Looking to drive locally

[nathanw]

I live in louisiana, and I am looking for a dedicated route of any kind to drive for. I have my class A license, and no accidents, no DUI's, no tickets..never had anything happen yet. Recently, I have worked for local trucking industry, but the loads are not there nor was it dependable work which has caused me to now have to lose my job due to lack of employment. I love driving, but due to family issues, cannot do out of state for weeks at a time with only a few days home..we have a small family, and our family is experiencing many medical issues that must keep me close to home. I am looking for something that allows me to work all week, preferably a scheduled route, with guaranteed drive time, none of this on call you might work you might not stuff, and be able to be home at least every week. If this is possible, please email me back. I went through alot to get my cdl class a license after driving many years with my class b, so I would hate to have to lose my license due to not driving. Thank you for your time.

[Dave_0755]

I live not far from you here in Arkansas. I hear a lot of guys around here looking for the same thing. A job like you are describing is very hard to find here as well.

Truck driving, overall, is not really a local job. Even the one's advertising themselves as local, usually involve some travel over distances of several hundred miles.

I worked a job once that was an 8 to 5 local truck driving job. It was a driving position for a paper and box warehouse. I had anywhere from 10 to 15 stops per day with a day cab Freightliner and 53' trailer. Believe me it was a lot of work to get done in 8 hours. I would pre trip my truck in the morning and set out on my deliveries. Since I had so many stops, I rarely got a full hour for lunch. Still I wasn't paid for the lunch hour I was given. I didn't bring home more than $350 a week on average. I was just getting by after I paid for gas each week. It cost me around $50 or more per week in gas just to go to work and back home. I was traveling 35 miles one way each day to get to work.

I saw after just 4 to 5 months on this job that it wasn't worth my time. I told my boss that I was turning in my two weeks notice and I left. I returned to OTR. I worked from Sunday afternoon to Thursday night or Friday morning for double the money. Plus I received per diem each night I was away from home. This keeps you from owing taxes at the end of the year.

Another local job that is around this area is farm trucking jobs hauling grain and such to the mills. These jobs usually involve very long hours sometimes 15 or more per day. Still they only pay $300 to $400 per week and plus it is seasonal type work. (There's very little grain going to the mill in the winter months.)

Others that I can think of are UPS, FED Ex, Yellow, etc. These companies around this area rarely hire drivers. The ones that do hire usually have at least a 1 to 2 year waiting list and then when hired you must work another year or two as a fill in driver or on call driver. Then continue on doing that until a full time driver quits, retires, or dies. This may take an additional 2 to 5 years. I friend of my family just retired from UPS. He was a driver for them for 30 years. He was on the waiting list for 2 years. He worked as fill in driver, dock worker, and part time mechanic for another 4 years before he was hired on as a full time driver.

Local truck driving jobs are difficult to find and involve a lot of work.

[Dave_0755]

If your just wanting a regional truck driving job, that should not be hard to find. I've always worked from Sunday to Thursday night or Friday morning. I've drove for 10 years.

The trucking companies that I know of where you can get a regional job is usually the smaller to mid sized companies. These don't advertise like the large corporate companies do. They take a little more effort and investigating to find. They are out there and usually are hiring a good driver that has experience and a good driving record.

Some of these that I know of in the Memphis area are: Mid-South Transport, Empire Express, Cooper, ( Not Cooper Tire. Cooper is a small company located in Memphis.), Equity Transport, (Equity is from Holland, MI but they have a southern account. I used to work for them. They are great to work for.)Swift, Arnold, and Heartland all have southern regional accounts.

There is a lot more. You need to get a newspaper. Sunday's edition has a lot of driving jobs in it. Also check with the employment office. They sometimes have a trucking company that they hire for. Another good thing is to go to a local truck stop and get on the cb and just ask. Truck drivers will let you know really fast on the cb what companies are good to work for and how the home time works.

[nathanw]

Well not to get into specifics, but I worked for 2 years with a local company with my class b license. I recently graduated a strict course with my class a license, but lately the only jobs i can find locally just do not have the runs or if they do it is weird hours and sometimes 20 hours one day with none the next week. I have a young son who I tried to work over the road and he literally had a meltdown as well as we have a severe medical situation going on inside my family that needs to keep me home. If this was not the case, I would do over the road in a heartbeat, but I cannot at this time. However, i still need to feed my family and find employment that is worthwhile but nearby with a dedicated route that allows me to be home every night or at least every week. I will try the ones you listed and just keep trying.

[Justruckin]

Good luck, I gave up looking months ago up here outside of Detroit. I found a few gigs, most were scams to get my private info, and the others? I was over qualified for two jobs! How is one over qualified to drive a truck? I have a squeaky clean record, last ticket was in 2002 for 6 over, 61 in a 55, on the Ohio Turnpike with 20 years safe driving under my belt, no accidents.

Another outfit told me I lived to far away, 50 miles. And quite frankly most were paying so little I could not justify the work after my weekly gas bill was figured in. I could do better at my local party store.

Oh, and I was not looking for bennies, and would have gladly worked as a contract worker on a 1099.

Good luck.

[GMAN]

You may check with Heartland Express. They have some regional runs. I don't know if they hire out of your area, but the do manage to get most drivers home weekly. They don't treat their drivers very well, but you can earn a decent paycheck with them.

You may also check with Big G Express out of Shelbyville, TN. They have about 250 trucks. I don't know if they hire in your area, but they manage to get most of their drivers home each week. I know that they run mostly the east coast, but also go to Texas. It is a good company that treats their drivers well.

If you haven't already, I would check with your local state employment office. Carriers often list current openings. Werner, Swift and some other carriers have dedicated runs available for accounts such as Dollar General or Dollar Stores. J.B. Hunt also has regional runs available. They do a lot of business with Walmart. Walmart has distribution centers all over the country.

With the current economy you may need to do a lot more legwork to find what you are seeking. Finding something can be difficult when you have someone with health issues at home. Something you may consider is contacting some of the major carriers to see if they have any owner operators who need drivers. I would think that there are some who base out of your area. I would look for those carriers who don't have any of their own trucks for this type of position. By the way, there is a company listings on this forum. It lists requirements and hiring area for many carriers. Good luck.

[nathanw]

Well the biggest problem is that I just got my cdl class a license in july, and was working otr but had to come home due to the health issues. So where my resume is concerned, it looks like i am a quitter, and with the economy, it is hard to talk to someone of importance in hiring to explain the situation. I agree, this economy is making it hard to find a job. Right now, I got a job as a janitor, and have to still pay back my license. I can barely feed my family, and could lose my house if something that actually pays the bills does not come up here soon. I will do any legwork I can to try and find something because sadly I need to be home but I need to work too which is a very hard job to find.

[court08]

I am looking for local work in which i can be home at least every 4 days are every week i have recently been given the responsibilty of caring for my 87 year old mother and i cant be out for long periods of time, i have no violations ,no accidents, and i am would like to drive locally , i am 68 miles from dallas,tx with about a years expereince yea i know good luck huh , well i believe success was never acheived by not trying . so this is the next step.

[Jackrabbit379]

You may look into local freight companies, or food service companies.