Question:
What is it? What type of driving does it consist of? Ive seen ads in my local paper from LTL trucking companies and have no idea what they are.
Thanks JRR Tolkien

Answer:
LTL= Less Than Truck Load.
This type of trucking involves multiple pickups and/or deliveries. You may have anywhere from 2 to 200 stops per "load".
Due to the extra stops and the time involved with them most of your pay will usually come from the stops themselves, and not actual miles driven. Also many times LTL freight involves a great deal of driver loads/unloads.
LTL can make you some money with the right company, but be sure to check out the specifics.
In addition to mileage/percentage pay be sure to inquire about how much they pay for each extra stop you have to make on a trip (the first and last are usually give me's as you always have to load the trailer and empty it before you can load it again) and also inquire about how much you are paid if you have to do any of the loading/unloading yourself.
Answer:
Generally, you are going to be home everyday/ night with LTL.
If you want to drive a big KW or pete forget about it.
The thing to consider with city LTL is you will be shifting your little A$$ off; I estimated that i shifted over 2,000 times this past week. And the clutch pedal (which i only use for starting and backing) is heavy. You will be home every night and have a "normal" weekend. Pay is so-so. Depending on the company, there may or may not be lots of freight handling. My company and others---such as jevic only want freight on pallets, so there's not much handling involved. Others, such as perhaps, overnite have more stuff on the floor.
For nighttime linehaul, depending on the company, you will generally just drive terminal to terminal and do nothing else. The hardest part will be staying awake. Pay, depending on company, can be good.
For more info, see my post entitled "#35 the local files"
Or "It's the weekend, how much did CHAD make?"

Answer:
PT.2
Another thing to consider is this:
Go to ANY LTL terminal and look in the employee parking lot; You will notice that there are for the most part, only new, decent vehicles parked there. This, should tell you something.

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All that means is the drivers have good credit and make just enough to make the payments but not enough to buy the car outright.
Sorry, but making payments is not my idea of a good fiscal policy...
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Yep, it tells me something alright.
It tells me that they have good enough CREDIT for someone to make them a LOAN or it tells me that they are Making PAYMENTS out the ying-yang, it tells me that there is more than 1 person trying to Live Like The Jones', but most of all it tells me that They are SLAVES to the LENDER.
Don't get me wrong, I'm Not saying that there is anything wrong with everyone having nice rides.....
I'm just saying that...Just b/c they all have nice rides, does NOT mean that they all Can AFFORD to have them.
Having a nice ride is GREAT.....IF you can AFFORD It.

Answer:
The type of freight you haul, be it truck load or LTL, has nothing to do with how often a driver will see home, and can be a very dangerous assumption to make. Never assume anything in this business. A person needs to get the facts about that specific job.
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All you Newbies/Wannabies please ignore Chad he possess very limited knowledge concerning anything,let alone LTL and "trucking"in general.
LTL consists of exactly what Uturn stated. Chad is confusing Local
LTL P&D and Linehaul OTR with LTL OTR.
LTL =Less than full Trailer Load
LTL P&D=Local Pick Ups and/or Deliveries
Linehaul =Terminal to Terminal
Answer:
Since all you bitter posters insist on sharing all your negative energy with everyone else, why don't we ask the topic starter what kind of company(ies) s/he is referring to?
Coyotemike, would you tell us the names of some of these companies in question?
I am well aware that there are van truckload companies that take on LTL freight. I am also aware of companies like jevic, a. duie pyle etc and how they operate. because i leased to jevic briefly.
Most of my trucking experience has been in LTL so i have, if anything, vast knowledge of the LTL game.
I do not wish to be involved in a "lori vs. 7 of 9 type" feud.
Chad; hasn't swallowed the bitter pill----yet.

Answer:
What they're saying Chad, is there is a BIG DIFFERENCE between a local LTL P&D type company than a OTR LTL company.
The company I'm leased to, 'builds loads' from the Twin Cities Metro area. We haul them all over the country, mainly the east coast & south.
95% of the time, these runs usually consist of 1200 miles or more ONE WAY!
We also 'peddle our freight' when we come back in (usually). We do have some of the local guys (& gals), make deliveries for us, but normally that's only if us 'OTR drivers' do a 'turn & burn'.
Turn & burn is when you bring in a loaded wagon and leave out again before you can deliver your load.

Answer:
I work for an LTL company, if you search my posts you will find all of the definitions and descriptions of what the job is.
Many LTL companies are union, not all but many. In many cases this helps keep the rate of pay up even for the non-union companies.
If you want to work, make money and get home look at LTL, If you want a fast fancy truck that you can take home look elsewhere.

Answer:
Well I just started at a full load and LTL company. Approx 50% full load and 50% LTL
Family owned and it’s all regional work. All no touch loads, home twice a week since I live 15 mins from the main terminal and FULL weekends at home. And no runs into NYC, NJ or Philly, not to mention good pay and benefits
2 to 8 drops max and I get a big new fancy Alaskan king crab white pete 379
I hope this company works out, time will tell


Answer:
LTL whether local or OTR is usually rush rush. If you just want to drive to point A to point B than this isent your line of work. It can be very stressful at times. You will deal with your fair share of rude customers and lots of traffic.
My company is similar to the company Hoss belongs too. We are OTR based for the most part even though we do have a few O/O who lease day cabs which for the most part do local work. Most, or shall I say all outbound loads are reefer based. Usually dairy products (cheese, coffee cream, butter) but we do haul some meat, and produce like cranberries and potatoes. Usually we haul in a 500 to 1000 mile radius to the east and SE of WI. Not many west bound loads but there are a few here and there. Most drivers leave Saturday or Sunday for deliveries on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and come back Wednesday, through Friday. All drivers peddle their own freight and once empty will pickup loads in WI and bring them back to the company where they will be consolidated. That is where loads with a close proximity of each other when it comes to drops and time, will be loaded on a trailer.
For me, I usually leave on a Saturday or Sunday for Monday appointments. Come back on Thursday, drop trailer in lot. Come home for at least 2 days. While I am at home sitting in my comfy lazy boy chair, I can rest assure, my trailer is getting unloaded and reloaded for my trip east. Thats usually OH, KY, or PA but an occasional NY, GA, FL, TX thrown into the mix every so often.
Overall I like it. Pay is above average when it comes to truckload freight. Like I said not everyone likes it and at first I didnt like it either. But I got use to it and it grew on me so to speak and now I couldnt see myself doing anything else.

Answer:

Ya get used to the 'rush rush go go' type stuff.
A 'typical' truckload is kinda mundane after getting used to LTL.

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My second job was LTL
I drove for Canadian Tire here in Ontario
I did this for about a year, local highway and city.
I was paid by the hour, nothing extra for unloading. I had an average of 6 drops per day in a 53 footer with everything on the floor
I had to hand bombed everything on my own. Yes I was home every night, but by time the weekend came I was almost dead on my feet.
It would have been so bad if it was all on pallets but good God all on the floor was just too much.
I remember opening the back door and you could not fit your fingers in between the boxes.
Try not to get that kind of LTL lol