The Life Of A Dedicated Driver

I think there is a lot of confusion concerning the terminologies we use in trucking. I see people in here wanting to find "regional" or "dedicated" driving jobs because they don't want to be "over the road" drivers, but oftentimes these jobs actually overlap each other. I have a dedicated position at Knight Transportation. It simply means that I am dedicated to serve one single customer - Hydro (formerly SAPA). It doesn't mean I have a dedicated route.

I also am somewhat of a "regional" driver. My region is rather large. It is basically East of the Rockies, but on occasion I will still get dispatched out West to places like Utah, Oregon, and California. It is not unusual for me to be in Miami, Florida one week, and then upstate New York the following week. I am still doing an "over the road" type job, but I am dedicated to one particular customer. My job is to move their products to their customers and serve them in any capacity that they need. In addition to that I am also "dedicated" to their particular manufacturing plant in Delhi, Louisiana. Most of my loads originate there and/or return me to that plant.

I thought I'd share with you my last few loads just to illustrate how my "dedicated" job works. Last weekend I was dispatched on a 1,562 mile load that originated in Delhi, Louisiana, then had four stops. Almost all my loads are multi-stop flatbed loads. This one had it's first stop in Riverdale, New Jersey, then proceeded to Farmington, Connecticut, Bristol, Connecticut, and Amesbury, Massachusetts. It had a pre-planned backhaul load with it where I picked up return materials in Amesbury, then made my way over to Buffalo, New York to pick up some equipment that was bound for the plant in Delhi. That added another 1,700 miles onto that weeks miles.

Now I am leaving Delhi in the morning on a 2,233 mile run with six stops on it. I will have my first stop in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Then I will proceed to De Smet, South Dakota, followed by three stops in Iowa - Pella, Dubuque, and Cherokee. From there I go to my final in Wausau, Wisconsin. This load also has a pre-planned backhaul load. It will have me going from Wausau down to Muscatine, Iowa to pick up some return materials headed to Delhi, Louisiana - that's an additional 1,137 miles. If you are keeping up with the numbers you will have figured out that's a total of 6,632 miles in two weeks.

That's some very typical stuff for me. I hope I haven't bored you. I just thought maybe some of you might benefit from seeing what a dedicated driver does regularly. I love the over the road lifestyle. It's full of adventure and never ending variety. You can be a regional or dedicated driver and still turn lots of miles while filling your hunger for adventure also.

Not bored me at all. On the contrary, I find it very interesting what you and guys like you do for a living. And like you say regional can mean doing many miles almost as if you were doing otr. Just maybe in a shorter time frame.

It had a pre-planned backhaul load with it where I picked up return materials in Amesbury, then made my way over to Buffalo, New York to pick up some equipment that was bound for the plant in Delhi.

I see the term backhaul used a lot. Does it just mean a loan returning to your original shipper?

Those are some great miles!

Rob D says

I see the term backhaul used a lot. Does it just mean a loan returning to your original shipper?

most of the time yes, it could also be referring to a load going in the same direction that gets you close to terminal/ starting point which will help pay for the fuel rather than sending you a few hundred miles empty.

most of the time yes, it could also be referring to a load going in the same direction that gets you close to terminal/ starting point which will help pay for the fuel rather than sending you a few hundred miles empty.

Thank Rob T.

I have noticed different definitions of those same terms as well. I'm home every weekend friday night and leave monday morning, plus three nights during the week. Sometimes I'm gone all week and sometimes I'm home every night of the week.

The photo below shows my region. The green with a white box are dealerships that we deliver to. The gold stars are hotels that accept CLC and have truck parking. The hearts are locations that I load out of.

You can't see some of the locations that I load because of the cluster I have created on Google maps unless I zoom in. My home terminal is Nashville, TN. Other locations are Spring Hill, TN, Princeton, IN, and Georgetown, KY. We have terminals in Louisiana and Texas as well. I do not make it to all of our terminals because I'm satisfied with the area I run for the money and home time. Hope this helps somebody out there.

Not bored me at all. On the contrary, I find it very interesting what you and guys like you do for a living. And like you say regional can mean doing many miles almost as if you were doing otr. Just maybe in a shorter time frame.

I am regional, but I run from eastern Ohio to Maine to Philadelphia and as Far East as Rhode Island and Boston. So far. I also run to Wisconsin at least once a quarter

I could be dispatched anywhere they need me, since I made it clear I don’t really need to be home any particular time. If I have specific dates I need to be home, they get me there. For instance, I need to be home Wednesday to play in a playoff for the grand prize for the blackjack tournament I won. Then I will head back out until the week of 10/13, take a week off with my wife, then my plan is to head out for 2 weeks to make up for my unpaid vacation.

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Thanks Old School. That was a very helpful post. So I'm guessing that a regional or dedicated job that involves weekly home time is probably going to generally have a smaller geographic area and shorter length of haul? And probably lower potential miles as well? Those are some great miles you are able to run. I would love to hear the details of some of the trip planning that helps make that happen.

Nothing to disagree with here. I believe the companies have skewed the proper use of the words "dedicated" and "regional" obviously as a recruiting tool for new drivers. I was on a "dedicated" route in Missouri for 6 months. In that time frame I drove to Maine, Florida to California and back; probably twice if I think about it. Dedicated means nothing more than what's already been covered here already. Regional might mean the 48 contiguous to the boss of the company. Be sure to ask specific questions if you have needs. Don't assume anything.

Great post Old School.

“Dedicated”...means Dedicated to one customer/account. I’d strongly suggest each Dedicated Account is unique.

I am committed to Walmart Dedicated, yet my job is very different than Old School’s SAPA Account.