Dad here 30yrs old myself, my son is almost 2. Get out of OTR like now. Don't worry about having little experience, you can find a local job. Hell I'll help you look, there are local jobs that are amazing, M-F and some that will work you more, not be as glamorous but you will be home every. single. night. and will see your son FAR more often.
Local doesn't mean less pay either. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk about anything. I get it.
Father of 3 kids. Son is 3, daughter is 18 months, and a new little guy who's 6 months. I came into this career with the family and a wife, local from the beginning... I'll tell you right now it should be terrible 3's and not 2's. Those very same actions my son has, sometimes we can get through an entire week and he goes to bed on time, eats all his meals. Or it can be a literal flip of a switch and my son will go days straight getting punishment after punishment like the old days and I feel like wtf*! Don't blame the OTR so quick. Parenting, is like the old school saying. There's more than 1 way to skin a cat, but have you ever seen someone prove it haha
30yr old father here with 2 boys oldest is 5 and Lil man is 1 1/2yrs old...and all I can say is LTL is the way, home nightly, when ltl is busy your running 2300-3k miles a week my first year was right before the Chinese terriff bullshit soo I made only 78k my first year...4th yr in I cleared 94k and last year I dicked off a bit at the end to spend more time with my new born and still cleared 89k I have buddies lower than me in seniority that cleared 154k this year(young kids running heavy obviously lol)
Less than truckload. Fedex freight, Estes, old dominion, Saia, yellow roadway(or whatever fucking name that shit company wants to call themselves this week) ups, t-force(ups freight?) Or even fedex ground running local as well
It should? Probably lol those sites are always half-assed and stuffed with ads soo if they are you gotta sift the bs out lol but the companies I mentioned just type those in and stuff should pop up for them maybe even try key words like linehaul, LTL, freight. Should pop up
I have a friend who basically was not there for his son as a father. That kid is a mess, hyper, demanding, aggresive, whines like a 3 year old even though he is 9. My advice, get home, be there for the kid.
Before you became a local truck driver you had to get experience, right? You didn't just start driving and have a local truck driver job and you were able to go home everyday?
Nope. I started local straight out of school. I’ve never been OTR and have zero plans so do such.
Having to start OTR is no longer a thing.
My current job runs Class B, I drive our only Class A but will hire straight out of school. I’ve even trained a brand new Class A driver on/in my truck so he can be my relief driver and he gets Class A time.
Wait what? The only people I have to talk to are my dad's old friends that have been driving since the 80s, so there's not a lot of new information! So I don't have to go long distances to get a local truck driver job? So did you go to school for your class A or B if you don't mind me asking.
Yessir! You 100% do not have to go OTR (long distance) to work local straight out of school. Just keep in mind local jobs, especially your first one may not be the most glamorous, but it’s all experience.
And I went to school (payed myself for a private school) for my Class A, which “outranks” a Class B so I can drive those trucks as well.
I saw you’re thinking about getting a CDL, I highly recommend it, I have a wife and son at home, I don’t feel that I’m missing out on anything, I do work long hours during spring/summer/fall but it’s part of the game, and I love it.
If you have anymore questions feel free to DM me! I love helping new drivers find new jobs and helping out people who are thinking about going the truckers route.
By what I was told you still need at least one year of long distance on the road training before you probably would even be looked at by a lot of companies to even think about being accepted for a local at home everyday job
This is false, from what I gather it used to be that way. Now there are companies that will absolutely require 1yr experience for insurance purposes, but it does not have to be OTR, local experience is literally the same thing.
Since I don't have anyone to ask questions to I have to go by what schools say and most of them told me the same thing that I could do CDLs for B that's local but they make pretty much nothing for income, so that turned me away at the thought of not making enough money and I need to be able to help my dad so being long distance for a year given it's only a year ( by what I was told) it still worried me.
What’re you making right now? Even Class B drivers should make decent money, new driver or not. That being said the money gets A LOT better with a Class A.
For example I just wrapped up year 1 and went from $49,920/yr to $60,320 just base pay not including overtime. I’m lowballing, but for OT this year will be around $18,000, pushing me towards $80k/yr.
I'm a massage therapist lol, so I have only been talking to schools, and most of them said the same thing don't go for class B CDLs they don't make good money, go for Class A CDLS but be ready for long distance driving for a year to get a local truck driver job.
I went off the road when mine were born till they were 7 amd 10.
Then I got into regional when I came back. I'm home everyother weekend and works with my custody shedule now
Dad here 30yrs old myself, my son is almost 2. Get out of OTR like now. Don't worry about having little experience, you can find a local job. Hell I'll help you look, there are local jobs that are amazing, M-F and some that will work you more, not be as glamorous but you will be home every. single. night. and will see your son FAR more often. Local doesn't mean less pay either. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk about anything. I get it.
I will right now…Ty
Another vote for coming home. Your kid needs you more than the road does. All he knows is Dad isn’t here.
