Profile For Pianoman

Of course I’m wondering what it pays low to high

Anywhere from 60-90k plus. Many drivers are able to pull six figures OTR but if you’re new to OTR I would aim for 80s to 90s considering you already have driving experience. 60-65 cpm is pretty standard pay these days.

what the lifestyle is like

Lonely, long drives, lots of hurry up and wait, beautiful scenery, plenty of time to listen to podcasts and music, frustrating days where nothing works and you make next to nothing, great days where you hammer down 700+ miles, etc.

Personally I don’t like OTR because the long drives are boring to me and I miss home too much. Many people love the peace and solitude. Everyone is different.

You drivers that live on the road, what do you put for your home address? Because I’m concerned if I used a P.O. Box would it affect my background check for Hazmat?

You can totally use a PO Box (I did when I sold my house and went OTR) but you still need a physical address for your license and plenty of other things. Use a friend or family member’s address as a permanent address and get a PO Box as your mailing address. If that’s not an option you can get a mailbox with UPS (I think other companies offer this option too)—it’s just like a PO Box but it technically counts as a physical address.

If I may, here’s some unsolicited advice on looking for jobs and going from local to OTR:

- do not make the mistake of simply looking for highest possible cpm. Look at the entire pay package and try to find out what the annual pay is going to look like. There are many variables in OTR and cpm isn’t everything. I always ask the recruiters what the average annual pay is. I also look for what company is going to have consistent miles. Lower cpm and higher miles generally equates to higher annual pay than higher cpm and lower miles.

- keep your eye on the prize. Do not let yourself get discouraged with a few low paychecks or the feeling you aren’t being compensated fairly because you sat in a dock unpaid for several hours or sat for a couple days without pay. That is unfortunately par for the course with OTR. Mentally, it is very difficult to go from being local where you are paid for every second and/or activity, to OTR where there are a lot of activities that are “included” in your mileage pay. I’m not here to discuss if it’s ethical or not, but I still say if you want to be successful OTR, remember why you did it in the first place. The only thing that matters financially is what you bring home annually and how much you’re saving on overhead. Don’t miss the forest for the trees.

Best of luck sir. I’m sure you’ll do fantastic.

That's amazing Kearsey! Congrats and great job putting in the work!!

Different strokes for different folks.

I love local. It can be a grind for sure, but I'd take local over otr any day of the week. I get so bored with the long endless drives on the same flat interstates every day that I find myself WANTING to distract myself while driving.

Doing local, the grind and the hustle keeps my mind occupied more and I tend to just get into the groove. I do better with less time to think and keeping my hands and mind occupied doing the job. I also like being able to be home more often even though I don't get much time each evening. Being able to see my gf and my dog every day makes the grind more worth it for me.

Been about 4 months with a local company. Inward facing camera s with AI. My Boss see s Im a great worker however my following too closely events are testing him to when to give me a written warning. Had 7 events the past 2 weeks.

Anyone have suggestions to deal with anger? I'm good 99% of the time and it s when some ******* cuts me off or they're going super slow.

I have always had this problem, got away with it with Schneider since they don't have the AI system.

I used to struggle with anger while driving. I drive local now and I have to have a good hold of my temper while driving because if I don't I'd have some real problems considering I drive in Denver traffic all the time lol.

I think the key for me is I had to come to terms with the fact that people are gonna do stupid crap all day and I just expect it. I follow principals when I drive. I need to have a proper following distance and as a general rule I keep my speed to no more than 5 over the limit at all times. When people do stupid stuff, let them. It's not worth your license, your freedom, or anyone's life.

I've said this many times when telling people why I don't fight people or road rage on people: I wouldn't go to prison for someone I liked, so why would I go there for someone I don't even know or like at all? That person you're mad at in the other vehicle doesn't give a damn about you, so don't give up your hard earned cdl, job, and freedom for them. Let them go. It ain't worth it brother.

Last time I reacted in anger to someone on the road it almost ended very badly. Long story short another trucker did something pretty stupid and forced me halfway off the road and I got angry and honked at him and flipped him off as I passed him. I didn't really think much of it and I didn't do anything remotely unsafe so I kinda forgot about it and kept going. He caught up to me later and passed me and intentionally tried to force me off the road and then came almost to a complete stop in front of me on the freeway, blocking me and other traffic behind me. This dude even got OUT OF HIS TRUCK and approached my truck and started banging on the door. The dude was absolutely unhinged and literally all I did was honk at him and flip him off. It's hard to believe because it's not normal for someone to have such a severe reaction to something so small. Naturally, most people reading this will want to ask me for the rest of the story because surely I did something more to make this guy so angry. That's the whole point, actually - I did nothing crazy. By the time he stopped his truck I was already on the phone with 911. You never know what someone is going through so don't test people. Remember, you're the one in the big truck, you're the professional, so just let the idiots be idiots and leave them be. As long as the wheels are turning, you're getting closer to your destination. Anger and 18 wheelers don't mix. After that incident, I don't even use the air horn unless I'm trying to prevent an accident or some kids are pumping their fist. That's it. Even flashing brights at people will get some people angry. I had a friend who didn't use air horn or brights and just changed lanes in front of them, and the other driver passed him and shot at him. Cool, calm, and collected is where it's at.

