What bugs me about OTR

My guess would be cuz some places are in middle of no where and r not open 24/7

 

ATA lobby. ------

 

Those LTL and carriers such as FedEx & UPS make so much profit, they can afford it. Every package in the trailer is big profit. The truckload carriers make a small profit on one trailer load or maybe 2 or 3 stops. Check the price for shipping one box by UPS or FedEx from the East Coast to the West Coast, then multiply that by 2000 boxes in a set of doubles. That's the simplistic answer why truckload carriers can't pay the same as the LTL and package services that do the relay trucking.

 

Well, with van and reefer, swapping may not be too big an issue. With flatbed it is often a PITA. I just delivered a load in Saskatoon, Sk that I picked up in Watertown, SD. Had to completely retarp, and replace all the "edge protectors, IE hunks of carpet" he had on the load. If I hadn't done all the extra work, I'd have had a claim for sure. That isn't the first, nor likely the last time, swapping a load was more work than loading it myself would have been.

 

Many folks love the OTR and would not want to do it any other way. Sure, they have complaints about it, but it is still what they love to do. Drivers that enjoy the variety of scenery of coast to coast, probably couldn't be paid enough to just do a daily run.

It wasn't for me, and I really enjoyed my LTL time, but some folks love it.

 

I am one of them, Big Don. I think I would get bored to tears really quick after about the third day driving the same hunk of road. Yea, OTR has it's drawbacks, but I don't think I'd care much for a dedicated run.

 

Same ol boring route...on a tight schedule...can't stop for a few minutes at a truck stop with a set of doubles because you can't alley dock into a space...and don't make a wrong turn into a residential or you're really in trouble...driving 10 hours a day....live driver unloads everyday using a forklift 5 hours a day...then go home for an 8 hour sleep break.....then back out...all over again...


LTL? No thanks, ill pass.

Linehaul? Too boring...

You think the pay is ALOT MORE than what I make now as a regional driver?


Yea right!

 

Same ol boring route...on a tight schedule...can't stop for a few minutes at a truck stop with a set of doubles because you can't alley dock into a space...and don't make a wrong turn into a residential or you're really in trouble...driving 10 hours a day....live driver unloads everyday using a forklift 5 hours a day...then go home for an 8 hour sleep break.....then back out...all over again...


LTL? No thanks, ill pass.

Linehaul? Too boring...

You think the pay is ALOT MORE than what I make now as a regional driver?


Yea right!

 

I saw a driver at our Houston terminal bring back a 2 axle Rgn and switch it for a 3 axle. He had to stretch the trailer to get the load to fit in the well, and flip down the neck to get the weight down on the drives. He brings the trailer back loaded. There's crates banded on the top of this piece.

Six: You can't pull that. It's not legal. It's a divisible load.

Driver: What?

Six: that's a divisible load. It's not legal to permit that.

Driver: Oh. Well I an just loading it. Another driver is going to pull it.

Six: The other drivers going to get ticketed and shut down. That's a divisible load.

Driver: I'm just doing what I was told. I just loaded the thing.

Sure enough, the other driver got is #### handed to him at the Wyoming POE. As soon as they saw the load, they told him that it was illegal and he got ticketed.

some drivers try to keep their weight down on their drives. I prefer for my drives to be heavy, especially in bad weather. So I live load everything. And I don't have to worry about someone else's mess up when they load a trailer.