driver with 9-10 years experience looking for insight.

[1bigdumbdog]

I'm actually doing this search for my brother who is OTR trucker so obviously doesn't have much time or access to gather info (other than asking around at truck stops, etc...).

My brother has 9-10 years experience (OTR), clean DAC, clean driving record, and Lives in Illinois 2 hrs northwest of Chicago (near Beloit, Wi.) .
He is looking for a good company to swich to.

He is looking for:

1) miles w/good pay/driver respect especially for experienced driver.
2) hometime. Just something descent and respectable. he knows if the wheels don't move he's not making money.
3) doesn't mind pitching in and doing northeast/nyc once in a while, but doesn't want to do it often. Lesser the better.
4) NOW THERE IS ALWAYS A "BUT", AND HERE IT IS: He wants a company that can work with his one stipulation. He likes to shut down (does not want to drive) between 10pm-5am. He does this for health reasons/safety reasons. He knows mentally he becomes jello between those hours and does not want to risk anyones families life or find himself being anally probed in the showers of a prison because he risked it and got into an accident and killed someone. dditionally healthwise he feels 100% better and abecause now he has a somehwat regular sleep time. The company he is with (which he was upfront with about this before coming on board) all of a sudden is giving him grief.
5) good equipment, especially the maintenance.

again he is an excellent driver, 9-10 years experience. doesn't make a lot of specific demands for hometime (other than just decent hometime).

He would appreciate any recommendations on companies to drive for, to help him narrow his search.

I want to thank you for first for your sacrifice and dedication of being out on the road so people like my my lazy a** can go to the store at anytime and buy any kind of supplies and it's always there, and secondly for any help and advice for my brother.

[Ridge Runner]

I know this won't be much help but..... about the only thing I can think of in the OTR industry that would have set hours like what he is looking for would be something in the heavy haul ( over sized ) loads were the running hours are restricted to daylight hours.

[Skywalker]

I know this won't be much help but..... about the only thing I can think of in the OTR industry that would have set hours like what he is looking for would be something in the heavy haul ( over sized ) loads were the running hours are restricted to daylight hours.

I would have to agree with Ridge Runner. I can't imagine any OTR company that could promise him that....that would not break the promise. Over dimensional is the only way I can think of as well. Hauling big boats, heavy equipment and such.

[Ian Williams]

Good angle on the Oversize limited hours.

I have two others:

Local work, there are all sorts of local jobs LTL, trash that could meet those hours.

Team driving, just find someone like me who likes to drive at night.

[1bigdumbdog]

Thanks for your suggestions. I will pass them on. As far as companies promising him they could work with that then going back on their word, thats whats happening to him now (I'm sure you guys know how some of those recruiters can be, they'll promise you anything you want to hear and not be able to deliver), so far my brother is forcing them to stick to their word by not driving between 10pm -5am. If you guys have anymore suggestions on companies to drive for that could work with him, he would really appreciate it. Thanks for your help and again for your hard work and sacrifice to keep us safe, stocked and comfortable.

[diggerdan]

I work for crete and don't work those hours. i'm sure they can't guarantee anything, but; they do have a load select policy. when i get a load offering which demands those hours i simply say that i don't have the hours available to legally or safely deliver the load and they offer me another load. i'm a newbie but searched the net for 3 months before choosing crete. i couldn't find a company that paid better. they have a good reputation with drivers and very few, if any complaints.

[silvan]

I don't know your part of the country, so can't begin to make specific suggestions, but he might get into doing something dedicated. I don't generally work the hours your brother wants to avoid. I load out at 7:00 AM and have managed to finish by 9:00 PM every time, even though it has been really close after some shop time, or really horrendous backups. I usually get home quicker.

Your brother wouldn't want to do what I'm doing, it doesn't sound like. He'd want to stretch his legs out more, and go further, and get more miles, but he could still conceivably do that in a dedicated context. The thing to shop for would be a dedicated slot running some freight with pickup and delivery times that would fit into the hours he wants to run. If he does go this way, he would probably need to be flexible enough to make the occasional exception in the interest of making sure everything gets done on time. The main thing with dedicated is never being late unless you have a damn good reason, and "It's 10:00, I have to go to bed now" is not good enough. I'm only talking about the rare exception though, not the rule. Go for a rule that normally fits, and suck it up every once in awhile, when you really have to, to keep the gravy train on the tracks. (For the record, I'm not talking about driving out of hours, or logbook shenanigans. Being out of hours would be a good enough reason, but running into an arbitrary cutoff time on your driving probably wouldn't fly with dispatch, and they'd give the run to somebody else.)

I love dedicated, but it's not for people who aren't willing to keep the left door closed when they have to.