OTR or local

Harvest in ND is not great this year...probably not a wonderful idea to do that. There are almost no crops in NW and North Central ND. Maybe a little better south and east, but I guess I don't know.

 

Do what you have to do to pay the bills. Just remember get some experience and a whole new set of oppertunities opens up. I am closing in on 1 year exp. I did 6 months OTR and am know a local driver. As far as local goes, I think if you want to make o.k. money you will still need some experience. Big John I usually agree with you but in this instace I my not, I make far more than 10-12 dollars, mayby it depends on the are,a I am 25-30 miles SW of Chicago, so there is no shortage of local work. But you will work physically more doing local, I more often than not load and unload my trailer, and it ain't a little pup. I can't see myself able to do this local job without cutting my teeth OTR first, as I am in some pretty busy and crowded places on a daily basis, I have to dock that trailer into places I probably couldn't have thought of a year ago, why can I do it know , because of a little experience. So get that experience however you can.

 

Before you embark on a trucking career, let me lay out what I believe you have waiting for you. I realize the economy is tough and we all need to do what we can to pay our bills. Here is how I see your options as a trucker:

There are mainly two different options for a trucker:

Over the road (OTR)
For the most part this is easy, not physically demanding except for some flatbedding or other jobs involving driver assist or tarping. Most OTR jobs are no touch freight, rolling almost entirely interstates or other main highways. The downsides are:
a.) your income, your sleep schedule and your ability to get home when requested are determined by some snot-nosed kid with a college degree and an attitude and very little real world experience. This can lead to lots of sitting without compensation, missing out on family plans and erratic sleep schedules
b.) You are often gone for 2-3 weeks or longer at a time. After a while you can become disconnected from people and the life you used to have.
c.) It will likely take a toll on your health. Eating healthy and exercising regularly is extremely difficult when your parking and eating options are so limted. Couple that with a job that requires you to be seated 12 or more hours a day and weight gain and risks for diabetes and other diseases skyrocket.

Local (home everyday)

People often get the wrong idea when they hear the term "local". In trucking it simply means you don't spend your 10 hr break sleeping in your truck, but commute back and forth after every driving shift. You may drive to 3,4 or more states in your "local" driving job.

Downsides:

a.) Most local jobs involve driving a daycab. And while daycabs are much easier to maneuver in tight areas they also bounce more, rattle more and beat up your body far worse than an over the road tractor equiped with a sleeper. Long live loads are total torture in a daycab as there is no way to get comfortable or get any sleep.

b.) You will likely work 12-13 hours a day with most local driving jobs. A 12 hour day in a daycab is far more punishing than a 14 hr day in a sleeper. After you finish your 12-13 hours you still have to commute home and take care of your other responsibilities. Personally I got far more rest and felt like I had much more "me" time in the way of R&R when I was OTR than I do now, running local.

I hope this helps to add some perspective. Trucking can be a trap. Once you do it for a couple of years and it dominates your life it is really hard to leave it to do something else.

You can make a decent living money wise in the right situation but it is a trade off in which your quality of life takes a serious hit.

 

Roadkill, I here you, especially about the difference in ride in a day cab, can put that in alot of tighter spaces than any truck with a sleeper. And yes some long days, the last thing you want to do is drive home after driving all day. But can sleep in my own bed everynite, there aint nothing better than wakin up with the GF laying next to you.

 

With the right GF, yes that can tilt the scales in the daycab direction. Unfortunately for me, my GF lives 100 miles away from my place and is a biotch about 70% of the time.

 

What's amazing is that OTR carriers don't credit local experience. I suppose it's more about adjusting to the lifestyle than actual driving skills. My local job requires far more skill than what the majority of OTR drivers have.

 

Sorry about the GF,atleast she is 100 miles away, all it takes is to shut her up is to hit end on the phone. It is amazing that OTR carriers wont use local a experience, I know I have to back up, shift and drive in more traffic today than I did in 3 days OTR, but on other hand I usually know where I am going on a daily basis, unless boss calls and has found us some bs expedited load that had to be somewhere 8hrs ago, trip planning aint as difficult local, but yeah I hear ya some skills I have really developed since going local.

 

I pick up containers in an extremely tight, very busy railyard. You have to dodge jockeys, cranes and other drivers.

The containers are so close together often times they are touching and most of the time you have to drag them out before you can access the landing gear. Dropping them same thing.. get it part way in the hole, lower the gear, push it in and then lower suspension.

I see new (OTR types) drivers come in there and they hold up everything cause they can't get in. 5,6,7...10 pull ups and still can't get it.

 

It always amazes me too and that's what I figured about the lifestyle. Though suddenly you go to school which gives you absolutely nothing as far as the lifestyle goes and you're good to go.

 

Had a chance to do that, a very competitive bussiness around here, thats all you see anymore on I-55 are containers and trash trucks that the driver is to lazy to roll the cover onto and is losing crap eveywhere. Ya alot more docking and backing up. Alot of guys running containers around here use old Volvo's w/sleepers, always seemed to me a day cab would be better suited for this IMHO, but then again what do I know. Maybe they are cheap to pick-up used?