OTR jobs near a terminal??

[Luke]

Hello All,

I'm a newbie on trucking and I'm contemplating taking my CDL for a second career.

I have been reading posts on the board for a couple of weeks and thought it was time to jump in with a question.

So here goes......

Is there any advantage at all in being near a companies terminal, other than running in on the weekends and back slapping the boys? I'm close to the US Xpress terminal in Medway OH.

How about being near a drop yard? Roehl says they have one near me.

Keep in mind that I know I'm going to be reamed by an OTR company, I just want to know on the scale of priorities if I should give any extra weight to a company with facilities near my home.

[Sealord]

"Should I give any extra weight to a company with facilities near my home." No. Let see if I have the question right. You'd accept less pay and worse benefits to be close to a terminal as opposed to more pay and better benefits if the terminal was say, 400 miles away. Is that the question? BOL

[Malaki86]

After you're assigned your truck, you should see very little of your terminal. At least that's how it was with me when I was at USX. I think I was in any of the terminals a total of 3 or 4 times in 9 months.

[Luke]

I think the question was about the benefits of being near a terminal.

I don't recall asking for less pay or wanting to be reamed more.

Let's put it this way. Does it make any difference where the terminals are? How often do you have to go to one??

Thanks Malaki86 for answering my question.

[Adam9315]

If you can't find a place to park your truck/trailer, then yes, of course living close to a terminal would be good for hometime. Other than that, I don't really see a beneift in living close to a terminal, unless they have opportunities to advance into local/dedicated positions.

[Luke]

I hear everyone complaining about getting miles. Wouldn't it be an advantage to go talk to your dispatcher face to face??

[Adam9315]

I hear everyone complaining about getting miles. Wouldn't it be an advantage to go talk to your dispatcher face to face??

Sure, if you plan to threaten him/her

[fireman932003]

Some companies do a lot of runs that go from terminal to customer or vise-versa. It all depends on the company. For the most part though, it should not make a difference if the terminal is in your back yard or if it is 5,000 miles away. I would look for the company that is going to pay you What you need and provide the benefits that you need for you and your family. BOL to you!

[Malaki86]

When I was there, they moved all of the dispatchers out of Medway and put them in the new office in Chattanooga. That building is basically inaccessable to the drivers, unless they've changed their policy or you take your own car to drive to it. When I was at the Tunnel Hill terminal a couple of drivers wanted to go to the corporate office, but USX wouldn't take them in the company van, and of course there's no truck parking there.

If you live close to Medway, call recruiting and ask about the Mjeirs (sp) account. It's a local account, and you'd be home daily (park the day cab at the terminal). I think there was another local account based out of Medway as well, but I can't think of the name off hand.

Call recruiting - ask questions - then come here for clarification :wink:

There are indeed several advantages to living near a company's terminal. Let's say that your truck is due for a PM or needs work, well your dispatcher can schedule you hometime while the work is being done. When you come back off of hometime, you're ready to roll.

Another plus is that it's easier for dispatch to route you home. This is because you can pick up a load at a shipper and your dispatcher can relay it to the terminal where another driver can pick it up and finish it off. Alot of time when you come off of hometime, you can just hook to a pre-loaded trailer sitting in the yard that another driver dropped and you're on your merry way. So it's one less live-load you've potentially got to deal with. Companies love doing this because it cuts down on empty-miles. Plus if you need an empty trailer, there's usually a good supply.

Of course, it's nice being able to park your truck and car at the terminal as someone pointed out. You'll be able to keep your truck plugged in in the winter as well.

Hope that helps!

[Uturn2001]

About the only real advantage of living near a terminal is that you have a place to park the rig and if the terminal has a shop you can possibly get it serviced while you are off.

The drop yard is obviously only having a potential place to park the truck and/or trailer when you are off.

Major OTR companies could, in theory and very easily, make sure you never see the terminal you live near if they wanted to, so living near one is no garuntee of getting home more often.

[Luke]

Thanks for the input everyone, I'll keep all this in mind while I keep looking for a company.