Time For The Grand Change!
Topic 7212 | Page 1
Hey Dustin, welcome.
You can get an OTR gig anywhere. Truckload companies, despite having the occasional hiring freeze in certain areas, will generally hire from anywhere in the lower 48. Granted, there are certain areas like Florida that have more limited opportunities, simply because they're not along major freight lanes or are in an area that doesn't have a lot of freight traffic, but you can still get an OTR job in Florida.
Location matters more when you're looking for regional gigs, local, or specific trucking opportunities like LTL. But if frequent hometime isn't important to you, and you wanna roll OTR, then you can pretty much live anywhere in the country.
Regional:
Regional Route
Usually refers to a driver hauling freight within one particular region of the country. You might be in the "Southeast Regional Division" or "Midwest Regional". Regional route drivers often get home on the weekends which is one of the main appeals for this type of route.
LTL:
Less Than Truckload
Refers to carriers that make a lot of smaller pickups and deliveries for multiple customers as opposed to hauling one big load of freight for one customer. This type of hauling is normally done by companies with terminals scattered throughout the country where freight is sorted before being moved on to its destination.
LTL carriers include:
- FedEx Freight
- Con-way
- YRC Freight
- UPS
- Old Dominion
- Estes
- Yellow-Roadway
- ABF Freight
- R+L Carrier
OTR:
Over The Road
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.
Hey Dustin, welcome.
You can get an OTR gig anywhere. Truckload companies, despite having the occasional hiring freeze in certain areas, will generally hire from anywhere in the lower 48. Granted, there are certain areas like Florida that have more limited opportunities, simply because they're not along major freight lanes or are in an area that doesn't have a lot of freight traffic, but you can still get an OTR job in Florida.
Location matters more when you're looking for regional gigs, local, or specific trucking opportunities like LTL. But if frequent hometime isn't important to you, and you wanna roll OTR, then you can pretty much live anywhere in the country.
Except South Florida - especially for a newbie. Only 3 newbie companies hire new entrants, with the cut-off pretty much being I-4.
NC is a decent location to get a hire from. Lots of freight rolling through there.
Rick
Regional:
Regional Route
Usually refers to a driver hauling freight within one particular region of the country. You might be in the "Southeast Regional Division" or "Midwest Regional". Regional route drivers often get home on the weekends which is one of the main appeals for this type of route.
LTL:
Less Than Truckload
Refers to carriers that make a lot of smaller pickups and deliveries for multiple customers as opposed to hauling one big load of freight for one customer. This type of hauling is normally done by companies with terminals scattered throughout the country where freight is sorted before being moved on to its destination.
LTL carriers include:
- FedEx Freight
- Con-way
- YRC Freight
- UPS
- Old Dominion
- Estes
- Yellow-Roadway
- ABF Freight
- R+L Carrier
OTR:
Over The Road
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.
Hey Dustin, welcome.
You can get an OTR gig anywhere. Truckload companies, despite having the occasional hiring freeze in certain areas, will generally hire from anywhere in the lower 48. Granted, there are certain areas like Florida that have more limited opportunities, simply because they're not along major freight lanes or are in an area that doesn't have a lot of freight traffic, but you can still get an OTR job in Florida.
Location matters more when you're looking for regional gigs, local, or specific trucking opportunities like LTL. But if frequent hometime isn't important to you, and you wanna roll OTR, then you can pretty much live anywhere in the country.
Except South Florida - especially for a newbie. Only 3 newbie companies hire new entrants, with the cut-off pretty much being I-4.
NC is a decent location to get a hire from. Lots of freight rolling through there.
Rick
Thanks for the replys, there is still much research for me to do before making a decision as to what I will do.
Any advice that anyone can lend in terms of a decent/reputable company sponsored training school around the NC area? From what I have seen so far there are quite a few different options to choose from just in this area. Though I will be reading up on all I can to help in the decision, experience always surpasses marketing techniques and fancy website advertising.
Dustin.
Regional:
Regional Route
Usually refers to a driver hauling freight within one particular region of the country. You might be in the "Southeast Regional Division" or "Midwest Regional". Regional route drivers often get home on the weekends which is one of the main appeals for this type of route.
LTL:
Less Than Truckload
Refers to carriers that make a lot of smaller pickups and deliveries for multiple customers as opposed to hauling one big load of freight for one customer. This type of hauling is normally done by companies with terminals scattered throughout the country where freight is sorted before being moved on to its destination.
LTL carriers include:
- FedEx Freight
- Con-way
- YRC Freight
- UPS
- Old Dominion
- Estes
- Yellow-Roadway
- ABF Freight
- R+L Carrier
OTR:
Over The Road
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.
OOS:
When a violation by either a driver or company is confirmed, an out-of-service order removes either the driver or the vehicle from the roadway until the violation is corrected.
EPU:
Electric Auxiliary Power Units
Electric APUs have started gaining acceptance. These electric APUs use battery packs instead of the diesel engine on traditional APUs as a source of power. The APU's battery pack is charged when the truck is in motion. When the truck is idle, the stored energy in the battery pack is then used to power an air conditioner, heater, and other devices
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Hello TT community!
I have been browsing the TT site for about 2 weeks now and I must say it is great! TONS of information about the trucking industry and great study guides that offer great knowledge to get started in a new career as a OTR driver. But I am having a small problem as to where I would want to start this new career path.. DO I want to start in NC? should I go Mid-West? I'm not sure.. Being as most CDL requirements are different based on location/state, where do I begin?
Deep down I really want to get out of NC and just restart my entire life as I have nothing keeping me here. So I come to you guys and gals to hear some suggestions as to where may be a good place to start this new journey in life. I am 110% for driving a rig and maybe seeing some if not all of this country.
I also noticed you have the option to apply to a multitude of trucking companies using the feature on TT, but unless I'm doing something wrong, I can't seem to select the year 2015 when adding my employment duration (Which ended 2 days ago). After being in the Automotive repair industry for 17 years I have lost all passion for it. So it's time to do what I have been pushing off for 6+ years.
Any and all advise is greatly appreciated and I look forward to many discussions with what seems to be a great community!
Thanks! Dustin.
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
OTR:
Over The Road
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.