What are the disadvantages of being an OTR LTL driver?

I think of otr linehaul when I see ABF road drivers or saia road drivers, also estes . Pretty much from what iv gathered those guys make bank and stay in hotels. I don't think very highly of drivers who spend a majority of their career local and if it was my choice I'd take a road driver job any day over some crummy p&d ltl job

 

Whatever you do, don't come and drive OTR LTL, it's no good. Only going to make about 120k first year, not worth it. Much nicer to sleep in truck, at truckstop, than a hotel every night. Free breakfast, coffee at hotel not healthy for you. Better to eat sardines and crackers in sleeper truck. Also too many miles available to drive LTL, better OTR reefer, there they let you rest more, between loads, at shipper/receiver, so you can play games in your sleeper truck.

 

Yup - you figured it out.

 

I would be doing ltl yesterday if nights weren’t such an issue for me.

 

Alright. So...first of all, @Banker is a good guy, so let's knock that off.

So I've read some bizarre statements about how "true" LTL uses sleepers, and daycabs are only for p&d...

I did road LTL for Yellow and ABF. So let's talk about what it is.

P&D guys go out in daycabs and pick stuff up at terminal A during the day, during the usual local daytime business hours. They punch out for the day and go home. Those are the "local" drivers.

A road LTL guy comes in, and takes those loads to terminal B using a daycab. Let's make up a nice long route, like Chicago to Omaha. A little under 500 miles. When that driver gets to Omaha, he cleans out his daycab, punches out, and goes to sleep in a hotel room.

While that driver is in the hotel in Omaha, the local Omaha drivers go pick up freight headed to Chicago, and that driver returns to the terminal and drives home to Chicago. Rinse and repeat.

That's LTL in its basic form. A lot of night driving and weird hours. But it pays well.

 

I’m not that good of a guy but since we are Brother Teamsters you kind of like me sometimes. Lol

 

Do terminals have cars or do you get a cab to the hotel?
Do you need a home or can you stay out on the road including your resets?
Thanks.

 

Cab or hotel van, generally.
I've seen people without homes make it work. Some of them got the occasional motel near their home terminal, and some of them lived in their cars when they weren't working.

 

Part of the problem is that the op is calling “linehaul” otr LTL.
I did a linehaul “bid” run back in the late 90’s. Terminal A to terminal B go to motel, then terminal B back to terminal A.
Then you have different terminology for running extra board. Basically start at terminal A, then run wherever you’re sent until returning to terminal A.
Otr ltl you’re picking up from various shippers and delivering to various receivers.

 

I wish we had some 550-600 mile laydown runs but we only have turns.. living 60 miles from the terminal I’d much rather do two laydowns and a turn on Friday if I had the chance.