Qustions

Theirs a Swift truck not too far from my house and it is in his driveway all the time. I don't think he ever goes to work.

 

This is not a knock on this board, 'cause it's a great place with a lot of helpful people, and good information. But...it tends to be "Over-The-Road centric", and since that industry is dominated by a handful of large carriers, a lot of the discussion revolves around them and how they do business, and what it takes to work in that industry.

Start looking at local ads, and see what might be available...hauling gravel or construction materials, driving a concrete mixer truck, residential propane delivery, straight truck delivery work, beverages, refuse...there's more than one way to skin a cat! Keep in mind that winter may be a lot slower than summer, so now may not be the best time to try to figure out your local job market.

If you're truly set on home-time, I really don't believe OTR is your answer.

 

####.... Hang in there!
Skeet

 

The problems associated with local jobs are many. If a company is looking to pay a driver 40k a year ( I mean actually 40k), then who are they going to hire? Will it be a young, or new driver, or will they look for one with 2+ years experience? The second problem is that often a job that will hire a newbie driver will either pay super low, or be a sucktacular job. Like driving a beat down truck in sticky situations, or my personal favorite is when there looking for a "driver", but they will only drive in the AM to the job site, work all day, and drive back in the PM.
Thats not a bad thing if you don't mind the work, but you probably didn't want to get your CDL's for that did you?
I'd like to say that plenty of people do that, and that there nothing wrong with it. I was only pointing out personal experiences that you may find helpful looking for the local job.

 

If you want to drive and be home, find something local, its not as impossible as everyone says it is. Beverage distribution, dump truck, ups freight. There are options.

 

QUOTE---WOW! This was not the kind of advice and encouragement I was expecting at all. I should NOT believe the recruiters when they tell me I will get 1 day off for every week I drive plus 3 personal days a quarter...IS THAT WHAT YOU ALL ARE TELLING ME?
No, you will probably get the day off per week, but who's to say it will be the day you want, or expected.


ALSO, when they say I will make 35-40K the first year are they exaggerating? Are there out-of-pocket expenses that will take away from that? I realise most companies will do payroll deduct for training reimbursement - but other than that - are there HIDDEN COSTS to being a OTR truck Driver?
The only other cost that drivers have on a daily basis is the cost of scaling the load at the TS, and thats it except stuff you personally need.

 

Tolls. Some companies have ez pass, some don't and you have to pay for tolls and then submit receipts to get paid back.

Scaling the load (already mentioned).

Personal expenses.

Minor repair items that you'll buy and then submit receipts to get paid back for, like trailer lights, head lights, marker lights, fuses, etc.

 

I'm home all the time and drive truck. Every company can get a driver home. Too many drivers let these companies take advantage of them.

 

The only trucking jobs that might get you home daily(off the top of my head anyway) are dump trucks, cement mixers, local delivery and log trucks...bad thing about it is these jobs are hard to locate between the thousands of ads put out by the over the road slave drivers in the paper...knowing someone in one of those businesses is your best shot brother