Won't do OTR

I say go for it! Do your homework though before jumpin in! Watch out for recruiters! At the schools and companies. They work off of commission. You are already ahead of the game by being on this website. Take your time and comb through it all. There is more info on trucking in here than a library. Also feel free to ask questions. Oh yeah, and WELCOME!

 

For what it's worth, I've also come to the conclusion that I'm also not going to do OTR. Maybe I'd do it for a few months just to get some experience, but my fiancée just isn't going to go for the OTR lifestyle (I've spoken with her at length about it). It's good to see the responses about local jobs. It gives me hope that it's worth getting a CDL. A beverage gig or something like it (Pepsi, Coke, Frito Lay, etc.) would be fine with me. It just seems that there is conflicting info out there regarding getting these jobs. Some say it's definitely possible, and others say it's very tough. I have to go with the the OP's premise. If I can get a local job right out of school then I'll get my CDL, otherwise it's time to look elsewhere.

 

MaximumTexas-

I also live in Houston, I am not opposed to doing some OTR in fact I would really like to do some for a while but would like to eventually find a local gig as well. If you dont mind my asking, who do you work for in Houston? any recommendations for the Houston area, either OTR or local?

 

Sorry, just re read your post....what school are you attending in Houston? I was thinking about San Jacinto or Houston Comm College.

 

Glad to hear that the marriage is going well, and you're absolutely right. Money problems are THE #1 REASON for divorces. Of course, I have no idea about your particular situation, however there are really good resources out there to help you with personal finances, if that's what the issue is. Just look up books by Dave Ramsey. Helped me, so I gave the books to some friends of mine, and it's helped them immensely too.

 

I got mine when I was 18. Started at a small produce company washing trucks. After a couple months I had a route. When I was 20 I got a union driving job at a big grocery store chain (upstate NY) While my buddies where in college getting drunk, I was buying a house. Got married 8yrs later, moved south, currently run LTL linehaul, make in the mid 80's. Never OTR. For the guy that said "absence makes the heart grow stronger" there is another saying too "Out of site, out of mind". This is just my story, not saying do that or this, you'll have to find your own path.

 

I currently live in Louisville, KY and have had my Class A CDL since the end of July 2010. I was at UPS for 3 years and got interested in a driving job, but with UPS it takes a LONG time to get a decent job, especially a driving job........they have that "we hire within, senority" BS. I found a local small trucking Co. that had a school and hired students on after receiving their CDL. I took the plunge and so far KINDA like it, but there are a few things that are bothering me that I'm slowly learning. I drive regional OTR, I suppose, in which my trips ranges from 350 - 750 miles netting me an average of around 2000-3000 total miles a week.

1. Not having consistent home time: I'm home weekly, but never have the same days off. I want a job where I have the same days off where I can plan things and have a somewhat structure to my life.
2. Getting penalized: If the dispatcher gives a run that the driver doesn't like and the driver turns it down then that driver won't get hardly any miles that next week. I'm going through this right now, this week. Last week, our outbound dispatcher give me a 750 mile trip and I turned it down because I DO NOT LIKE having to falsify my log book unless it benefits me(gets me home quicker). Even then, I usually won't falsify because it makes a nervous wreck going through the weigh stations. My luck, I'd get busted.
3. Not getting assigned trucks: I HATE having to load and unload everything into out out of the truck I'm in. This company spent TONS of money renovating the parking lot and office building. They should put that money into what makes them money in the first place, a TRACTOR. It takes me at least 30 min. to load and unload my stuff and now that it's freakin' 10 degrees out, it's really annoying. They also don't upkeep the tractors. They do basic maintenance, but that's about it. If the tractor ABSOLUTELY needs it then they'll replace or fix it, but that's about it. For instance, they regularly put me in a truck that has 800,000 miles on it. It's a 2005 Volvo 630 I think. The biggest thing is the low beam headlights. I CAN'T SEE JACK ###### at night unless I put my high beams on and then I have to sit and listen to people ##### on the CB. I mean WTF choice do I have? I have to be able to see where I'm going and what's ahead of me. Oncoming traffic can deal with it because I deal with it when people drive towards me with high beams on. It is a bit annoying, but nothing more. I have ASKED, and ASKED, and ASKED, and ASKED until I'm blue in the face to get them to replace the light unit which is around $250 for each side. That's not a whole lot of money considering it could save them more money in the long run if a deer runs out in front of me and I can't see the #### thing because of the crappy VOLVO headlights. I'm almost to the point of buying the light units myself and then just taking it off the tractor when I switch trucks..lol!!

