good jobs. So you never know,but you've got to do the legwork.