Question:
To begin with,I'll tell you,I'm as newbie as they get. I'm getting ready to start school this monday and i can't wait. I worked in shipping for 7 years and met alot of otr drivers, and if I learned one thing it's that otr driving is not a glamorous life. The company drivers were always unhappy. After seeing first hand how dispatchers and warehouses treated them I can understand why. The driver is the low man on the pole,as far as companies are concerned. These poor guys just never get any respect. The O/O ran a close second. But most of them would never come back and haul freight again if they weren't happy. I don't know how many times i heard drivers argue with dispatchers just to realize the only way they were going to get back on the road was to take the damn load and be done with it. Very few won the battle,and if they did they were going to have to wait, and waiting on the dock hands equals no money in the drivers pocket. The only company drivers that i ever saw that were somewhat content were the single guys who lived out of their truck, and some dedicated drivers. So you may be asking why the h--- am i going into truck driving then? Well on the other side of the coin were the local shuttle drivers. These guys were the happiest drivers i ever new. They got paid by the hour, got home every night and on the weekend, and they just drive from one point to another and basicly just drive. Local is where its at, at least that's my outlook on it. I have 2 uncles that drove over the road all there lives. They were never home, and they were in terrible shape. OTR driving had taken it's toll on them. If you have a family, think twice,maybe three time's before you go otr. There are good local jobs out there. Dont get too lured in by that stuff about getting to see the world. You'll get to see it through a windsheild maybe. This is just my opinion, and dosn't apply to everyone, just give it some thought. Save some money and go to a good school, get your cdl, and maybe drive a year for a company to get experience. You'll need to learn to drive in traffic to get any job be cause a school will just get you a cdl. I'll just about bet the so called thrill of the open road will leave you after a short while on the road. Remember that your family is forever and money just pays the bills. You find out most people want to go on the road and earn the so called big money. Learn to save first, pay bills second, and buy your junk last. Well thanks for your time, and thats the opinion of a real newbie.

Answer:
You of course are entitled to your opinions, but what your lack of experience on the drivers side of the fence fails to bring to light is this:
1. There are not that many local companies out there that hire newbie drivers.
2. That a lot of local drivers work 12 plus hour days 5 and sometimes 6 days per week.
3. That local drivers often do a lot more freight lumping than the OTR guys do. Between having to load and unload doing local P&D to having to spend half the day working the docks.
4. In many areas of the country there are no local driving jobs.
5. That many companies are coming around in regards to hometime. The days of drivers being gone for 4-6 weeks are going by the wayside. 10-14 days on the road are currently more the norm for OTR drivers now.
6. Todays OTR trucks are much more driver friendly than the trucks made 15 or 20 years ago. Larger sleepers, air ride, better erconomics make driving easier and less damamging physically.
7. While there are certainly aggravating times for the OTR driver there is still a certain "romance" to going around the country. It gets in your blood and you have a hard time giving it up.
Local driving is fine for some, and if someone can handle local work, great, but I can promise you that it is not everything it is cracked up to be either. Many OTR drivers have gotten off the road and tried to do the local bit and end up right back doing OTR because they can't handle driving in city traffic day in and day out, trying to complete 20 P&D's in the time allotted, and having to put in 12 plus consecutive hour days.
The best thing about trucking is that there are a lot of options available from what you haul to local, regional, and OTR work.
I wish you the best of luck and I hope that you find what you are looking for and that things turn out the way you envision, but life seldom ends up the way we dream it will be.
I will always be a mutter trucker at heart.
[This message was edited by uturn2001 on August 23, 2003 at 20:23.]
Answer:
Good post, Raggs. And far closer to the truth of the matter, despite the ramblings of the sociopaths who have a desperate need for validation of their unnatural lifestyle. OTR is only good for those who just want to go play tourist for a while, and don't have to rely on the pay to make a living. It is in no way a permanent career. It is not even a job, it's a 'lifestyle'.
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Humans are amazing creatures. "With all the things you can train them to do, I've been considering getting one."-StoneyJay Gould
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This post coming to you live, from Jesus Land !!!

Answer:
I agree with you Raggs! Once upon a time I guess things were different, but today, who in there right mind would want to go OTR? I guess a young single guy might like it. Get to see the world I guess. On the road everyone is after the driver. DOT, state DOT, local governments, local cops. Seen a big billboard sign in Littlt Rock, said "Hit by a big rig? Call us today" . Dam lawyers just waiting to sue some driver. Now days you make one mistake, and your either in jail, or finished as at truck driver.

Answer:
Yep, and drivers will do everything possible to make sure it is an open and shut case.
___________________________
Humans are amazing creatures. "With all the things you can train them to do, I've been considering getting one."-Stoney Jay Gould
__________________________
This post coming to you live, from Jesus Land !!!

