[Mackman]

where you live Nh Hunter

[golfhobo]

Originally Posted by NHHunter

Am I being unreasonable? My kids are very young. I want to drive tractor trailer, but locally. Is that too much to ask as a rookie?

In a word.... YES!

I'm not saying it isn't POSSIBLE, and I'm NOT going to jump on you for wanting to start out local, but I AM going to question your AWARENESS of the industry!

MOST people who get into this business realize that they almost always MUST "pay their dues" in OTR for at LEAST one year to get the experience necessary to get a good local job.

Heck, ANYONE who has spent two weeks on this board, should KNOW that this is the consensus opinion.

In a thread along time ago, I addressed the situation of young kids. The short of it is this: It SEEMS, from what you say, that they are VERY young at this time. YOU might miss THEM while OTR for a year or two, but THEY will hardly know you were gone! They are too young to have feelings about it. Get your OTR over with NOW, before they ARE old enough to CARE, or to NEED you! Right now, all they really need is their MOTHER!

It is OFTEN incumbent on the MAN of the house to make sacrifices for the betterment of his family's FUTURE! I can't remember what you said, if anything, about how you viewed your financial prospects BEFORE you started trucking.... but, if you feel this is going to benefit your family IN THE LONG RUN.... you SHOULD be willing to sacrifice a mere year or two in OTR to get the remaining REQUIREMENTS for a solid basis of a long term career.

Remember, that even IF you get your first job as a local, the NEXT company may again deny you for lack of OTR experience, AND if you should decide later to go OTR (even regional) you may be denied because you haven't had X amount of OTR experience in the "last" year or two!

It's somewhat akin to getting into management without a degree. You MIGHT make it happen in a specific instance, but it is NOT the "expected" career PATH. And once THAT job is gone..... the others will STILL want to see your "credentials."

Is it possible to start out local? Sure. But, you're seeing NOW how difficult it is! And ANYONE who tells you that it is BETTER than paying your dues OTR first, is doing you a disservice! (That may be considered to be MY HUMBLE OPINION!)

PLEASE.... consider the LONG TERM! And consider the ages (and cognizance) of your very YOUNG children. I KNOW you will miss seeing some important aspects of their "baby years," but you will possibly be ensuring MUCH MORE happiness for both you AND them in their adolescent and college years, if you PREPARE yourself properly NOW for a career in trucking.

There is GOOD money to be made, and a little MORE job security than in other fields. Don't DENY your future because you can't DENY your present needs for immediate gratification.

I wish YOU and your family the BEST, Hunter!! But, I will not sugar coat my responses. There are things you can learn in 3 months OTR, that you might not learn in years of working local. If you don't believe me..... read the threads/posts by UNKUT!

[NHHunter]

Originally Posted by Mackman

where you live Nh Hunter

Berlin, NH, up in the northern part of NH

[NHHunter]

Originally Posted by golfhobo

In a word.... YES!

I'm not saying it isn't POSSIBLE, and I'm NOT going to jump on you for wanting to start out local, but I AM going to question your AWARENESS of the industry!

MOST people who get into this business realize that they almost always MUST "pay their dues" in OTR for at LEAST one year to get the experience necessary to get a good local job.

Heck, ANYONE who has spent two weeks on this board, should KNOW that this is the consensus opinion.

In a thread along time ago, I addressed the situation of young kids. The short of it is this: It SEEMS, from what you say, that they are VERY young at this time. YOU might miss THEM while OTR for a year or two, but THEY will hardly know you were gone! They are too young to have feelings about it. Get your OTR over with NOW, before they ARE old enough to CARE, or to NEED you! Right now, all they really need is their MOTHER!

It is OFTEN incumbent on the MAN of the house to make sacrifices for the betterment of his family's FUTURE! I can't remember what you said, if anything, about how you viewed your financial prospects BEFORE you started trucking.... but, if you feel this is going to benefit your family IN THE LONG RUN.... you SHOULD be willing to sacrifice a mere year or two in OTR to get the remaining REQUIREMENTS for a solid basis of a long term career.

Remember, that even IF you get your first job as a local, the NEXT company may again deny you for lack of OTR experience, AND if you should decide later to go OTR (even regional) you may be denied because you haven't had X amount of OTR experience in the "last" year or two!

