will a regional limit my future potential hire ability?

as long as you stay in class A vehicles pulling trailers and can be verified. then you will be okay.

 

If you want to go local, go local. You do not have to go OTR. Will it hurt you in the future? Nope. Not at a decent company. The boss will ask you if you can drive and they will have you do a short road trip to confirm. As long as your MVR is clean, you will be able to find work.

Contrary to popular belief, you do not have to join the mega carrier circus and do stupid pet tricks.

 

What is your long term goal? Your short term goal ( 2 or 3 years}?
You need to spell those out for yourself first.

Landstar or Mercer, and probably the other better companies, especially fuel haulers, require OTR experience with verifiable winter driving experience.
Regional counts as OTR.

If you do local that's where you're going to stay unless you start over for a year with a mega carrier.

Companies are paying more for regional drivers right now, because that is what they need to fit their business model. E log did that, you'll find yourself relaying a lot of stuff.

So, again, sit down, look at the wide world of trucking, and figure out where do you want to work in 2 or 3 years.

 

No, a regional or even a local won't limit your future; those days ended several years ago.

 

Not to be a wise ### but how do you mean? If a regional job pays .50 cpm and you get 1,600 miles a week but a OTR nationwide position pays .45 cpm and you’re crankin down 3,000 miles +, I’d take the job that “pays less”. When looking for a job don’t be blinded set on CPM offered. Try to feel out what kind of miles their drivers are getting, their freight lanes, and the freight hauled. And how they operate. If they say you can expect for instance 2500 or more miles a week and it’s all drop and hook that’s probably legit. If they are reefer and do anything with meat and it’s live unload & load everywhere and they tell you to expect 3,000 miles a week and home every weekend, I’d politely tell them the next sound they’re going to hear is a phone hanging up.

 

The pay should not be only tied to miles ran, most do way more work than sitting in that seat, do you get paid for finger printing the load the same as lumpers make? Look at more than sticking miles on.