Local Driving
Topic 7407 | Page 1
Look round for the beverage distributors (Budweiser, Miller/Coors, etc.) and/or soda plants (Coca Cola/Pepsi). Look for national brand bakeries like Pepperidge Farms and other food distributors (Syscon, GFS, etc.).
Around here we have all these along with small local/regional truck companies that haul gravel, milk, orange juice, etc. Other opportunities include home/business water delivery (Cullingan, Zephyrhilles, etc.). Also, Dollar Tree, Dollar General, etc. have regional/local opportunities.
Most of these are multi-stop with driver unload so it's more physical than most OTR (except flatbed).
I'm sure others from the forum will chime in shortly.
Good luck.
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.
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.
Travis, being in NJ, you should have plenty of opportunities, depending on where you are in NJ. David gave some great suggestions. Another one to mention for local work is the world of LTL , or less than truckload. You've got P&D (pickup and delivery) and linehaul jobs. I'm a linehaul driver for an LTL company, and I know that my company has three terminals in NJ - Boonton, South Plainfield, and Jersey City. And where there's one LTL company, there will be others.
You can check out my thread on the world of LTL here: LTL Trucking: My Linehaul Job
Terminal:
A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.
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
P&D:
Pickup & Delivery
Local drivers that stay around their area, usually within 100 mile radius of a terminal, picking up and delivering loads.
LTL (Less Than Truckload) carriers for instance will have Linehaul drivers and P&D drivers. The P&D drivers will deliver loads locally from the terminal and pick up loads returning to the terminal. Linehaul drivers will then run truckloads from terminal to terminal.
Linehaul:
Linehaul drivers will normally run loads from terminal to terminal for LTL (Less than Truckload) companies.
LTL (Less Than Truckload) carriers will have Linehaul drivers and P&D drivers. The P&D drivers will deliver loads locally from the terminal and pick up loads returning them to the terminal. Linehaul drivers will then run truckloads from terminal to terminal.New Reply:
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I am about to get my CDL in NJ, I was wondering if anyone had any insight on local driving jobs. I have experience driving large size trucks in the Army. I would love to do OTR but I am a single dad and child care issues would prevent that. Any advice or helpful tip would be greatly appreciated.
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.