From Local To OTR. A Dilemma

So here's a litte brief backstory. I'm 28, married with a 3 month old (our first child). I graduated trucking driving school back in June, immediately started running dump truck and straight truck flatbed for a local landscape company. Did that for 2 months before it got slow and driving was sparse, moved on to a construction company with 9 dump trucks and 6 drivers. Driving is somewhat steady but ridiculously monotonous and sometimes there is no driving at all, like today. I actually haven't driven my dump truck except for 2 times in the last 2 and a half weeks due to a slump in construction projects at our shop. My original plan was to eventually do local LTL work or some type of tanker work however, due to my wife being pregnant while I was in CDL school I chose to stay local which is what got me into the dump truck scene. I've realized lately that I'll never be anything more than a dump truck driver with low pay if I don't make a change and get back on track with my original goal. My question is: with my school, and my 4 months experience driving dump trucks local, should I just suck it up and go OTR for a good 6 months then come back local and get a tractor trailer job in my area? Or stick it out with the dump truck gig and hope that I find a local tractor trailer job at some point? (Which would require extreme luck apparently since everyone local seems to want AT LEAST a year experience) I feel that everyday I'm in that dump truck I'm losing out on experience I could be getting because I'm not hauling a trailer. I was also told on another forum that my current 4 months of experience means basically nothing on a resume in regards to future tractor trailer jobs since obviously, I don't haul a trailer. I figured it'd at-least mean something but that foolishness on my part. If I were to go OTR I'd be very interested in flat bed work because I really enjoyed the flatbed work I did while working at the landscape company. But regardless of that, what companies pay remotely well that actually honor home time and frequently travel through my area? I'm on a major freight lane right off I-35 about 2 miles form the industrial park here in Temple Tx. Anyone know of any companies that frequent this area that could get me home on a regular basis flatbed or not? (Preferably flatbed) I'm only making about 14 bucks an hour currently so I obviously can't drive for a company that's only paying 30 cents a mile. Apologies for the long winded post and I appreciate everyone who takes the time to chime in with some insight. Dave

Hey Dave, Welcome to the forum!

I'm not sure I understood the following statement, so hopefully you can explain your rationale behind it...

I'm only making about 14 bucks an hour currently so I obviously can't drive for a company that's only paying 30 cents a mile.

Maybe I'm just not understanding how much overtime you get, but working 40 hours a week at 14 bucks an hour would make your gross pay be $560.00. On the other hand driving 2,500 miles a week, which would be a respectable average for your first six months, at .30 cents per mile would yield $750,00 gross pay. It seems to me that doing what you are doing now would give you an annual gross pay of about thirty thousand, and doing an OTR job at .30 CPM would put and extra ten thousand dollars in your coffers because at a weekly average of 2,500 miles you would earn almost $40,000.

Here's the thing about truck driver pay. If you are a go-getter and understand the principles of "performance based pay" you can do really well at this career. The trucking companies love guys who can "git er done," and they are rewarded well with increased pay and consistently good loads and miles. I started my trucking career at .27 CPM, and grossed nearly 50 grand my rookie year. Now, I did get some raises, and that was solely because they realized real quick that I understood how the game is played. I was reliable, safe, and very productive, all while being agreeable and easy to work with. That is the formula for success out here.

You are correct in the fact that your four months as a dump driver are basically useless when it comes to driving OTR. I know it seems crazy, because in reality there are things about driving construction dump vehicles that are more precariously dangerous than a big rig on the highway, but it is what it is, and trust me having a seventy plus foot long articulating vehicle to maneuver in tight places can get you in a bind real quick.

We generally try to persuade folks to do a minimum of one year as an over the road driver before looking into local work. When you do the local work first it is very hard to find anyone who will consider it as experience. It's not that it isn't real world experience, because some of that local driving is really tough, but it isn't what most of your OTR companies or their insurance companies want to see as beneficial to the job requirements that you are about to get into.

Sometimes, and it often depends heavily on your location, you can get good local jobs right out of a trucking school, but it is very rare. We have a member in here who landed a great job with Old Dominion straight out of school with great pay and he sleeps in his own bed each night, but alas, he is one of only a few who have managed to do that.

If you wanted to try OTR, I think someone will take you, but you will be required to go out with a trainer for probably at least a month.

Hey Dave, Welcome to the forum!

I'm not sure I understood the following statement, so hopefully you can explain your rationale behind it...

I'm only making about 14 bucks an hour currently so I obviously can't drive for a company that's only paying 30 cents a mile.

Maybe I'm just not understanding how much overtime you get, but working 40 hours a week at 14 bucks an hour would make your gross pay be $560.00. On the other hand driving 2,500 miles a week, which would be a respectable average for your first six months, at .30 cents per mile would yield $750,00 gross pay. It seems to me that doing what you are doing now would give you an annual gross pay of about thirty thousand, and doing an OTR job at .30 CPM would put and extra ten thousand dollars in your coffers because at a weekly average of 2,500 miles you would earn almost $40,000.

Here's the thing about truck driver pay. If you are a go-getter and understand the principles of "performance based pay" you can do really well at this career. The trucking companies love guys who can "git er done," and they are rewarded well with increased pay and consistently good loads and miles. I started my trucking career at .27 CPM, and grossed nearly 50 grand my rookie year. Now, I did get some raises, and that was solely because they realized real quick that I understood how the game is played. I was reliable, safe, and very productive, all while being agreeable and easy to work with. That is the formula for success out here.

You are correct in the fact that your four months as a dump driver are basically useless when it comes to driving OTR. I know it seems crazy, because in reality there are things about driving construction dump vehicles that are more precariously dangerous than a big rig on the highway, but it is what it is, and trust me having a seventy plus foot long articulating vehicle to maneuver in tight places can get you in a bind real quick.

We generally try to persuade folks to do a minimum of one year as an over the road driver before looking into local work. When you do the local work first it is very hard to find anyone who will consider it as experience. It's not that it isn't real world experience, because some of that local driving is really tough, but it isn't what most of your OTR companies or their insurance companies want to see as beneficial to the job requirements that you are about to get into.

Sometimes, and it often depends heavily on your location, you can get good local jobs right out of a trucking school, but it is very rare. We have a member in here who landed a great job with Old Dominion straight out of school with great pay and he sleeps in his own bed each night, but alas, he is one of only a few who have managed to do that.

If you wanted to try OTR, I think someone will take you, but you will be required to go out with a trainer for probably at least a month.

Thanks a lot old school. My apologies for the confusion when comparing my current pay to the arbitrary 30 cents a mile deal. I was frustrated when typing and just kind of threw that out without thinking too much about it, my fault. I was looking at in a worse case scenario, for instance not getting the miles you're promised etc, etc. I've filled out a few applications to a few companies I was interested in and only one has called me back (Maverick) which I wasn't too keen on driving an automatic but they turned me down during the phone interview anyway, due to me having 3 years of self employment where I didn't file taxes before I went to CDL school back in May, becasue I wasn't really making anything at all. I was just living off of my savings as I was unsure what I wanted to do with my life. Now I'm afraid that will hold me back from getting on with ANY company. The recruiter said "you don't have stability." On one hand i can see that, but on the other hand I've seen various felons get hired but here I am with a perfectly clean MVR record, zero arrests, not legal troubles whatsoever, and becasue I did a little soul searching before going to CDL school I'm not hire-able. Makes sense. So I feel like that will be my ultimate downfall when trying to go OTR.