It's definitely worth getting and maintaining. I got my Hazmat, doubles/triples, and tanker endorsements, as well as my TWIC card, while at my last company. They wanted me to have HM and TWIC and they were footing the bill so I just got everything. I haven't used anything but my TWIC card so far but my current company just doesn't have the work right now and I'm finding myself again looking for work (sucks bc I love my current job). I just found a fuel hauling job paying an hourly rate WAY higher than anything I've ever had, including a guaranteed 8 hrs of pay for every night I work. Since it's fuel, obviously I'll be using HM, tanker, and my TWIC card but I probably wouldn't have gotten the call for this job if I didn't already have my endorsements.

You just never know where your career will take you and it's better to have the endorsements beforehand instead of waiting until you'll need them.

Sandman making the rounds lately lol

Good meeting up with ya man!!

I’m permanently in the Denver area now so if anyone is driving through here and I can make time I’ll gladly meet up and buy you lunch (to be fair Sandman bought this round since he thinks I’m broke and unemployed-he’s not wrong 🤣🤣)

Thanks for the replies! I read and appreciate each and every response and took some time to think about what I’m looking for. I also put in more job apps in the meantime.

Unfortunately for whatever reason I haven’t gotten a single yes from anyone besides my old employer. Even two food service companies turned me down and I didn’t hear from the third one I applied to, which is crazy if you know anything about food service. They’ll take just about anyone and I was even offered a job in the past with one of the ones that turned me down this time and I have essentially nothing new on my driving record. It’s honestly worse than I thought out here right now.

So I’m going back to my old company starting tomorrow. One of my buddies who drives for Walmart convinced me to go ahead and fill out an app and go with them if they do take me. Idk if I meet their hiring criteria but according to what’s listed on their website I do so I guess we’ll see. I wasn’t going to go with anything strictly regional just yet but if they’ll take me the money and benefits package (including vacation, a big part of what’s appealing about them) is good and it’s a career move I was likely going to make eventually anyways.

I’ll keep y’all posted although now that I’m gonna be local-ish again (still running some regional loads for this company) I probably won’t be on here much. Thanks again for the advice!

I took a bit of hiatus from TT and from work in general the last month and a half and finally decided to quit my job almost two weeks ago. Can't put my finger on exactly why but OTR just wasn't working for me. Financially things were going great since I was making decent money and not paying rent but mentally it was just totally draining me. I don't remember the last time I was so depressed and by the time I left home again for the last time a couple weeks ago I was dreading leaving the whole time. Kinda weird imo since it's not a bad job and it's overall a pretty easy job but I decided it was time to end that brief chapter in my life and get off the road so I did and I don't regret it. My depression is literally non-existent since I quit and I'm actually looking forward to working again as soon as I start a new job.

I moved back to Colorado and got all my endorsements (plus I have my TWIC and passport) before I quit and I have enough experience and at this point a pretty decent driving record so I shouldn't have too much trouble finding a good job. I'm looking for something local preferably although I'm open to a somewhat regional position. I talked to my old boss and they want me back doing pneumatic tanker so I'm planning on going back there but I'm still putting in apps in the meantime to see if I find something better. I loved that job and it's a mix of local and regional but I know I could make more money if I really wanted to so I'm not 100% sold on it yet. I'm burning through my savings though so I gotta start somewhere soon.

That said, what are some of the top things you all look for when looking for a new job? I don't usually job hop but I did this year and it is what it is, but I don't want to do any more of that for a while so I'm hoping to stick around at this next company for a bit. At this point my top three things are probably 1) pay/benefits, 2) hometime/work life balance, and 3) physicality/health (i.e. I prefer a job that I can move around and stay fit). Also, any suggestions that come to mind for what type of job might be a good fit? I'd do fuel hauling in a heartbeat if I had the tanker experience but most of the good paying outfits require experience and I don't want to take a paycut right now just to get experience. I've also looked into local flatbed, food grade tanker, food service (Sysco, Shamrock, etc), Walmart, and LTL. Any and all suggestions are appreciated.

It's good to be back. I've enjoyed taking a bunch of time off and getting my head right but I'm getting antsy to get back to work. Hope you all are doing well!

Congrats James!!! You're a total stud man. You just kept trying and pushing and applying despite multiple setbacks until you got to the point you're at now. I haven't been on here in a couple weeks really so sorry I missed it. Hope it's going well for you out there so far. You've got my number--reach out anytime if you need anything

I also always carry multiple knives in the truck for work but they can always double as a self defense measure if necessary.