New Driving Looking Local Home Daily. Options?

Hi everyone. My name is Joe. I'm new to the trucking world. I obtained my Class A along with my Hazmat/Tanker endorsement back in 3/2017. Upon graduation from Trucking school, I began with an OTR carrier. Unfortunately, it was short lived, only a couple weeks. Problem was I have four little ones at home between 6 months and 9 years old and they were having a hard time adjusting to me being gone for such long periods, as was I too. So I hung it up and got back into the automotive field which I've done my entire career. I want to get back into trucking because I want something new and exciting. I enjoy being out on the road. I would like to find something local home nightly so as I can be with the kids. I know as a rookie driver, you usually have to have anywhere from 3 months to a year under your belt before most carriers will consider you. My question is are there any local companies out there who will take a recent grad?

Depending on your area there are companies out there. Your problem is going to be that it's been over a year since graduating/driving.

Local jobs are frequently very long hours with a two to four day break then long hours again. There isn't much adventure compared to OTR. My gig is usually four 13-15 hour nights then four nights off. I pick up and deliver to the same places every night. It's kinda the opposite of OTR adventure. I'm not telling you what the right decision is. But if adventure is what you want most from trucking local might not cut it.

Unfortunately you will most likely have to start over. You have zero experience. You may be able to find a dock to driver position. You have a long road ahead of you. You may want to stay with what you are doing until your kids are older. They need dad around.

I hate to say this and be Miss Negative Nelly, but your very limited driving skills are quite stale. Most companies would make you go back through CDL school and company training too.

Depending on where you live, FAB Logistics might have a terminal near you. They don't seem to require much.. not even a training certificate from what I've heard.

But beware.. local driving is LOOOONG hours and very tight maneuvering in most cases. Not to mention routinely loading or unloading your own freight. Maybe you'll get lucky but I wouldn't recommend local for an inexperienced driver.

Most local jobs that will take a newbie are horrible, but if that is what you need at this time, you might check into food distributors in your area such as Gordon Foods or one of their competitors.

Hi everyone. My name is Joe. I'm new to the trucking world. I obtained my Class A along with my Hazmat/Tanker endorsement back in 3/2017. Upon graduation from Trucking school, I began with an OTR carrier. Unfortunately, it was short lived, only a couple weeks. Problem was I have four little ones at home between 6 months and 9 years old and they were having a hard time adjusting to me being gone for such long periods, as was I too. So I hung it up and got back into the automotive field which I've done my entire career. I want to get back into trucking because I want something new and exciting. I enjoy being out on the road. I would like to find something local home nightly so as I can be with the kids. I know as a rookie driver, you usually have to have anywhere from 3 months to a year under your belt before most carriers will consider you. My question is are there any local companies out there who will take a recent grad?

I know GFS in my area wouldn't dare hire an inexperienced driver.. they say they'll hire with 6 months experience on their app but they won't. I have a friend who found out the hard way that after 6 months OTR the only thing local he could get was driving a class B truck delivering locally doing his own loading and unloading. He ended up injured and needed surgery then unemployed for a very long time. He's now attempting to drive a school bus, but he basically screwed himself and his career because his girlfriend didn't like him being gone during the week. He was home every weekend like clockwork with West Side.

Susan says :

But beware.. local driving is LOOOONG hours and very tight maneuvering in most cases. Not to mention routinely loading or unloading your own freight. Maybe you'll get lucky but I wouldn't recommend local for an inexperienced driver.

I completely agree. I started straight out of school doing local food service. A typical day for me is starting at 330am and putting in 12 to 14 hours. In that time i usually only drive 100 miles due to 90% of it being city street. Im also given up to 800 cases to physically unload using a 2 wheel dolly. It usually ends up being about 18,000 pounds of food with 20 or more stops. Not every local job requires physical unloading but many do, especially ones willing to hire inexperienced drivers. Its gotten better after moving my kids bedtimes back however im still only seeing them for maybe 2 or 3 hours a day. Usually im only off work enough to get my 10 hour reset in which includes commuting, eating, showering, sleeping and trying to have enough time and energy to spend quality time with my wife and kids. We've gotten to the point where nothing really is expected of me during the week, however the weekends is all about them. I have a diary that i documented my journey over the first year discussing my struggles and accomplishments that you can find here:

Local Food Service Job As A Rookie.

Long story short, I'd suggest you find a regional job where you're home weekends as thats pretty much what you'd have being local. Im fortunate enough to have made it a year without any accidents but too many in a short time (which isnt hard with some places we deliver) will have you unemployed. I make a very nice wage doing what im doing but i earn every penny of it, and both me and my family have to make sacrifices. There are a few jobs ive seen advertised in my area where you work 5 10 hour days however the ones i see are companies who produce goods that move them to the other side of town to their storage/warehouse. With more of a work/life balance i can only imagine those are much harder to get on with.

Feel free to ask any other questions you have. We have a few members here who work locally and can provide insight.

I noticed in your bio that you are in PA. If you are in the central area my company(jp donmoyer) does hire and train new drivers doing dry bulk pneumatic tanks. I started out of school and the work fits me well but I do run long days. I do have a diary "my pneumatic tanker job". It's nowhere near as good as some other diaries but will give you an idea.

Long story short, I'd suggest you find a regional job where you're home weekends as thats pretty much what you'd have being local.

This was something I discovered by working various jobs myself over the years. I had a job for a couple of years where I was home on the weekends and I changed to a local job where I was home every night. I realized right away that being home every night wasn't any better, especially since I'm not married and don't have any children. You're working such ridiculous hours to begin with that by the time you're done commuting, eating, showering, and doing a few chores you're just going to bed anyhow. You can't do anything until the weekends.

Local work to me felt like a monotonous grind. The job was boring, the hours were ridiculously long, the pay wasn't as good as it was regional or OTR , and you have no life during the week anyhow.

I found that a regional job where I was home on weekends paid better and was a lot more enjoyable. I was able to travel, see a huge variety of places, and then have the weekends at home. If you really hustle you can make about the same amount of money running regional as you can running OTR, still get to live the travelling lifestyle, but be home on weekends too.