Over The Road Pros and Cons

Cons First.




Pros.


The people you see.
Much more cloudy days than good..

 

My experience straight OTR as a van driver ...
You don't know what you're getting until you get there. You can wait 1 hour, or all day. Every place has a different procedure. Sometimes you'll get a nice wide open dock, other times you have to back into an alley from the road.

Some good checks, a couple bad ones, and a couple great ones.

They always try to run your recaps.

You'll frequently run nights, then days, then nights, back and forth.

You're usually on crowded freight lanes. So lots of trucks all over.

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None of that really applies to flatbed. And if you are running dedicated vans, it's also different because you'll service one customer, you'll know all the procedures, learn all the tricks, and things will usually go smoothly.

Overall not that bad. But if you start running dedicated, or specialized driving like flatbed, you can get spoiled.

 

This is not encouraging at all. Pretty depressing. Makes me want to go regional/local/ready mix truck asap. How can we go around these problems? When you're starting out, what type of OTR trucking doesn't have you waiting around for loads? What companies? Is there a power-only company or dry van only, drop and hook type or other start up company you guys suggest? But I also read that some drop and hooks can take longer than reefers.... I still do plan on doing OTR trucking but probably only about a year. It's prob the best way to land a good regional or local job in the future. I know the first job is not gonna be the best, but I just want to try to make it as bearable as possible.

 

No interest in May Trucking Company?
That's a good place to start.

 

All you really have to do to answer your questions. Just look at the statistics. Out of every hundred drivers that start out OTR about seven of them are still driving OTR five years later. That pretty much tells you all you need to know. It takes a rare breed to do OTR long-term. Anyone can come into the industry and do it for a year or a year and a half but most people can’t hack it. And it’s not that it’s such incredibly tough work. It’s just being away from home, falling behind on things if you have a significant other at home that is extraordinarily understanding and probably cheating on you, it’s not gonna work. Lol I’m single, my kid is an adult, I don’t have any pets, I do what I want when I want and I drive for a company that sends me coast to coast on long runs most of the time. Even then, it will still get to me and not a day goes by that I ask myself if I’m doing the right thing with my life because yes, this will become your life if you do OTR. There isn’t any way around it you’ll go through all the little mental tricks and negotiating with yourself while you’re out here on the road convincing yourself that the four days a month you spend at home gives you a real life, but reality is it does not. You will miss everything. Birthdays, holidays, grandkids, being born, you’ll miss it all. The only question to ask yourself is when it’s all said and done and you’re retired and you’re sitting in your rocking chair on your front porch. Are you gonna regret it or not? That’s the dollar question.

 

Billy can't afford a home because he made poor, uninformed choices. Most truckers can afford a home, unless they're bullheaded.

 

Home - Leonard's Express (drive4leonards.com)
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