Answer:
here to Fort Lauderdale and do that 20 P&D for a "local" company for 8 bucks an hour.
Local is great, but a lot of it has to do with where you live. People can come over on a boat, fork over 500 to "get" their CDL and be driving locally for just above minimum wage.
Driving jobs down here for over 10 bucks an hour don't exist. Well they do, but you need to know someone to get it, and then someone has to die!
Think I'm lying...ask TaxiBob and Me....

Answer:
If you plan to go local, you will need at least one, and in many cases two, years of driving tractor/trailer driving experience with a clean MVR to get the jobs. Where are you going to get this experience? In most cases, you will have to get this experience OTR, since large OTR companies are almost the only ones that hire newbies.
If you find a local job that actually hires new drivers and you don't have to do any work you don't want to do and you're home every night and you make good money, take it. But those jobs exist only in people's dreams.
Most local work is paid by the hour, but certainly not all. Some local drivers are paid by the hour only because they spend a lot of dock time loading and unloading instead of driving. And if you're driving straight truck or not running a logbook, you may work your full fifteen hours a day. Good jobs do exist, but like I said, they usually only go to those with experience.
As a new driver, you may want to check out straight truck jobs, grocery warehouses (where you can eventually work your way into driving), beverage delivery, motorcoach bus or shuttle bus driving, or tri-axle dump truck. Sometimes, these do not require experience beyond a CDL or offer training and can get you home every night. Just something to consider if OTR is not your game.

Answer:
So what is the point of driving? There is no law saying you can't do something else. If you want to be a career driver, you have to move to where the jobs are the best for your career.
If I had a degree in Physics and wanted to do well at it, it would be kind of silly for me to move to Terlingua, Texas, because I just want to live there, then complain the only job there in my field, if any, pays $6 an hour, when I could put in applications at Berkeley or some federal agency and get maybe $60K a year, but have to move. I wouldn't have wasted my time and money studying Physics if my only goal in life was to live in Terlingua. By the same token, I wouldn't take a dweller job if I wanted to live there, since I wouldn't really live there in the true sense, it would just be an address while I spent weeks living out of a truck on the side of some road every other damn place in the country.
___________________________
Humans are amazing creatures. "With all the things you can train them to do, I've been considering getting one."-Stoney Jay Gould
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This post coming to you live, from Jesus Land !!!

Answer:
I enjoy visiting my house on weekends.
If I was to live in Ft Lauderdale I do believe I would be pulling containers or a dump bucket. If I wanted to be home more often. There's actually a lot of local and Miami to Tampa, Orlando jobs down there. But it will take a lot of effort and some ingenuity to find them. Being a new driver it might be harder but not impossible.
I think it's a good post also. OTR is not what most think it will be. Could be why the outrageous turn over. Having a goal like going local. Then spending as much time possible seeking it out will make it all much better. Just having a good idea what you want to do with your career as this poster seems to is far better than just hopping in a truck and wandering aimlessly around wondering whats next.
It doesn't have to be LTL work. Many of the companies I have dropped at in Miami have their own truck or trucks. They haul truck loads or almost truck loads of product from point A to point B. Then head back for another the next day. Limiting yourself because you think you can't get what you want is nonsense. You'll never know if you don't try.
"Caution: Door May Open"

Answer:
Two guys here in Atlanta just out of CDL school got hired on Conway $14.75 hr local.

Answer:
Just because it is "Local" and you are home every night does not make it a good job automatically.
Just because it is an OTR job doesnt make it a crap job automatically.
To generalize as much as some try to do is stupid.
If a person wants to go local and can be happy doing it more power to them.
If a person would rather do OTR and is happy with it....more power to them also.
With any job in trucking. Know exactly what you are getting into before signing up.
I will always be a mutter trucker at heart.
Answer:
Two guys here in Atlanta just out of CDL school got hired on Conway $14.75 hr local.
How can this be true,must be a miracle.
Two Drivers that landed a Gig with no indentured servitude?
And Dominoes your wasting your breath,the Goodtime Boys on Fantasy Island will beat your opinion to death.
Mike
Answer:
Thats not exactly the "whole deal" Uturn. Thousands of newbies join the ranks of OTR drivers every year. Where are they? If the majority or even half maybe even a 1/4 actually stayed in the business there wouldn't be a job to be found. But most leave. It's not what they think it will be. They spend a lot of money and time for nothing.
Some may stay but most wont. Even if you read what a lot of the 10 or more year drivers here on TN post you'll see quickly they are looking for a way out. Their original plans just aren't happening. I know of many in the same situation that don't post it.
Funny most that come here live under the delusion that with one year OTR experience those wonderful jobs will magically open up for them. Sorry to say, they won't.
Theres more to being sucessful than just knowng what your getting into and signing up for. People/Drivers need to know what they want and seek it out. Set goals and make plans. Then work towards them daily. Driving is driving and just hopping from one reefer/van company to another as the majority of drivers do looking for another 2 cpm and a nicer faster truck is pointless. It's called a career and working for that career should be a priority.
I think it's refreshing to see a guy like Raggs starting off with a plan. Hopefully he can make it work. Unfortunatly far to many are looking for that OTR "romance" they keep hearing about. Unfortunatly they'll end up being one of the thousands that have waisted time and money.
By the way I agree with Dominoes. Most career professionals change jobs every 7 years ( I cant back that up cause I heard it on NPR) and with that change comes a move. Many professionals move from city to city in their lives stepping up in their career with each move. Until they reach a comfortable point and decide to stay to retirement. I don't think it will matter much for a driver though. Unless they have a goal that can only be reached by relocating.
I think there's money to be made as a driver but the vast majority will never really see it.
"Caution: Door May Open"

