Experienced Local Driver Considering CRE OTR Dollar Tree Position

So I’ll start with this; I’m 28 years old, i worked as a tire/lube tech for 3.5 years out of high school before getting into trucking in 2018. Living in a small town it’s been mostly agricultural stuff. Got my CDL in 2019 and got on a construction gig for a couple months. Local stuff dried up in 2020 but got back into it starting in 2021.

Moved to Boise mid-2022 and I’ve been in construction (the manual labor side), overnight gas station attendant, currently delivering pizza in the evening. Drove a few months of night construction back in August-October last year.

Anyway, delivery isn’t paying the bills so I’ve been back on the job search. I have no OTR experience so there’s a fair amount of driving positions I’m not eligible for. I don’t have a solid history but cumulatively I’d say I have 4 years of truck driving. Lots of miles and lots of hours but only local. I’ve been on Indeed the past few months applying to every driving job I qualify for. Finally been turning up some leads in the last couple weeks.

The one that’s grabbed my attention the most is a Dollar Tree route for CR England claiming $91-129k per year which comes out to around 1700-2400 per week. I’m just starting out so i figure I’ll fall on the lower end of the scale and honestly I’d be happy with 1500 a week. They’re saying hourly wage is $30 with time and a half after 40. Not sure about unload/stop pay or any of that.

I watched a training video demonstrating the work involved and it doesn’t look all that bad. I’ve unloaded trailers full of tires, loaded trailers full with junk tires in the heat and the cold. It’s not fun but I was only making 15-17 at the time; it was also only once per week and not multiple times per day.

At the moment i believe if i can actually take home more than 1500 a week then the work might be worth the money. I’m just on the fence about the time away, I have 3 kids and their mom works during the day and I’m not trying to leave her without another set of hands around to help.

On the other hand neither of us are financially well-off or even stable and even 6 months on this job, a year, or even two if I could swing it, would be enough to put us in a good spot.

So idk I guess I’m still weighing my options here. I got an offer to attend training/orientation in Utah where I’ll take the driving test as well. This is all assuming I can pass the driving test I guess. I haven’t done a whole lot of city driving but I’ve done a fair bit of technical driving.

I was just doing some reading on the experiences from other drivers on this forum about this route and they’re basically all bad. I was wondering if there’s anybody that’s run the route more recently, or specifically the northwest route through Washington, Oregon, Idaho and western Montana that could weigh in on their experience. Also any advice to somebody just getting started in OTR truck driving.

Welcome, I think you need a basic math class.

Your description is not easy to follow, much less show you have very much experience at all. Time with a cdl does not count. Time behind the wheel full time does. Maybe I’m missing something…

These accounts are usually very difficult and require alot of manual labor. We steer people with little experience away from them because a mishap and your likely done, ruining your career before it starts.

Time away is part of the job. Make sure your on board and the mother of your child is onboard. You probably won’t have a schedule that meshes with hers, and you need to make sure your both onboard.

Welcome, I think you need a basic math class.

Your description is not easy to follow, much less show you have very much experience at all. Time with a cdl does not count. Time behind the wheel full time does. Maybe I’m missing something…

These accounts are usually very difficult and require alot of manual labor. We steer people with little experience away from them because a mishap and your likely done, ruining your career before it starts.

I appreciate the critique on my math skills! Are you referring to my estimated CDL driving experience? I mean cumulatively it’s 3-4 years. I haven’t completely done the math but it’s been my main occupation ever since quitting the tire shop in 2018. Im not saying I have as much experience as most others in here but I am a safe and confident driver.

I’m not worried about the driving part or really the labor part separately but combining both I’m not completely sure how i feel. I’m no stranger to hard work like I said I’ve loaded trailers full of junk tires in the middle of summer. Did that for 3.5 years. To me unloading a trailer full of product seems slightly less strenuous than that.

I was hoping others that have experienced this type of work could weigh in. Do you end up making what they tell you you’ll make or do you get screwed somewhere along the way? Are benefits offered by CR England any good?

Also anybody that’s done the WA-OR-ID-MT route specifically. A lot of other drivers’ reviews say the stores suck to get in position I was wondering if stores on this route are more of the same.

Doing construction jobs is not anywhere near the same as maneuvering a 53ft van trailer in those tight dollar store parking lots. Do you have any experience with a dry van or refer trailer? If the answer is no, I highly recommend you not take this position until you have at least 1 year experience with a 53ft van/refer. These types of accounts are career killers.

I'm going to chime in with a hair under 3 years OTR experience. I know I am good at what I do. I can get my trailer into places I would never have dreamed of, on day 1 of my career. Would I take a Dollar Route? Nope. No way in heck. I kind of glance at the DG parking lots as I go by, and most of the time, it's a "nope" followed by "how in the world......"

I'm not saying that it can't be done, as there is ONE member on here who started on a Dollar Route and was very successful. I know even at this point in my driving career, it could still be a career killer.

Good luck and keep us posted. TT is a good place for research and finding answers.

If you want to get a better idea of what the job is like check out this excellent thread detailing PapaPig's experience.

papa-pigs-zainy-rookie-solo-adventures

Drive by ANY Dollar General, Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, Advance, Pizza Hut, 7- Eleven, etc. First, imagine how you would get a 75' vehicle in there close to a back or side door in order to hand unload. After that, imagine getting in and out of the same parking lot full of cars during peak times. Some of these routes are going to be multiple stores each day.

If this is a "home each night" gig, you will be off ten hours from the time you get off duty at the DC. That's the commute to and from work, sleeping, shower, eating, etc. That's a minimum of five days a week, every week. Many of your days for the first several months are likely to actually be 16 hours at work.

If I were 30 years younger with 10 years driving experience, I would pass.

Wete not trying to dash your hopes, we're giving you solid experience based advice.

The industry doesn't go by cumulative experience, it goes by continuous experience. OTR is the basic building block of the career for the most part.

Especially if you have kids and a wife that requires you home regularly, there are regional and some dock to driver programs available. But usually the regional will require you being company trained even if you already posses a CDL class A. That training will be otr.

An avenue to try may be local bulk materials and or construction but dumps are their own animal.

Lastly, I know a kid who refused to take our hard won advice, did the CR England account you mentioned, right out of cdl school. He had two preventables in the first week, killed his career. He's now a security guard.

Hi. It's been years since my friend did this. He drove a day cab and the winters up there are brutal. Day cab makes backing into the lots easier... but dealing with winter weather tougher. Sleepers we just shut down.

An issue you will have is that many companies will require a refresher course if you have been out of a truck for 6 months...some after 3 months.

Our son Michael did Dollar General with CR England stories for about five months and only took that fleet as he was worried about not getting offered something else after his co-driver took off with their truck into another fleet when Michael took home time. He very much hated the Dollar General account and looking back at things it's hard not to laugh at some of the crazy things. Several of his loads had milk spilling out of them because the rolltainers were not secured properly at the DC (one time before he even got out of the DC yard). Often spent nights behind a store in a sketchy area. Sometimes stores would not take their delivery at the appointment time because the store was under staffed and only the manager was on duty and needed to attend to customers coming into the store. Michael got lots of backing experience and, thankfully, got good at it and didn't have any incidents. Sometimes stores didn't want some of the product they were supposed to take and that involved discussion with the DC, etc. The PapaPig thread is a good one and he had good mechanic skills and repaired his lift gate himself which Michael was unable to do. There were other equipment problems. These dollar stores have grown so quickly that they can't keep up with maintaining their equipment, staffing, etc. Michael left CRE and went to Marten in March 2021 and is glad he made the move.