Opinions on OTR vs Home Daily?

I like a good mix. Meaning one week I can go long and the next week stay around my area and be home every night if I want or take a 2 night trip and be home and go 2 more then have a weekend off then leave early Sunday for a long trip. But long to me is home on the 7th day. Usually 6 days and I'm getting to my break point and I got to get home.

 

A lot of local jobs can't match the pay of OTR or regional.
I run regional . Most trips are 2 or 3 days with dedicated trailers . Just about all. My restarts are at home .
There are no local jobs that could come close to what I make .

 

When I started out my first year I ran 7 months OTR and regional and the rest has been a dedicated run that gets me home daily. I think every new driver should have to go OTR or regional for at least the few couple months to learn skills you can't learn going to the same place everyday. Lord knows I did. I like my current run. Not a fan of the hours but they work for us. Luckily my run is over 2600 miles a week so I don't make much less than running out but it can get boring.

IMO I'd think the breaking points are what's going on at home that your missing (or think your missing) and how happy you are at your current employer. A lot of times it just seems that people are looking for that magical perfect job and and very few find it and just give up.

 

I wish I could do an overnight or a two day run every once in a while. But it's not going to happen. The company pays for meals and lodging. Since i've been here, I have had one overinght trip and it was fun. They paid for the best western motel and dinner that night. They also paid for breakfast and lunch the next day.

I love working Monday thru Friday but an occasional overnighter would be great too.

 

I trained to get my CDL to work SPECIFICALLY in the energy sector, never had any intentions of going OTR and don't plan on it ever. I do have some insight into this issue though. I've run into plenty of truckers who have left OTR because the companies they worked for promised to get them home and kept them out for long periods of time with no intention of honoring the "get home monthly" statement. Now those drivers work on local routes and get home every night. Most of the drivers I talk to who left OTR say they will not go back. Some have even relocated to other parts of America, left their homes behind and rent a place so they can work a local gig.

At my local route job delivering condensate from an area within 100 miles I have run into two types of former OTR drivers...

Type A OTR driver thinks everyone should drive OTR first thing out of CDL school. These guys have trouble following orders on local route jobs like crude/water hauling because they are use to getting from point A to point B by their own design. OTR they sleep when they chose to sleep to some degree and they run the hours they decide to run, again to a certain degree. They are "free spirits" and do not like having a boss looking over their shoulder. On the local route job they are told what time to arrive to work, what time to depart the yard, when to stage, when to wash the truck. Do you see where I am going with this? The local gig isn't a big adventure like running OTR across America and from what I am seeing, some drivers just can't adapt from that OTR freedom mentality.

Type B OTR driver thinks OTR was fun while it lasted (maybe) but they feel like they hit a jackpot with the local route job. Sure they are told what to do more and they have the boss there looking over their shoulder more often, but they are happy to have the time at home every night with their family and pets. Plus a lot of them make more money than OTR!

I've seen drivers on our local route gig leave to go drive somewhere else, usually for better pay but I don't know of one that left to go back out OTR. I can tell you I would have to run about 3500-4000 miles a week OTR to make the kind of money I am making now on this local gig. I feel like I would have to work harder at being healthy OTR than being local (I like to eat healthy and work out at the gym 2-3 times a week). I like sleeping in a real bed with my wife and throwing a ball with my dog on a daily basis. I also have the ability to take part in my community more often be that church, volunteerism, listening to live music, or watching the local sports team play. Selling local routes in the energy patch to drivers vs OTR should be a walk in the park!

 

It all sounds good in principle, but not everyone has the kind of position you do. For me, even though I'm local, I don't see my wife from Sunday night through Saturday morning. Why? Because I run a second shift route. I start at 2:00PM, two hours before she gets home from work. I get home sometime around or after midnight. By that time she's in bed sleeping. By the time I get up the next morning, she's already gone off to work.

As for being home to take part in the community, see my daughter or our grandchildren, again, it's strictly weekends as I'm at work when everyone else is done for the day and enjoying life. I only got to see two of my grandson's t-ball games this year. Watching local sports or taking part in my community? Not happening Monday through Friday.

Take what I said above, then add a few Saturday work nights in the mix, and guess what? I don't have much more of a life than a regional OTR driver who is home on a weekly basis. The only benefit is that I sleep in my own bed instead of a truck. Everything else is pretty much a wash. Moral of the story? Not every local job is peaches and cream.

 

I liked it so much I extended a few times. My daughter is there now visiting. She loves it. But yes they were good times.