Answer:
Originally posted by Stuffs:
Thats not exactly the "whole deal" Uturn. Thousands of newbies join the ranks of OTR drivers every year. Where are they? If the majority or even half maybe even a 1/4 actually stayed in the business there wouldn't be a job to be found. But most leave. It's not what they think it will be. They spend a lot of money and time for nothing.
They had no idea of what they are getting into, or they have Smkoey and the Badit Fantasies and become disallusioned when they dont get issued a Trans Am with their truck.
Some may stay but most wont. Even if you read what a lot of the 10 or more year drivers here on TN post you'll see quickly they are looking for a way out. Their original plans just aren't happening. I know of many in the same situation that don't post it.
In a respect driving is not that much different then the military. It just isn't for everyone. Most people who join the service go in for a single tour of duty, maybe two at most and get out. Few make the military a life time career.
Funny most that come here live under the delusion that with one year OTR experience those wonderful jobs will magically open up for them. Sorry to say, they won't.
No they wont. Just the potential for a better job with each year of service, and the definition of better is for the individual to decide for him or her self.
Theres more to being sucessful than just knowng what your getting into and signing up for. People/Drivers need to know what they want and seek it out. Set goals and make plans. Then work towards them daily. Driving is driving and just hopping from one reefer/van company to another as the majority of drivers do looking for another 2 cpm and a nicer faster truck is pointless. It's called a career and working for that career should be a priority.
That is where knowing what you are getting into comes into play. IMHO the reason for the high turnover among CDL holders (those that stop driving all together) is because too many jump into it without knowing exactly what the job is going to entail, and this goes for both the local drivers as well as the OTR crew.
I think it's refreshing to see a guy like Raggs starting off with a plan. Hopefully he can make it work. Unfortunatly far to many are looking for that OTR "romance" they keep hearing about. Unfortunatly they'll end up being one of the thousands that have waisted time and money.
I have no quarrels with what Raggs has planned for his life. Never said I did and if I came across that way I aplogize. What I take exception to is the vast generalizations that he has made without truly walking a mile in the shoes of a driver. He is saying OTR is the devil and Local is God. For him that may be true. For others it may not be.
By the way I agree with Dominoes. Most career professionals change jobs every 7 years ( I cant back that up cause I heard it on NPR) and with that change comes a move. Many professionals move from city to city in their lives stepping up in their career with each move. Until they reach a comfortable point and decide to stay to retirement. I don't think it will matter much for a driver though. Unless they have a goal that can only be reached by relocating.
Relocating is not always an option. Relocating is not always desirable. If relocating to where the "better jobs" are is the answer for a driver then why havent you moved to where there are more local jobs.
I think there's money to be made as a driver but the vast majority will never really see it.
"Caution: Door May Open"
I will always be a mutter trucker at heart.
Answer:
I think Raggs has done his homework!
By associating with all types of drivers he has seen how experienced drivers feel about their present position.
There is more to life than money, or the illusion of it!
Family means alot to some people, and being around them on a daily basis is important. Going out on the road for 14-45 days at a time living in a box and eating around or with people you don't know, or even eating alone and showering in a different facility every time isn't very rewarding regardless of the amount money a person is making.
As for the "romance" of travelling on someone else's dime once you have been across the country from east to west and north to south a few times there really isn't much more to see, especially when with most companies you won't have time to stop and enjoy the scenery. Even if you have extra time, which is usually a result of pushing more than you should have, big trucks are not allowed at the best tourist spots.
The hassles, dangers, long hours and stress with OTR is not for most people. In my opinion anyone that thinks it's great is a loner.
As far as $8.00 per hour for local work I agree that is low. Have you ever taken your hours you spend behind the wheel, at shippers & receivers, getting fuel, pre and post trip inspections etc.. and added them up then figuring your per hour rate? If you haven't DON'T because it will make you sick!
Some might think $8 per hr even with a parttime job on the side is better than OTR.
For those that have OTR in their blood perhaps they should consider a blood transfusion!!
Good post Raggs, good reply Stuffs