OTR Or Dedicated

I'm on a Walmart dedicated with swift, some days I love it and some days I hate it. I get home once a week to see my daughter but still feel like its not enough. My personal life sucks and I no longer have friends or do anything fun. I want to go OTR , but I keep hearing freight is terribly slow, its getting slow on my account also and my checks are dropping, is it time to just find a new profession? I'm at a roadblock here. I'm nervous to do OTR but I know it will be more exciting but is it worth it?

You'll be home less doing otr but you'll definitely get more miles. As far as being slow, it's just that time of the year. Things are winding down with the holiday quickly approaching and it will remain a little slower until after the beginning of the year. I wouldn't let it scare you too much.

Kazi, I totally agree with Robert. When freight slows down it is always just a temporary thing. I have never noticed any slow down in my miles during the slow time of the year. I remember at Western Express we would occasionally get these qualcomm messages during the winter months, when some of the flat-bed freight would slow due to a lull in construction work, that would tell us to be patient because the planners were working on loads for us, but the messages always came when I was pushing it just as hard as I could to get the load I was on delivered, because I already had a load pre-planned on me.

The best way to approach this business is to be a hustler and make stuff happen for yourself. The people you are working for recognize this type of driver and will do anything to keep them busy. If for some unforeseen reason you hit a lull in the action just make the best of your time and enjoy some down time wherever you are at. Here's an example: Back earlier this fall I ended up having to spend some extra time on a Friday night in a little town where I was gonna pick up a load on Saturday. I talked to some of the local people in a Cafe and found out they had a little powerhouse 2A football team playing a home game that night. The game was just a few blocks from where I was parked. Man, I love watching those little small town football games, those guys really give it all they've got, and their friends and family are all there in the stands screaming and supporting em all the way. You do stuff like this to make the job enjoyable, don't just sit in your truck feeling sorry for yourself because you're not at home, you'll get there soon enough, and a little break like that now and then will actually do you some good out here on the road.