Is There Such A Thing As 2nd Shift Part Time Drivers?

Let me tell you, don't think trucking jobs are growing on trees in Florida. I live near Daytona beach. It's affordable with the otr job I have but local is a whole different ball of wax. There are so many damn drivers here that job openings get saturated with applicants. So the local companies sick and adhere to the 12 months experience to the letter. And the pay is not what you think.

Next I hope you're planning on living near a major city. Orlando Jacksonville, Miami. Otherwise you'll be commuting to those cities every day to drive. Local jobs are scarce trust me. I've got a couple companies I'm trying for but the won't look at me until I have 12 months recent experience.

Florida is a great place to visit, a tough place to live.

Pat, just for clarification in this guys situation, even if he would work at walmart part time (not a driving job as he doesnt have cdl yet) are those hours he works even if he'd be a cashier, counted towards his HOS? So if he did trucking "on duty" for 10 hours, then went to walmart and worked 6 hours, would it count as 16 hours towards the 70/80 or does it only apply to trucking/ DOT regulated positions? I believe all hours worked regardless of job count towards his HOS but just want to be sure.

Yes, they will count against your 70 hour clock. Our log auditor also drives a local route during the week and he's constantly having to juggle driving time with office time.

Can you explain what you mean by 70/80?

Let me tell you, don't think trucking jobs are growing on trees in Florida. I live near Daytona beach. It's affordable with the otr job I have but local is a whole different ball of wax. There are so many damn drivers here that job openings get saturated with applicants. So the local companies sick and adhere to the 12 months experience to the letter. And the pay is not what you think.

Next I hope you're planning on living near a major city. Orlando Jacksonville, Miami. Otherwise you'll be commuting to those cities every day to drive. Local jobs are scarce trust me. I've got a couple companies I'm trying for but the won't look at me until I have 12 months recent experience.

Florida is a great place to visit, a tough place to live.

Thanks for the advice. I was hoping that it would be easier to find a trucking job in Florida compared to the unsuccessful job searching I've done trying to get computer / IT jobs there (or in the Greater Cincinnati area).

But you're saying I should expect to have a trucking job up here for at least a year before looking for one in Florida?

Let me tell you, don't think trucking jobs are growing on trees in Florida. I live near Daytona beach. It's affordable with the otr job I have but local is a whole different ball of wax. There are so many damn drivers here that job openings get saturated with applicants. So the local companies sick and adhere to the 12 months experience to the letter. And the pay is not what you think.

Next I hope you're planning on living near a major city. Orlando Jacksonville, Miami. Otherwise you'll be commuting to those cities every day to drive. Local jobs are scarce trust me. I've got a couple companies I'm trying for but the won't look at me until I have 12 months recent experience.

Florida is a great place to visit, a tough place to live.

Thanks for the advice. I was hoping that it would be easier to find a trucking job in Florida compared to the unsuccessful job searching I've done trying to get computer / IT jobs there (or in the Greater Cincinnati area).

But you're saying I should expect to have a trucking job up here for at least a year before looking for one in Florida?

If you're coming to Florida with no driving experience and want a local job right off the bat, you're in for a long search. With that said it's not impossible just extremely difficult. I looked at a couple trucking schools near me when I needed to take a refresher. Both had job placement assistance. But the one I went to (career tech, Lakeland FL) didn't have any local companies for placement. Just otr. The other one (Roadmaster, Sandford FL) did have a couple local companies. But they were nearly $1,000 more for a refresher course than career tech.

I would research schools first and make sure they place in local or ltl companies first before moving. Otherwise you're looking at going otr for a minimum of 12 months to gain experience for local companies. The bonus to that is there are a plethora of otr companies that will pay for your schooling, but all require at least a one year commitment after or they'll charge you close to 6 grand for the licence.

Lastly when I moved to Florida we came to Daytona because my girlfriend had a stay at home job working for a company out of New York. 5 months after moving they terminated her after 20 years there so they could move her position to the New York office. This forced me to have to fall back on my cdl that I hadn't used (but had kept current) to find a driving job that pays better than the wherehouse job I had after moving. Now since I had no current experience in the last 14 years with tractor/trailer, I'm out here otr gaining experience for a local job. Had I of known I was going to have to go back to driving, we would have moved to Orlando where those jobs are more plentiful. Daytona has very very few opportunities for local jobs and those are saturated with applicants.

Bottom line is do your research on companies and schools before picking a place to move. And with that I'm sure your gonna see those jobs are 90% near a major city.

Last I'll tell you what I've learned of the companies I've talked to near the Daytona/Orlando/Jacksonville area. You're gonna be working 60 hour weeks to make a decent living. I've talked to Averitt, US Foods, sysco, R&L carriers, conway, Pepsi and Florida rock and tank. All of them are 50-60 hour weeks. A lot of those are 2nd and 3rd shifts.

Coming from an IT background I'm afraid you're in for a reality check on truck driving. But hey, I'm not saying it's impossible to find a 40 hour week in Florida driving truck's with no experience, just very difficult.

I gotta quit posting on these forums, I'm so doom and gloom =(

Well Terry, reality is what it is, so I appreciate you putting the info out there.

I'll start doing some research on trucking in the south Florida area (my wife's issues start when the temp get's down to 50 degrees and lower, so it looks like the most southern parts of Florida would be best).

I'm just hoping that having my CDL might be a more marketable skill than the medium experience I have in the IT field. Besides just thinking that truck driving would better suit me.

Can you explain what you mean by 70/80?

That was a typo on my part is should have been 60/70.

What this means is that you can either work 60 hours in 7 days or 70 hours in 8 days maximum driving AND not driving hours. After your reach those limits you can no longer drive unless you gain some hours back using your recap hours or you take a 34 hour reset and that gets you back to 0.