It's somewhat akin to getting into management without a degree. You MIGHT make it happen in a specific instance, but it is NOT the "expected" career PATH. And once THAT job is gone..... the others will STILL want to see your "credentials."

Is it possible to start out local? Sure. But, you're seeing NOW how difficult it is! And ANYONE who tells you that it is BETTER than paying your dues OTR first, is doing you a disservice! (That may be considered to be MY HUMBLE OPINION!)

PLEASE.... consider the LONG TERM! And consider the ages (and cognizance) of your very YOUNG children. I KNOW you will miss seeing some important aspects of their "baby years," but you will possibly be ensuring MUCH MORE happiness for both you AND them in their adolescent and college years, if you PREPARE yourself properly NOW for a career in trucking.

There is GOOD money to be made, and a little MORE job security than in other fields. Don't DENY your future because you can't DENY your present needs for immediate gratification.

I wish YOU and your family the BEST, Hunter!! But, I will not sugar coat my responses. There are things you can learn in 3 months OTR, that you might not learn in years of working local. If you don't believe me..... read the threads/posts by UNKUT!

Thanks golfhobo, good post. I am gonna talk to the wife about it see what we can do. Roehl has a terminal about 25 minutes from me.

[obiedon]

Local right out of school is possible, I did it. You just need to make a decision about local or OTR, which it seems you have. The only possible mistake that you may have made was going to school with out having a local job lined up. I found a local company I wanted to work for and talked to them over the course of a month or two about working for them. Once we both agreed it would be beneficial to the both of us and I would have a job there once I got my CDL, I paid my money and got my CDL. I had a job with them within a week of getting my CDL. Don't kid yourself about local work though. You will be running max daily/weekly hours consistently and a lot of the time you will just get your 10 hours off duty before returning to work, so you may not see your young children as much as you want. You will be tired when you get home and grabbing a shower, some food and then very few hours with the family before bed will be the norm, this isn't a 9-5 gig.

[PackRatTDI]

Have you applied at beverage companies? A lot of them will hire CDL holders on the spot regardless of experience because they don't have to train them. It's a good alternative if you don't mind 100% driver unloads.

[golfhobo]

NH Hunter: I don't know MUCH about Roehl, but they DO have a 7 on, 7 off policy (or something like that.) It is essentially Part Time trucking, and probably wouldn't fit your needs (unless the wife is bringing home good cash! :lol: )

But, any company that HAS that policy, has a clue about the hometime needs of its drivers, and having a terminal THAT CLOSE can only help with the hometime!

Also, I forgot about your "location" way up there! Things are (as I'm sure you know) a bit different up there! You MIGHT could go local and STAY local in such an area! Don't take everything I said as solid!

But, don't ignore the excellent points made by Obeidon! Local is not always a panacea!

I MOSTLY wanted to point out that, if it is THIS hard to get your FIRST "local" job there, it could be just as hard the next time, or the next...ad infinitum.

Again, I wish you all the best, and please... keep us posted!

Originally Posted by GMAN

I am curious as to why you would rather flip burgers than go otr for a short time?

Because he's smart. :lol:

[arky]

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned this (especially CFM), but you need to check into the LTL jobs in your area...if there are any. If there is an LTL outfit within commuting distance, you could quite possibly start out as a dock worker and then progress into driver over time. I know that some of the LTL's have a "dock to driver" program where you work on the dock until there is an opening, then they train you to drive and you go from there. It does take a while (possibly a couple of years), but in the end, you would have a damn good job and be home most nights and every weekend.

Arky

[PackRatTDI]

Originally Posted by arky

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned this (especially CFM), but you need to check into the LTL jobs in your area...if there are any. If there is an LTL outfit within commuting distance, you could quite possibly start out as a dock worker and then progress into driver over time. I know that some of the LTL's have a "dock to driver" program where you work on the dock until there is an opening, then they train you to drive and you go from there. It does take a while (possibly a couple of years), but in the end, you would have a damn good job and be home most nights and every weekend.

Arky

Our local UPS outfit is short of drivers and is hiring people and "fast tracking" them into driving positions. I've considered getting in on that. :lol: