Comments By 6 string rhythm

No I like trailers...trucks in general. I will use the photos at times as a visual guide to build HO scale trailers. There are a few in my photo gallery that I have built.

That's cool! I'll have to take a look. Any doubles rigs?

For anybody interested, I'll describe a day off for a local driver in LTL. Somebody's gotta represent LTL here!

I'm linehaul, and I work 5 days a week. I'm also daylight. On my current schedule, it takes about 10.5 hours for the run. I leave my house around 10:30 am and get home around 10:30 pm. So it's like a 12 hour day on average, including my commute to and from the terminal.

I get two days off a week. My weekend starts Saturday night and I don't go back to work till Tuesday morning. I'm on a Tues-Sat schedule.

Most P&D guys are working Mon-Fri, averaging about 50 hours a week, and have start times typically in the early morning and finish up around supper. They're off Saturdays and Sundays.

Most linehaul drivers work nights and are Mon-Fri. So, keep in mind that the morning of your first "day off," you're usually sleeping or taking some kind of a nap during the day in order to catch up on rest. Most guys will flip their sleep schedule to sleep at night on the weekend in order to be with their family / friends. Then they'll take a cat nap before going in to work on their first day. It varies how you approach it. It can be a chore, and it's certainly a lifestyle.

I enjoy working days, so I don't have to worry about losing a day off or 1/2 a day on my weekend to catch up on sleep, BUT during my week day I have limited time to do anything. Now, I do have more time than most linehaul drivers because of my schedule, but I'm still somewhat limited during my work week. It's definitely not 9-5, but I'm not paid like I'm 9-5 either! I don't know many employees that get paid between $70-100k a year and put in only banker's hours.

So there's a glimpse into a day off for a driver in LTL - linehaul or P&D.

Other than collecting numerous stories, a few moments of terror and lots of great memories; I take a lot of photographs.

Without too many exceptions (like during really bad weather) I have taken a photograph of every trailer I've been dispatched with since I started on the Walmart account. I haven't counted them in a while, but I have taken well over 1000 trailer photographs.

I will publish yesterday's because it was the very first air-slide and air-ride Walmart trailer I have ever run. A true oddity and definitely not a newer unit, circa 2010.

Is this a CYA thing, or do you really like trailers?

...I'd prefer to be home at least weekly but I know that may not be possible based on my experience.

Location is more important than experience in regard to opportunity. Some locations offer lots of local opportunities for those without traditional OTR experience. Other locations offer nothing in the way of local trucking. You might be able to be home daily. If local is what you're looking for, you've basically got LTL, food service, intermodal, construction, and fuel delivery.

Here's a thread that showcases types of local jobs.

The Local Thread

Figure out what kind of local work you wanna do, and go from there. If local is what you're striving for, or you're particularly interested in LTL or fuel delivery, you're gonna need certain endorsements. Tank, hazmat, and doubles / triples is required for most LTL gigs. And obviously tank will be required for fuel or food tanker jobs.

Do you want to go local or OTR? If you've been around a while then I'm sure you understand the challenges of OTR with a family, especially a young family. You don't have your location listed so I can't offer any specific advice, because if you wanna go local, I'll need to see at least what state you're in to offer any specific advice for local opportunities. Of course if you wanna go OTR, it doesn't really matter where you live. What kind of trucking do you wanna do?

Congrats driver! That's a huge milestone and achievement.

I'll also chirp in here and say that a 1099 is not recommended for most drivers - especially new ones. It's sound advice to learn the business and start as a company driver in the trucking industry.

Lonny, if you're interested in a local job, it depends on your area. For starters, you've got LTL (either linehaul or P&D driver), food service, intermodal, or perhaps construction gigs. That's the basic local offerings for most areas.

Here's a thread dedicated to local drivers and descriptions of types of local jobs.

The Local Thread

This site caters to mostly new drivers breaking into the industry by going OTR or truckload. But there are some of us who are experienced drivers and stick around to bring attention to local driving. I went to private trucking school and landed a job as a linehaul driver with a prominent LTL company. But my opportunity was based on my location. Location is key. Some prospective drivers don't even have local opportunities based on where they live. Location is usually more important than experience, because location dictates supply and demand (and therefore the amount of experience companies want to see for candidates).

You've been around here for some time now. It's advice common in these parts to not judge a company based on an experience with a recruiter. I'd say it also applies to private trucking schools. You need to figure out why you want to go to trucking school vs company-sponsored school, and then stick with the plan.

I went to private school and eventually wound up butting heads with the school owner / instructor. I briefly thought about withdrawing, as this happened shortly after my start. I decided to stick it out, trust the process, and I proceeded to pass my skills test / driving exam on the first try.

There are lots of boisterous personalities in this industry. Don't let them persuade or dissuade you from your goals.

You should add this post to our Local Thread.