Local Driver wants advice from OTR drivers
 

Hi new on here and this is my first post, So I hope I do it right. Got a question for you OTR drivers. Im presently hauling local. Oil field equip. in N. Texas. Decent money . Bring home little over 800 wk. on a 5 day week. Home every other night at least. I have no accidents, clean record, both driving and criminal. And have hazmat. My question is, Ive never been west of Abiline Tx and would like to see some of the country. Wife is willing to go with me some, and no kids at home. Like some advice on how to approach this. Ive been driving for years, But no OTR experience. What are some good companies to try , and would the pay be in the same ballpark. Thanks for your help and advice. Trkntxn

Re: Local Driver wants advice from OTR drivers
 

Welcome to the Board. Wish you the best of luck, but gotta tell ya, as far as going OTR, these companies will treat ya like you are new. So the money might not be the same. If you get a good company, it will be, not so good, around 500-700. The best thing I can tell ya is to research, research, research!!!!! Most every company is on this board, or drivers that know of them.

And never listen to a whiner like myself about JB Hunt. :D

I figured I would just head off all the others stating my post are very bias of that company.

Good luck, and happy trails. :wink:

Stick to what you are doing, and save the seeing of the country for vacations. It sounds like you have a very good gig there, one that most likely cannot be matched by any company that will, as Cluggy pointed out, treat you as a brand new driver. Especially not with the net pay and hometime you speak of. :wink:

I'll second what Cyanide has said!!

If you want to see the country that you haven't seen......rent an RV and do it on your vacation.

Sir, you are presently in possession of a job that many would go to great lengths to get, and were you to foolishly enter the OTR segment, you will effectively be treated, as the others have said....as a Newbie, and you will most likely suffer a drop in pay.

Stay where you are. If it isn't broken, don't try to fix it. 8)

You say you bring home around $800 per week now. In an OTR environment you would need to bring home $900-$1000 per week, due to the extra costs being OTR has, just to break even. This is hard for many experienced drivers to do, and I am talking about ones with 5+ years of OTR under their belts.

I would have to echo the previous posts in that you would be better off staying where you are at and spend vacation time touring the country. You will be able to see more and do more than you would from the seat of a big rig.

Re: Local Driver wants advice from OTR drivers
 

We're going to be adding flatbed drivers out of Lone Star, TX and Laredo.

US Steel just bought out Lone Star Steel and we picked up a couple of big contracts for freight running out of Laredo.

Call 800-983-3815 and speak to Sue Sorrels. She's our Southern recruiter in B'ham, AL. (PGT Trucking)

Sometimes I can't believe she's a recruiter! (She's THAT honest) And a very nice lady, at that.

Good luck to ya!
-Dave Patterson

Have you given any thought to comin up to the oil fields in Colorado, theres good money to be had. I work for a feller that is leased to Hyland, my groos last week for 7 days was $2120.00 I work 2weeks on and a week off.

Halaberton(Or how ever you spell it) is hiring!!! :lol:

I sure do appreciate the imput. It definetly gives me a lot to think about. I do kinda hate giving up a sure thing and at 48 yo going somewhere and being treated as a rookie honestly wasnt that appealing. It was just something I had been thinking about for sometime, Thinking that Id like to look at something a little different than Texas oilfields. And being as I have never been West , or North for that matter , was just kinda giving it some thought. But I do appreciate the advice. I guess a vacation and a roadtrip is a good idea. Be safe out there.

I'm not really questioning what the others said, and I especially "second" what Uturn said about needing to bring home MORE to counter the added expenses of being OTR, but....

I work for a smaller outfit, and a guy they hired when they hired me had been "local" for many years. They only made him take "trainiee pay" for two weeks to get his feet wet, then he was treated just like the rest of us.

Also, as one who has NO desire to work local, I can totally understand what you say about wanting to see a bit more in life than the same old oilfield everyday! I would go bananas!!

I would keep "thinking" on it for awhile, if I were you. Balance out what you REALLY want at this point in your life before making such a "final" decision.