Local

Finally, there are local jobs. Local jobs generally involve being home everyday. You stay close to home and often times make several daily deliveries in your area. Local jobs can include dump trucks, dumpster trucks, food delivery trucks, and a whole slew of others. Local driving provides the largest variety of choices when it comes to the type of driving, the type of job duties, and equipment you may use, including cranes, operating heavy machinery, pumping bulk fluids or liquids, or moving livestock.

Now you might be thinking, “hey, why spend so much time away from home when I can be home every night?” Well, a lot of people feel that way...and the principle of supply and demand kicks in. The greater the supply of drivers, the more difficult it is to find a job, and the lower the pay. Local jobs pay by far the least of the three types of jobs. The willingness to spend a lot of time away from home commands a much higher salary.

With such a variety of types of local jobs available there are opportunities to make a bit more money, but it will generally involve unloading. A good example is food delivery. Restaurants, gas stations, convenient stores, and bars all get deliveries several times per week. Generally these drivers are required to make anywhere from 5 to 20 deliveries per day and they do all the unloading, and sometimes even stock the shelves themselves. It can be very difficult, and at times even a bit dangerous.

Heavy lifting, walking through ice and snow, and walking up and down stairs and ramps are all part of daily life for these drivers. Injuries unfortunately are somewhat common. The constant lifting will get you into great shape, but definitely takes a couple months to really adapt to....a LONG couple of months.

The pay for these type of jobs will vary greatly. The easier jobs such as driving dump truck or most six wheel box trucks will generally be around $25,000. The more difficult jobs like food delivery where the driver puts in long hours unloading everyday can pay quite a bit better. Many are in the area of $35,000-$45,000 per year. But there are other things to beware of when you are considering a local driving job.

For starters, the days are often VERY long...anywhere from 10-15 hour days are common. Many drivers, myself included, come off the road at one time or another with aspirations of living a “normal” home life only to find that the only time you have at home is to eat, sleep, and shower. Eight to ten hours per day at home doesn't leave time for much of anything.

You realize you were making a whole lot more money getting home on weekends, didn't work as hard, and still had the same home and social life as you do now. But again, if you're married with children, try explaining to them why you're only home two days a week. Being a regional or over the road driver may not be an option, but at least you have the opportunity to make pretty good money driving locally if you're willing to work hard for it.

The other concern for local drivers is the conditions. Regional and over the road drivers spend the majority of their time on interstates, while local drivers are on regular streets full of stop lights, pedestrians, and heavy traffic all day long.

It obviously takes a tremendous amount of skill and attention to safely navigate local roads day in and day out. This is CERTAINLY not to say that the other forms aren't difficult or dangerous, but the hazards seem to come from all directions at all times on these local routes.

Lastly, because there is a larger pool of drivers to draw from on local jobs, often times the companies may require a bit more experience to qualify. This isn't always the case, but you should be aware of it.