This Is Tough..

And I thought it was tough picking your first company! Oh boy, recently I've been browsing trucking jobs and its exhausting. With 2 years of safe driving (almost there) you qualify for pretty much everything out there. I find one job that looks good and 5 minutes later I find a different job that looks as good or better.

I have several that I'm keeping an eye on.

Williams Tank Lines - double tanker hauling diesel/gas. In other words, a moving bomb. Love it! Pay is good but they only do night shift 5pm to 5am. They alternate days off, so first week work 5, off 2. Second week work 4, off 3. But I really don't want to do nights. The entire point of going local/regional is to try to get my life back a little bit and this job will make me lose it even more.

On the bottom of my list, Indian River Transport. Food grade tankers doing regional. Home every 3-5 days. Pay is .37cpm which I think is an absolute joke. Hauling food grade in mountains, where its worse in the winter time for only .37cpm. Pass. Way too big of a pay decrease.

Flyers Energy - equavalent of Williams Tank Lines. Except Flyers has their own gas stations so I'll be delivering to gas stations too. Requires nightshift. This is a fixed 4 days work, 3 days off which I would prefer. I would take this over Williams just for the extra day off. It would still be about 48 hours per week so its not like I'll be slacking off.

CenterLine Transportation - a reefer carrier. Doing exactly what I'm doing now. 7 Western states, home every 2-5 days. delay pay, hourly pay at 18 or 19$ per hour. chain up pay. Waiting to speak to recruiter for more info.

Pacific Shipping - not so high on my list. Dedicated route from Sac to Denver and back. Home every week for a 34 hour reset.

Honestly, the biggest burden I'm having is my age. A lot of jobs that I would be interested in I don't qualify for because I'll only be 23 and they require like 25 minimum. There is also the possibility of becoming an instructor at a driving school, which I would very much like.

I love OTR , nothing like the open road. Its definitely in my blood, but its tough on the family. As soon as I got married to my wonderful wife I went to trucking. We didn't even have a honeymoon. She's a tough girl, but its getting in the way. I'm also seeing my young years vanish right in front of me. I miss the gym, miss being a wacko and boxing with my friend, miss fishing. I feel like I'm working like I'm 50 supporting 7 kids. I don't need to do that right now, so why do it?

I've worked really hard to keep a clean record and be accident-free. Its harder than you can imagine, especially in those first few months. I've improved my resume with a Company Driver of the Month certificate from Prime as well as being an Instructor/Trainer. Small things that might make me stand out and maybe allow the company to relax about hiring a boy.

Thanks for reading!

Daniel, you will do wonderful in whatever you decide to do! I enjoy reading your posts and it is a shame your age would keep you from getting any job you would like. In your case age truly is just a number, and whatever company is lucky enough to get you will be blessed!!!!

Hey Daniel - Good luck on your job search. Hope you find what you're looking for. Sounds like you're ready to get home more frequently? Nothing's more important than time with family - hope you find a balance that works for you guys.

On another note, looks like you're focusing on tanker jobs. I was looking at hauling bulk myself at one point before I got into linehaul - fuel, food grade, didn't really matter. I know a lot of these start you at night shift, and I'm not gonna say it's easy running the night shift life, but it might be a temporary sacrifice.

Definitely talk to some drivers from the companies you're considering. That will probably give you a ton of insights you couldn't lookup anywhere and will help you make a decision. Besides, if you're interested in a particular company you'll find that their drivers will often know about some of their competitors and you might stumble across more good companies that way.

Also, regional jobs that get you home on weekends are probably perfect for ya. You'll get that same OTR experience the 5 days you're out but then you'll be home every weekend. I had a regional job for a few years with US Xpress. I used to average 3000+ miles per week and be home 36-48 hours every weekend. Made the same money I was making OTR, I would travel within about a 1000 mile radius which felt like OTR, but still got home. Great balance between OTR and family life without the big pay cut.

I think local jobs are the toughest because either the hours are so long there's no sense in even going home to shower, eat, and sleep or you're breaking your back unloading trucks to keep those paychecks near where they were running OTR. Any "gravy runs" you'll find locally like 8 hour days with a lot of drop-n-hook will usually pay next to nothing.

Brett brings up a salient point, although sometimes overlooked. There is a flip side to running local, as I'm sure you're aware of Daniel. This info might benefit others reading your thread. I don't wanna hijack your thread, but I'd like to expand on what Brett wrote. Local gigs typically are long work days - anywhere from 10-14 hours - 14 being on the extreme side. I've worked 14 hour days more than once already, but a lot of that is because I'm new and also slow. It will vary according to whatever local job you're talking about.

My one instructor from my private CDL school mentioned the fact that most local jobs have long hours, so that you have to ask yourself, what is your definition of quality hometime? It's something that will be different for each driver. Personally, I don't think working a 10-12 hour day is that bad, but I have a great linehaul job. Eventually I will do mostly drop and hooks, and will still get paid very well.

I would much rather work 10-12 hour days and be home every day, with two days off, being paid well, as opposed to running OTR. The paycheck can suffer a bit if running a local job, but not always. Some of the best paying trucking jobs are local jobs.

LTL linehaul will give you one of the best-paying trucking jobs available in the trucking industry while being home everyday, but it can be hard to get into an LTL company, especially without any experience (but this is changing in the trucking industry amongst LTL companies). LTL city drivers will work days (most linehaul is night shift), but make less than linehaul. Food service will be back-breaking work, but you'll make a lot of money too. Local tanker gigs will pay close to OTR - sometimes more, sometimes less - but you might start off working nights (like LTL linehaul). A lot of construction jobs, from my understanding, don't pay well at all, especially dump truck. Garbage truck drivers can make decent money.

So this was just to expand a little on what Brett wrote. Generally, you will work 10-12 hour days. Your paycheck can be less than OTR, but it can also be significantly more than any OTR job available. A lot of opportunity depends on location. That's my 2 cents.

Hey Daniel. I'm going to echo what 6 string said. Local has pretty long days and is usually in some delivery capacity. That being said i wouldn't give up my local job. I'm gone one maybe two nights a week. In home every weekend and the days I don't go overnight I'm usually home for dinner. Plus I'm on pace to top the 40k mark on my income. Not bad for a first year guy. I understand where you're coming from with the family thing, I have a wife and two young children. I was able to find a great place where I could be a trucker and still have plenty of time with my family. I know you will find the same!

Especially with your resume!

Daniel, do whats best for your family. You've got an extra yr of otr on me and that's because I jumped the gun and took the first local gig I could find. Don't do that. Take your time and find what fits for you. I wish I'd had stayed out for another yr and got the two yr safe instead of risking my career for a company who payed poppy and put me in areas a truck shouldn't be in...

Good luck to you,

David

You've made it this far because of your guts and determination. You will find that great job to balance everything out my friend. The Sac area should be full of oppurtunity for you.

"There is also the possibility of becoming an instructor at a driving school, which I would very much like."

Check out Celadon Indianapolis school, they need more instructors, the student to instructor ratio is 20 to 1 if not higher/

My only suggestion is just that because the posting requires you to be 25, still talk to a recruiter. It may be a generic posting for the company or a clerical error. Call them and ask, if you haven't already. I'm sure your credentials can hold some weight in the decision (unless maybe it's an insurance thing).

If you could go back a few years do you think you would go with PRIME again? I'm asking for me personally.