And, NOW, since it's like a deep freeze outside here in Kentucky the truck literally has no heat when I'm driving down the road. It's only when I'm idling for an extended period of time that there is any heat and just enough heat to get me by. The temp gauge is all the way to the left just like it would be after starting the engine up on a cold morning and it stays there. It's just ridiculous!!! Coming back from my trip this morning I had my toboggan, gloves and two coats on just to stay warm and my feet started hurting because they were so cold. There is no heat to defrost the windows either which could potentially turn into a VERY dangerous situation if very much condensation forms. I asked again this morning if the shop would look at it, so I guess I'll have to see if they do if they put me back in this truck for my trip to Memphis, TN tomorrow morning.
4. Having to drive all night: God I hate this. My sleep patterns are so screwed up right now. This usually only happens if they give me a 600 mile run at 2:00 pm and I have to go pick the load up. By the time I get the load and get on the road it's around 4:00 pm. According to my Rand McNally TND 700 trucker GPS, I average around 58 MPH since our trucks are governed at 65 MPH. So, at 58 MPH I'm looking at around 10.35 hours with at least 1-1.5 hours worth of stops for rest room, eating, etc. Getting 1-2 hours of sleep isn't any fun at all and what's MOST disturbing and just plain agonizing is trying to fight fatigue at 4-5 am. Driving with 1 eye open and struggling to open the other one is just dangerous on SO MANY LEVELS. Caffeine no longer works for me and little small 10-20 minute power naps just seem to work for 30 minutes or so and then I'm back to nodding. Out of all of my dislikes, this is the one I hate the most. From now on, if they don't give me enough time then I'm either turning it down OR I'm letting them know UPFRONT that if I start getting tired and nodding then I WILL shut it down and take a nice nap and if the load is late then SO BE IT. I'M THE ONE that suffers if I wreck by getting a bad driving record and/or killing an innocent motorist or worse, killing myself. The stupid trucking companies can fill that seat the next day and they don't care if the drivers driving record is tarnished or not. All they care about is getting that stupid load to from point A to point B as quickly as possible. Emphasis is placed more on "quickly" than "safely" with a lot of trucking companies from what I'm slowly learning. If a driver has to drive fatigued to get a load to it's destination on time then that is no where near being safe.

Those are the biggest things I'm seeing with this company I work for. The elder drivers are pissed at us new guys because they're getting screwed out of miles because the Co. can give it to us for cheaper. I'm supposed to be making .32 a mile, but .02 cents is taken out each week to cover my school cost which was $4,900. They take around $52 out each week which will take about 2 years to pay off. I plan to try and double up and get it paid off in 1 year, so I can start looking for a local driving job. I'd like to drive for budweiser, pepsi, coke, etc or any beverage distribution company like that because I'd like the lifting stuff part of it in addition to the driving. I used to lift weights and bodybuild which I can't even think about doing now since I have no regular schedule.

I would also do the gasoline tanker gig too from listening to the guy in a previous post in this thread. I'm 34 with a useless college degree, so unless I want to go back to college for another attempt then I need to find a driving career that I'll be happy with and that pays good because I have expensive tastes in toys(cars/motorcycles/boats, tech stuff like computers, tv's, cell phones, etc, clothes, etc....). $70,000 - $80,000 would be a pretty decent income if I could work up to that. My checks suck because I spend so much money out on the road. Buying all those nifty trucking supplies and eats are killing my income and after my rough past 5 years I owe my family TONS of money.