LTL or OTR?

[tjv189]

For all you experienced drivers out there, which would you prefer to get into after you have experience, OTR or LTL freight? What are some advantages/disadvantages to each that you have experienced or heard?

[Jackrabbit379]

I have done both,LTL,and OTR. Right now,I am LTL. I drive for SYSCO. What is good about running LTL,is that you are home every night,the pay,and benefits are just as good as working for an OTR company. Running LTL,you have multiple stops. From a few,to many different stops on your truck everyday. Some LTL companies start really early in the mornings,or sometimes all night. A lot of times,LTL drivers open,close the trailer doors many times a day from backing up to docks.

What I liked about running OTR,is that I got to see many different parts of the country. Saw some pretty sunrises,sunsets. It is neat being able to see how other parts of the country looks like compared to where you are from. Running OTR,unlike LTL,you dont have multiple stops in one day. You may have more than one stop,but,you get to relax behind the wheel before you get to where you need to be. Running OTR,you dont get to be home every night to be with your family. Some companies get you home weekly,but for most,you may be out a couple weeks,to a month at a time. You hurry up to get to your origin,destination as fast as you can,legally,and come to find out,you may have to sit for a good while before you can load,or unload. Hurry up,and wait.

There are many more fellers here that can tell you what they have experienced. There is a more to this than what I have written,but,that is some of what I have experienced.

[ghost_ryder]

For all you experienced drivers out there, which would you prefer to get into after you have experience, OTR or LTL freight? What are some advantages/disadvantages to each that you have experienced or heard?

Although there are many people on here that have way more experience then me, at least I can answer. A worked for 2 OTR companies and 3 local including the one I am with now. Anyway, I did not waste any time going local, I never even had a year experience before doing so. I am a master of interviews and that helps. Not that I hated OTR, its just that hurricane Katrina decided to ruin my life and I had to get off the road. I also liked seeing the country doing OTR and only having a few deliveries for 2 weeks at a time, that was so easy. Plus you don't have to deal with nearly as much city streets and traffic, also you don't have to deal with nearly as many small businesses that are hard to pull a truck into. In addition, practically ALL of your freight is no touch, plus you can make your own hours. In addition, you will have much nicer trucks.

Not all local carriers are LTL. With LTL, you have alot more stops and some freight handling. For example, you will have 5-10 stops a day with some of them. The thing is, its pretty easy though for the most part. You will have like 1 pallet to go to 1 place, 2 for another, one box for another, stuff like that. Basically LTL is like UPS or FedEx delivery but with a tractor trailer, best way to describe it I think. Probably easier as far as the freight handling goes but harder as far as driving since you have a tractor trailer combo to deal with in the city. The local carriers that are not LTL, you will have 3 or 4 pulls a day, work about 8 hours and do a little dropping and hooking. Piece of cake but although these pay ok, they won't pay as much as LTL. I think the LTL carriers are some of the better paying local jobs. Although you do drive in the city being a local driver, at least you know the city unlike OTR where you have no clue. One great thing, you will have a normal life by driving local, just a regular job.

So to sum it up, if you don't mind being home every couple of weeks, go OTR and don't bother with local. Since ultimately, I feel that is truely the only significant disadvantage of going OTR. Just keep in mind, that my friend is a HUGE and I mean HUGE disadvantage. Hope this gives you some info

[GMAN]

I do some LTL's. Some people don't like to make all the stops for pickup's and drop's. The money is usually better with LTL freight. I have a couple of LTL's on my truck right now. It is all about your personality and what you enjoy. I have spoken to a couple of drivers who work for one large carrier who make over $80M/yr doing LTL's. They are seasoned drivers, but with the extra stop pay, they make a really good living.

With LTL, you have alot more stops and some freight handling.

Not necessarily. You can run line-haul pulling strictly terminal-to-terminal drop-n-hook freight (no more waiting in line at the food warehouse or paper mill!). A guy I know pulling for Yellow makes over $70,000/year and he hasn't bumped a dock in over 7 years! Plus if he has to layover somewhere, he stays in a hotel room.