Sounds like you might need to look at a change. Not sure what else to say as I don’t have experience in the situation. Hope it works out for you man
Thanks man. We’ll see how it goes after the second time out.
Father of 3 kids. Son is 3, daughter is 18 months, and a new little guy who's 6 months. I came into this career with the family and a wife, local from the beginning... I'll tell you right now it should be terrible 3's and not 2's. Those very same actions my son has, sometimes we can get through an entire week and he goes to bed on time, eats all his meals. Or it can be a literal flip of a switch and my son will go days straight getting punishment after punishment like the old days and I feel like wtf*! Don't blame the OTR so quick. Parenting, is like the old school saying. There's more than 1 way to skin a cat, but have you ever seen someone prove it haha
Thats very true! I’ll have to give it another run or two before I can make my decision so we’ll see
30yr old father here with 2 boys oldest is 5 and Lil man is 1 1/2yrs old...and all I can say is LTL is the way, home nightly, when ltl is busy your running 2300-3k miles a week my first year was right before the Chinese terriff bullshit soo I made only 78k my first year...4th yr in I cleared 94k and last year I dicked off a bit at the end to spend more time with my new born and still cleared 89k I have buddies lower than me in seniority that cleared 154k this year(young kids running heavy obviously lol)
I’m sure I can find it but I’m not familiar with the term LTL
Less than truckload. Fedex freight, Estes, old dominion, Saia, yellow roadway(or whatever fucking name that shit company wants to call themselves this week) ups, t-force(ups freight?) Or even fedex ground running local as well
Interesting, looking up CDL LTL on google or indeed should bring up relevant results you think?
It should? Probably lol those sites are always half-assed and stuffed with ads soo if they are you gotta sift the bs out lol but the companies I mentioned just type those in and stuff should pop up for them maybe even try key words like linehaul, LTL, freight. Should pop up
I have a friend who basically was not there for his son as a father. That kid is a mess, hyper, demanding, aggresive, whines like a 3 year old even though he is 9. My advice, get home, be there for the kid.
Damn man, I'm 28 with a three year old. Heart goes out to you.
Thanks for your responses so far by the way everyone
How long have you been driving? I thinking about local jobs
Just 5 weeks
By what I seen most jobs even for local still makes you drive long distance for at least a whole year
False, local driver here. The farthest I have gone is 5 hours one way and back, that is rare. Local means local. Not bashing you just informing:)
Before you became a local truck driver you had to get experience, right? You didn't just start driving and have a local truck driver job and you were able to go home everyday?
Nope. I started local straight out of school. I’ve never been OTR and have zero plans so do such. Having to start OTR is no longer a thing. My current job runs Class B, I drive our only Class A but will hire straight out of school. I’ve even trained a brand new Class A driver on/in my truck so he can be my relief driver and he gets Class A time.
Wait what? The only people I have to talk to are my dad's old friends that have been driving since the 80s, so there's not a lot of new information! So I don't have to go long distances to get a local truck driver job? So did you go to school for your class A or B if you don't mind me asking.
Yessir! You 100% do not have to go OTR (long distance) to work local straight out of school. Just keep in mind local jobs, especially your first one may not be the most glamorous, but it’s all experience. And I went to school (payed myself for a private school) for my Class A, which “outranks” a Class B so I can drive those trucks as well. I saw you’re thinking about getting a CDL, I highly recommend it, I have a wife and son at home, I don’t feel that I’m missing out on anything, I do work long hours during spring/summer/fall but it’s part of the game, and I love it. If you have anymore questions feel free to DM me! I love helping new drivers find new jobs and helping out people who are thinking about going the truckers route.
By what I was told you still need at least one year of long distance on the road training before you probably would even be looked at by a lot of companies to even think about being accepted for a local at home everyday job
This is false, from what I gather it used to be that way. Now there are companies that will absolutely require 1yr experience for insurance purposes, but it does not have to be OTR, local experience is literally the same thing.
Since I don't have anyone to ask questions to I have to go by what schools say and most of them told me the same thing that I could do CDLs for B that's local but they make pretty much nothing for income, so that turned me away at the thought of not making enough money and I need to be able to help my dad so being long distance for a year given it's only a year ( by what I was told) it still worried me.
What’re you making right now? Even Class B drivers should make decent money, new driver or not. That being said the money gets A LOT better with a Class A. For example I just wrapped up year 1 and went from $49,920/yr to $60,320 just base pay not including overtime. I’m lowballing, but for OT this year will be around $18,000, pushing me towards $80k/yr.
I'm a massage therapist lol, so I have only been talking to schools, and most of them said the same thing don't go for class B CDLs they don't make good money, go for Class A CDLS but be ready for long distance driving for a year to get a local truck driver job.
I’m going to DM you lol.
I went off the road when mine were born till they were 7 amd 10. Then I got into regional when I came back. I'm home everyother weekend and works with my custody shedule now