It's been a few years,,,
It's been nearly 5 1/2 years since I attended CDL school. If you are interested in that, you can click on the link to 2006 and see those posts.
I have spent time driving OTR and several local jobs so I have seen a lot of different views of the truck driving industry.
I personally like OTR because of the freedom it offers. As the driver you are responsible for getting the load to where it is going. You decide how you are going to drive the trip and as long as you do it legally, safely, and the load gets there on time, you have done your job.
Local driving is a different beast entirely. If you are lucky, you work "normal" hours and show up to work early in the morning and spend the day picking up and delivering around whatever city you are working in. You will probably have up to 14 different stops a day and you will spend alot of time driving in traffic. Then you go home and get up and do it again the next day. Did I mention you will have a manager or boss telling you what to do all day long.
You might end up working food service. Food service delivery is physically hard work. Two wheeled dolly through the snow, rain, and if you are lucky, sun. Up to 500 lbs on that dolly and you hand stack each and every piece. You make a lot of money, but your body pays the price. You will also probably be working mostly at night. That makes family time really hard. Your family and friends will want to do things on your days off, but your body will still be wanting to sleep during the day and you will be really grumpy. Then when you get on the same schedule as the rest of the world, it's time to start your work week all over again. Not Fun!
Just some thoughts.
I have spent time driving OTR and several local jobs so I have seen a lot of different views of the truck driving industry.
I personally like OTR because of the freedom it offers. As the driver you are responsible for getting the load to where it is going. You decide how you are going to drive the trip and as long as you do it legally, safely, and the load gets there on time, you have done your job.
Local driving is a different beast entirely. If you are lucky, you work "normal" hours and show up to work early in the morning and spend the day picking up and delivering around whatever city you are working in. You will probably have up to 14 different stops a day and you will spend alot of time driving in traffic. Then you go home and get up and do it again the next day. Did I mention you will have a manager or boss telling you what to do all day long.
You might end up working food service. Food service delivery is physically hard work. Two wheeled dolly through the snow, rain, and if you are lucky, sun. Up to 500 lbs on that dolly and you hand stack each and every piece. You make a lot of money, but your body pays the price. You will also probably be working mostly at night. That makes family time really hard. Your family and friends will want to do things on your days off, but your body will still be wanting to sleep during the day and you will be really grumpy. Then when you get on the same schedule as the rest of the world, it's time to start your work week all over again. Not Fun!
Just some thoughts.
posted by BigJohn at 8:02 PM
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