Myself? I like P&D better because I work days and I'm home everynight and every weekend. It's tough at first, but once you get an assgined area and get to know your customers, it's a very easy job.

[One]

I drive for Wilson Trucking wich is LTL...started out local as per co. policy and was lucky that no senior driver wanted the line-haul position. So I got it! Very happy with them, eventhough they like to not inform you of helpful details. I drive 5-6 nights a week, home sat. morning. great equipment and great pay. Little BS- best job I ever had.

I drove OTR, liked it too, just found myself waiting on loads too much, spending weekends in some crappy truckstop or resetting 34 hrs. I get consistent milage around 2500, very little waiting...maybe an hr or 2 but rarely. 47 cpm to start.

[teamster]

With LTL, you have alot more stops and some freight handling.

Not necessarily. You can run line-haul pulling strictly terminal-to-terminal drop-n-hook freight (no more waiting in line at the food warehouse or paper mill!). A guy I know pulling for Yellow makes over $70,000/year and he hasn't bumped a dock in over 7 years! Plus if he has to layover somewhere, he stays in a hotel room.

Myself? I like P&D better because I work days and I'm home everynight and every weekend. It's tough at first, but once you get an assgined area and get to know your customers, it's a very easy job.

Dont expect to go to Yellow and start out making 70k/yr. It takes many years to get enough seniority to work consistently enough to make 70k. I was there for just under 2yrs and the best I ever did was just under 40k between the layoffs and the slow times of the year-not bad though for only working about 6-8 months of the year. Yellow is definitely one of the best paying jobs out there, but you have to have a lot of patience. I only left there because I got a local job making making more than I was making with Yellow and I have a 5 day SCHEDULED work week. I was on call 24/7 with yellow-tough way to live.

[FlyByWire]

I prefer LTL myself.

My first full year with the company, I ran 50/50 linehaul/P&D.. Im back running city now, as it works better for my family situation.

Personally I could never go back to OTR. I do my 20-30 stops a day, handle freight, and deal with city traffic...but go home to my wife, soon to be born son, and new house everyday. My conmpany tops out at just under 22/hr.. Its honestly the easiest job Ive ever had for this kind of money.

Personally I could never go back to OTR.

Amen, bro. Been there, done that. Never again.

[ben45750]

Personally I could never go back to OTR.

Amen, bro. Been there, done that. Never again.

Copy that drivers!!!

[Jackrabbit379]

Personally I could never go back to OTR.

Amen, bro. Been there, done that. Never again.

Copy that drivers!!!

Ten-Roger! :P

[Ian Williams]

Not necessarily. You can run line-haul pulling strictly terminal-to-terminal drop-n-hook freight (no more waiting in line at the food warehouse or paper mill!). A guy I know pulling for Yellow makes over $70,000/year and he hasn't bumped a dock in over 7 years! Plus if he has to layover somewhere, he stays in a hotel room.

Myself? I like P&D better because I work days and I'm home everynight and every weekend. It's tough at first, but once you get an assgined area and get to know your customers, it's a very easy job.

The first few weeks of getting on the P&D learning curve are hard. It was the most frustrating new job acclimation I have ever experienced.

[One]

I got 'acclimated' in the hight of summer with no A/C, 100 deg in the shade and too much freight for a vet to deliver.... :x

[FlyByWire]

The first few weeks of getting on the P&D learning curve are hard. It was the most frustrating new job acclimation I have ever experienced.

Id say this is very accurate... You go from backing up maby twice a day, to many, many times a day.. Backing in off busy (VERY busy) streets... into places that you wouldnt even think a truck could fit... Hell, seems I dirve better with the trailer leading than I do going straight :shock:

I get so many PM's here about what my (an LTL drivers) day is like... Im thinking about taking a camera with me and making a post with pics showing what we do..

