Question Of Which Job I Should Take!?

Hey everyone thank you for the replies!!! I really appreciate everyones advice. I am leaning very hard to the local job the minimum I will make is 175 at first after a while I will be bumped up to 200 a day minimum and 250 a day is for the veterans at the company. I would be content to get to 225 after 6 months. However If I figure out how to be a good driver and the container business will be flourishing I don't doubt I could clear 200 much sooner. I took what Pacific P said to hart since winter is coming and I had an uncle doing Snoqualmie daily I know he had a few accidents over 20 years I believe he had 2 accidents on the pass since he did it Mon-Fri. I am feeling more comfortable making less but not dealing with the pass daily in winter. Going to a mega would have been my last resort , luckily I have quiet the drive and some connections to meet smaller companies with owners I can talk to. I do understand where mega's have a draw they have health insurance , retirement accounts and such. Again thanks to you all.

$175 a day and no benefits? Yikes. I wish you luck, please keep us updated how things are going.

Did you check to see if they deduct taxes or will you be a 1099 employee?

No benefits for that amount per day is not what I would recommend to anyone.

Going to a mega would have been my last resort

Can you give a reasonable argument for that. It makes no sense being that you have zero experience. Don't give us all the nonsense you've heard from drivers you know. Make a decent argument for your comment. I can't fathom how a total newbie thinks he has some sort of insight into this greatly misunderstood industry. Please... help us out here.

Yes I am guaranteed 175 for the first 3 months. If I do more work I get paid more. Yes i will be 1099 independent contractor. So no benefits.

Welcome Ron!

Personally, I don't think well of either of those options. I don't like to see new drivers starting their careers as local drivers. We've seen so many people do this and a very high percentage of them end up crippling their trucking career prematurely. It's also not a great idea to start your trucking career at a small company.

Local driving in a big truck is a tough way to learn for a new driver. The maneuvers in a big city require adequate skills and experience. It can be done, but few do it without having a few incidents of property damage.

Let's say three months in and you ding somebody's car while making a tight right hand turn in an intersection. The small company can't take that hit on their insurance rates so you get canned. Now you are a new driver with an accident on their record. You are also considered to have no experience by the big OTR companies and you've been out of truck driving school for so long that they consider your license stale. Nobody will touch you at that point. Your career has been aborted.

I always recommend one year of OTR driving before going to a local CDL driving position.

Here's some additional resources for you to consider...

Why Small Trucking Companies Are Often A Disaster Waiting To Happen

Why You Should Not Start Your Driving Career At A Small Company

Yes I agree it tough riding around the city in a Semi. That is one of the drawbacks of the job. However the otr job I was offered was to be a car hauler. I just needed to learn on a hot shot for a few weeks. I would have been making close to 3 grand a week. I am not money hungry and I am looking for what makes sense to me. I need enough to get by and with experience I am sure I will find something right for me. I appreciate what you said and I think OTR would have been great to learn . But I had some connections to Local jobs and did not really consider doing OTR. It will be tough for sure for the first few weeks driving around in Good Old Seattle.

Boy, they suckered you in for an awful experience come tax time! You're going to be sorry and broke!

Here's a fact for you: since you are operating their equipment, they cannot consider you an independent contractor, thus what your new, awesome place to work is already breaking the law.

Run the other way now.

Normally I am one of the few here who support starting local IF done correctly. Your taking a difficult path and it may lead to a short career.

Scam99 is a horrible way to be paid btw 175 a day with zero benefits or taxes taken out, will probably leave you barely above minimum wage as the ports are notorious for long waits. I have a feeling you will be working close to 14 hours a day.

Ron

It sounds to me that you have a young family a d don't want to be away from home. That is the way I did it back in '98. But times were different than they are now. If I had it to do over. I would have gone OTR , because the big companies can handle any type of incident that a small company can't.

You see Old School see's things for the long haul. And he has the experience not just in trucking ut real life experiences to boot. Not listening to his sound advice is a big mistake. Remember you will kick yourself in the butt.

Raptor

Did you check to see if they deduct taxes or will you be a 1099 employee?

No benefits for that amount per day is not what I would recommend to anyone.

No tax will be deducted.I will have to do my own taxes at the end of the year. Also after training is done I will be getting 200 min per day.