Advice Needed...

I know it's been very well documented in here about finishing your first year with a company but here's my quandary.

I got back into driving with the long term goal of landing something local. OTR , dedicated routes were never my goal.

There is an opening at a company in my home town I've not seen hiring drivers in some time. They deliver (manufacture too, I think) plastic drainage tubing. Pay would be 44cpm starting out home daily. Weekends off, but some Saturday runs. NO holiday work they are closed.

Is it worth it (if I got offered a job) to stick it out for 27cpm (although I am home weekly) or should I jump at that opportunity?

This is all understanding I'll pay off the remaining balance of my schooling from my current company.

Well that's a gigantic leap from 27 cpm to 44 cpm but make sure you look into a few things first.

1) Will the company you're with prevent you from landing another job while under contract? Recently there has been some discussion about that happening with certain companies. If they have you under contract they may not give you any sort of certificate of completion for their training until the tuition is paid off which may prevent another company from hiring you. There may also be some legal issues involved with that. So before you quit your current company have a thorough conversation with this local company to make sure they're aware of the circumstances.

2) Check with the local company to see what kind of miles you can average there. It doesn't matter how much you make per mile if the miles are lousy, ya know what I mean?

3) Speak with some of the drivers at the local company if you haven't already. Get the inside scoop. Make sure the job is what you're expecting in terms of money, job duties, and time off.

What you're probably going to find is that you have almost as much free time at home now as you will with the new job. A lot of local jobs entail very long days. By the time you get home you'll eat, shower, and go to bed anyhow.

Personally I preferred regional jobs where I was home on weekends over jobs I was home every night because I made a lot more money running regional and had so little time at home with the local jobs anyhow that it wasn't really worth it. But of course I've never been married and have no children so there really was no incentive to be home anyhow.

So just look into the job thoroughly. Don't be too taken in by that 44 cpm until you know all of the details. And the best place to get those are from some of their current drivers. It's not a mortal sin to change companies before that one year mark is up but a lot of people find out the hard way that the grass really wasn't greener elsewhere. Often times you'll gain a few things but lose a few at the same time. With trucking jobs the devil is in the details as they say. Get all of the details you can before making the jump.

Duly noted. As far as my contract goes, I'm fairly sure it just stated that if I didn't fulfill my obligation, I'd pay back the prorated tuition.

According to the person I spoke with my miles would be comparable to what I'm getting with my dedicated route (2250 a week)

I've seen a truck or two of theirs parked where I leave mine on my home time, I'll definitely look for one of the drivers to talk to.

And on the bright side, except for the 27 cpm (I know I'm a rookie) I'm on a pretty good gig, if this doesn't pan out.

And on the bright side, except for the 27 cpm (I know I'm a rookie) I'm on a pretty good gig, if this doesn't pan out.

I would definitely look more into the local gig, simple math more money and more home time to see your family, I recently switched to local and don't regret it one bit. That pay bump will make life way easier for you, but you should definitely call them and see what kind of miles they offer cause 44 cpm is good but not if your doing 1000 or less miles a week. If you're really looking for local work look into dump trailers/trucks, food distribution, pickup and delivery and those things.