Comments By 6 string rhythm

Glad my posts helped. Always a blessing to pay it forward

I went to DCS. I hired on with Old Dominion as a linehaul driver when I graduated. 3+ years now and no regrets. I'm home every day. Average linehaul with OD is 65-85k a year while being home everyday with a real weekend off at home. If you wanna maximize your time at home and your earnings, it's really tough to beat LTL.

LTL Trucking: My linehaul job

The Local Thread

When you take charge of the information feed, then you have taken charge of your career, and any dispatcher that I have ever worked with wishes that he could teach all his drivers how to do these types of things.

Taken from: Dispatch wants me to take a 34 hr reset in a loading dock?!

Litigation?

Yeah. You know. DOT is "litigatin' on you" when ya gotta abide by their rules. It's the same thing as saying someone is "hatin' on you," or being a "hater." DOT is a "litigator."

I love it when people say "hating ON you" instead of just 'hate.' These people are very clever.

I don't know many employees that get paid between $70-100k a year and put in only banker's hours.

You think putting in 55 hours a week is banker's hours? Even in Manhattan they don't have bankers that work that hard. You're putting in almost as much time as most guys driving OTR or regional.

Steak Eater, that will vary from company to company and division to division. Most companies that get you home on weekends will tell you to expect a 36 - 48 hour average time off. Most of the time you won't be on a set schedule of any sort so this will vary quite a bit. You might get home Friday night and be off until Monday morning, you might get home Saturday morning and be off until Sunday night.

Expect your home time to average 36 - 48 hours on the weekends.

You missed my point. I said BANKER'S HOURS, not my hours. I don't know many people that work BANKER'S HOURS ( 9-5 ) and get paid 100k.

Why would I call 55 hours a week banker's hours? That's my whole point.

One more thing. You'll need your hazmat, doubles / triples, and tank endorsements if you wanna go linehaul. Use the resources here to study and you'll ace the exams.

Well, you gotta work with your location. Ward is a good outfit, just small. Fed Ex Freight is a top notch LTL. I don't know much about XPO. I don't know anything about Penske - I thought they just rented trucks? I think Old Dominion's closest terminal to your location would be Scranton.

I wouldn't look into Fed Ex Ground. Those fleets are run by owner / operators and you'll be a 1099 employee. Go with Fed Ex Freight over Fed Ex Ground.

Welcome.

Your odds are very good. Are you in the Harrisburg / York / Carlisle area? If so, you will have many options.

I went into LTL linehaul with Old Dominion right out of trucking school. Had I known OD has a program where they take prospective drivers off the street and train them for their CDL, I probably would've gone right to OD without getting my CDL first. But, I went to a really good private school in York and I don't regret that decision. The school cost me 5k, and with how good OD pays, I had it paid off in a matter of a few months - plus OD gives tuition reimbursement.

If you are indeed in the HBG / York / Carlisle area, I'd highly recommend Fed Ex Freight, Old Dominion, or SAIA. I'm not sure if SAIA has their own schooling or not. I'm not basing this suggestion from personal bias, but if I had to choose between Fed Ex Freight or OD, I'd choose OD. There are reasons for that. The terminal in Harrisburg brings tremendous opportunity for linehaul (e.g. daylight linehaul in only a couple years and the ability to gain seniority at a good clip due to continued expansion), and they do hire P&D frequently.

You've got Estes in York. Fed Ex Freight, OD, and Saia in the greater Harrisburg area. I wouldn't bother with UPSF, ABF, YRC, NEMF, or Central Transport. Ward is a smaller outfit that has a terminal in Camp Hill. XPO (formerly Conway-Freight) is out of York, but somewhat of a mystery to me since they changed hands.

The union shops like UPSF, ABF, and YRC will keep you by the phone to start out. You've got a long, uphill road to get a bid run as linehaul driver at those places, and when it's slow, prepare for not working at all. Not sure how their P&D operates. Simply put, OD, Fed Ex Freight, and SAIA will offer much better opportunity for you as a new driver.

One thing to consider with SAIA is that they are just now moving into the northeast with their freight lanes. The current "Harrisburg" terminal is in Mount Joy (Lancaster), and they have plans to expand to Middletown (Harrisburg) with a larger terminal. Now would be a prime time to get your foot in the door with an LTL that is a major player. You'd gain 'instant' seniority since they plan on doing a lot of hiring over the next few years. True, seniority doesn't count in P&D, but at SAIA you can take your hire date and apply that seniority if you'd choose to switch to linehaul from P&D. Apparently, you can seamlessly switch from P&D to linehaul. Most LTLs run separate boards for linehaul and P&D, so if you switch, you lose your seniority.

Hope all this helps. Let me know if you have any questions. There's a Fed Ex Freight driver on here who will chime in, hopefully. There are a few of us LTL drivers here. I try to represent LTL whenever I can. Going linehaual was what I always wanted to do. I love being home every day, and I make enough money that my wife can stay home with the kids. It's the best trucking job I could ever ask for. Here's a thread I started specifically about LTL.

LTL Trucking - My Linehaul Job

Email sent.

G-Town, I looked at your pictures. Very cool stuff. Can you describe the process of building these models? This might be something fun to do with my son.