Otr -Over The Road

Have any of you been otr all years long? Does vacation time add up? Being out all year you probably spend little money, end of year total money is?

All year long?

Have any of you been otr all year long? Does vacation time add up? Being out all year you probably spend little money, end of year total money is?

Days off don't accumulate. You could stay on the road for a year and you'd still only get four days home time. So why burn yourself out like that? Take your four days off regularly when you can and enjoy it - you will have earned it. You don't have to go home necessarily. You can take a few days off somewhere that appeals to you - like a mini vacation somewhere.

I guess you would have gotten to the point so that you could take a one week vacation, but don't count on adding those four days home time in there with your vacation.

The trucking business is an asset based business which means they have a huge investment in equipment. They expect that equipment to be moving and making money. Having it parked at a drivers house does little to satisfy their stockholders.

Average rookie year end pay will be around 35,000 dollars, maybe 40,000. That will increase as you develop into a more productive driver.

Some companies DO give a paid vacation as a benefit. Week after a years service, 2 after 3-5 years, etc.

Problem is, for most of them - if you are out of your truck for a week, they will want to give it to someone else (specifically for company drivers - lease drivers it's your truck, but you still have to make your payment even when you aren't driving it). Company doesn't want a piece of equipment sitting like that, not earning $$.

People tend to get pretty entrenched in their rig - get it setup just the way they want, and tend to have a buttload of stuff in there. Plus - once you learn a particular trucks idiosyncrasis and get all the mechanical demons worked out, it's hard to give it up.

But - there's a difference between the 1 week out/1 day home, you accrue as "home time" (which you should take - some companies allow it to accrue, some don't - but it is NOT the same as a "paid vacation" because you aren't collecting a check for the time off). And you DO want to take some days off - or you will get as burnt out as a fried pork rind.

Full-timing in the truck (as in, going homeless) will save a bunch of overhead - but again - on "home time" or vacation - you want to get OUT OF THE TRUCK for a spell.

Rick