[Ian Williams]

Id say this is very accurate... You go from backing up maby twice a day, to many, many times a day.. Backing in off busy (VERY busy) streets... into places that you wouldnt even think a truck could fit... Hell, seems I dirve better with the trailer leading than I do going straight :shock:

I get so many PM's here about what my (an LTL drivers) day is like... Im thinking about taking a camera with me and making a post with pics showing what we do..

Good Idea!

My most difficult regular customer has me back a 48 or 53 indoors with about a foot to spare on each side. They make up for it by being cool people, having my freight ready, etc.

Then there are the easy docks with difficult customers or ugly freight.

[uglymutt]

just go with FFE, I am a OTR Driver, I am in the Truckload Fleet, or they call it TL, but LTL is mandatory, so sometimes you get a straight truckload, one pickup and one drop and lots of miles and the next load is 6 pickups and 14 drops and you have to unload LTL no lumpers and sort and segregate and palletize the customers freight, that CWX driver knows I seen him before when I had LTL, you will love FFE, they run alot of freight to FSA and SYSCO ohhh and many more companies that will give you hell, this on a small pallet and that 4 boxes on a chep pallet and those 12 boxes on a large pallet, you will love FFE, you will be an OTR driver that does it all like me.... why just settle for either or, do both... hehehehehehehe BOL... and the best part is its mandatory you do it, not allowed to refuse a load with FFE unless your an O/O, they call it FORCED DISPATCH.....its fun being a company driver... ohhh ohhh and sometimes you have to back down an alley and open one door and pull out 6 heavy boxes and carry them one by one into a place with no loading dock, yup sometimes its that much fun, and always at night with no street lights in them alleys so its great just a splash, so sign up with FFE

the next load is 6 pickups and 14 drops and you have to unload LTL no lumpers and sort and segregate and palletize the customers freight

I can tell you one thing for certain: my first two or three days at that outfit would be my last.

Dude, I couldn't IMAGINE doing 6 pickups/14 drops dealing with refrigerated freight!! And no lumpers?!? I have two grocery *****houses on my route (US Foodservice and Northern Haserot) and they're BOTH royal pains in the azz. Actually, it's somewhat bearable because I'm paid by the hour. Plus I pretty-much get a door whenever I show up since they know I'll take their pallet(s) back to the terminal if they make me wait LOL! Unfortunately, they screw around with you OTR guys cause they know you can't go anywhere.

[FlyByWire]

Plus I pretty-much get a door whenever I show up since they know I'll take their pallet(s) back to the terminal if they make me wait LOL! .

This actually made me laugh out loud... We have a TON of problems with one particular grocery wherehouse out here (EVERY driver does, not just my comnpany)... They know we have NO problems taking the freight back to the dock and let it sit there (in a trap trailer) for a while.

[Ian Williams]

Our biggest problem child is the K-Mart DC.

Heck you can spend an hour in line at the gate. We don't even attempt to live unload anymore as you could easily burn a whole day. We just put their freight in a pup, drop the pup and pick up the empty the next day.

We also have a paint DC thats a bear to pickup from. They love to stack 5 gal pails 3-4 high on a 3X3 pallet and proceed to put one layer of loose shrink wrap around it.

This actually made me laugh out loud... We have a TON of problems with one particular grocery wherehouse out here (EVERY driver does, not just my comnpany)... They know we have NO problems taking the freight back to the dock and let it sit there (in a trap trailer) for a while.

I've actually lifted the dock-plate, shut the trailer door, and pulled away from the dock at those places on several occasions. With 13 other stops sitting on my truck and then pickups, I can't afford to goof around all day at a grocery *****house polishing my rims like the OTR guys do.

We've got a guy at our terminal who's main job is to do all the time-consuming crap like grocery warehouses, stairmasters, residentials, tires, odd shipments, volume, etc. Basically all the time-wasting stuff that would kill a peddle run. He hardly peddles freight unless we're really busy like we were this past summer.